Terrie Wright Chrones, M.A.
2333 Monroe Street
Eugene, Oregon 97405
tel/fax: 541 687 8386
tlatte@aol.com
OTTOMAN CULINARY CULTURE
Nomads, Arabs, Persians, and Byzantine Forerunners
Who cannot love a cuisine that names her dishes lady's navel. lady's thigh, the imman fainted, Noah's pudding or the vizier's finger? Turkish cuisine is known in part through her famous sis kebab, Turkish coffee and delight, pilafs, yogurt, eggplant, stuffed grape leaves and pistachios. These dishes are just the tip of the minaret, a part of Turkish history.
The Ottoman empire had its classical age in the fifteenth century, represented by Suleyman the Magnificent. To understand the Ottoman culinary culture, and recipes that are part of contemporary Turkish lexicon today, one must look at the antecedents of the Ottoman empire.
Historically, the many influences of people and civilizations in Turkish cuisine began with the nomads of Anatolia. In the beginnings of their recorded history, Turks were nomads. Originally from Central Asia, the nomadic tribes, with vast herds, and hunting regions spread into Anatolia during the seventh and eighth centuries. Tribal movement and competition led to larger and larger alliances between groups. Being able to cooperate meant that unified tribes joined together for defense or conquest, eventually populating much of Eastern Turkey or Anatolia by the 11th century. Relatives of the Huns, coming from central Asia, the Turks eventually in pre Islamic times settled with their flocks and culture in this region.
A nomadic and pastoral culture in a basically arid or sparse geography leads to specific adaptations for cuisine. Lamb was, and remains the principle meat. Drying meat, or preserving in salt was the primary method of storage. Dried eggplant, okra, and loofas, hung from beams, threaded upon a cord and stored for winter use.
Milk products, both lamb and goat, provided the bulk of protein. A memorable goat cheese presentation today hints at these nomads. A goatskin is filled with milk, is agitated it and curing until curds form. The skin is cut open, folded back, and displays the aromatic cheese. Yogurt is really Turkey's gift to the culinary world. Bulgarians claim the honor through the Latin name given to the culture. Historians, however, trace the development of yogurt to the Turkik tribes. Yogurt is a Turkish word. Trahana, dried barley pellets mixed with powdered yogurt is a Turkish specialty used for soup. Fermented mare's milk, called Kmiss, was a popular form of an alcoholic beverage. Fermented barley, called Boza was another alcoholic drink. Pekmez, a grape molasses was an important sweetener; one still available in the Middle East today.
Meat was used for feast days, after an animal had outlived its usefulness for milk or wool. In a technique called kavurma, meat is cooked upon a spit or stewed in its own juice in large pots. The nomadic lifestyle; of portable kitchens, packable utensils, and dishes that conserve water and fuels are evident today in Turkish sis kebabs, casseroles, and the prevalence of yogurt.
Anatolians
The Turks assimilated with the indigenous Anatolians, who contributed their distinctive culinary elements; stuffing and flatbreads. The number of Turkish and Central Asian dishes that utilize stuffing as a technique is so prevalent even today that it remains a central feature of Turkish cuisine. Stuffing foods spread during the Ottoman empire throughout the middle east and the Balkans. Stuffing mackerel with pilaf, stuffed eggplant, and other vegetables, even mussels, are Anatolian. Anatolians also used vinegar. Fragrant flatbread is cooked upon a sac, or upturned convex griddle. The pulverized root of the orris plant mixed with a little cinnamon, sahlep, is a winter drink. Sahlep is still available today in Northern Turkey, particularly served during the winter months.
Islam and Conversion
Arab Muslims who conquered the Samanids Persian Empire in the ninth century extended their rule into the borderlands of central Asia. Under Prophet Mohammed, (c. 570-632) Arabia unified under the rule and theology of Islam. Great cities developed, with the distinctive characteristics of Muslim culture. These are: great mosques, charitable institutions, hospitals, soup kitchens for the poor, medereses, or schools, and the matrix for Middle Eastern Government.
