The quince has a seductive history. Ancient Greek gourmets knew them as apples of Cydonia – after the superior variety they developed from Kydonia in Crete – witness the “golden apple” (almost certainly a quince) Paris presented to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, that led to the downfall of Troy.
SYRUPED QUINCE WITH CREAM (Kremalı Ayva Tatlısı)
Three quinces are cut into four pieces and each boiled in half a litre of boiling water and taken out with a strainer. Sufficient sugar is added to the same water and a little of a lemonis juice is squeezed into it. Quinces are thrown back into the water again together with their seeds packed into a small square of cheesecloth. When cooked to a reasonable softness, they are transferred into a service plate and cream is put into their seedbeds.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Sunday, November 27, 2005
The Original Mediterranean Cuisine
The Original Mediterranean Cuisine |Medieval recipes for today by Barbara Santich
$9.95 PB 240 PP 1862543313 Food and Wine APN 9781862543317 Wakefield Press
In Sicily you can eat a puree of broad beans which is essentially the same as would have been eaten centuries ago. In Barcelona you might sample a dish of fried fish in a vinegary sauce, which goes back to the time of Apicus and the Roman empire. This is the original Mediterranean cuisine. In this book culinary historian Barbara Santich describes how it evolved and offers a selection of recipes from medieval Italian and Catalan manuscripts.
The Origins and Antecedents of
Italian Renaissance Cuisine
by Minowara Kiritsubo
The trumpets sound, the guests take their places and the feast begins. As it is spring, the host has chosen an area of his house for the feast that opens onto his gardens, allowing the fragrance of the flowers to perfume the air. This is augmented by the fresh willow branches which have been strewn about on the floor. The diners are seated along a narrow trestle table which has been covered with a white cloth and a decorative center runner of a handsome brocaded fabric. As the host is quite wealthy, the diners are seated on chairs rather than the stools or benches found in most homes. Each has been provided with a napkin, although a supplementary tablecloth can also be used for wiping hands or mouths. Bread has been placed on the table, as have silver salt cellars so that the guests may season their food to their own individual tastes. They have also been provided with a dish of glazed majolica emblazoned with the host’s coat of arms. Wine will be served from earthenware pitchers, which keep the beverage cool, into glass goblets. Additionally the table setting would include knives and spoons. For this particular feast, the host has also provided that new invention, the fork, which he has recently acquired from a supplier in southern Italy.
The balance and content of dishes served in each course are different from those to which we have become accustomed and would reflect the wealth and position of the host. If this were a simple, everyday meal, it might consist of a one-pot dish of meat and vegetables and a roast. As this is a very special occasion, the menu is quite extravagant. One source, the Cuoco Napolitano, describes a feast consisting of 23 courses!1 The first courses consist of appetizers of various types, designed to whet the appetites of the diners for the courses to follow. Boiled meat courses precede roasted meats, smaller roasts preceding larger ones. In other words, the order in which the dishes are served follows a well-defined code, progressing to a high point of the fanciest and most impressive of the roasts, a whole roasted peacock, complete in its feathers, with various accompaniments. The end of the feast is heralded by the appearance of sweet dishes such as fruits cooked in honey and wine, preserves of various types and "tortes."2
The cuisine of Renaissance Italy developed over many centuries and drew upon many different influences. The first, and most obvious, of these was that of ancient Rome. Anyone who has investigated the history of food and its preparation, even in a cursory manner, has encountered the works of Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman who dabbled in cooking, specializing in the grandiose and unusual. He delighted in preparing elaborate feasts for his friends from the upper social echelons, and his exploits are generally legendary. It is said that he once bid an exorbitant sum for a giant mullet, but was outbid by another who was willing to pay 5000 sesterces for the fish, a sum unheard of at the time.3 His creations utilized ingredients that were both rare and costly, and very complex in nature, often featuring sauces that contained numerous herbs, spices and condiments such as wine and liquamen. He collected his recipes along with his favorites from his friends' kitchens into a work called De re Coquinaria, which gives us a really good idea of the cuisine of the upper classes. The following recipe for roast boar is an example (Apicius 333):
"Prepare a heated sauce for roasted boar thus: Pepper, fried cumin, celery seed, mint, thyme, savory, safflower, roasted pine nuts or roasted almonds, honey, wine, an acetabulum of garum, and a bit of oil."4
You will note that this recipe is only for the sauce and gives no instruction for actually preparing the roast. It was assumed that the cook using the recipe already knew how to do this. Other Roman writers also provided a glimpse of what their cuisine was like. References may be found in the work, Appendix Vergiliana, which contains a poem about a farmer, describing his diet.5 The foods mentioned here are peasant foods, and therefore much simpler than the extravagant feast dishes of Apicius. However, it is surprising that many of these dishes have survived all sorts of mayhem to be part of our modern cuisine. Consider the following description for a cheese spread (Appendix Vergiliana, Moretum):6
Four garlic cloves, celery, rue, coriander, salt grains, and cheese.
A delicious spread can be made by simply blending these ingredients, using ricotta cheese. For modern taste, I recommend cutting back on the amount of garlic as this tends to be VERY strong.
Another very well-known Roman, Cato the Censor, wrote a treatise, de Agricultura, which contained a number of classic dishes, again from the simpler peasant diet.7 Included in his work is a recipe for an early version of a cheese cake (Cato 84):
Make a savillum thus: Mix 1/2 libra of flour and 2 1/2 librae of cheese, as is done for libum. Add 1/4 libra of honey and 1 egg. Grease an earthenware bowl with oil. When you have mixed the ingredients well, pour into the bowl and cover the bowl with an earthenware testo. See that you cook it well in the middle where it is highest. When it is cooked, remove the bowl, spread with honey, sprinkle with poppy, put it back underneath the testo for a moment, and then remove. Serve it thus with a plate and spoon.8
After the fall of Rome, many of the manuscripts containing information about Roman cuisine were lost, as was the case with other writings as well, though much of the Graeco-Roman culture, including many recipes, continued to be used in Constantinople. People in western Europe at this time were more concerned with mere survival than elaborate ways to prepare their food. Some remnants of the Roman ways were preserved in southern France and Spain, as well as Italy, mainly because they shared not only a common climate and a common language base, Latin, but access to trade via the old Roman roads, as well as the sea lanes between major ports. This would serve as the foundation for the trade routes to the East.
Beginning in the 11th century, however, a new interest in cookery began to evolve, spawned by new ideas and products from the Middle East which were brought back by the Crusaders. As Italy was the path of choice for many returning from the Crusades, the first and strongest influences were felt there. During the 13th century, southern Europe developed a class system that was not based solely on the feudal system. Often merchants and professional people were as wealthy if not more so than the nobility. In some cases, a wealthy merchant might purchase lands and titles from an impoverished noble. Because wealth was not tied solely to the land, payment for services and goods was made in money rather than by barter. All of this led to a greater variety of choices available. The wealthy individual could show off his often newly-acquired wealth through his home, furnishings, clothing and cuisine. This was true not only of the newly rich, but of hereditary Great Lords as well. Scully, in his The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages, points out that a substantial portion of the financial resources of great households was invested in culinary endeavors.9
The quality and quantity of foods which the individual served to guests demonstrated the wealth and status of the host. This would include not only the kinds of meats and other foods served, but how they were seasoned, presented and what condiments and sauces were served with them. The upper echelons of society dined on capon, pheasant, kid and lamb, whereas the lower classes had to make do with salt pork and beef. Generally, most of the records from this time are of the extravagant feasts served by the wealthy. We do not have much to base our knowledge of the food consumed by the lower classes.
One influence on the revival of interest in cookery came from the Arab cultures which somewhat surrounded southern Europe, from Tyre and Alexandria in the east to Cordoba in the west. There were a number of Arabic tracts on cooking, the most familiar of which is the translation we call The Baghdad Cookery Book. These books were written by people from all facets of society, including poets, scholars and court officials. Scholars in Europe began to recognize the importance of Arabic writings, but concentrated mainly on those related to medicine and health. Even these books contained references to foods, including which ones were appropriate to certain climates, etc. Often these references would give rise to an interpretation as a recipe. So, while there were few actual Arabic recipes that found their way into the kitchens of Western Europe, adaptations of some references in other treatises inspired the creation of new dishes.
One possible reason for this interest in the medical tracts of Arabic scholars was a concern with eating foods which would engender good health. There had been, from the time of the Greeks, a concept that all things were made up of a combination of two pairs of elements: warm and cold, wet and dry. These were present in humans as blood, choler, phlegm and melancholy. In a healthy individual, these elements should be balanced. It was believed that a food possessing a unbalanced amount of one of these elements could be made more efficacious by preparing it in a manner designed to restore the balance. For example, a lamprey was considered to be cold and wet, in an extreme degree. Therefore, the recommended manner of preparation began with the way in which the lamprey was killed. It was a long-established practice to drown the lamprey in wine (thought to be warm and dry) so that the fluid would impregnate all of the lamprey’s flesh and therefore render it healthful.10
Frequently, physicians would, in their medical treatises, include instructions for the preparation of food, as they considered that it had a great influence on the overall health of the individual. An example of this would be the Regimen sanitatis of Maino de’ Maineri, a health handbook composed for his patron, the Bishop of Arras, in the 1330’s. So much of the book was dedicated to the analysis of foodstuffs that a part of the book has since been published as A Medieval Sauce Book!11 One has only to read the recipes contained in De honesta voluptate by Platina (Bartolomeo Sacchi di Cremona) to see how important the properties of foods and their influence on health was to both those who prepared and those who consumed the cuisine of the period. An example of this is from the very familiar recipe for “Armored Turnips” (Rapum Armatum).
Those who have a fortified gullet are pleased to call turnips armored when they have rolled in cheese, covered, as it were, with breastplate and cuirass, as if their descent into the lower regions would not seem safe without arms. But what good does this protection do the turnips, since it turns against them to their total ruin, since the very strong gluttons in the cookshops of athletes prefer their enemy armored and eat them, defenseless as they are ... This dish is quickly cooked and should be eaten quickly, too. But since it is ruinous, it should be served to Domitianus, who is very greedy.12
Merchants returning from the spice markets had tried Arabic dishes and sought to recreate them when they returned home. Some of the new ideas that found their way into European cooking included the use of nuts to thicken sauces, the use of sugar and citrus fruits to enhance the Graeco-Roman idea of sweet-sour dishes, and sugar as an ingredient for desserts, including marzipan. An example would be the little Sugar Pies from Mestre Roberto, in his Libre del Coch:
Take a pound of almonds and blanch them. And grind them without adding either water or stock, so that they become very oily, and the oilier they are, the better. And take one and a half pounds of white sugar, well pounded, and mix it with the almonds. And when these are mixed, if it is a bit stiff, add a little rosewater. And season it with a little ginger to your taste. Then take pastry made with flour and eggs and sweet oil and fill the pastry with the sugar and the almonds. Then take oil and put it on the fire in a frying pan. And when it boils, put in the little pies and cook them until they take on the color of gold. And when you take them from the fire, pour over melted honey. And then sprinkle them with sugar and powdered cinnamon.13
During the later Middle Ages, there were a number of collections of recipes written. These have survived over time mainly because they were kept in the libraries of the well-to-do. In fact, there is an on-going dispute over whether cooks actually used these recipes or whether they were kept so that meals could be planned and supplies ordered. The main argument against this is that the author often addressed remarks directly to the cook: "If you want to make ... ", "Make sure that ... ", and the ever-present, "... and serve it forth." In fact, the word "recipe" itself comes from the beginning of many Latin recipes, and means "take."
