Recently, 500 Years of Ottoman Cuisine by Marianna Yerasimos has been a great source of inspiration for me. My pilafs are now scented with rosewater and gum mastic and I am planning to pickle fillets of Mediterranean sea bass with sweet spices and honey.
Yerasimos tells about the cuisine of the Ottoman palace and Istanbul's elite society, including everything from ingredients used to the cooking methods. She has drawn on sources such as;
Account books of the Istanbul Palaces from 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. In 1573, for example,
37,895 sheep were purchased for the Imperial Kitchen.
Kitabu't-tabih (Cookery Book) translated by Muhammed bin Mahmud Sirvani (1375-1450), a physician and medic to Sultan Murad II.
Ziyafet Defteri (Banquet Book) in which she finds hot dishes and sweets served along, with all the ingredients purchased, for the 1539 circumcision celebration held by Kanuni Sultan Suleyman in honor of his sons.
Sohbetname, the diary of Seyid Muhammed Efendi, written daily between 1660 and 1664, describing discussions held over dinners and detailed lists of food eaten between them.
XVIII. Yuzyila Ait Yazma Bir Yemek Risalesi (The Manuscript of a Cookery Booklet of the 18th Century), believed to have been written in 1764, which could have been the first textbook containing actual recipes, even though the quantities of the ingredients given are incredibly large. Such as, " After this, beat 150 or maybe 200 egg yolks in a bowl and add to a little of the soup stock, and then add this to the juice of 20 or 30 lemons.", for a fish soup.
Melceu-t Tabbahin (A Cook's Shelter), the first printed Ottoman cookery book featuring 235 recipes, written by Mehmet Kamil in 1844. Some examples of Western cuisine are to be found among the recipes, as well as new vegetables, such as tomatoes and potatoes, which entered the cuisine in late 18th century.
She also includes a great deal about eating habits and table manners:
37,895 sheep were purchased for the Imperial Kitchen.
Kitabu't-tabih (Cookery Book) translated by Muhammed bin Mahmud Sirvani (1375-1450), a physician and medic to Sultan Murad II.
Ziyafet Defteri (Banquet Book) in which she finds hot dishes and sweets served along, with all the ingredients purchased, for the 1539 circumcision celebration held by Kanuni Sultan Suleyman in honor of his sons.
Sohbetname, the diary of Seyid Muhammed Efendi, written daily between 1660 and 1664, describing discussions held over dinners and detailed lists of food eaten between them.
XVIII. Yuzyila Ait Yazma Bir Yemek Risalesi (The Manuscript of a Cookery Booklet of the 18th Century), believed to have been written in 1764, which could have been the first textbook containing actual recipes, even though the quantities of the ingredients given are incredibly large. Such as, " After this, beat 150 or maybe 200 egg yolks in a bowl and add to a little of the soup stock, and then add this to the juice of 20 or 30 lemons.", for a fish soup.
Melceu-t Tabbahin (A Cook's Shelter), the first printed Ottoman cookery book featuring 235 recipes, written by Mehmet Kamil in 1844. Some examples of Western cuisine are to be found among the recipes, as well as new vegetables, such as tomatoes and potatoes, which entered the cuisine in late 18th century.
She also includes a great deal about eating habits and table manners:
"In the Palace and in the homes of the elite, meals were eaten from low tables (sofra), the tops of which were only slightly of the floor.
At meal times the servants would bring large round trays (sini) made of tin-plated copper and generally engraved with elaborate motifs, and place them on small folding supports.
The Ottomans ate with their fingers, never with knives and forks.They tore bread with their hands, and as meat arrived already cut into small pieces, and chicken well-cooked and thus tender, these were easily eaten with the fingers, while rice would be taken to the mouth between three fingers.
Therefore, before meals were served at the palace and in the residences of the elite, those about to eat would wash their hands in water poured from a long-spouted pitcher into a bowl by servants whose duty this was.
Guests would eat only a few mouthfuls of each of the many dishes, since it was considered bad manners to eat a lot, to et without a pause, or to take someone else's turn.
Hands were washed, and rosewater, so loved by the Ottomans, sprinkled on them from special pitchers for the purpose."
As well as 99 recipes, and many more examples of beautiful Ottoman miniature.
Included here, are my favorites.
At meal times the servants would bring large round trays (sini) made of tin-plated copper and generally engraved with elaborate motifs, and place them on small folding supports.
The Ottomans ate with their fingers, never with knives and forks.They tore bread with their hands, and as meat arrived already cut into small pieces, and chicken well-cooked and thus tender, these were easily eaten with the fingers, while rice would be taken to the mouth between three fingers.
Therefore, before meals were served at the palace and in the residences of the elite, those about to eat would wash their hands in water poured from a long-spouted pitcher into a bowl by servants whose duty this was.
Guests would eat only a few mouthfuls of each of the many dishes, since it was considered bad manners to eat a lot, to et without a pause, or to take someone else's turn.
Hands were washed, and rosewater, so loved by the Ottomans, sprinkled on them from special pitchers for the purpose."
As well as 99 recipes, and many more examples of beautiful Ottoman miniature.
Included here, are my favorites.