Through trade and eventual warfare, Turks encountered the Arabs, and eventually converted to Islam. Through exposure to the Arabs, Persians, and their conversion to Islam the Turkish culture underwent a great change. Islam stressed the community of believers over ethnic or language differences. Moslems accepted converted Turks as brothers upon their conversion. Turks gained entry into a culture that was urban, unified, and highly developed culturally. In addition, the Turks were linchpins for the ancient silk roads, which introduced the spices and eating styles of the far east into Anatolia.
On the one hand, Turks encountered the highly developed culinary court culture of the Arabs. Islam celebrated the senses, in contrast to Christian Europe which often taught that life was to be endured upon earth, celebration of the senses means the physical, sensual, and poetic enjoyment of food. Additional exposure to the remarkable cargo of the silk road, introduced even more culinary nuances through exotic spices from Asia.
The Turkish style of eating by the time the Ottomans came to power was a combination of Arabic refinement and nomadic Asiatic eating style. Portable flat low tables define nomadic mobility, a dining style still common in eastern Turkey today. Handkerchiefs, napkins, perfumed water for washing hands, and elegant speech at the table are direct Persian and Arabic court influences.
The exposure to Arabic culture and conversion to Islam had a profound influence upon culinary culture. Turks changed from hunters and pastoral people to an urban sensibility and lifestyle. Through Arabic cuisine, Turks learned about sugarcane cultivation, distillation of sugar, and confectionery. Sugar syrup in desserts, jams, sherbets and fruit drinks came into their repertoire. Rice cultivation and pilafs in myriad forms extended the wheat and barley culture. Moslem prohibition of pork effectively eliminated this animal from farmers; pork had not had a wide attraction even before. As hunting decreased, hare and venison were not eaten. Horsemeat dishes disappeared as nomads settled and herds declined.
By 1054, the Seljuks ruled most of the Middle East, having conquered the Arab dominions in Anatolia and to the south. Turks, having assimilated Islam, in turn absorbed the remains of the Arabic empires, borrowed the inculcated state system, a standing army, and a court. Courts supported art, poetry, theology, and by application, an imperial cuisine. Turks were the rulers of the Middle East as the Middle East understood rulers. The next step for the sultan and his army was to assimilate the remnants of the Greco Roman empires, seated in Constanople, called Byzantium.
The empire founded by Suleyman is known as Rum Seljuk. The Rum Seljuks ruled what had been part of the Roman-Byzantine empire, central Anatolia. They were the rulers of Turkish lands up to the borders of the Byzantine empire. A central feature of the Rum-Seljuk cities, in addition to the trappings of Islamic cities as previously mentioned, was the system of market control and inspections. Functioning as revenue producing centers for courts, cities and towns were expected to conform and become accountable for standards of quality, thereby insuring a constant tax revenue for the sultan. A system of legal structures defined guilds, including food producers, kettle makers, all aspects of the market. Caravansaries or hans built along trade routes provided protection and accountability for goods imported into the cities. Citizens, in turn, could depend upon a constant supply of goods, including foodstuffs, and a relatively consistent quality of food. This was a unique quality of Turkish urban life, and set into place Istanbul's eventual lead as a city with exemplary cuisine.
As Seljuks declined, the effect of the Mongol devastation of the East was to raise the relative position of the West, including the attraction of conquering Constanople to create a seat of power. The courts of Egypt and Anatolia were more attractive than ruined cities of Transoxania, or central Asia. The seat of power in 1281 shifted to Anatolia, the Turks, and the first ruler of a principality who was to give his name to the empire: Osman, founder of the Ottomans. (figuratively: "those who are with Osman")
At The Gates Of Constanople, The Followers Of Osman
The Byzantine system of laws and order was adopted by the Turks. Turks were masters of adopting whatever would best fit their culture, including cuisine from the Greco-Romans. The honor of early viniculture is claimed by either the Turks or the Greeks. The same lands, occupied at different times, have some of the oldest recorded wine/grape fields. Nomadic and basically landlocked Turks expanded their empire to the Mediterranean. Mediterranean cuisine is fish based, and the Ottomans then began to include more fish dishes within their diet. The empire with the Black Sea to the North, the Aegean, and then the Mediterranean was warmer, and more diverse geographically than eastern Anatolia. It was capable of sustaining groves of olive, nut, and fruit trees, provided a wide range of fish, and wine.
