Rediscovering Ottoman delicacies in new cookbooks created in old capital Edirne

The books titled “Edirne Sarayi Mutfagi” and “Osmanli Helvalari,” prepared for Turkish Cuisine Week, were introduced at an event in Edirne where participants enjoyed palace delicacies.

During the Turkish Cuisine Week activities in Edirne, master teachers from the Edirne Institute for Personal Development presented the books “Edirne Sarayi Mutfagi” and “Osmanli Helvalari.”

Participants highly praised these books and the flavors featured in them.

The “Edirne Sarayi Mutfagi” book explores three main topics: Central Asian and Seljuk Cuisine, Ottoman Palace Cuisine, and Edirne Palace Cuisine. It covers food culture, influencing factors, dish ingredients, and dining etiquette. The books include a variety of recipes for soups, meat dishes, pilafs and stuffed dishes, pastries, pickles, beverages, and desserts.

Director of the Edirne Maturation Institute Ilknur Celik expressed pride and joy in presenting these two significant books during the event’s opening speech.

She emphasized their importance in culinary history.

“We introduced these recipes by applying them in our kitchen workshop,” Celik explained. She noted that they explored Ottoman cuisine, particularly the Edirne Palace cuisine, as part of a project aimed at cherishing historical and cultural values and preserving them for the present and future.

“We introduced these recipes by applying them in our kitchen workshop. We combined many forgotten and some still-known recipes through literature review and academic research into meaningful work. Despite the limited written sources, we witnessed how special, rich, and diverse the Ottoman palace cuisine is. This made us realize the importance of our project even more,” she said.

After the opening speech, attendees sampled the dishes featured in the books. The event offered delicacies from the Ottoman palace cuisine, such as dane-i yes (green grain), Balli mahmudiye (honeyed chicken), formula bread, Helva-i Hakani (imperial halva), Sultani helvasi (sultan’s halva), and rose sherbet.

“With these flavors, we felt like we traveled back in time,” said Dilek Ozan, who attended the event with friends to taste the dishes. She remarked that tasting the flavors of Ottoman cuisine made them feel like they had traveled back in time and that they enjoyed the dishes very much.

Ozan added that it was a very meaningful event. They tasted two types of desserts: one with honey and the other with semolina.