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Summer is wedding season in Morocco, and with these celebrations comes a long-standing tradition of preserving centuries-old customs. Just as men and women continue to wear emblematic Moroccan attire, caftan and jellaba, weddings are also an opportunity to uphold Morocco’s rich culinary heritage.
In fact, many of the dishes served during weddings can be traced back centuries. The first written versions of these recipes, like the famous roasted chicken, roasted lamb, the emblematic pastilla, or even traditional sweets, can be found in cookbooks dating to the Almohad Caliphate, the empire that ruled Morocco, parts of North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula (al-Andalus) during the 12th and 13th centuries.
Roasted chicken
No Moroccan wedding is considered complete without roasted chicken, sometimes even called «wedding chicken». The dish is the star of the show, served as the first main course after appetizers. Its origins can be traced to the 12th and 13th centuries, where different versions appear in what is considered the oldest known cookbook from the Iberian Peninsula: Kitāb al-Ṭabikh fī al-Maghrib wa al-Andalus fī ʽAṣr al-Muwaḥḥidīn (The Book of Cooking in the Maghreb and al-Andalus in the Era of the Almohads) by an unknown author.
One version, titled Madhūna, begins: «Take a cleaned whole chicken and leave it intact». The breast is then slightly cut and fixed open without separating the sides. The chicken is rubbed inside and out with oil, murri infusion (murri naqi), a liquid condiment made from a fermented barley- or wheat-based starter known in Maghrebi and Arab cuisines, vinegar, cumin, saffron, pepper, clove, bay leaf, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, ingredients that today form the base of what we call chermoula.
The chicken is placed in a pot, covered with the oil and marinade, and the pot is sealed with a lid topped by a brazier, before being placed in the oven. The recipe concludes: «Leave it until the chicken is fully cooked, then remove it and place it in a nice serving dish».
Roasted lamb
Second on the typical Moroccan wedding table is meat, ideally roasted lamb. One of the earliest recorded recipes for this can be found in Fiḍālat al-Jiwān fī Ṭayyibāt al-Ṭaʿām wa-l-Alwān (The Virtue of the Table in the Goodness of Food and Colors), a 13th-century cookbook by Murcia scholar Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī, which documents Almohad cuisine across Morocco and al-Andalus. A recipe simply titled «another preparation» reads: take choice cuts of lamb, clean them well, and place them in an iron tagine. Add water, salt, oil, pepper, dried coriander, and a piece of chopped onion, along with as much murri infusion as desired.
The pot is placed over the fire, and once the meat is nearly done, the recipe suggests enhancing it with dissolved saffron, a staple in Moroccan cuisine to this day, before transferring it to the oven until it finishes cooking and browns. «Once done, take it out and let it rest until its heat subsides. May it be wholesome and pleasant, God willing», the writer adds.
But for many gourmets, cuts of lamb aren’t enough. Some prefer to honor their guests with an entire roasted lamb, and Fiḍālat al-Jiwān includes a recipe for that too. It begins: «Take a skinned lamb, leaving its interior intact. After thoroughly cleaning the entrails, twist them with fat and wrap them using the thin intestines». The inside of the lamb is then stuffed with these intestines. The lamb is covered, placed in a large tagine with its broth, and doused with a sauce made with water and oil. It is then placed in the oven and left to cook until fully done. Once ready, it is removed and served whole, reads the recipe.
Kaab el Ghazal
After this rich and hearty feast, it’s time for sweets. In Moroccan weddings, Kaab el Ghazal (gazelle horns) is a must. Often dubbed the king of Moroccan pastries, often served with mint tea. But this sweet didn’t always take the iconic horn shape we know today.
In Fiḍālat al-Jiwān, the recipe for Kaab el Ghazal begins with moistening flour with a little oil and kneading it with hot water in which salt has been dissolved, forming a firm and smooth dough. Ground anise, absinthe, pepper, and ginger are then mixed into the dough. Separately, sweet almonds and sugar are pounded until well-blended into a paste, and combined with rosewater to form the filling.
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«This filling is kneaded until it binds with the oil, and from it are formed delicate rolls, as thin as possible», reads the recipe. The dough is then rolled out, the filling placed inside, and the edges are sealed and twisted by hand into strands, resembling kaak (ring-shaped pastries), though these are left elongated, not rounded, it writer stresses.
The strands are placed in a baking tray and cut into even portions, baked as is. «After baking, they are separated and removed at the time of serving. This particular variety is considered refined and elegant», reads the cookbook, adding that some connoisseurs even add crushed pine nuts to the filling and carefully place a peeled pine nut in each piece.
Another staple of Moroccan wedding cuisine is pastilla. While the full recipe is not mentioned by name in the two Almohad-era cookbooks, a remarkably similar filling does appear in the 13th-century cookbook by Ibn Razin. The recipe closely mirrors the modern version, calling for pigeon, cinnamon, almonds, saffron, onion, and eggs, alongside a two-step cooking method where the filling is first cooked in a pot, then finished in the oven.
When you're invited to a Moroccan wedding, know that the food you're served, just like the clothes and traditions, is a journey back in history.