European defeats in the Crusades were to be the end of offensives against the Ottomans in the Balkans for more than two centuries, effectively leaving Constanople to the Turkish advance. As the Ottoman empire grew, Constanople was slowly encircled. Europeans effectively abandoned Constanople, and the city fell in 1453. It was renamed Istanbul.
The Ottoman Classical Age.
At the beginning of the height of the Ottoman classical age, 1446 to 1566, Istanbul became the center of Turkish culinary culture. The nomadic heritage, influence of the Arabic and Persian courts, and assimilation of the Byzantine empire, conspired like a layered borek to form the strata of Ottoman cuisine.
Imperial Cuisine
Imperial cuisine has as its core several constants. An empire will bring back influences from those conquered, and lands which trade with it. The wealth of the court inspires greater specialization, refinement and excess in development of recipes. Heightened urbanization and education of the citizens creates greater expectations of chefs, and expectation of fine dining. Istanbul met these qualifications.
Laws, Islam, And Organization
During the golden age of Suleyman, Ottoman laws organized all aspects of life. As has been mentioned, Islam required and proscribed that the poor and indigent be fed and cared for. Moslem law required a sultan to be charitable. Throughout Istanbul, nobles and wealthy families constructed schools, drinking fountains and built soup kitchens for their neighborhoods.
The sultans, now more removed from their nomadic roots, were less accessible to the people. They lived on the grounds of the large imperial complex called Topkapi, on the golden horn overlooking Istanbul. As a result of their power and numbers, the Topkapi kitchens under successive sultans grew to a staff of over 4,000. Each chef had specialized kitchens, doubling the size of the kitchens in five years.
Topkapi kitchens fed ten thousand people a day within the palace walls, two main meals and an afternoon snack. A full staff was available whenever the sultan decided to eat. Additional food prepared throughout the day, and leftovers from the palace kitchens fed another 4-5,000 a day beyond the palace. Throughout the city over 30,000 additional people were fed from the soup kitchens.
The education of a chef was in part a religious profession. Cooking was metaphorically seen as having a spiritual goal, cooks were instructed to "bake themselves" and to self-improve before cooking for others. A masterchef set an example for his apprentices, to raise them up as he would "raise bread."
Markets, Foods And Chefs
Throughout the empire, specialized regions became known for production of halva, borek, pastry, sweetmeats, wine, and other staples. Selected chefs traveled to Istanbul to work in the kitchens of Topkapi and nobles. Elsewhere in the region, the lesser nobility and wealthy maintained kitchens and chefs as well. Whole villages became known for a specialized type of chef. For decades the city of Bolu has sponsored a national chef competition for professionals throughout the country. Thereby, the professional chef helped to define and standardize much of classical Turkish cuisine.
Local chefs for wealthy homes throughout the empire would imitate the court style. Culinary influences, recipes, and styles of cooking influenced cuisine throughout the huge Ottoman empire, from Egypt, Greece, throughout the Balkans, and into Central Asia.
The Ottoman system of government, that of a Muslim empire, including the Byzantine and Persian system of meticulous management, insured that the highest quality of market goods be preserved. Tax revenues dictated intervention in the marketplace if goods were inferior. On a practical level justice and the economy were best served by stable prices. Therefore, the culinary aspect of the market insured that the citizens of Istanbul and other cities relied upon fresh, and quality foodstuffs at fair and regulated prices. Turkish culinary standards developed within an urban setting.
