Ottoman Cookbooks |
|
Ottoman cookbooks with titles like ‘A Treatise on Food’, ‘The Cooks’ Refuge’ and ‘The Woman of the House’ offer recipes both healthful and tasty. Y ears ago when I embarked on my studies of Turkish cookery, Turkish cookbooks were the first sources I consulted. There were not many of them. The books of Ekrem Muhittin Yeğen and of our famous chef, Necip Ertürk Usta, were the ones most people used. These books, which contained a great number of recipes, were unfortunately not helpful in my research into Ottoman cuisine. To find what I was looking for, I made my way to the antiquarian booksellers. Like a seeker of treasure, I achieved my aim after combing through these shops one by one. I found many books written in the Ottoman script. There was a problem of course: I didn’t know Ottoman. What’s more, these books had no illustrations. Trusting in the dealers’ claims, I bought whatever they gave me. So enthusiastic was I that within a short time I began slowly to decipher the books. And that was when I found myself in a time tunnel. A REAL FIND: THE ‘TREATISE ON FOOD’
When we translate these books into modern Turkish, we can see how different they are from today’s cookbooks in terms both of style and of cooking techniques. Undoubtedly one of the most important reasons for this is the socio-economic transformation experienced between Ottoman times and our day. Unfortunately, the number of cookbooks written in past centuries is not many. But those to hand, whether printed or in manuscript, offer a welter of information. The book believed to be the first manuscript work about cookery is the ‘Ağdiye Risalesi’ or ‘Ağdiye Treatise’. Although some of the recipes in this 18th century work have been included in various cookbooks, nothing is known about the origin of the book. The Ağdiye Risalesi was transcribed by Nejat Sefercioğlu and printed under the title ‘Yemek Risalesi’ (A Treatise on Food). This seven-chapter cookbook, which is housed in the Library of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, is a treasure in the full sense of the word with a wealth of contents ranging from numerous varieties of soup and a thousand and one examples of pastry to stews, kebabs, pickles, salads and sweets. A lamb steak recipe A COOKBOOK BY A DOCTORThe first printed book of Ottoman cuisine is the Melce’üt Tabbâh’in (The Cooks’ Refuge). Compiled by one of the teachers at the School of Forensic Medicine, this book was first published in 1844, in other words, five years following the declaration of the ‘Tanzimat’ or Reforms, and is the first book of recipes printed as a result of social development initiatives. It is also significant that the book was written by a medical man. When people are sick, they turn to doctors and medications for remedies. But correct and healthful eating can also ensure a healthy life. Methods of preparing broth and non-greasy foods for the sick are given in this book. ‘The Cooks’ Refuge’, prepared for publication by Türebi Efendi, was published in the United Kingdom in 1864 under the title ‘Turkish Cookery’ without citing the source. With contributions by the well-known cookbook scholar Turgut Kut together with Cüneyt Kut, it was translated into Turkish and published in Turkey in 1997. The second printed cookbook was written by a woman, Ayşe Fahriye. Published in 1881, this book, ‘The Woman of the House,’ offers a wealth of information about Turkish Cuisine. Containing recipes for the more traditional Turkish dishes, it also includes 887 informative entries on subjects ranging from table settings and kitchen utensils to canning and drying fruits and vegetables to smoking fish and roasting meat on a spit. ‘The Woman of the House’ is known to have been the source of most of the printed cookbooks that followed it. We would now like to leave you with the various tastes that we have selected from the pages of these priceless Ottoman cookbooks. |