#istanbul

“The Drunk Basket,” in the 1960s bars in Istanbul would hire someone to carry drunk people to their home.

Today, I’ll be taking a look at medieval Ottoman cuisine - specifically the food seen in ottoman courts! The recipe in question is cılbır, or poached eggs with herbal yoghurt. This is a simple yet tasty recipe that is still eaten today in Turkey!

In any case, let’s now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above! Consider checking out my Patreon if you like these recipes!

Ingredients (for 3 portions)
3 eggs
150g greek yoghurt
freshly chopped parsley (or dill, or cilantro)
2 cloves garlic
ground coriander

Method
1 - Make the Yoghurt
To begin with, we need to make a simple yoghurt for the eggs to sit on. Start this by finely chopping some fresh parsley - dill or cilantro would have also been used! Toss this into your yoghurt, along with a clove or two of crushed garlic. Mix all of this together, until it’s very well combined. Leave it to sit aside while you poach your eggs.

2 - Poach the eggs
Place a pot of hot water over a high heat until it boils. At a rolling boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer gently.

There’s a couple of methods of poaching eggs. I cracked an egg into a ramekin, and then dropped this into a ladle, before lowering into the water. Some of the whites of the egg became spidery and flyaway, but don’t worry! This will look amazing and silky when it’s out of the water.

Let the egg cook for a couple of minutes, before draining it and dunking it in cool water - to stop the yolk from becoming overcooked.

3 - Assemble the dish
Place a nice dollop of the herby yoghurt onto a plate, and place one of your poached eggs atop this. Sprinkle with a bit of freshly-ground coriander, and dig in with some fresh bread!

The finished dish is deliciously light yet filling. The herbs really pairs well with the texture of the egg. Although rather plain looking, it’s an easy yet luxurious way of presenting an otherwise simple dish in antiquity.

Çılbır is still eaten in turkey today, proving it’s role as a cheap yet filling meal for many throughout the centuries.

Ottoman cuisine formed as a fusion of Mediterranean, Near Eastern, and Central Turkic motifs in the early Medieval Period, which is exemplified here - using an array of culinary styles that are seen elsewhere in the region (such as Greek tzatziki being prepared in much the same way as this recipe, with the addition of mint and cucumber)

yakupayd1n:

Just before the Summer, on my first trip to Turkey - I was wooed by Istanbul with its exotic afternoon light, the beautiful blue of the Bosphorus, the mystical curves of Islamic architecture and the colourful clothing of the cities inhabitants. We ate the most delicious food, drank uncountable tiny cups of turkish tea, admired hand painted tiles while sucking on turkish delights and walked and walked until the soles of my feet couldn’t stand the cobbled pavements any more.  At night we steamed and soaked in ancient baths and walked a little more, before dreaming of the many boats on the Bosphorus while our eyelids grew heavy as their twinkling lights began to blur.