There seem to be four collections from the Mediterranean area which have survived to the present, along with various smaller collections which are in libraries and have yet to be translated/published. The earliest of these is a Catalan collection called Libre del Sent Sovi, the earliest extant manuscript of which dates to 1324, though it is unlikely that this is the first edition. These recipes had a great influence on Mediterranean cooking in general, the most direct of which being on the great cook, Mestre Robert, who wrote the Libre del Coch, the first published version of which appeared in 1520, though it is certain that they were compiled at an earlier date. Mestre Robert was cook to Fernando, King of Naples. As Naples was under Catalan control in the latter part of the fifteenth century, most of these recipes are Catalan in origin. However, many of his recipes do have Italian antecedents.14
Another great cook, Maestro Martino, compiled another cookbook, Libro de Arte Coquinaria, in the mid fifteenth century. Maestro Martino described himself as cook to "Reverendissimo Monsignor Camorlengo." This, according to most authorities, is the most complete of the medieval manuscripts, especially among those from Italy. This work has yet to be translated into English. However, one Bartolomeo Sacchi di Cremona, also known as Platina, produced a cookery book, De honesta voluptate (Of Honest Indulgence), which became the first widely published collection. Platina did not just publish recipes, as noted earlier, but tried to make his book a design for living. Most of his recipes (240 of 250) were directly adapted from Maestro Martino, the remainder having come from Apicius (see above). This is entirely plausible as there were copies of Apician manuscripts in existence at the time. Platina’s book was published in Italy possibly as early as 1472 (one citation shows a version printed in Rome at that time). The manuscript itself, according to Santich, is dated 1468. This was, in all likelihood, the first of the internationally published cookbooks.15 In Savoring the Past, we are told that it was translated into French as Platine en francoys by Desdier Christol, prior of St. Maurice, the site of France’s most important medical school. It was printed in Lyons in 1505.16 There are also translations in German and in English. One book, Epulario, or The Italian Feast, contains recipes which are so similar to those in De honesta voluptate that, at the very least, they had a common source. Compare the following:
Stuffed Eggs
(Platina)
Cook fresh eggs for a long time so that they are hard. Then take the egg from the shell and split it through the middle, so as not to lose any of the white. After you have taken out the yolk, grind up part of it with good cheese, aged as well as fresh, and raisins; save the other part to color the dish. Likewise add a little finely chopped parsley, marjoram and mint. There are those who put in two or more egg whites, along with some spices. With this mixture, fill the whites of the eggs, and when they are stuffed, fry them over a gentle flame, in oil. When they are fried, make a sauce from the rest of the yolks and raisins ground together, and when you have moistened them in verjuice and must, add ginger, clove, and cinnamon and pour over the eggs and let them boil a little together.17
To dresse and fill Egges
(Epulario or, The Italian Feast)
Seeth new Egs in water untill they be hard, then peele them and cut them in the middle, and take out the yolks, and doe not break the white, and stampe some part of those yolks with a few currans, Parsley, Margerum and Mint, chopped very small, with two or three whites of Egs, with what spice you thinke good. And when they are mixed together colour it with Saffron, and fill the Egges therewith, and frie them in oyle; and with a few of those yolkes which remain unstamped with a few Currans, and stampe them well together, and thereto Sugar, Cloues, and good store of Sinamon, let this sauce boyle a little, and when you will send the Egges to the Table, put this sauce upon them.18
The publisher of Epulario has not provided any information about the origin of the manuscript. The only documentation is provided on the title page, where it states that it was translated out of the Italian into English and printed in London in 1598. Santich does not mention an English translation, but if it was translated into both French and German, it seems logical that there would have been and English translation as well. If you compare the two recipes above, the first from Platina and the second from Epulario, allowing for differences in expression, they are almost identical. Epulario does not contain all of the recipes from Platina’s collection, but rather a subset of them, many of which have been adapted and/or rephrased for the English audience. This author does not have any proof or documentation to prove that Epulario is a translation of Platina, but ample evidence exists to indicate that, at the very least, they share a common antecedent.
In this study we have traced the development of Italian Renaissance cuisine from its various sources, including recipes from Imperial Rome, from both the upper class and the peasantry, to the various collections of recipes that give a glimpse into the cuisine of southern Europe. Many of these writings contain not only recipes but information about the environment in which the food was cooked and served and the effect that particular dishes would have on the health and well-being of the diner. This concern, along with the strictures of the Church regarding feast and lean days were the main forces governing the diet of the latter Middle Ages.
Note from author, June, 2000: Further discussions with other cooks, etc., have led me to believe that Epulario, rather than being a translation of parts of Platina, is probably rather a translation of some of Maestro Martino’s recipes instead.
Bibliography
Epulario, or The Italian Feast, London: "Printed by A.I. for William Barley, and are to bee sold at his shop in Gratio Street neere Ieaderi-hall." 1598. Reprinted by Falconwood Press, New York: 1990.
Giacosa, Ilaria Gozzini, A Taste of Ancient Rome. Translated by Anna Herklotz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Platina: Bartolomeo Sacci di Cremona, known as Platina. On Honest Indulgence. "Printed in Venice with the Work and Care of Father Laurentius of Aquila and Also Sibyllius Umber for the Distinguished Duke Peter Mocenicus. On the Ides of June, 1475." Reprinted by Falconwood Press, New York: 1989. (There is no information as to who did the translation, as the original manuscript was in classical Latin).
Santich, Barbara. The Original Mediterranean Cuisine. Totnes, Devon, England: Prospect Books, 1995.
Scully, Terrence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Boydell Press, 1995.
Wheaton, Barbara Ketcham. Savoring the Past. Pennsylvania: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983.
Footnotes:
Barbara Santich, The Original Mediterranean Cuisine. Totnes, Devon, England: Prospect Books, 1995, p. 37.
Ibid.
Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa, A Taste of Ancient Rome. Translated by Anna Herklotz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 7.
Ibid., p. 110.
Ibid., p. 54.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 6.
Ibid., p. 163.
Terrence Scully, The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Boydell Press, 1995, p. 245.
Ibid., p. 44.
Ibid., p. 43.
Platina: Bartolomeo Sacci di Cremona, known as Platina. On Honest Indulgence. New York: Falconwood Press, New York: 1989. (There is no information as to who did the translation, as the original manuscript was in classical Latin), p. 72.
Santich, p. 157.
Ibid., pp. 41-42.
Ibid., p. 43.
Wheaton, Barbara Ketcham. Savoring the Past. Pennsylvania: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983, p. 34.
Platina, p. ?? (nb: I no longer have the version of Platina that I used for this article. However, in the Milham translation, the recipe can be found on page 405. It’s from Book IX, #28.)
Epulario, or The Italian Feast, New York: Falconwood Press, 1990, p. 65.
$9.95 PB 240 PP 1862543313 Food and Wine APN 9781862543317 Wakefield Press
In Sicily you can eat a puree of broad beans which is essentially the same as would have been eaten centuries ago. In Barcelona you might sample a dish of fried fish in a vinegary sauce, which goes back to the time of Apicus and the Roman empire. This is the original Mediterranean cuisine. In this book culinary historian Barbara Santich describes how it evolved and offers a selection of recipes from medieval Italian and Catalan manuscripts.
The Origins and Antecedents of
Italian Renaissance Cuisine
by Minowara Kiritsubo
The trumpets sound, the guests take their places and the feast begins. As it is spring, the host has chosen an area of his house for the feast that opens onto his gardens, allowing the fragrance of the flowers to perfume the air. This is augmented by the fresh willow branches which have been strewn about on the floor. The diners are seated along a narrow trestle table which has been covered with a white cloth and a decorative center runner of a handsome brocaded fabric. As the host is quite wealthy, the diners are seated on chairs rather than the stools or benches found in most homes. Each has been provided with a napkin, although a supplementary tablecloth can also be used for wiping hands or mouths. Bread has been placed on the table, as have silver salt cellars so that the guests may season their food to their own individual tastes. They have also been provided with a dish of glazed majolica emblazoned with the host’s coat of arms. Wine will be served from earthenware pitchers, which keep the beverage cool, into glass goblets. Additionally the table setting would include knives and spoons. For this particular feast, the host has also provided that new invention, the fork, which he has recently acquired from a supplier in southern Italy.
The balance and content of dishes served in each course are different from those to which we have become accustomed and would reflect the wealth and position of the host. If this were a simple, everyday meal, it might consist of a one-pot dish of meat and vegetables and a roast. As this is a very special occasion, the menu is quite extravagant. One source, the Cuoco Napolitano, describes a feast consisting of 23 courses!1 The first courses consist of appetizers of various types, designed to whet the appetites of the diners for the courses to follow. Boiled meat courses precede roasted meats, smaller roasts preceding larger ones. In other words, the order in which the dishes are served follows a well-defined code, progressing to a high point of the fanciest and most impressive of the roasts, a whole roasted peacock, complete in its feathers, with various accompaniments. The end of the feast is heralded by the appearance of sweet dishes such as fruits cooked in honey and wine, preserves of various types and "tortes."2
The cuisine of Renaissance Italy developed over many centuries and drew upon many different influences. The first, and most obvious, of these was that of ancient Rome. Anyone who has investigated the history of food and its preparation, even in a cursory manner, has encountered the works of Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman who dabbled in cooking, specializing in the grandiose and unusual. He delighted in preparing elaborate feasts for his friends from the upper social echelons, and his exploits are generally legendary. It is said that he once bid an exorbitant sum for a giant mullet, but was outbid by another who was willing to pay 5000 sesterces for the fish, a sum unheard of at the time.3 His creations utilized ingredients that were both rare and costly, and very complex in nature, often featuring sauces that contained numerous herbs, spices and condiments such as wine and liquamen. He collected his recipes along with his favorites from his friends' kitchens into a work called De re Coquinaria, which gives us a really good idea of the cuisine of the upper classes. The following recipe for roast boar is an example (Apicius 333):
"Prepare a heated sauce for roasted boar thus: Pepper, fried cumin, celery seed, mint, thyme, savory, safflower, roasted pine nuts or roasted almonds, honey, wine, an acetabulum of garum, and a bit of oil."4
You will note that this recipe is only for the sauce and gives no instruction for actually preparing the roast. It was assumed that the cook using the recipe already knew how to do this. Other Roman writers also provided a glimpse of what their cuisine was like. References may be found in the work, Appendix Vergiliana, which contains a poem about a farmer, describing his diet.5 The foods mentioned here are peasant foods, and therefore much simpler than the extravagant feast dishes of Apicius. However, it is surprising that many of these dishes have survived all sorts of mayhem to be part of our modern cuisine. Consider the following description for a cheese spread (Appendix Vergiliana, Moretum):6
Four garlic cloves, celery, rue, coriander, salt grains, and cheese.
A delicious spread can be made by simply blending these ingredients, using ricotta cheese. For modern taste, I recommend cutting back on the amount of garlic as this tends to be VERY strong.
Another very well-known Roman, Cato the Censor, wrote a treatise, de Agricultura, which contained a number of classic dishes, again from the simpler peasant diet.7 Included in his work is a recipe for an early version of a cheese cake (Cato 84):
Make a savillum thus: Mix 1/2 libra of flour and 2 1/2 librae of cheese, as is done for libum. Add 1/4 libra of honey and 1 egg. Grease an earthenware bowl with oil. When you have mixed the ingredients well, pour into the bowl and cover the bowl with an earthenware testo. See that you cook it well in the middle where it is highest. When it is cooked, remove the bowl, spread with honey, sprinkle with poppy, put it back underneath the testo for a moment, and then remove. Serve it thus with a plate and spoon.8
After the fall of Rome, many of the manuscripts containing information about Roman cuisine were lost, as was the case with other writings as well, though much of the Graeco-Roman culture, including many recipes, continued to be used in Constantinople. People in western Europe at this time were more concerned with mere survival than elaborate ways to prepare their food. Some remnants of the Roman ways were preserved in southern France and Spain, as well as Italy, mainly because they shared not only a common climate and a common language base, Latin, but access to trade via the old Roman roads, as well as the sea lanes between major ports. This would serve as the foundation for the trade routes to the East.
