[Sca-cooks] period Turkish recipes

[Mark S. Harris]

Master Cariadoc asked:
> Do you have period recipes from Turkey? I don't know of any, although
> we have period cookbooks from elsewhere in the Islamic world.

There is this message that was posted by Thomas when he was on this
list. This is from my fd-Turkey-msg file. I don't know if this meets
your documentation requirements or not, but perhaps it is a start.

> Date: Sat, 06 Jan 2001 04:44:27 +0100
> From: TG <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
> Subject: Re: SC - A Turkish recipe...
>
> << ... a Turkish dish called "whiskeyed chicken livers" or "drunken
> chicken livers".  (...) I have been wondering if it, or any variation of
> it, may be documentable in period anywhere in Europe or Asia. (...) Any
> one out there heard of this dish, and could you point me to a source? >>
>
> I just went through an article about the social history of the Turkish
> cuisine, where a certain number of 15th and 16th century dishes are
> mentioned mostly from travelogues and kitchen rolls,  but I could not
> find such a dish there. However, the sources quoted in the footnotes
> might be of some help; the article is: Reindl-Kiel, H.: Wesirfinger und
> Frauenschenkel. Zur Sozialgeschichte der t¸rkischen K¸che. In: Archiv
> f¸r Kulturgeschichte 77 (1995) 57-84. The article is in German, the
> sources quoted are in a variety of languages.
>
> Looking at one of the sources quoted, I could not find it in Hans
> Dernschwam's description of Turkish food in his diary of a travel to
> Constantinople (1555; seven pages on food and dishes!). However, he says
> that chicken was sold frequently and: "Aber gemainiglich findt man gutte
> huner zw 6 aspern, darzw gibt man ainem die lebern vnd magen" 'But
> usually, you can find good chicken for 6 aspers, and in addition you are
> given the liver(s) and the stomach(s)'. At least there should be dishes
> from chicken livers
>
> Instead of the recipe you are looking for, here is a different one:
>
> "Hollow out young pumpkins or eggplants, fill them with chopped sheep
> meat and garlic, add spices and salt, cook them without anything else in
> water. They pour common yogurt, i.e. sour salted milk (like _compos_),
> over this and kindred dishes. In the same way, they hollow out carrots
> and fill them in the abovementioned manner".
>
> Original: "Die jungen kyrbis auch podliczschan holert man aus, dorein
> fultt man klain gehagt schaffen flaisch auch knoblach, gewurczt vnd
> gesalczen, sieden sy, schlechtz im wasser ab. Vber solche vnd
> dergleichen gerichte schutten sy schlecht jugurt, das ist sawer
> gesalczene milich, wie compos. Also hoelern sy auch die gelben ruben aus
> vnd fullen sy, wie obstatt" (Dernschwam, ed. Babinger 124; Reindl-Kiel
> says that this dish, karniyarik, and others described by Dernschwam,
> yaprak dolmasi, muhallebi, are still eaten today).
>
> Th.
> - -- Paviot, J.: Cuisine grecque et cuisine turque selon l'expÈrience des
> voyageurs (XVe-XVIe siËcles) [Greek and Turkish cuisine according to the
> experience of the travellers of the 15th and 16th centuries]. In: Bryer,
> A./ Ursinus, M. (eds.): Manzikert to Lepanto. The Byzantine World and
> the Turks 1071-1571. Amsterdam 1991 (Byzantinische Forschungen 16).

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****