[Sca-cooks] 15th C. Ottoman Bulghur w/Chestnuts
Lilinah
lilinah at earthlink.net
Wed Sep 19 17:19:08 PDT 2007
I'd like to serve some version of bulghur wheat with chestnuts at my
upcoming Ottoman feast. The dish is mentioned in many 16th C. menus.
It was served at meals as a primary grain dish. Unfortunately there's
no surviving recipe.
So i'm trying to invent something - yes, not good for perfect
historical accuracy - but there may be some diners who cannot eat
rice.
I'm trying to figure out a few things and i'd like to run them by folks here.
Bulghur - Based on my reading of other recipes, it is likely that the
Ottomans prepared bulghur either with broth or water. Broth would be
more flavorful, so that what i plan to do. It is quite edible if just
soaked in liquid and not actually cooked over a fire. Modern bulghur
pilavs simmer the bulghur about 25 min. But if i can keep a burner
free, that would be nice. Any opinions, based on cooking and/or
eating bulghur, as to whether i should just soak the bulghur in hot
broth (which would free up a stove burner) or actually put it over
the fire?
Chestnuts - Again, i know you and i are working blind, pretty much,
but i'm asking for non-Ottoman food experiences... I could just stir
roasted and peeled chestnuts into the cooked bulghur. But i figure
the chestnuts would be more tender if i simmer them in broth after
peeling them, then stir them into the bulghur. (i may be able to get
packs of peeled chestnuts which will save wear and blistering on my
fingers) Any opinions?
Fat - Sheep tail fat apparently figures in a lot of the actual
Ottoman recipes. But i'd like this dish to be edible by any
vegetarians who attend. Butter is an option, as it was frequently
used. Olive oil was NOT used in Palace cooking, just for oil lamps.
On the other hand, there are folks here with genuine health related
food issues - a need to reduce cholesterol intake. So i'm considering
oil - obviously not olive. I'm wondering if sunflower oil would be
too off-base to use. As far as i can tell, the Ottomans didn't use
it, but i won't use canola, since nearly all grown in the US is
genetically modified. Opinions?
Finally...
Flavoring - This is the trickiest part. While the Ottomans ate dishes
from al-Baghdadi's cookbook (which is where the actual Ottoman
recipes showed up - in a translation of al-Baghdadi into Osmanli),
the actually Ottoman dishes use far fewer spices and seasonings than
al-Baghdadi's.
I'm leaning toward finely chopped onions cooked in some butter or oil
until soft and translucent, then stirred into the bulghur with salt
and pepper, and maybe some cinnamon (although i'm not a fan of
cinnamon). I'll be making 4 kinds of rice: white, red, yellow and
green - so i'm thinking of skipping parsley and/or mint (in the
green) and saffron (in the yellow).
-------
I haven't found a recipe for bulghur with chestnuts in a modern
Turkish cookbook, but i only have two of them. Modern bulghur pilav
calls for bulghur, butter, onions, salt, pepper, and broth, sometimes
tomato paste (clearly, i'm not using this), sometimes with fried
dried vermicelli (which are then cooked). The bulghur is simmered,
but as i said, if i can keep a burner free, that would be nice...
-------
I did a count of the ingredients in the very limited number of
recipes in Yerasimos's book - 22 from the late 15th C. (and 2 more
that appear in menus, but not in the 15th C. cookbook, so Yerasimos
got them from other later historical sources - which i didn't count)
(there are either 77 or 82 recipes in the 15th C. book written in an
old form of Osmanli that is similar to Seljuk Turkish, which was used
in the 13th C.)
=======
SPICES
5 - saffron
3 - "some brayed spices"
3 - cinnamon
3 - musk
2 - cloves
2 - pepper
----- (only mentioned twice in the recipes, but shows up a lot in the
Palace records, so probably added but not mentioned)
1 - cumin
1 - ginger
(it seems odd to me that mastic doesn't show up)
HERBS
3 - parsley
3 - mint, dried
1 - mint, fresh
OTHER SEASONINGS
17 - salt
9 - rose water
3 - garlic
SWEETENERS
9 - honey - sometimes as a substitute for sugar
8 - sugar, white
SOURING AGENTS
2 - lemon juice - or orange juice as a substitute in 1
2 - verjus - or lemon juice as a substitute in 1
2 - white vinegar (doubtless white wine)
1 - sumac (added by Yersimos to a second)
1 - barberries - or tamarind in place of barberries
VEGETABLES
10 - Onions, usually "finely chopped"
8 - Chickpeas
2 - Gourd fresh
1 - Spinach
1 - Chard
1 - Carrot, preserved /carrot jam
FRUITS
7 - apricots, dried
6 - grapes: white razaki, red, pink, black, green (in 2)
5 - apples - with quinces as a substitute in one recipe
1 - figs
1 - dates
MEAT
17 - lamb/mutton (not always specified, many say only meat, but beef
and pork were not used)
6 - meatballs (undoubtedly of lamb/mutton)
5 - chicken
1 - meat of camel, sheep, lamb, or chicken
1 - sausage stuffed with fatty chopped meat, an abundance of black
pepper, and an onion, and almonds sliced
1 - eggs
1 - egg whites
NUTS
14 - almonds
1 - walnuts
FAT
12 - butter, "fresh and sweet"
1 - fat from the tail of fat-tail sheep
1 - oil sesame
1 - oil (type not specified) (for frying)
NOTE: meat is often specified as fatty
DAIRY
2 - milk, fresh
2 - yogurt, ewe's milk
OTHER LIQUIDS
water (i didn't count - in many recipes for cooking meat, making
dough, soaking dried fruit, etc.)
4 - broth from cooking the meat
2 - broth from cooking the chicken
STARCHES
8 - chickpeas
8 - rice
5 - starch
4 - flour sifted / finely ground / good, white, and pure
2 - rice flour
1 - bread, soaked
1 - vermicellis
OTHER INGREDIENTS
1 - pomegranate juice - optionally with: the juice of plums and
plums, or currant juice and currants (real currant fruit - ribes), or
cherry juice and cherries
1 - yeast
-------
Thanks for any opinions and suggestions
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list