Beginning in the 11th century, however, a new interest in cookery began to evolve, spawned by new ideas and products from the Middle East which were brought back by the Crusaders. As Italy was the path of choice for many returning from the Crusades, the first and strongest influences were felt there. During the 13th century, southern Europe developed a class system that was not based solely on the feudal system. Often merchants and professional people were as wealthy if not more so than the nobility. In some cases, a wealthy merchant might purchase lands and titles from an impoverished noble. Because wealth was not tied solely to the land, payment for services and goods was made in money rather than by barter. All of this led to a greater variety of choices available. The wealthy individual could show off his often newly-acquired wealth through his home, furnishings, clothing and cuisine. This was true not only of the newly rich, but of hereditary Great Lords as well. Scully, in his The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages, points out that a substantial portion of the financial resources of great households was invested in culinary endeavors.9
The quality and quantity of foods which the individual served to guests demonstrated the wealth and status of the host. This would include not only the kinds of meats and other foods served, but how they were seasoned, presented and what condiments and sauces were served with them. The upper echelons of society dined on capon, pheasant, kid and lamb, whereas the lower classes had to make do with salt pork and beef. Generally, most of the records from this time are of the extravagant feasts served by the wealthy. We do not have much to base our knowledge of the food consumed by the lower classes.
One influence on the revival of interest in cookery came from the Arab cultures which somewhat surrounded southern Europe, from Tyre and Alexandria in the east to Cordoba in the west. There were a number of Arabic tracts on cooking, the most familiar of which is the translation we call The Baghdad Cookery Book. These books were written by people from all facets of society, including poets, scholars and court officials. Scholars in Europe began to recognize the importance of Arabic writings, but concentrated mainly on those related to medicine and health. Even these books contained references to foods, including which ones were appropriate to certain climates, etc. Often these references would give rise to an interpretation as a recipe. So, while there were few actual Arabic recipes that found their way into the kitchens of Western Europe, adaptations of some references in other treatises inspired the creation of new dishes.
One possible reason for this interest in the medical tracts of Arabic scholars was a concern with eating foods which would engender good health. There had been, from the time of the Greeks, a concept that all things were made up of a combination of two pairs of elements: warm and cold, wet and dry. These were present in humans as blood, choler, phlegm and melancholy. In a healthy individual, these elements should be balanced. It was believed that a food possessing a unbalanced amount of one of these elements could be made more efficacious by preparing it in a manner designed to restore the balance. For example, a lamprey was considered to be cold and wet, in an extreme degree. Therefore, the recommended manner of preparation began with the way in which the lamprey was killed. It was a long-established practice to drown the lamprey in wine (thought to be warm and dry) so that the fluid would impregnate all of the lamprey’s flesh and therefore render it healthful.10
Frequently, physicians would, in their medical treatises, include instructions for the preparation of food, as they considered that it had a great influence on the overall health of the individual. An example of this would be the Regimen sanitatis of Maino de’ Maineri, a health handbook composed for his patron, the Bishop of Arras, in the 1330’s. So much of the book was dedicated to the analysis of foodstuffs that a part of the book has since been published as A Medieval Sauce Book!11 One has only to read the recipes contained in De honesta voluptate by Platina (Bartolomeo Sacchi di Cremona) to see how important the properties of foods and their influence on health was to both those who prepared and those who consumed the cuisine of the period. An example of this is from the very familiar recipe for “Armored Turnips” (Rapum Armatum).
Those who have a fortified gullet are pleased to call turnips armored when they have rolled in cheese, covered, as it were, with breastplate and cuirass, as if their descent into the lower regions would not seem safe without arms. But what good does this protection do the turnips, since it turns against them to their total ruin, since the very strong gluttons in the cookshops of athletes prefer their enemy armored and eat them, defenseless as they are ... This dish is quickly cooked and should be eaten quickly, too. But since it is ruinous, it should be served to Domitianus, who is very greedy.12
Merchants returning from the spice markets had tried Arabic dishes and sought to recreate them when they returned home. Some of the new ideas that found their way into European cooking included the use of nuts to thicken sauces, the use of sugar and citrus fruits to enhance the Graeco-Roman idea of sweet-sour dishes, and sugar as an ingredient for desserts, including marzipan. An example would be the little Sugar Pies from Mestre Roberto, in his Libre del Coch:
Take a pound of almonds and blanch them. And grind them without adding either water or stock, so that they become very oily, and the oilier they are, the better. And take one and a half pounds of white sugar, well pounded, and mix it with the almonds. And when these are mixed, if it is a bit stiff, add a little rosewater. And season it with a little ginger to your taste. Then take pastry made with flour and eggs and sweet oil and fill the pastry with the sugar and the almonds. Then take oil and put it on the fire in a frying pan. And when it boils, put in the little pies and cook them until they take on the color of gold. And when you take them from the fire, pour over melted honey. And then sprinkle them with sugar and powdered cinnamon.13
During the later Middle Ages, there were a number of collections of recipes written. These have survived over time mainly because they were kept in the libraries of the well-to-do. In fact, there is an on-going dispute over whether cooks actually used these recipes or whether they were kept so that meals could be planned and supplies ordered. The main argument against this is that the author often addressed remarks directly to the cook: "If you want to make ... ", "Make sure that ... ", and the ever-present, "... and serve it forth." In fact, the word "recipe" itself comes from the beginning of many Latin recipes, and means "take."
There seem to be four collections from the Mediterranean area which have survived to the present, along with various smaller collections which are in libraries and have yet to be translated/published. The earliest of these is a Catalan collection called Libre del Sent Sovi, the earliest extant manuscript of which dates to 1324, though it is unlikely that this is the first edition. These recipes had a great influence on Mediterranean cooking in general, the most direct of which being on the great cook, Mestre Robert, who wrote the Libre del Coch, the first published version of which appeared in 1520, though it is certain that they were compiled at an earlier date. Mestre Robert was cook to Fernando, King of Naples. As Naples was under Catalan control in the latter part of the fifteenth century, most of these recipes are Catalan in origin. However, many of his recipes do have Italian antecedents.14
Another great cook, Maestro Martino, compiled another cookbook, Libro de Arte Coquinaria, in the mid fifteenth century. Maestro Martino described himself as cook to "Reverendissimo Monsignor Camorlengo." This, according to most authorities, is the most complete of the medieval manuscripts, especially among those from Italy. This work has yet to be translated into English. However, one Bartolomeo Sacchi di Cremona, also known as Platina, produced a cookery book, De honesta voluptate (Of Honest Indulgence), which became the first widely published collection. Platina did not just publish recipes, as noted earlier, but tried to make his book a design for living. Most of his recipes (240 of 250) were directly adapted from Maestro Martino, the remainder having come from Apicius (see above). This is entirely plausible as there were copies of Apician manuscripts in existence at the time. Platina’s book was published in Italy possibly as early as 1472 (one citation shows a version printed in Rome at that time). The manuscript itself, according to Santich, is dated 1468. This was, in all likelihood, the first of the internationally published cookbooks.15 In Savoring the Past, we are told that it was translated into French as Platine en francoys by Desdier Christol, prior of St. Maurice, the site of France’s most important medical school. It was printed in Lyons in 1505.16 There are also translations in German and in English. One book, Epulario, or The Italian Feast, contains recipes which are so similar to those in De honesta voluptate that, at the very least, they had a common source. Compare the following:
Stuffed Eggs
(Platina)
Cook fresh eggs for a long time so that they are hard. Then take the egg from the shell and split it through the middle, so as not to lose any of the white. After you have taken out the yolk, grind up part of it with good cheese, aged as well as fresh, and raisins; save the other part to color the dish. Likewise add a little finely chopped parsley, marjoram and mint. There are those who put in two or more egg whites, along with some spices. With this mixture, fill the whites of the eggs, and when they are stuffed, fry them over a gentle flame, in oil. When they are fried, make a sauce from the rest of the yolks and raisins ground together, and when you have moistened them in verjuice and must, add ginger, clove, and cinnamon and pour over the eggs and let them boil a little together.17
To dresse and fill Egges
(Epulario or, The Italian Feast)
Seeth new Egs in water untill they be hard, then peele them and cut them in the middle, and take out the yolks, and doe not break the white, and stampe some part of those yolks with a few currans, Parsley, Margerum and Mint, chopped very small, with two or three whites of Egs, with what spice you thinke good. And when they are mixed together colour it with Saffron, and fill the Egges therewith, and frie them in oyle; and with a few of those yolkes which remain unstamped with a few Currans, and stampe them well together, and thereto Sugar, Cloues, and good store of Sinamon, let this sauce boyle a little, and when you will send the Egges to the Table, put this sauce upon them.18
The publisher of Epulario has not provided any information about the origin of the manuscript. The only documentation is provided on the title page, where it states that it was translated out of the Italian into English and printed in London in 1598. Santich does not mention an English translation, but if it was translated into both French and German, it seems logical that there would have been and English translation as well. If you compare the two recipes above, the first from Platina and the second from Epulario, allowing for differences in expression, they are almost identical. Epulario does not contain all of the recipes from Platina’s collection, but rather a subset of them, many of which have been adapted and/or rephrased for the English audience. This author does not have any proof or documentation to prove that Epulario is a translation of Platina, but ample evidence exists to indicate that, at the very least, they share a common antecedent.
In this study we have traced the development of Italian Renaissance cuisine from its various sources, including recipes from Imperial Rome, from both the upper class and the peasantry, to the various collections of recipes that give a glimpse into the cuisine of southern Europe. Many of these writings contain not only recipes but information about the environment in which the food was cooked and served and the effect that particular dishes would have on the health and well-being of the diner. This concern, along with the strictures of the Church regarding feast and lean days were the main forces governing the diet of the latter Middle Ages.
Note from author, June, 2000: Further discussions with other cooks, etc., have led me to believe that Epulario, rather than being a translation of parts of Platina, is probably rather a translation of some of Maestro Martino’s recipes instead.
Bibliography
Epulario, or The Italian Feast, London: "Printed by A.I. for William Barley, and are to bee sold at his shop in Gratio Street neere Ieaderi-hall." 1598. Reprinted by Falconwood Press, New York: 1990.
Giacosa, Ilaria Gozzini, A Taste of Ancient Rome. Translated by Anna Herklotz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Platina: Bartolomeo Sacci di Cremona, known as Platina. On Honest Indulgence. "Printed in Venice with the Work and Care of Father Laurentius of Aquila and Also Sibyllius Umber for the Distinguished Duke Peter Mocenicus. On the Ides of June, 1475." Reprinted by Falconwood Press, New York: 1989. (There is no information as to who did the translation, as the original manuscript was in classical Latin).
Santich, Barbara. The Original Mediterranean Cuisine. Totnes, Devon, England: Prospect Books, 1995.
Scully, Terrence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Boydell Press, 1995.
Wheaton, Barbara Ketcham. Savoring the Past. Pennsylvania: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983.
Footnotes:
Barbara Santich, The Original Mediterranean Cuisine. Totnes, Devon, England: Prospect Books, 1995, p. 37.
Ibid.
Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa, A Taste of Ancient Rome. Translated by Anna Herklotz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 7.
Ibid., p. 110.
Ibid., p. 54.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 6.
Ibid., p. 163.
Terrence Scully, The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Boydell Press, 1995, p. 245.
Ibid., p. 44.
Ibid., p. 43.
Platina: Bartolomeo Sacci di Cremona, known as Platina. On Honest Indulgence. New York: Falconwood Press, New York: 1989. (There is no information as to who did the translation, as the original manuscript was in classical Latin), p. 72.
Santich, p. 157.
Ibid., pp. 41-42.
Ibid., p. 43.
Wheaton, Barbara Ketcham. Savoring the Past. Pennsylvania: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983, p. 34.
Platina, p. ?? (nb: I no longer have the version of Platina that I used for this article. However, in the Milham translation, the recipe can be found on page 405. It’s from Book IX, #28.)
Epulario, or The Italian Feast, New York: Falconwood Press, 1990, p. 65.
