Cookware · Hearths
Gsaa
A wide wooden platter: couscous is steamed, then raked and buttered in the bowl it will be eaten from.
The journey
Couscous is a gesture as much as a grain. After each steaming the semolina is spread in a gsaa — a broad, shallow wooden dish — raked with the hands, oiled, and returned to the couscoussier. The same platter often comes to the table.
A mixing bowl can hold the grain. A gsaa is the size a family circle needs.
In the kitchen
Fluff with wet hands. Add smen or olive oil between steamings. Mound the finished couscous and open a well for the stew.
The Moroccan volume's couscous pages assume this wide work surface. The couscoussier cooks. The gsaa finishes.