The Gulf and Arabia · Volume 08, The Sultanate the Desert Never Fully Closed
Maqdeed
Dhofar, and the Bedouin interior as qadeed
Illustration
- Time
- 96 hours
Dhofar's dried spiced meat, called mu'ajjan in some sources, likely a regional name for the same underlying technique as the Bedouin interior's qadeed, though no source directly compares the two. A preservation technique rather than a flavouring one: meat salted, air-dried for days, then reconstituted or shredded sparingly through rice and stews as a concentrated seasoning rather than eaten as a cut of meat in its own right.
As tradition built it
Makes about 700g dried. 3 to 4 days' drying, roughly 72 to 96 hours.
Ingredients
- 1kg lean beef or goat, cut into long, even strips about 1cm thick
- 3 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon cayenne
Method
- Rub the beef or goat strips thoroughly with the salt, coriander, cumin and cayenne.
- Traditionally hung in the shade in a well-ventilated woven palm-frond vessel for several days until fully dry and dark; in a British kitchen, hang the strips on a rack in a cool, airy room for 3 to 4 days, turning daily, until firm, dark and leathery throughout, with no soft or pink patches.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
Traditionally reconstituted by simmering in water or stirred, shredded, through rice and stews as a concentrated savoury seasoning, eaten sparingly rather than as a fresh-meat cut.
Called mu'ajjan in some sources, likely a regional name for the same underlying technique as the Bedouin interior's qadeed; no source directly compared them.
What a modern chef changes
A dehydrator's precision, split into a seasoning dust and a compound butter
Rung 4
Ingredients
- unsalted butter, softened, for the compound butter
Method
- Dry the salted, spiced strips in a dehydrator at 55°C for 10 to 12 hours, a precise, repeatable version of the same salt-and-air technique, checking for even, leathery dryness throughout.
- Grind a portion to a coarse powder in a spice grinder and use it as a savoury seasoning dust over grilled fish.
- Fold a further portion, ground, through softened butter for a maqdeed compound butter.
- Keep the remainder as whole shredded strips stirred through rice in the traditional way, giving two registers, powder and shred, from one preserved base.