TURKISH CHEESE
THE INDISPENSABLE INGREDIENT OF TURKISH TABLES: CHEESE
The history of cheese probably goes as far back as that of milk. Cheese holds a special place not only in Turkish cuisines, but also in the cuisines of the world. According to many views, cheese originated in Mesopotamia, in other words in some parts of Anatolia. The type of cheese is determined by the production stage. Factors such as the quality of the milk used, the protein and fat content, the amount of bacteria that it contains, the conditions of the factory, temperature and humidity levels, the quality and the production techniques used for the additives influence the variety and the taste of cheese.
According to the Turkish Food Regulation, cheese is “a dairy product with particular taste, aroma and consistency, produced by coagulating raw milk, UHT milk or milk cooked at 72 degrees for two minutes with cheese yeast or a harmless acid, and leaving to maturation for a particular period.” In order for milk to turn into cheese, first it needs to coagulate and there are mainly two methods used to achieve this. The first involves leaving milk as it is; in which case it will go sour and coagulate. The second method involves adding yeast to milk, and leaving it to coagulate. As a result of this coagulation, the liquid called “whey” is released. The fresh cheese produced through this process is called “teleme.” The Teleme is left to maturate for particular durations, and through various methods it then becomes ready to be consumed as cheese. Turkish culinary culture features about 20 cheese varieties in about five groups; kasar, tulum, mihaliç, lor, and the white cheese group which is the most important.
White cheese, commonly known as Feta cheese in the West, is mainly produced in the Marmara Region, is consumed in abundance. It can be produced out of sheep or cow milk, but the production techniques may change according to region. White cheese needs 90 days to mature in salt water. High fat content white cheese is soft and smooth whereas low fat versions are harder. It is an essential part of Turkish breakfast and used in börek.
The Tulum variety of cheese is produced by breaking up the teleme, salting it and letting it sit in special bags. Lamb’s milk and a certain ratio of goat milk is used for producing the tulum cheese, does not contain any air pockets, and is left for maturation for at least three months. This yellowish cheese, which is produced especially in the northeastern Anatolian and Aegean regions, tends to be more expensive than other varieties of cheese. However the tulum cheese of the Aegean Region is kept is salty water, which accounts for its different taste.
Kasar cheese is prepared in cylindrical molds and it is dark yellow in color. Generally it is produced with lamb’s milk. In Turkey, kasar is generally produced Middle Anatolian and Thrace regions. To produce one kilogram of good quality kasar cheese, at least ten kilograms of milk are required. After the teleme is put in perforated buckets, it is immersed in hot water at 73 to 75 degrees, and then it is knead and cooked. It needs to sit in round shaped containers for at least a month. The wonderful kasar cheese is consumed by itself or added to dishes.
Mihaliç cheese is mostly produced around Bursa and Balikesir and it involves letting the teleme sit in salted water. The only feature that distinguishes it from kasar is that it is prepared through immersion in hot water at 40 to 45 degrees. Because of this, it is harder than kasar, white in color, and contains little holes. It can be consumed with foods that require melted cheese or eaten by itself.
Lor cheese is created with the whey released during the production of kasar and mihaliç. The extra whey is boiled, and the resulting coagulated matter is broken up into tiny pieces. Lor is an unsalted and inexpensive type of cheese generally consumed as bread spread with the addition of walnuts, tomato paste and various condiments. Alternatively, it is used as börek filling.
Other than these major varieties, there are many other types of Turkish cheese; the Otlu cheeses (Eastern Anatolia) are produced by adding cumin, mint, bay leaves, dill, oregano, saffron, fennel or lavender to the white cheese and burying it underground for at least two months. Örgü cheese (Southeastern Anatolia) gets its name because it is prepared in braided hair form, and it is suitable for frying. In addition to Dil (Marmara Region), Civil (Eastern Anatolia), Çamur (vicinity of Izmir), Çerkes (Black Sea Region), Golot (Eastern Black Sea Region), Sikma (Southeastern Anatolia Region), Carra (vicinity of Hatay), Abaza (Middle Anatolia Region), Yörük (vicinity of Denizli), there are many other types of cheese which get their names from the containers used for maturation; çömlek, küp, çanak, and testi, etc.
Kirli Hanim produced around Ayvalik features white cheese filtered in reed baskets, salted and left to mature in a cool place, and it appeals to gourmet taste. Künefe Cheese is produced in the vicinity of Hatay, singularly for use with the dessert dish Künefe and semolina sweets. One of the most special varieties of cheese produced in Turkey is Kars Gravyeri, which has holes and needs to be left for maturation for at least ten months before it can be ready for consumption.
The cheeses which peynirl outside of the main varieties get their particular characteristics from the geographical conditions of the region. In inland regions, where difficult winter conditions prevail, cheese are tend to be saltier and harder. On the other hand, in coastal regions, lighter varieties of cheese are preferred.
Reference: Yesim Gokce (Bilkent University)/Turkish Cultural Foundation
The history of cheese probably goes as far back as that of milk. Cheese holds a special place not only in Turkish cuisines, but also in the cuisines of the world. According to many views, cheese originated in Mesopotamia, in other words in some parts of Anatolia. The type of cheese is determined by the production stage. Factors such as the quality of the milk used, the protein and fat content, the amount of bacteria that it contains, the conditions of the factory, temperature and humidity levels, the quality and the production techniques used for the additives influence the variety and the taste of cheese.
According to the Turkish Food Regulation, cheese is “a dairy product with particular taste, aroma and consistency, produced by coagulating raw milk, UHT milk or milk cooked at 72 degrees for two minutes with cheese yeast or a harmless acid, and leaving to maturation for a particular period.” In order for milk to turn into cheese, first it needs to coagulate and there are mainly two methods used to achieve this. The first involves leaving milk as it is; in which case it will go sour and coagulate. The second method involves adding yeast to milk, and leaving it to coagulate. As a result of this coagulation, the liquid called “whey” is released. The fresh cheese produced through this process is called “teleme.” The Teleme is left to maturate for particular durations, and through various methods it then becomes ready to be consumed as cheese. Turkish culinary culture features about 20 cheese varieties in about five groups; kasar, tulum, mihaliç, lor, and the white cheese group which is the most important.
White cheese, commonly known as Feta cheese in the West, is mainly produced in the Marmara Region, is consumed in abundance. It can be produced out of sheep or cow milk, but the production techniques may change according to region. White cheese needs 90 days to mature in salt water. High fat content white cheese is soft and smooth whereas low fat versions are harder. It is an essential part of Turkish breakfast and used in börek.
The Tulum variety of cheese is produced by breaking up the teleme, salting it and letting it sit in special bags. Lamb’s milk and a certain ratio of goat milk is used for producing the tulum cheese, does not contain any air pockets, and is left for maturation for at least three months. This yellowish cheese, which is produced especially in the northeastern Anatolian and Aegean regions, tends to be more expensive than other varieties of cheese. However the tulum cheese of the Aegean Region is kept is salty water, which accounts for its different taste.
Kasar cheese is prepared in cylindrical molds and it is dark yellow in color. Generally it is produced with lamb’s milk. In Turkey, kasar is generally produced Middle Anatolian and Thrace regions. To produce one kilogram of good quality kasar cheese, at least ten kilograms of milk are required. After the teleme is put in perforated buckets, it is immersed in hot water at 73 to 75 degrees, and then it is knead and cooked. It needs to sit in round shaped containers for at least a month. The wonderful kasar cheese is consumed by itself or added to dishes.
Mihaliç cheese is mostly produced around Bursa and Balikesir and it involves letting the teleme sit in salted water. The only feature that distinguishes it from kasar is that it is prepared through immersion in hot water at 40 to 45 degrees. Because of this, it is harder than kasar, white in color, and contains little holes. It can be consumed with foods that require melted cheese or eaten by itself.
Lor cheese is created with the whey released during the production of kasar and mihaliç. The extra whey is boiled, and the resulting coagulated matter is broken up into tiny pieces. Lor is an unsalted and inexpensive type of cheese generally consumed as bread spread with the addition of walnuts, tomato paste and various condiments. Alternatively, it is used as börek filling.
Other than these major varieties, there are many other types of Turkish cheese; the Otlu cheeses (Eastern Anatolia) are produced by adding cumin, mint, bay leaves, dill, oregano, saffron, fennel or lavender to the white cheese and burying it underground for at least two months. Örgü cheese (Southeastern Anatolia) gets its name because it is prepared in braided hair form, and it is suitable for frying. In addition to Dil (Marmara Region), Civil (Eastern Anatolia), Çamur (vicinity of Izmir), Çerkes (Black Sea Region), Golot (Eastern Black Sea Region), Sikma (Southeastern Anatolia Region), Carra (vicinity of Hatay), Abaza (Middle Anatolia Region), Yörük (vicinity of Denizli), there are many other types of cheese which get their names from the containers used for maturation; çömlek, küp, çanak, and testi, etc.
Kirli Hanim produced around Ayvalik features white cheese filtered in reed baskets, salted and left to mature in a cool place, and it appeals to gourmet taste. Künefe Cheese is produced in the vicinity of Hatay, singularly for use with the dessert dish Künefe and semolina sweets. One of the most special varieties of cheese produced in Turkey is Kars Gravyeri, which has holes and needs to be left for maturation for at least ten months before it can be ready for consumption.
The cheeses which peynirl outside of the main varieties get their particular characteristics from the geographical conditions of the region. In inland regions, where difficult winter conditions prevail, cheese are tend to be saltier and harder. On the other hand, in coastal regions, lighter varieties of cheese are preferred.
Reference: Yesim Gokce (Bilkent University)/Turkish Cultural Foundation
Teleme
Always known as Teleme in Turkey
Mavi Boncuk |
A Western classic and a California exclusive, teleme is a creamy white cheese made from whole milk. Once ranked as the best-sell ing specialty cheese in California, it slipped from attention in the late '60s, when some early producers stopped making it.
The invention of teleme is credited to a Greek cheese maker in Pleasanton, California. Shortly thereafter, production was begun by others, including one California family of Italian heritage, the Pelusos. First made in San Francisco's North Beach district in the 1920's, teleme is a close cousin of Taleggio, a whole milk cheese traditionally from the Taleggio Valley in Lombardo, Italy. Some describe it as a creamy Monterey Jack. The Pelusos began commercial distribution in 1925 and, three generations later, still supply Westerners with this distinctive cheese. Authoritative classifications group teleme with feta. But it's much more like Italy's stracchino in taste and texture. Both cheeses have a mild but refreshingly smooth-tart flavor (without feta's saltiness). Teleme, however, is smoother and creamier throughout; when beated, it melts into a delicate sauce a property of which these recipes take advantage. The process of making teleme and feta starts the same way, but feta turns out firm and crumbly; teleme goes the opposite direction, in an operation that's more difficult to control. Not surprisingly, it was an unexpected development in a batch of feta that created teleme.
Teleme is made in 10- to 12-pound blocks. The cheese is ready to eat in about 10 days but can age up to two months. As it ages, it develops more complex flavor and creamier texture.
Mavi Boncuk |
A Western classic and a California exclusive, teleme is a creamy white cheese made from whole milk. Once ranked as the best-sell ing specialty cheese in California, it slipped from attention in the late '60s, when some early producers stopped making it.
The invention of teleme is credited to a Greek cheese maker in Pleasanton, California. Shortly thereafter, production was begun by others, including one California family of Italian heritage, the Pelusos. First made in San Francisco's North Beach district in the 1920's, teleme is a close cousin of Taleggio, a whole milk cheese traditionally from the Taleggio Valley in Lombardo, Italy. Some describe it as a creamy Monterey Jack. The Pelusos began commercial distribution in 1925 and, three generations later, still supply Westerners with this distinctive cheese. Authoritative classifications group teleme with feta. But it's much more like Italy's stracchino in taste and texture. Both cheeses have a mild but refreshingly smooth-tart flavor (without feta's saltiness). Teleme, however, is smoother and creamier throughout; when beated, it melts into a delicate sauce a property of which these recipes take advantage. The process of making teleme and feta starts the same way, but feta turns out firm and crumbly; teleme goes the opposite direction, in an operation that's more difficult to control. Not surprisingly, it was an unexpected development in a batch of feta that created teleme.