In the villages, the food of the peasant remained grain based, simple and fresh. Cuisine remained dependent upon local goods rather than imported foodstuffs.
As the empire grew, Ottoman toleration drew Jews from the Eastern European empire, as well as those removed from Moorish Spain and Portugal. Ashkenazi and Sephardic community culture, along with the large population of Greek Orthodox Christians, contributed to the variety and depth of Turkish cuisine.
The Silk Road And Its Influence
Along with immigrant populations, Istanbul remained a center for the silk trade routes. Situated as it was, the silk trades had passed through Anatolia since the late Middle Ages, with caravans arriving in Istanbul en route to Venice and other European ports. Silks and spices drove the market for popularity, value, and as indicators of wealth.
Along with these vital goods came porcelain dinnerware from Japan and China. These porcelains inspired the revival of Islamic potters, and the Turkish blue and white (predominate colors) Iznik style first imitated the Chinese platters. Later, distinctive Turkish motifs such as tulips and carnation, and Islamic intricate geometric patterns developed into a full porcelain style. Servings presented in the palace were often on large Chinese platters some measuring over a yard across.
Etiquette And Dining Style
In Turkish homes and the palace, dining style still revolved around low seating. A leather cloth was first placed upon the ground or carpet, then a low flat table was erected, or several in a large u shape if for a crowd. Using their spoons, diners helped themselves from food placed in the center of the table. A Turk would take his own special spoon, or set of spoons to dinners. Women would crochet or tat special bags for the spoons. Each Turk had spoons carved in wood, mother of pearl, coral, horn, or chased gold and silver. Sayings from the Koran or folklore decorated spoons.. A diner would delicately use only three fingers to eat if not using a spoon.
Tableware was as elaborate as the etiquette. Tablecloths were of cut velvet with gold and silver embroidery and jacquard. The sultan's serving dishes were silver. In the harem, women's dishes were of copper. Copper and crystal ewers were available for washing hands. Tulip shaped crystal glasses served tea and cut crystal cups served sherbet between courses.
Etiquette instructed that talk was to be of light and polite topics during meals. As one diner finished, he would leave and another take his place. Turks still say, "Eat sweet, talk sweet." The saying reflects Turkish health beliefs, for a walk after dinner to aid digestion is beneficial.
Kitchen Tools
In the kitchen, most cooking utensils were of iron, or tin-lined copper. The soup kettles and other large pots had a slightly convex base, with concave sides, and large forged iron handles to hang the pot over the fire. Some of the palace implements measured two yards across. Large knives, skewers, perforated strainers for rice, and elaborate tepsi, or flat circular trays for baklava were standard cooking implements. The sac, the upturned and flattened wok, was, and remains a principal griddle today. Tea pots seemed to be a crossover from the samovar, or may have in turn influenced the samovar style. One large pot with spigot would be on the bottom for hot water. A smaller teapot containing a strong infusion of tea would rest in the circumference of the opening on top of the larger pot. Tea and water were blended to dilute the infusion for a cup of tea. Unlike the design of the Arabic coffee pot with large curving spout and heavy weighted lid, the Turkish coffee pot, or cezve, is a flanged and tapering open pot with a long side handle. Heavy large fasulye bean pots would cook pulses within the ashes of the fires. These were the main implements of a kitchen.
The Janissaries
Sultan's armies followed the centuries-old practice by conscripting an army specifically selected to serve only them. Many of these soldiers were Christian youths, either captured, or sent as vakif, a tax from other lands. Called Janissaries, they converted to Islam with total allegiance to the sultan. This army symbolically associated with food. Each squadron had a name associated with food, the soup squadron, the dessert squadron, and the rice squadron. Twice a year the Janissaries would assemble for the sultan. On New Years day huge trays of baklava arrived from the kitchen to the Janissaries. Before leaving the kitchen, the sultan would drop a golden coin into the baklava; if it upended, there were sufficient flaky layers of filo to bury the coin stood on edge. If the Janissaries ate the baklava, they would show approval for the sultan. Once a year after Ramadan the Janissaries would also gather by squadron, preparing huge cauldrons of soup. The Janissaries overturned the cauldrons if they disapproved the sultan or court policies. Even today, the military has a great influence upon Turkish government, and the phrase, "to turn the soup" indicates political displeasure.
