The Cooking School Volume I

Aşçı Mektebi (The Cooking School), written by Ahmed Şevket, is one of the last cookbooks published in the Ottoman Empire. Being the most comprehensive cookbook written in the Ottoman field is another feature. It also witnessed the first period of the Republic since some of the volumes were published a few years later. The work consists of four main parts (Kısım). The first part was printed at the Istanbul Hilal Matbaa in 1920, and the other parts were printed at the Kader and Suhûlet printing houses in the same city in 1925. Based on information given by the author in the introduction part of the work, Aşçı Mektebi was prepared in 35 years. He worked with the well-known foremen of Istanbul in this process and learned a lot from them. Aşçı Mektebi contains many European-style (alafranga) recipes as well as classical Turkish dishes. Although the majority of the European cuisine in the work are mainly French, there are also English, German, Italian and Russian dishes. The westernization movement showed its impacts rapidly since the Tanzimat reform era. By the beginning of the 20th century, it has become the lifestyle of some elite and elite groups. In this respect, alcoholic beverages are mentioned in the use as ingredients when cooking and sauce recipes are given in the Aşçı Mektebi, and this is no longer strange in Istanbul of the 1920s. However, Ahmed Şevket’s effort to offer alternatives such as boiled and chilled milk, vinegar or water instead of wine in some of such recipes cannot be overlooked. The most voluminous part of the work is the first part (Kısm-ı Evvel). In this section, which is divided into 15 chapters, hundreds of recipes for meat, kebabs, fried fish, vegetables and pasta, alongwith 100 kinds of soup recipes, are remarkable. The second part (Kısm-ı Sânî) is devoted to pastries and desserts. In this section, which consists of 11 chapters, there are many recipes from Eastern and Western cuisines. The third part (Kısm-ı Sâlis) is titled as “The Storeroom and Table Works” and consists of three chapters. Here, there are recipes including appetizers and snacks, sandwiches, salads, tartar, pickles, jams, sherbet and ice cream, as well as information on the establishment of the table. In the last section (Kısm-ı Râbi‘) titled “Housework”, there are various sweet or salty recipes. These include sausage, pastrami, roasted fish, brine, bread, yufka, tarhana, cream, yoghurt, butter, various cheeses, dried fruits and vegetables, pestils, molasses and vinegar recipes. Ahmed Şevket, who stated that he gave easy recipes at the beginning of his work, did not neglect to provide explanations and information that would help readers in some recipes andwhere he deems necessary. For instance, he made various recommendations with the titles of “warning” (ihtar) in many recipes throughout the book or gave tips for the reader to make it easy. In addition, he did mind the difficulty of meeting the words and phonetism in a foreign language at that time, when the Latin alphabet was not yet adopted. He also gave Latin letters spellings of some words for once when needed. Consequently, Aşçı Mektebi is one of the richest works of Turkish gastronomy history with thousands of recipes it contains. Ahmed Şevket both read the cookbooks before him while writing the work and collaborated with well-known local and foreign foremen of Istanbul for years. In this regard, dishes from European cuisine are as remarkable as Ottoman recipes in the work.