Teleme is made in 10- to 12-pound blocks. The cheese is ready to eat in about 10 days but can age up to two months. As it ages, it develops more complex flavor and creamier texture.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Beyaz Peynir
Traditional, unpasteurized, vegetarian, fresh cheese made from sheep's milk. Pure white and rindless, the cheese has a grainy appearance. It is usually sold in blocks or slices. It is used in salads, pastries and many local dishes. Beyaz Peynir is the most popular Turkish cheese. Vegetable rennet is used to clot the milk. The curds are pressed for a few hours, then roughly chopped and strained, sometimes in attractive wooden or woven moulds. After draining, the cheese is cut into slices before being salted and covered with brine. It is usually stored in brine for more than six months. This cheese resembles feta. It is soaked in cold water or milk before use, to remove the excess salt.
Country:Turkey
Milk:ewe milk
Texture:semi-soft
Fat content:45 %
Wait until you try Turkey's luscious haydari dip. It blends homemade yogurt (labneh) or Beyaz peynir with dill and garlic, to which you can add walnuts, the health food of the moment and a part of the Caucasus longevity diet.
Country:Turkey
Milk:ewe milk
Texture:semi-soft
Fat content:45 %
Wait until you try Turkey's luscious haydari dip. It blends homemade yogurt (labneh) or Beyaz peynir with dill and garlic, to which you can add walnuts, the health food of the moment and a part of the Caucasus longevity diet.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Piyaz | Haricot Bean Salad
Piyaz (haricot bean salad) by Zeyda Üstün
Soak 250 gr kuru fasulye (white beans-haricot beans-navy beans) overnight. The next morning drain off the water and put the beans in a pan of boiling water, at which 2 dessertspoonful of sodium bicarbonate was added, and let boil for 4-5 minutes and drain again.
Put the beans in a pan and cover over the top with fresh water and cook. When done, spare ½ glass of the water and drain the remaining water. Add salt, some lemon juice, and vinegar to ½ glass of water and pour it over the beans and stir. Cover the pan and cool. Add olive oil after an hour.
Dress with green onions (or dry onions), chopped parsley, olive, and tomatoes and especially with boiled eggs. Serve cool.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Un Helvası | Flour Helva
Un Helvası (Flour Helva)
2 glasses flour
3 glasses water
2.5 glasses of sugar
1 T. spoon pine nuts
125 gr. Margarine un
Stir the flour and the pine nuts with a wooden spoon until the color of the nuts turns into a light brown at a very low heat.. Slowly pour the water, sugar and melted margarine mixture 25-35 minutes later. Stir this heavy mixture 5-10 more minutes and then turn off the stove. When warm take portions with a table spoon which you dip into water from time to time to avoid sticking and lay them to a dish after giving shape. The characteristic of Un helvasi is its spoon like shape.
2 glasses flour
3 glasses water
2.5 glasses of sugar
1 T. spoon pine nuts
125 gr. Margarine un
Stir the flour and the pine nuts with a wooden spoon until the color of the nuts turns into a light brown at a very low heat.. Slowly pour the water, sugar and melted margarine mixture 25-35 minutes later. Stir this heavy mixture 5-10 more minutes and then turn off the stove. When warm take portions with a table spoon which you dip into water from time to time to avoid sticking and lay them to a dish after giving shape. The characteristic of Un helvasi is its spoon like shape.
Irmik Helvasi |SEMOLINA SAFFRON AND PISTACHIO HELVA
SEMOLINA SAFFRON AND PISTACHIO HELVA (IRMIK HELVASI)
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 ts Saffron threads
2 tb Hot milk
1/3 c Shelled unsalted pistachios
9 tb Unsalted butter
1 c + 2 to 4 tb sugar
2 c Milk
1 c Semolina
Soak the saffron in the hot milk for at least 30 minutes. Heat a heavy
frying pan and toast the pistachios with 1 tablespoon of the butter for 2
minutes, until they are lightly toasted but still green. Remove as much
skin as you can from them and set aside.
Dissolve the sugar in the milk over low heat and keep the mixture hot. Melt
the remaining butter in a heavy saucepan, add the semolina, and cook,
stirring, over low heat for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Stir the saffron milk into the hot sugared milk and add to the semolina,
and cook, stirring vigorously. Remove the helva from the fire, cover, and
allow to stand in a warm spot for 15 minutes. Fold in the pistachios and
serve warm or at room temperature in bowls.
From: CLASSICAL TURKISH COOKING - Traditional Turkish Food for the
American Kitchen by Ayla Algar, Harper Collins Publ., New York. 1991. ISBN
0-06-016317-8 Shared by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 4/93
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 ts Saffron threads
2 tb Hot milk
1/3 c Shelled unsalted pistachios
9 tb Unsalted butter
1 c + 2 to 4 tb sugar
2 c Milk
1 c Semolina
Soak the saffron in the hot milk for at least 30 minutes. Heat a heavy
frying pan and toast the pistachios with 1 tablespoon of the butter for 2
minutes, until they are lightly toasted but still green. Remove as much
skin as you can from them and set aside.
Dissolve the sugar in the milk over low heat and keep the mixture hot. Melt
the remaining butter in a heavy saucepan, add the semolina, and cook,
stirring, over low heat for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Stir the saffron milk into the hot sugared milk and add to the semolina,
and cook, stirring vigorously. Remove the helva from the fire, cover, and
allow to stand in a warm spot for 15 minutes. Fold in the pistachios and
serve warm or at room temperature in bowls.
From: CLASSICAL TURKISH COOKING - Traditional Turkish Food for the
American Kitchen by Ayla Algar, Harper Collins Publ., New York. 1991. ISBN
0-06-016317-8 Shared by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 4/93
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Pide | Turkish Bayram Bread
When Hasan al-Basri was asked whether sadaqa was better than recitation of the Qur'an, he related the tradition: "A piece of bread and a handful of dates given in alms is more beneficial than reciting the Qur'an a thousand times."
Rumi
Pide Turkish Bayram Bread
Not to be confused with the pocket bread, pide is a sweet round loaf fragrant with sesame and fennel.
Total time 5 hours
Dough preparation 1/2 hour
Rising 2-1/2 hours
Baking 1 hour
Cooling 1+ hours
1 cup warm water, at skin temperature
2 tsp. yeast
3 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. butter
3/4 cup milk
4-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp. salt Topping:
1 egg
1 tbsp. milk
3 tbsp. sesame seeds
1-1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small bowl. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, then stir in the milk and sugar and warm to skin temperature.
Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center, then pour in all of the liquid ingredients. Stir until the mixture forms a dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or more, until the dough is smooth and resilient. Clean out the mixing bowl, butter it lightly, and return the dough to the bowl. Cover and let rise for 1-1/2 hours.
Punch down the dough, knead it briefly, then form it into a tight ball. Place the ball in the center of a lightly buttered 12" round baking dish, then flatten the dough until it covers all but 1" around the edge of the dish. Cover with a clean damp towel and let rise again for another hour.
Preheat the oven to 375?F.
Beat together the egg and milk, then gently brush it over the surface of the dough, the sides as well as the top. (Save any excess egg wash for another project.) Evenly sprinkle the sesame and fennel seeds over the dough, and pat them down gently with dry hands so that they will adhere to the egg wash. (Be careful not to deflate the dough. Using a sharp knife or razor blade, make several shallow cuts in a pleasing pattern over the surface of the bread.
Bake the loaf for 40 minutes, or until it turns a golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
from Serving the Guest: A Sufi Cookbook
Copyright © 1999, 2000 Kathleen Seidel
Rumi
Pide Turkish Bayram Bread
Not to be confused with the pocket bread, pide is a sweet round loaf fragrant with sesame and fennel.
Total time 5 hours
Dough preparation 1/2 hour
Rising 2-1/2 hours
Baking 1 hour
Cooling 1+ hours
1 cup warm water, at skin temperature
2 tsp. yeast
3 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. butter
3/4 cup milk
4-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp. salt Topping:
1 egg
1 tbsp. milk
3 tbsp. sesame seeds
1-1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small bowl. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, then stir in the milk and sugar and warm to skin temperature.
Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center, then pour in all of the liquid ingredients. Stir until the mixture forms a dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or more, until the dough is smooth and resilient. Clean out the mixing bowl, butter it lightly, and return the dough to the bowl. Cover and let rise for 1-1/2 hours.
Punch down the dough, knead it briefly, then form it into a tight ball. Place the ball in the center of a lightly buttered 12" round baking dish, then flatten the dough until it covers all but 1" around the edge of the dish. Cover with a clean damp towel and let rise again for another hour.
Preheat the oven to 375?F.
Beat together the egg and milk, then gently brush it over the surface of the dough, the sides as well as the top. (Save any excess egg wash for another project.) Evenly sprinkle the sesame and fennel seeds over the dough, and pat them down gently with dry hands so that they will adhere to the egg wash. (Be careful not to deflate the dough. Using a sharp knife or razor blade, make several shallow cuts in a pleasing pattern over the surface of the bread.
Bake the loaf for 40 minutes, or until it turns a golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
from Serving the Guest: A Sufi Cookbook
Copyright © 1999, 2000 Kathleen Seidel
Monday, October 17, 2005
Three Kunefe Versions
BURMA KÜNEFE 1 kg künefe 500 gr tuzsuz peynir 300 gr tereyağı 3 yumurta 1 avuç un Şurubu: 1 kg şeker üstünü örtecek kadar su Bir tepside künefe yağla karıştırılır. Altı eşit parçaya ayrılır. Küçük parmak kalınlığında açılır. İçine peynir konup poğaça gibi kapatılır. Diğer tarafta unla yumurtalar çırpılır, hazırlanmış peynirli künefeler bu bulamaca batırılarak yağda kızartılıp ılık şuruba atılır.
KAYMAKLI KÜNEFE 1 kg künefe 800 gr kaymak 300 gr tereyağı Şurubu: 1 kg toz şeker 1 kaşık limon suyu 3 bardak su 50 cm. çapında ince kenarlı bir tepside ortası açılıp tereyağı konulur. Hafif ateşte, yağ künefeye yedirilerek elle iyice kırılır. Ateşten indirilen künefe ikiye ayrılır. Yağlanmış tepsiye, künefenin yarısı, yarım cm kalınlığında sıkıca bastırılarak yerleştirilir. İnce ateşte çevire çevire altı pembeleşinceye kadar kızartılır. Üstüne kaymak döşenerek (kenarlara taşmamalı) bir tarafa bırakılır. Diğer yarı; başka bir tepsiye basılarak altı kızartılır ve üçüncü bir tepsiye çevrilerek, pişmemiş tarafı kaymağın yüzüne kızarmış tarafı da en üste gelecek şekilde kaymaklı tepsinin üstüne aktarılır. Hazırlanan şurup ılıtılarak sıcak künefenin üstüne dökülür. 8 cm’lik kareler şeklinde kesilerek ılık servis yapılır.
PEYNiRLi KÜNEFE 1 kg künefe 800 gr tuzsuz beyaz peynir 300 gr tereyağı Şurubu: 1 kg şeker Şeker üstünü kapatacak miktarda suyla kaynatılarak ağdalı bir şurup elde edilir. Ateşten indirmeden önce biraz limon suyu damlatılır. İnce kenarlı 60 cm çapında bir tepside künefenin ortası açılıp tereyağı konulur. Hafif ateşte yağ künefeye yedirilip elle iyice tiftiklenir. Ateşten indirilen künefe ikiye ayrılır. Aynı tepsiye biraz tereyağı sürülüp ayrılan künefenin yarısı yarım cm. incelikte yayılıp sıkıca bastırılır. Üstüne ufalanmış tuzsuz taze peynir kenarlara taşmayacak biçimde yerleştirilir. Künefenin diğer yarısı peynirin üstünü kapatacak şekilde yarım cm incelikte, düzgün bir biçimde yayılıp, sıkıştırılarak kuvvetli ateşin üstünde hafif hafif döndürülerek altı pembeleşinceye kadar kızartılır. Ayrı yağlanmış bir tepsiye alt üst edilir. Diğer tarafı da kızartılıp pembeleştikten sonra bir tarafa alınır. Üzerine hazırlanan sıcak şurup dökülür. Sıcak servis yapılır.