Islam And Food Traditions
Islamic festivals dominated the culture and the cuisine. Cooks prepared elaborate meals before sunrise during Ramadan. Meals were eaten at the end of the day after sundown. As these meals had to hold, there developed the wide and elaborate mezze tradition. Great quantities of appetizers produced before daylight kept safely and tastefully until sundown. Food was served room temperature, a hallmark of many mezzes and Turkish cuisine.
Another Turkish characteristic was the development of a specialized course of meals, the zeytinagle, or olive oil course. These dishes of pulses, beans, meats, are served at room temperature only with olive oil.
Daily life from childbirth, circumcision, marriages and funerals all had specific foods associated with them. After childbirth, a drink made from pureed apricots, or from colored pink cinnamon sugar helped the mother to build up her strength. Families hosted parties with lavish dishes celebrating circumcision ceremonies, signifying the youth's entry into the Moslem communality. Wedding soup and bride's soup, two soups still prepared in Turkey today, were served at marriage ceremonies. Specialized drinks and sweetmeats, particularly helva, were associated with funderals.
One of the most interesting and oldest dishes developed to highly refined levels in Ottoman times. Assure, or Noah's pudding, is made during the tenth lunar month. Assure contains all the stores of pulses, grains, and legumes left on the ark when Noah landed on Mt. Aarat. (in southeastern Turkey.) Assure is a compote of white beans, chickpeas, barley, figs, apricots, filberts, almonds, currants, peeled wheat, garnished with additional nuts. It is one of the hallmarks of ancient Turkish recipes. (Interestingly, Bulgarians call this "Christmas pudding".)
Markets And Guilds
Within the orderly markets, there were specialized food guilds, and all other aspects of Ottoman life. As late as 1846 a listing of 700 occupations detailed the complexity of Ottoman life[Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the Seventeenth Century by Evliya Efendi, vol.1 part II. London, 1846. ]Some of this listing shows the degree of specialization in the market:
| bakers of bread, cakes; buffalo milkers, cheese sellers, coffee merchants, fish cooks, fishermen, fruit merchants, garlic merchants, kettle merchants, raki makers, rice merchants, sausage makers, sheep butchers, sherbet makers, slaughterers, snow and ice merchants, speculators in grain, syrup makers, vegetable sellers, vinegar merchants and wine makers.[P 130, The Ottoman Turks] |
There were not just bakers, but bakers of a certain type of cake. A halva chef might specialize in one of thirty types of halva. There were 1,400 types of pilaf recipes alone for the pilaf chef. The degree of specialization and organization is an Ottoman constant.
The Coffee Culture
By the 15th century, coffee was well established in the culture, and coffeehouses were all over Istanbul. There was an initial problem, for many thought that the euphoric aspect provided by caffeine was against Moslem dietary laws. The Dervishes, by day prosperous business men, practiced their particular form of ecstatic Islam in protracted ceremonies at night. They used coffee to keep going. Through a combination of Moslem scholarly interpretation, and market competition, soon the drinking of coffee was seen as allowed. Most merchants would gather in coffee houses to drink coffee.
At one point the coffee houses were seen as threatening to the sultan and ordered them closed, with coffee drinking offenders tossed into the Bosphorous. However, the reaction against the prohibition was so strong, that the coffeehouses were opened, and the drinking of "Turkish coffee" style spread throughout the empire.
