The Turkish cuisine must be tasted to be appreciated.
The basis of all culinary operations in Stamboul is a
certain kind of tallow extracted from the broad and
thick extremity of the Caraman sheep. This tallow has
an odour so potent that we would not use it even for
candles. The Turks are essentially vegetarians. They
eat beef very rarely, and never pork or veal. They in-
dulge in ducks, lean fowls, and fiUany sheep, the flesh
of which they cut off in small pieces. These pieces are
strung upon long spits, which are held and turned for
some minutes over hot coals, where they are slowly
roasted, retaining all their juices. This is what is called
kebab y a healthful and nutritious food which Europeans
EATING AND DEINKING AMONG THE TURKS 59
find delicious. Turkish pastry is quite varied, and
would not be disagreeable if honey and sugar were not
used so abundantly, and if the taste of tallow could be
excluded. Bahalava and ehmek kataif (thick cakes in
honey, perfumed with rose-water and covered with
caimak, a kind of cream), in particular, recall very
savoury memories. Pachas and rich Turks always
have at their repasts a great number of dishes, which
the servants bring in on brass platters, and place on the
mat on the floor, or sometimes on small low tables
around which the guests squat. They eat in a grave
manner, and help themselves generally with their
fingers as well as with forks, and with their teeth as
well as with their knives. Nevertheless, they deign to
use a spoon to convey to their mouths food that is not
very solid, like stewed rice, malehy (a kind of cooked
cream), and iaourt (thick and bitterish milk), all of which
they are very fond of. Their drink consists of clear
water, but this does not prevent them from imbibing
before their repast a white liquor, raki, which is made
of the gum of the mastic-tree mixed with alcohol. It
is an agreeable drink, but it is used like absinthe, the
taste and properties of which it possesses. Its use, and
even its abuse, does not bring remorse to the conscience
of the Turks, for Mohammed has forbidden them to use
wine, but he forgot, prophet though he was, to foresee
the manufacture of raki, an invention more modern than
his own.
60 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY
Chinese Diet and Custom.
If a visitor is invited to dinner in China, custom
orders that when the invitation is given he shall receive
from the host certain advice as to conduct, such as —
** Do not eat with noise ; do not crunch the bones with
your teeth, nor drink down the sauces at a gulp." This
is said seriously, and seriously received.
If the master of the house is a person of importance,
and offers to his guest fruit with stones or pips, such as
peaches or oranges, the guest must put the pips in his
pocket, in order not to appear to refuse anything the
host is good enough to offer. If a melon is served, the
manner of cutting it depends upon the caste to which
the cutter belongs.
Sentiments are regulated by custom as well as
expression. Thus, if in the course of a visit refresh-
ments are offered to the guest, he must drink the first
cup " with an air of profound thought," the second
" with a satisfied expression."
Page 22
Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
A modernized reading is not available for this page yet. You are seeing the original text.
The Turkish cuisine must be tasted to be appreciated.
The basis of all culinary operations in Stamboul is a
certain kind of tallow extracted from the broad and
thick extremity of the Caraman sheep. This tallow has
an odour so potent that we would not use it even for
candles. The Turks are essentially vegetarians. They
eat beef very rarely, and never pork or veal. They in-
dulge in ducks, lean fowls, and fiUany sheep, the flesh
of which they cut off in small pieces. These pieces are
strung upon long spits, which are held and turned for
some minutes over hot coals, where they are slowly
roasted, retaining all their juices. This is what is called
kebab y a healthful and nutritious food which Europeans
EATING AND DEINKING AMONG THE TURKS 59
find delicious. Turkish pastry is quite varied, and
would not be disagreeable if honey and sugar were not
used so abundantly, and if the taste of tallow could be
excluded. Bahalava and ehmek kataif (thick cakes in
honey, perfumed with rose-water and covered with
caimak, a kind of cream), in particular, recall very
savoury memories. Pachas and rich Turks always
have at their repasts a great number of dishes, which
the servants bring in on brass platters, and place on the
mat on the floor, or sometimes on small low tables
around which the guests squat. They eat in a grave
manner, and help themselves generally with their
fingers as well as with forks, and with their teeth as
well as with their knives. Nevertheless, they deign to
use a spoon to convey to their mouths food that is not
very solid, like stewed rice, malehy (a kind of cooked
cream), and iaourt (thick and bitterish milk), all of which
they are very fond of. Their drink consists of clear
water, but this does not prevent them from imbibing
before their repast a white liquor, raki, which is made
of the gum of the mastic-tree mixed with alcohol. It
is an agreeable drink, but it is used like absinthe, the
taste and properties of which it possesses. Its use, and
even its abuse, does not bring remorse to the conscience
of the Turks, for Mohammed has forbidden them to use
wine, but he forgot, prophet though he was, to foresee
the manufacture of raki, an invention more modern than
his own.
60 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY
Chinese Diet and Custom.
If a visitor is invited to dinner in China, custom
orders that when the invitation is given he shall receive
from the host certain advice as to conduct, such as —
** Do not eat with noise ; do not crunch the bones with
your teeth, nor drink down the sauces at a gulp." This
is said seriously, and seriously received.
If the master of the house is a person of importance,
and offers to his guest fruit with stones or pips, such as
peaches or oranges, the guest must put the pips in his
pocket, in order not to appear to refuse anything the
host is good enough to offer. If a melon is served, the
manner of cutting it depends upon the caste to which
the cutter belongs.
Sentiments are regulated by custom as well as
expression. Thus, if in the course of a visit refresh-
ments are offered to the guest, he must drink the first
cup " with an air of profound thought," the second
" with a satisfied expression."