KAYMAKLI KÜNEFE 1 kg künefe 800 gr kaymak 300 gr tereyağı Şurubu: 1 kg toz şeker 1 kaşık limon suyu 3 bardak su 50 cm. çapında ince kenarlı bir tepside ortası açılıp tereyağı konulur. Hafif ateşte, yağ künefeye yedirilerek elle iyice kırılır. Ateşten indirilen künefe ikiye ayrılır. Yağlanmış tepsiye, künefenin yarısı, yarım cm kalınlığında sıkıca bastırılarak yerleştirilir. İnce ateşte çevire çevire altı pembeleşinceye kadar kızartılır. Üstüne kaymak döşenerek (kenarlara taşmamalı) bir tarafa bırakılır. Diğer yarı; başka bir tepsiye basılarak altı kızartılır ve üçüncü bir tepsiye çevrilerek, pişmemiş tarafı kaymağın yüzüne kızarmış tarafı da en üste gelecek şekilde kaymaklı tepsinin üstüne aktarılır. Hazırlanan şurup ılıtılarak sıcak künefenin üstüne dökülür. 8 cm’lik kareler şeklinde kesilerek ılık servis yapılır.
PEYNiRLi KÜNEFE 1 kg künefe 800 gr tuzsuz beyaz peynir 300 gr tereyağı Şurubu: 1 kg şeker Şeker üstünü kapatacak miktarda suyla kaynatılarak ağdalı bir şurup elde edilir. Ateşten indirmeden önce biraz limon suyu damlatılır. İnce kenarlı 60 cm çapında bir tepside künefenin ortası açılıp tereyağı konulur. Hafif ateşte yağ künefeye yedirilip elle iyice tiftiklenir. Ateşten indirilen künefe ikiye ayrılır. Aynı tepsiye biraz tereyağı sürülüp ayrılan künefenin yarısı yarım cm. incelikte yayılıp sıkıca bastırılır. Üstüne ufalanmış tuzsuz taze peynir kenarlara taşmayacak biçimde yerleştirilir. Künefenin diğer yarısı peynirin üstünü kapatacak şekilde yarım cm incelikte, düzgün bir biçimde yayılıp, sıkıştırılarak kuvvetli ateşin üstünde hafif hafif döndürülerek altı pembeleşinceye kadar kızartılır. Ayrı yağlanmış bir tepsiye alt üst edilir. Diğer tarafı da kızartılıp pembeleştikten sonra bir tarafa alınır. Üzerine hazırlanan sıcak şurup dökülür. Sıcak servis yapılır.
PEYNIRLI KUNEFE
PEYNIRLI KUNEFE
(SWEET SHREDDED PASTRY WITH CHEESE)
Sugar 2 1/4 cups 450 g
Water 1 1/2 cups 350 g
Lemon 2 teaspoons 10 g
Kadayif (shredded pastry) 500 g
Butter or margarine 1 cup 200 g
White cheese (un-salted) 1 2/3 cups 375 g
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Boil gently for 5 minutes. Add lemon juice; stir. Boil for 1 minute. Set aside. Combine kadaylf shreds and melted butter in a pan. Break kadaylf shreds in butter blending well with tips of fingers. Divide into half. Spread one half in a slightly greased baking pan 25x25 cm (9x9 inch). Press with fingers slightly. Spread cheese over kadaylf shreds. Repeat the same with the remaining half, pressing firmly this time. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven. Let stand for 2 minutes. Pour warm syrup over. Cover and let stand until syrup is absorbed. Cut into 5-6 cm (2-2 1/2 inch) pieces. Arrange on a serving plate. Serve warm.
12 servings
Nutrition Value (Approx. per serving):
Energy ........: 516 cal Sodium ..........: 72 mg
Protein .......: 10.0 g Vitamin A .......: 334 iu
Fat ...........: 22.4 g Thiamin (Bl) ....: 0.04 mg
Carbohydrate ..: 68.8 g Riboflavin (B2)..: 0.03 mg
Calcium .......: 117 mg Niacin ..........: 0.71 mg
Iron ..........: 0.58 mg Vitamin C .......: - mg
Phosphorus ....: 158 mg
Zinc ..........: 1 mg Cholesterol .....: 7 mg
Regional characteristics:
This form of kadayif is usually served warm following a full meal. Cottage, Ricotta or cream cheese can be substituted for cheese.
Regional Cooking (Hatay)
KunefeHataylılar, kendilerine özgü yemeklerin üzerinde Antep ve Adana etiketi görmekten şikayetçi. Sac oruğu, firikli aş ya da turplu taratoru tanıtmak için adım atmış değiller; ama herkesi o çok meşhur künefenin izini sürmeye çağırıyorlar.
Hatay’da biber mevsimi gelip geçti. Çok değil, bir ay önce balkonların ahşap parmaklıkları kırmızı gerdanlıklarla süslüydü. Kadınlar, avlularda imece usulüyle ipe geçirdikleri biberlerin kışın ne güzel dolma olacağını konuşuyordu. Biberlerin bir kısmı İstanbul’daki akrabalara yollanmış olmalı, bir kısmı da Uzun Çarşı’da biber sıcaklarını kaçıran tedbirsiz kadınları bekliyor. Dolmadan başka közlemesi ve turşusu da yapılan kırmızı biber Hatay mutfağının vazgeçilmezlerinden. Ancak güneyin bu zengin mutfağını, Anadolu’nun diğer illerinden ayıran adı ve tadı farklı öyle lezzetler var ki, kırmızı biber küçük bir renkten ibaret kalır.
Sofra adabına uygun davranıp yemek öncesi getirilen; ama doyuruculuğuyla çoğu zaman sıcak yemeğe ihtiyaç hissettirmeyen salatalarla girelim söze; taze nane dalları, tereyağlı ve fıstıklı humus, dövülmüş kekikten oluşan zahter, cevizli biber, turplu tarator, küflü çökelek, patlıcanlı yoğurtlama, sarmaiçi... Küflü çökelek çok tüketilen; ama zor yapılan bir katık. Tarçın, yeni bahar, kimyon, sarımsak, zahter, toz biber, tuz ve zeytinyağı ilâvesiyle yoğrulan çökelek, topaklar halinde küflenmeye bırakılıyor.
Hatay mutfağının meşhurlarından biri de 300 yıldan beri keçi sütüyle yapılan tuzlu yoğurt. Haziran ayından sonra göçerlerin gelmesi ile geniş kazanlarda tuzla pişirilen yoğurtlar gece soğutulduktan sonra kavanozlara basılıp ağzı önce asma yaprağı sonra iç yağıyla korumaya alınıyor ve kilere kaldırılıyor. Kavanoz açıldığında ağzında kuruyan iç yağı atılıyor ve ilk yoğurtla katıklı ekmek yapılıyor. Sonrasında ise, kırmızı biber, nane ve zeytinyağı ilavesiyle kahvaltıda tüketildiği gibi, kumbursiye, yoğurt aşı gibi çorbaların yapımında, kabak, ıspanak, bakla gibi sebze yemeklerinde kullanılıyor.
Dörtyüze yakın yemek çeşidi barındıran Hatay mutfağında başrol oyuncusu her zaman tahin; ama pilav ve dolma çeşitleri özellikle de içli köfte yabana atılacak gibi değil. Biberli kimyonlu bulgur pilavı, baklalı bulgur pilavı, mercimekli bulgur pilavı, pirzolalı yaprak sarma, firikli aş, kuru dolma, analı kızlı, biberli ekmek, sac oruğu, Arap kebabı ve çiğ köftenin sofraya sultanlar gibi kurulduğu Hatay mutfağı ‘ağır’ ama besin değeri yüksek yemeklerden oluşuyor. Bol çeşit, damak zevki, besleyicilik ve lezzet esası üzerine kurulan bu kendine özgü mutfakta tasarruftan da ödün verilmediğini söylemek gerek.
Künefe akşam serinliğinde yenir
Peynir günü peynirli ekmek, tuzlu yoğurt günü kaymaklı künefe pişen evlerde, tuzlu yoğurt bulaşığı kapların çalkalanmasından elde edilen suyla tarhana aşı, sünük peynirden arta kalan peynirli suyla kâke yapılır ve yağ bulaşığı kaplarda bulgur aşı pişirilir. Hatay mutfağını yaşatan kadınların maharetinden söz etmeye gerek yok; ancak kasapları ve fırıncıları unutmak ayıp olur. Evde, ıspanak, tuzlu yoğurt, kıyılmış soğan, çökelek, toz biber ve zeytinyağından hazırlanan ‘iç’ten katıklı ekmek yapmak ancak mahir fırıncıların harcıdır. Antakya kasapları ise, etin satın alındığı, pişirildiği ve hemen oracıkta kebap olarak tüketildiği enteresan mekânlardan...
Tatlılar bahsini reçellerle açıp ardından künefeye geçmeli. Antakya’da sadece meyvelerin değil sebzelerin de reçeli yapılıyor. Hemen her yörede bilinen çilek, kayısı, vişne, erik ve incir reçellerinden başka ceviz, kabak, patlıcan ve turunç da hem tatlı hem de reçel olarak kahvaltıları zenginleştiriyor. Ev reçelinden para kazanmak henüz o kadar yaygın değil; ama eski Antakya evlerinden birinde reçel kaynatan Maria Saati’nin ünü bu hızla yayılmaya devam ederse o büyük tencereler her evde kaynamaya başlayacak. Mahallenin çocukları, avluda reçel kavanozlarıyla objektife gülümseyen Maria’ya sesleniyor: “Maria Tezye, yine çekim mi var?”
İstanbul, Ankara ve İzmir’den gelen turist grupları beraberlerinde sadece reçel değil, nar ekşisi, dut şurubu, yaprak sarması ve içli köfte de götürüyor. Antakya’nın en özgün tatlılarından künefe ise Köprübaşı’nda yeniyor. Öğlen sıcağında kimsecikler ortada görünmüyor; ama akşam serinliğinde, yemeği yiyen aileler dışarıdaki masalarda yerlerini alıyor. Künefe hareketliliği gece yarısına kadar devam ediyor. Ferah Künefe’nin hem sahibi hem de ustası Zeki Cüzdan, babasından aldığı mesleği, dükkânda arı gibi çalışan oğluna devretmeyi planlıyor. Ona göre bu işin sırrı, halis niyet ve müşteriye hizmette. Zeki Usta her işte olduğu gibi künefede de sahtekârlık yapıldığını söylüyor. Bu tatlı için özel hazırlanan tuzsuz peynir yerine suda bekletilen tuzlu peynir kullananlar mesleğin yüz karaları. Bu arada canı künefe çekenlerin ille de Antakya’ya gitmesi gerekmiyor. Zeki Usta, hesap numarasına para yatıran herkese ister kargoyla ister otobüsle künefe gönderiyor. Ortadoğu ülkelerinde hayli yaygın olan meyve sularının Antakya’daki tek temsilcisi Ali Haydaroğlu. Yirmi yıldır meyvecilik yapan Haydaroğlu, bir Dubai ziyaretinden meyve suyu sıkma makineleriyle dönmüş. Şimdi tek amacı, Antakyalıları taze meyve suyuna alıştırmak. Hemen söylemeli ki böyle bir alışkanlık kazanmak için Haydaroğlu’nun hazırladığı bir bardak kokteyli içmek yeterli olacaktır. O tek bardağın içinde süt, elma, kavun, şeftali, armut, üzüm, vişne, muz ve bal olduğunu söylersek durum anlaşılmış olur. Köprübaşı Hürriyet Caddesi’ndeki 2 metrekarelik dükkânın devamlı müşterileri arasında doktorlar var.
