New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-10-16
ORIENTAL COOK ERH

To ne Editor Of TIE L0ndSa TIVE.
SIR In reply 10 no end of inquiries from pesoa'
meet ng in the streets OF Fera, Bu)ukdere Ihers
pa, the Isles DIES Princes, &C., as TO what am dong
IN Turkey now the whole OF the army is gone; and
every one here anxious, probably Others ma0
feel interested it has struck me- Sir to inform you pcr
sonally why remain here. In the first place, Con-
-tannope and its vicinity far from being destitute of
vital interest and those who have only its beauty
from the Bosphorus and then at first sight condemned
the interior OF this gigantic city of Constantine have
seen nothing, and are utterly incompetent to speak u
it, much less to write upon tue crriCslties manners.
customs and way Of living of this singular and amose
upk nown people though lodged nearly IN the center OF
Europe Thanks now, Ia my last visit 10 Constantine
pie which time nor duty did not admit of before
now know it and IFS neighboIhood IA well as London.
and much better than Paris am pretty well &C
ouaintcd with Turkish institutions well as man neu
and habits which indeed deyate so much from our
fashions that they cannot tail to prove interesting 70
relate il not to follow. Though many authors have
written upon Turkey, they have yet left me several
virgin pages and those pages are upon the national
cookery of the Mosem people.
They have many dishes which aro indeed worthy q
the table OF the geates epicure and shall not eon-
slider my Oriental mission terminated to my satisiac
ton till in the bills of fare of France and England
their pur6e de volatile au res omates et coucomofN
and pnr{e de Bahmis aromatsee Ia creme by the side
of our potages Ia Refine, Portue Jullenne ana NULL
catawhey near our whitehall red muets, turbots and
sam on their fried ,ardnes bar fish gurnets sturgeon.
red mullcs ncrDeS, Oyster
&C; and with our rosstbeef, saddleback OF muttoa
and hauneh of venison their sheep lamb or Kid osst-
I'd whole, and the monster and delicious keoa6; ~
our entrees of supreme de volatile saims ana votsnt'
vents their dounas kiotce sis kebaba, hahanan bsa-
ton pstf aux cailles &c; with our vegetables their
Bahmia fried leeks aud celery, Patlgan oastc', ana
sskath kabac bastici; with our macedolnes Jeiless
charlottes SC. their lOkounda me ukahallDi DaciHVe
sypersti ekmekataive Their coffee, iced milk ane
s6erbet-in fact, all their principal disnes-misN
With the best advantage be adopted and Freneh'hed
and Apgicized; not so their method OF serving ~
which t6ey mix sweet and savory dishes throughout
the repast: and ess likely still their method u
eating with their fingers though after several trials
must admit that has some peculiar advantages the6
,auces being of a finnish NATURE require 10 De aD-
sorbed with piece of bread in oder to partake OF
them which could not be performed equally well ~
either knife or fork. Their custom of serving only QUO
bot dish at time il not new to us, we having Dor
rowed il fiom the Russians, who probably took from
the Turks No nation, as yet, has been able to boast
of having introduced single innovation in the way OF
living of this sipgularly incommunicative race, tha
cause OF which l only attribute 10 the inIfnenso
distance placed between the relative social portion OF
the two soAes for while in Europe the I" s'Ie ioms
the soul of society and s0ciabty In Turkey they ara
kent in entire seclusion and almost without any KIND
OF education My stay here has not only procur,s ma
the high honor OF interview with the Sultan, but also
the advantage of becoming acquainted with one oi tho
most efu and principal officers of his Sublime Maes-
tvs household called the IIacji Bachji, or general IN
chief of the culinary department oil hls sublime Maes"
~ the Padschah ho speaks 18th pride OF having
held that Office five years with the late Sultan and Pa
dischah Mnhmoud and has retained II for seyen-
teen years with his present Sublime Majesty. inde-
pendent OF the private kitchen of the Sultan, he has
under his command in the various palaces about
go men cooks and had in the time OF Sui
tan Mobmoud upward Of 1000 Having eI-
pressed wish to become acquainted with
some of the principal Turkish dishes, aud
the way in which the dinner served he not only
cordially gave me the required information, bat in-
yited me 10 dinner la THrc ut the new Palace OF
Dolma Batch. We were only four guests, Including
himself Above seventy small dishes formed hxu-
rious bill Of fare which, after the Turkish fashion.
were quickly partaken Of the Moslems only taste
rnouhful OF each dish which may take their fancy.
He then informed that the repas we had partaken
bis Majesty the Padschah who always takes bis meals
alone and AZ no bill of fare is made every dish in the
Turkish cookery code must be prepared daily through
the year, and only in quantity according 70
the abundance scarcity VI the provisions TO e OBJ
tanned in the various seasons, 40 that his sublime
Majesty may find every thing he may desire within his
imperial call.
The Armenian cookery turns very much upon the
Turkish style while the Greek has type Of his own,
which regiet to say il far from meeting my appro-
baton though in b. gh Greek families have Partaken
of excellent dinners but the Turkish dishes were tha
most satisfactory the common cookery Of tbs Greeks
being sloppy and greasy while, per contra, the Iurk
Las studied the art Of preserving the essence Of al is
provisions employed which method will at all tunes
constitute paafabe as well as nutrtye food
with the highest conderaon have the honor 10 en,"'
Sir obsdient servant, ~ @"'''''
IstG. Ccn,t0HHnoIte, Hotel fAnzrte'i'' sep" o.