Meslouf is the festive pasta of Fes, brought by Andalusian refugees who remembered the hand-cut pastas of their lost Iberian kitchens. Unlike Italian pasta, meslouf is steamed, not boiled - a technique borrowed from couscous cookery - and served sweet-savory with cinnamon and powdered sugar. It is the dish of the Fes spring festival of Moulay Idriss, when the city celebrates its patron saint, and is also served at the meal that breaks the month of Shawwal after Ramadan. The hand-cutting of the dough is the test of a Fassi cook: the strips must be uniform, as a thread, and so fine that they seem to dissolve when steamed. There is a Fes proverb: 'A girl who cuts meslouf evenly will marry well,' because the patience required is the same patience a marriage demands.
Original traditioncouscousFès-Meknès
Meslouf (Andalusian Steamed Pasta)
Festive hand-cut steamed pasta from Fes, layered with braised chicken, chickpeas, caramelized almonds, and the signature sweet- savory cinnamon-sugar dusting.
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Meslouf (Andalusian Steamed Pasta) belongs to the Fès-Meknès table. Taste it where its Andalusian-Moroccan heritage kitchen tradition lives, or fold it into an itinerary through the region.
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