HATAY MUTFAĞI NİYE YOK SAYILDI?
Mutfak konusunda Hataylılara bir dokunun bin ah işitin. Kendilerine özgü birçok yemeğin yakın şehirlere mal edilmesine içerleyen akademisyenler, düzenledikleri ‘Hatay Mutfağı Sempozyumu’nda, tanıtım eksikliğinden yakınıyorlar. Hatay’la ilgili kitaplar yazan Mehmet Tekin, Hatay mutfağının Antep ve Adana mutfağının gölgesinde kalmasını şöyle açıklıyor: “Hatay, Türkiye’den 20 yıl ayrı kalmış, bu süre içinde mutfak konusunda güney illerimizi Adana, Antep ve Urfa’nın kebapları, yemek çeşitleri ve tatlıları temsil etmiştir. Vatana katılmayı bekleyen Antakya ve havalisinin adı, mukaddes bir yurt parçası, bir sembol olarak ikinci planda kalmıştır.” Araştırmacı Tekin, Hatay mutfağının ne kadar köklü olduğunu, çok eski yıllarda şehri ziyaret eden şair ve yazarların eserlerine dönerek ispatlıyor. 1899-1967 yılları arasında yaşayan Cemil İpek’in ‘Yemek Mevlidi’ Hatay’a özgü 13 çeşit yemekten bahsediyor. 1930’lu yıllarda Antakya’yı ziyaret eden Pierre Bazantay da ‘Antakya Zanaatları Üzerine Anket’ adlı kitabında, yemeklerden başka o yıllarda yörede pişirilen altı çeşit ekmeği anlatıyor. Tekin, tost ve hamburgerle beslenen gençleri uyarmayı da ihmal etmiyor: Antakyalı olmak istiyorsanız şehrin mutfağından beslenin.
Friday, July 29, 2005
The Tastes and Smells of Byzantium
Monday, March 03, 2003
Food
The Tastes and Smells of Byzantium By Andrew Dalby
Sovereign over all others
Byzantium in its heyday was one of the wonders of the world. Here is a Crusader of the year 1204, recalling his first glimpse of the medieval metropolis from across the Sea of Marmara:
Those who had never seen Constantinople before were enthralled, unable to believe that such a great city could exist in the world. They gazed at its high walls, the tall towers with which it was fortified all around, its great houses, its tall churches more numerous than anyone would believe who did not see them for himself; they contemplated the length and breadth of the city that is sovereign over all others. Brave as they might be, every man shivered at the sight.
— Geoffroi de Villehardouin, The Capture of Constantinople, section 128
Eighteen hundred years earlier, about 660 BCE, a Greek colony had been established at this magnificent site; known as Byzantion, it was already famous in legend. The Argonauts had passed this way, in one of the best-known of Greek mythological tales, on their way to the land of the Golden Fleece; they had navigated the Bosporus and dodged the Symplegades or “Clashing Rocks.” In historical times, Byzantion became rich on its trade routes and tuna or bonito fisheries. It had so much to offer that Constantine I, the first Christian emperor of Rome, selected it in 330 CE as his new eastern capital, the second Rome. He renamed it Constantinople, and, as such, the venerable city was destined for a millennium of worldwide fame as capital of the later Roman or “Byzantine” empire.
Simple tastes and exotic aromas
But what were the tastes and smells of medieval Byzantium? We know some of those tastes because they are still popular today. Let us begin with Justin I, father of the great Justinian, founder of a new dynasty. He emerges into history as a young peasant, one of three friends from Illyria who set out to walk to the capital to join the army: “They covered the whole distance to Byzantium on foot, and when they arrived they had nothing at all in their knapsacks except what was left of the twice-baked bread that they had packed at home” (Procopius, Secret History, section 6.2). That “twice-baked bread” was paximadi: thick slices of barley bread, baked until it is bone-dry and almost bone-hard, still the basis of many a simple Greek meal. Lightweight, long-lasting, and nourishing, those paximadia were ideal supplies for three poor medieval hikers.
We can still enjoy capers as a starter, as Byzantines did, with a sauce of oil and vinegar or (as they preferred) vinegar sweetened with honey. We can also still eat dried figs and walnuts before a meal, as Byzantine physicians recommended — whether or not we take this snack as an antidote against possible poisoned dishes to follow. We can consider the dietary instructions of the imperial physician, Simeon Seth, in Properties of Foods (p. 125) — “Botargo is to be avoided totally!” — and, like many of his contemporaries, reject his advice. Botargo, incidentally, is salted gray mullet roe: it remains a costly delicacy, and my advice is to go for it!
We can re-imagine the taste of the kolymbades, green olives swimming in brine, which so many Byzantines enjoyed. When taking a sip of ouzo, we are happy to recall that the people of Byzantium were advised by Hierophilus and other physicians to drink anise wine (the true ancestor of ouzo) in April and an anise-flavored aperitif in June. If we take a spoon sweet, it is pleasant to remember that, a thousand years ago, at least two Byzantine authors enjoyed to dia kitriou, “the citron conserve,” made with citron peel, honey, and carefully chosen spices.
We can easily picture ourselves shopping in the markets of Byzantium for fine raisins from Chios, Vlach mountain cheese, sweet Cretan wine, and malmsey wine from Monemvasia (both of which fetched high prices all over Europe). We can almost hear the salesman hawking his xinogalo through the streets, “Eparete droubaniston oxygala, gynaikes!” (“Buy your buttermilk from the churn, ladies!” Prodromic Poems, number 4, line 112) We can imagine selecting from the butcher’s counter “two three-year hens freshly killed and sleek: the butcher had loosened the fat of their bellies and tucked their legs into it” (Timarion, section 46). We can almost recall an encounter with Saint Simeon “the Fool,” wandering through the streets with a string of sausages around his neck like a garland of flowers and a pot of mustard in his left hand to dip each sausage before he ate it.
We know some of the exotic aromas of Byzantium because we can still sense them among the spice stores of modern Istanbul and Athens. Many were already familiar under the Roman empire: saffron, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Even musk had reached Europe by late Roman times: “It is a scent for lovers and hedonists,” said the Christian translator, Saint Jerome, disapprovingly. We must, however, appeal to two Byzantine authors to pin down for us, for the first time, the origin of this wonderful perfume. “The best musk comes from a city east of Afghanistan called Toubata,” writes Simeon Seth (Properties of Foods, p. 66). He was right: musk does come from Tibet (which, however, is not a city). How was it found? The Byzantine trader, Cosmas Indicopleustes, gives the answer pictorially, in the manuscript of his strange memoir entitled Christian Topography, with a pen-and-ink sketch of a huntsman aiming an arrow at a fleeing musk deer.
Other aromas did not apparently reach Europe until early medieval times: ambergris from the shores of the Indian Ocean, camphor from Borneo, jasmine from Iran, nutmeg from the Banda islands in eastern Indonesia. The Byzantines were the very first Westerners to encounter these heady aromas, and they are still familiar to us today, if not in food, then at least in perfumes and cosmetics. Others known to Byzantine physicians and perfumers — like cubebs, galanga, storax, and zedoary — are now almost forgotten after their medieval heyday.
Imperial blends
Did Byzantium care about its foods and aromas? We can begin to answer this question by pointing to the Prodromic Poems, which claim to be the work of a poor, hungry, greedy, scholarly monk. Whoever really wrote these lively diatribes was a lover of fine food:
First come the baked fish, the little pisi in their stew. Second, the saucy dish, a hake weighed down with savory sauce. Third, the sweet-and-sour, the saffron dish, with spikenard, valerian, cloves, cinnamon, and baby mushrooms, and vinegar and unsmoked honey, and in the middle of it a big golden gurnard and a gray mullet, three hands’ breadths, with the roe, fresh from Region harbor, and a fine, well grown, first quality bream — O let me munch on the bits in the bowl, let me sup at their sauces, let me make off with four cups of the Chian wine, let me find a sufficiency, let me be satisfied! Fourth the grill and fifth the fry-up…a flounder, nicely grilled on its own, with fish sauce, sprinkled from top to tail with caraway; and a steak from a big sea bass. (Number 3, lines 147-163)
Now look over the head of the Prodromic poet at the imperial throne that he sometimes dared to address. There is evidence that flavors and aromas preoccupied even the emperors themselves. The Book of Ceremonies, compiled at the command of emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, lists a whole range of items to be stocked in the imperial apartments: “ointments, various incenses, fumigations: mastic, frankincense, sugar, saffron, musk, ambergris, aloes and dry aloeswood, true cinnamon of first and second grades, cassia and other aromatics” (p. 468).
The patriarchs were anxious to distance the spice trade (and other trades) from the great church of Saint Sophia. “One must not establish a shop within the sacred precincts or display foodstuffs or conduct other sales,” they instructed; “note that this Canon relates to those who trade in the perfume shops and barbers’ shops around the most holy Great Church, and even more so inside it. These deserve severe punishment,” they impotently repeated (Canons of the Council at Trullo, section 76). The emperors, by contrast, were apparently glad of the proximity of the perfumers, directing that their stalls be placed in a row between the miliarion (milestone) and the revered icon of Christ that stood above the Bronze Arcade, so that the perfumes might waft upward to the icon and at the same time fill the vestibule of the royal palace.
If I’m not mistaken, Byzantium can show us not only the first imperial perfumer in the world, but also one of the first imperial cooks. I mean both those phrases literally. The perfumer was Zoe, the eleventh-century empress who was an enthusiast for “the most Indian” of substances (a curious phrase, but that is how Michael Psellus puts it in his court memoirs) and for spicy aromatic woods like sandalwood and aloeswood. “Her only hobby,” Psellus adds, “was to blend perfumes and to make aromas. Her private apartment was just another of those workshops off the marketplace complete with perfumers and distillers: she had braziers set up all round it, and her maids were employed in weighing, blending and the rest of it.” And the imperial cook? That was Zoe’s predecessor, Constantine VIII, who “had a strong stomach and a constitution well able to withstand anything he ate. He was a highly skilled mixer of sauces, seasoning his dishes with colors and flavors so as to arouse the appetite of all types of eaters. He was ruled by food and sex,” Psellus concludes (Chronographia, Book 6, sections 62-64, and Book 2, section 7). As he well knew, it had been a commonplace among ancient philosophers that these two sensual indulgences always go together.
Even more engaging than either of these two hobbyists was the emperor who cared about Byzantium’s street food: the great but unlucky Manuel (1143-1180), whose diplomacy and dynastic alliances spread the empire’s influence far and wide, but whose military disaster at Myriokephalon signaled the loss of Anatolia to the Ottomans. Returning from Blakhernai one evening, Manuel noticed the old women selling street food (“enodios edode” is the fine classical phrase coined for the occasion by his historian, Nicetas Choniates). Manuel “suddenly felt like a bowl of hot soup and a bite of cabbage. Anzas, one of his entourage, advised that they had better wait and control their hunger: there would be plenty of proper food when they returned to the Great Palace. Manuel said sharply that he would do exactly as he pleased. He went straight up to the market woman’s bowl, full of the soup that he fancied. He drank it down greedily and had several mouthfuls of greens on the side. Then he took out a bronze stater and handed it to one of his people. ‘Change this for me,’ he said. ‘Give the lady her two oboloi, and don’t forget to give me back the other two!’” (Chronicle, p. 57)
Reading about Byzantine foods and flavors
If you read Greek, there’s plenty to read. The late Christos Motsias’s Ti etrogan oi vyzantinoi is still available from Ekdoseis Kaktos. In 1994, a lecture by Johannes Koder was translated into Greek under the title, O kipouros kai i kathimerini kouzina sto Vyzantio, and published by the Goulandris-Horn Foundation in its series, Opseis tis vyzantinis koinonias. Of course, there is still the massive work by Phaidon Koukoules, Vyzantinon vios kai politismos, published in several volumes between 1947 and 1955.
