Test de Turke

Teste de Turke (translated as head of the Turk ) is a dish of medieval cuisine that, according to today's knowledge, had its origin in the Arab world. Due to the cultural exchange after the Norman conquest of Sicily , which was previously under Arab influence , this dish also reached England, where it appeared in various medieval Anglo- Norman manuscripts, similar to Poume d'oranges .

There are several ways of preparing this dish. Outside of Lent , it was made from pork and chicken. The meat was finely chopped and mixed with saffron , eggs, breadcrumbs and almonds, among other things . It was then cooked in a pig's stomach. After boiling, the Saumagen was removed, the meat mixture was coated with an egg yolk mixture and baked until the egg shell hardened. In its form, this recipe may well have resembled a head. In another variant, which has survived from an Anglo-Norman manuscript, a dough casing was filled with rabbit and poultry meat, which was mixed with dates, honey and cheese. The head-like appearance was achieved, among other things, that the dough shape was sprinkled with dark nuts on the top and pistachios on the sides. Both variants can supposedly be traced back to a Moorish- Spanish dish called Rās maimūn (translated monkey head ).

literature

• Melitta Weiss Adamson (Ed.): Regional Cuisines of Medieval Europe , Routledge, New York 2002, ISBN 0-415-92994-6