Be that as it is, I present all and sundry with a recipe that goes to show that I do have positive thoughts:-
A recipe for camel
Sir, – At the end of his review of several books on Middle and Near Eastern cookery (January 26), Robert Irwin reports that Cecil Hourani, in his book Jordan, states that he could not find a recipe for cooking camel. Readers are urged to consult T. Coraghessan Boyle’s novel Water Music (1982). In this connection I would like to mention another literary camel recipe, in some regards strangely similar to Boyle’s. In the novel I Served the King of England (1971) by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, there is a most charming two-page episode on preparing a feast for the Emperor of Abyssinia. The main dish was a stuffed camel.
The preparation was elaborate: first, the cooks the Emperor brought with him to Prague boiled several hundred eggs. Then they stuffed twenty turkeys with seasoned, white-bread-based stuffing, and baked them. These baked turkeys were then used as stuffing for two antelopes. Remaining space was filled with boiled eggs, and the antelopes were then baked. Finally, these stuffed, baked antelopes became, in their turn, the stuffing for the camel. In addition to the baked antelopes, fish were added to the camel’s belly, the remaining boiled eggs were again used as padding, and strong seasoning was generously administered. The camel was then grilled on charcoal in the courtyard of the hotel. The dish fed 300 people.
JINDRA STARY
1/30 Willis St, Melbourne, Australia.
If anyone tries this out, let me know how it is.
Being Jewish, camels are not kosher and I won't be able to appreciate the delicacy mself.
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