Seljuk Cuisine: A Chef's Quest for His Soulmate - Softcover

Akkor (Ottoman Cuisine) is a chef and food historian, who has researched and re-created lost cookery from the forgotten corners of Turkey's history. This volume on Seljuk cooking begins with stories from the year 1236 and the dishes prepared for the dervish lodge. Readers are immediately transported to the 13th century, as Akkor concentrates on the importance of food to the culture. Descriptions of the preparations for iftar (the fast-breaking dinner) for Ramadan at the Kubadabad Palace include a discussion of the method of preparing stale bread for the tirit with lentils and sugar by a kitchen worker, who narrates his developing understanding of cookery and palace life. These stories are followed by the author's, as he researches and connects to the ancient cuisine. ¬Akkor features recipes for soups, snacks, banquet dishes, desserts, sherbets, and drinks. The recipes are simple, and, apart from the odd sheep's head, easily obtainable, but are the authentic foods of the Seljuk empires. VERDICT This unique cookbook with beautiful illustrations will be a welcome companion to Turkish-studies collections and an unusual addition to cookbook collections.--Melissa Stearns, Franklin Pierce Univ. Lib., Rindge, NH "Library Journal "

In Seljuk Cuisine, Omur Akkor looks at the cuisine of one of the earliest empires to come to Anatolia, the Seljuks. Through storytelling and history-rich recipes, Akkor shows how deeply food was intertwined with everyday life during the Seljuk period. Akkor's narration provides a window into what the Seljuks are in their dervish lodges and palaces, in their markets and homes. Then he lists many of those recipes, so that you can eat the same food the Seljuks ate many centuries ago.