If you only read English, there is less to suggest. You will find only 15 pages about Byzantine food in my Siren Feasts; I’m the first to admit that’s not enough. My book on the subject, Flavours of Byzantium, will be published later this year, however (Prospect Books is already taking orders at www.prospectbooks.co.uk). It includes direct translations from Greek of all the dietary writings associated with Hierophilus and of many other texts, and offers a glossary and phrasebook of Byzantine food. Meanwhile, you can write to Henry Marks (1270 Montecello Drive, Eugene, OR 97404) for a copy of his recent self-published collection, Byzantine Cuisine. It includes full English translations of the Prodromic Poems and On the Properties of Foods, and of one version of Hierophilus’ Dietary Year. Unfortunately, Marks does not know Greek and has worked from intermediate translations, resulting in some unnecessary errors; the best part of his book is the 100 recreated Byzantine recipes.
Andrew Dalby is the author of Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece and Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices; his Flavours of Byzantium will be published later this year.
Food
The Tastes and Smells of Byzantium By Andrew Dalby
Sovereign over all others
Byzantium in its heyday was one of the wonders of the world. Here is a Crusader of the year 1204, recalling his first glimpse of the medieval metropolis from across the Sea of Marmara:
Those who had never seen Constantinople before were enthralled, unable to believe that such a great city could exist in the world. They gazed at its high walls, the tall towers with which it was fortified all around, its great houses, its tall churches more numerous than anyone would believe who did not see them for himself; they contemplated the length and breadth of the city that is sovereign over all others. Brave as they might be, every man shivered at the sight.
— Geoffroi de Villehardouin, The Capture of Constantinople, section 128
Eighteen hundred years earlier, about 660 BCE, a Greek colony had been established at this magnificent site; known as Byzantion, it was already famous in legend. The Argonauts had passed this way, in one of the best-known of Greek mythological tales, on their way to the land of the Golden Fleece; they had navigated the Bosporus and dodged the Symplegades or “Clashing Rocks.” In historical times, Byzantion became rich on its trade routes and tuna or bonito fisheries. It had so much to offer that Constantine I, the first Christian emperor of Rome, selected it in 330 CE as his new eastern capital, the second Rome. He renamed it Constantinople, and, as such, the venerable city was destined for a millennium of worldwide fame as capital of the later Roman or “Byzantine” empire.
Simple tastes and exotic aromas
But what were the tastes and smells of medieval Byzantium? We know some of those tastes because they are still popular today. Let us begin with Justin I, father of the great Justinian, founder of a new dynasty. He emerges into history as a young peasant, one of three friends from Illyria who set out to walk to the capital to join the army: “They covered the whole distance to Byzantium on foot, and when they arrived they had nothing at all in their knapsacks except what was left of the twice-baked bread that they had packed at home” (Procopius, Secret History, section 6.2). That “twice-baked bread” was paximadi: thick slices of barley bread, baked until it is bone-dry and almost bone-hard, still the basis of many a simple Greek meal. Lightweight, long-lasting, and nourishing, those paximadia were ideal supplies for three poor medieval hikers.
We can still enjoy capers as a starter, as Byzantines did, with a sauce of oil and vinegar or (as they preferred) vinegar sweetened with honey. We can also still eat dried figs and walnuts before a meal, as Byzantine physicians recommended — whether or not we take this snack as an antidote against possible poisoned dishes to follow. We can consider the dietary instructions of the imperial physician, Simeon Seth, in Properties of Foods (p. 125) — “Botargo is to be avoided totally!” — and, like many of his contemporaries, reject his advice. Botargo, incidentally, is salted gray mullet roe: it remains a costly delicacy, and my advice is to go for it!
We can re-imagine the taste of the kolymbades, green olives swimming in brine, which so many Byzantines enjoyed. When taking a sip of ouzo, we are happy to recall that the people of Byzantium were advised by Hierophilus and other physicians to drink anise wine (the true ancestor of ouzo) in April and an anise-flavored aperitif in June. If we take a spoon sweet, it is pleasant to remember that, a thousand years ago, at least two Byzantine authors enjoyed to dia kitriou, “the citron conserve,” made with citron peel, honey, and carefully chosen spices.
We can easily picture ourselves shopping in the markets of Byzantium for fine raisins from Chios, Vlach mountain cheese, sweet Cretan wine, and malmsey wine from Monemvasia (both of which fetched high prices all over Europe). We can almost hear the salesman hawking his xinogalo through the streets, “Eparete droubaniston oxygala, gynaikes!” (“Buy your buttermilk from the churn, ladies!” Prodromic Poems, number 4, line 112) We can imagine selecting from the butcher’s counter “two three-year hens freshly killed and sleek: the butcher had loosened the fat of their bellies and tucked their legs into it” (Timarion, section 46). We can almost recall an encounter with Saint Simeon “the Fool,” wandering through the streets with a string of sausages around his neck like a garland of flowers and a pot of mustard in his left hand to dip each sausage before he ate it.
We know some of the exotic aromas of Byzantium because we can still sense them among the spice stores of modern Istanbul and Athens. Many were already familiar under the Roman empire: saffron, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Even musk had reached Europe by late Roman times: “It is a scent for lovers and hedonists,” said the Christian translator, Saint Jerome, disapprovingly. We must, however, appeal to two Byzantine authors to pin down for us, for the first time, the origin of this wonderful perfume. “The best musk comes from a city east of Afghanistan called Toubata,” writes Simeon Seth (Properties of Foods, p. 66). He was right: musk does come from Tibet (which, however, is not a city). How was it found? The Byzantine trader, Cosmas Indicopleustes, gives the answer pictorially, in the manuscript of his strange memoir entitled Christian Topography, with a pen-and-ink sketch of a huntsman aiming an arrow at a fleeing musk deer.
Other aromas did not apparently reach Europe until early medieval times: ambergris from the shores of the Indian Ocean, camphor from Borneo, jasmine from Iran, nutmeg from the Banda islands in eastern Indonesia. The Byzantines were the very first Westerners to encounter these heady aromas, and they are still familiar to us today, if not in food, then at least in perfumes and cosmetics. Others known to Byzantine physicians and perfumers — like cubebs, galanga, storax, and zedoary — are now almost forgotten after their medieval heyday.
Imperial blends
Did Byzantium care about its foods and aromas? We can begin to answer this question by pointing to the Prodromic Poems, which claim to be the work of a poor, hungry, greedy, scholarly monk. Whoever really wrote these lively diatribes was a lover of fine food:
First come the baked fish, the little pisi in their stew. Second, the saucy dish, a hake weighed down with savory sauce. Third, the sweet-and-sour, the saffron dish, with spikenard, valerian, cloves, cinnamon, and baby mushrooms, and vinegar and unsmoked honey, and in the middle of it a big golden gurnard and a gray mullet, three hands’ breadths, with the roe, fresh from Region harbor, and a fine, well grown, first quality bream — O let me munch on the bits in the bowl, let me sup at their sauces, let me make off with four cups of the Chian wine, let me find a sufficiency, let me be satisfied! Fourth the grill and fifth the fry-up…a flounder, nicely grilled on its own, with fish sauce, sprinkled from top to tail with caraway; and a steak from a big sea bass. (Number 3, lines 147-163)
Now look over the head of the Prodromic poet at the imperial throne that he sometimes dared to address. There is evidence that flavors and aromas preoccupied even the emperors themselves. The Book of Ceremonies, compiled at the command of emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, lists a whole range of items to be stocked in the imperial apartments: “ointments, various incenses, fumigations: mastic, frankincense, sugar, saffron, musk, ambergris, aloes and dry aloeswood, true cinnamon of first and second grades, cassia and other aromatics” (p. 468).
The patriarchs were anxious to distance the spice trade (and other trades) from the great church of Saint Sophia. “One must not establish a shop within the sacred precincts or display foodstuffs or conduct other sales,” they instructed; “note that this Canon relates to those who trade in the perfume shops and barbers’ shops around the most holy Great Church, and even more so inside it. These deserve severe punishment,” they impotently repeated (Canons of the Council at Trullo, section 76). The emperors, by contrast, were apparently glad of the proximity of the perfumers, directing that their stalls be placed in a row between the miliarion (milestone) and the revered icon of Christ that stood above the Bronze Arcade, so that the perfumes might waft upward to the icon and at the same time fill the vestibule of the royal palace.
If I’m not mistaken, Byzantium can show us not only the first imperial perfumer in the world, but also one of the first imperial cooks. I mean both those phrases literally. The perfumer was Zoe, the eleventh-century empress who was an enthusiast for “the most Indian” of substances (a curious phrase, but that is how Michael Psellus puts it in his court memoirs) and for spicy aromatic woods like sandalwood and aloeswood. “Her only hobby,” Psellus adds, “was to blend perfumes and to make aromas. Her private apartment was just another of those workshops off the marketplace complete with perfumers and distillers: she had braziers set up all round it, and her maids were employed in weighing, blending and the rest of it.” And the imperial cook? That was Zoe’s predecessor, Constantine VIII, who “had a strong stomach and a constitution well able to withstand anything he ate. He was a highly skilled mixer of sauces, seasoning his dishes with colors and flavors so as to arouse the appetite of all types of eaters. He was ruled by food and sex,” Psellus concludes (Chronographia, Book 6, sections 62-64, and Book 2, section 7). As he well knew, it had been a commonplace among ancient philosophers that these two sensual indulgences always go together.
Even more engaging than either of these two hobbyists was the emperor who cared about Byzantium’s street food: the great but unlucky Manuel (1143-1180), whose diplomacy and dynastic alliances spread the empire’s influence far and wide, but whose military disaster at Myriokephalon signaled the loss of Anatolia to the Ottomans. Returning from Blakhernai one evening, Manuel noticed the old women selling street food (“enodios edode” is the fine classical phrase coined for the occasion by his historian, Nicetas Choniates). Manuel “suddenly felt like a bowl of hot soup and a bite of cabbage. Anzas, one of his entourage, advised that they had better wait and control their hunger: there would be plenty of proper food when they returned to the Great Palace. Manuel said sharply that he would do exactly as he pleased. He went straight up to the market woman’s bowl, full of the soup that he fancied. He drank it down greedily and had several mouthfuls of greens on the side. Then he took out a bronze stater and handed it to one of his people. ‘Change this for me,’ he said. ‘Give the lady her two oboloi, and don’t forget to give me back the other two!’” (Chronicle, p. 57)
Reading about Byzantine foods and flavors
If you read Greek, there’s plenty to read. The late Christos Motsias’s Ti etrogan oi vyzantinoi is still available from Ekdoseis Kaktos. In 1994, a lecture by Johannes Koder was translated into Greek under the title, O kipouros kai i kathimerini kouzina sto Vyzantio, and published by the Goulandris-Horn Foundation in its series, Opseis tis vyzantinis koinonias. Of course, there is still the massive work by Phaidon Koukoules, Vyzantinon vios kai politismos, published in several volumes between 1947 and 1955.
If you only read English, there is less to suggest. You will find only 15 pages about Byzantine food in my Siren Feasts; I’m the first to admit that’s not enough. My book on the subject, Flavours of Byzantium, will be published later this year, however (Prospect Books is already taking orders at www.prospectbooks.co.uk). It includes direct translations from Greek of all the dietary writings associated with Hierophilus and of many other texts, and offers a glossary and phrasebook of Byzantine food. Meanwhile, you can write to Henry Marks (1270 Montecello Drive, Eugene, OR 97404) for a copy of his recent self-published collection, Byzantine Cuisine. It includes full English translations of the Prodromic Poems and On the Properties of Foods, and of one version of Hierophilus’ Dietary Year. Unfortunately, Marks does not know Greek and has worked from intermediate translations, resulting in some unnecessary errors; the best part of his book is the 100 recreated Byzantine recipes.
Andrew Dalby is the author of Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece and Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices; his Flavours of Byzantium will be published later this year.
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