The Great Bazaar
Men shopped for food, while women remained at home. Entering the great covered hans, or markets in Istanbul and elsewhere was to enter into a world that went back to the early silk caravans. Covered and domed arches replaced tents. The great Bazaar in Istanbul had over 13,000 shops. The Egyptian spice bazaar in Istanbul has been a market site since the 12th century. Both of these markets remain today, having been rebuilt often after fires. Constructed of stone and brick, markets ceilings and walls gleam with glazed tiles, hanging lanterns and burnished copper pots. Rents are paid in gold as they were in Ottoman times.
The market was a conglomeration of scent, sights, noise, and trade. Ropes of dried eggplant hung on strings next to sponges, loofas, okra, grapes and sacks of henna. Gold merchants operated next to the coffee merchants. Peppers made their appearance from the new world, late in the 16th century transforming old world cuisines, including Turkey's. Olives were prominent, as olive oil and dried. High quality fruits grown near the Black sea competed for space with tea from Trabzon, coffee from Yemen, sacks of henna, beans of all types, and famous Anatolian melons. Walnuts, pistachios, pinenuts, and bags upon bags of reddish peppers, vats of olives in amber, black and green are an edible Turkish tapestry of color and design. Mutton, lamb, and chicken were the main meats. The markets reflected the empire's wealth, diversity and regional growing areas.
Characteristics Of Cuisine
Characteristics of Turkish cuisine that remain today are the best of the Ottoman empire. These recipes remain part of the lexicon of Turkish cooks today. While lists and generalizations are always rough, they are a simple way of looking at the main elements of this cuisine.
Outside of lamb, the main meat is chicken. The medieval blanc mange has its sister in Tavuk goksu, or chicken breast pudding: shredded chicken mixed with sugar and milk caramelized on the bottom of a large pan, then rolled to display the caramel and chicken pudding as a dessert. Circassian chicken, Cerkez Tavuk, so named for the beautiful women from the Black Sea region, is shredded chicken mixed with a walnut sauce. |
The influence of the Ottoman kitchen persists in the yogurts of Eastern Europe, stuffed peppers of the Balkans, tea service in Russia, the mezze table throughout the region and grapeleaf dolmas. Cookbooks from Bulgaria to Athens have Ottoman dishes, revealed by technique and etymology.
In conclusion, Turkish cuisine is one of the most influential imperial cuisines of the world. It ranks as one of the top culinary cultures, including French, Chinese, Indian, and Mexican. Turkish cuisine is still one of the most under-appreciated by many for its impact. Nationalistic upheaval from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the fall of the Soviet Union has fractured the Ottoman impact. Studying the wide ranging impact of Ottoman food, a culinarian understands the many layers of civilizations, trade and conquest that led to this classic age. Chef, culinary historian, and casual traveler alike benefit from the appreciation of classic Ottoman cuisine, and contemporary Turkish food. As a shopkeeper mentioned in the Great Bazaar, "Everyone likes our food."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Classical Turkish Cooking, Traditional Turkish Food for the American Kitchen, Ayla Algar, Publisher: Harper Collins, New York, 1991
Culinary Cultures of the Middle East, Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, Publisher:I.B.Tauria, London, New York, 1994
Ilk Baslil Turkce Yemek Kitabi, Melceu't-Tabbahim, (Ascilarin Siginagi) Mehmet Kamil, 1844, (A Manual of Turkish Cookery, English translation by Turabi Efnei, 1864.) Publisher; released and reprinted as facsimile by Cuneyt Kut, Istanbul 1997
The Ottoman Turks, An Introductory History to 1923, Justin McCarthy, Publisher: Longman, London and New York, 1997
The Private World of Ottoman Women, Godfrey Goodwin, Publisher: Saqi Books, London, 1997
Timeless Tastes, Turkish Culinary Culture, Semahat Arsel, editor: Ersu Pekin, Ayse Sumer, Publisher: Vehbi Koc Vakfi, Istanbul 1996
The Sultan's Seraglio, An Intimate Portrait of Life at the Ottoman Court, Ottaviano Bon, Introduction and annotation by Godfrey Goodwin, Publisher: Saqi Books, London, 1996
