Among the pastries of Amasya there is one whose name alone tends to raise a smile on first hearing: eli böğründe, literally "hand on hip". Leavened, filled with walnuts and made in single portions, this small pastry may seem to stand in the shadow of the çörek, the kete and the yağlı, yet it has secured a firm place in the culinary memory of the region. Because one end of its dough is twisted around its own axis and the other in the opposite direction before the two are brought side by side, the finished piece takes on a shape that recalls a person standing with a hand on the waist. It is widely said that the name comes from this posture. A piece of handwork that calls for skill and patience, eli böğründe appears among the local dishes listed by the Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, and it is remembered as one of the pastries offered to guests at the circumcision baths of old Amasya and on the days when silk cocoons were gathered.

Found today in the city's bakeries and pastry shops, at breakfast or alongside afternoon tea, eli böğründe is also one of the examples that show how detailed a vocabulary Amasya's pastry culture has developed. Kete, gömbe, döndürme, yağlı and eli böğründe are made largely from the same ingredients, namely flour, water, salt, yeast, walnuts and oil; what tells them apart is usually how the dough is folded, how it is rolled and how it is cooked. To know eli böğründe is therefore more than learning a recipe: it means grasping the logic behind the shapes that the housewives and master bakers of Amasya give to their dough.

The Name and Its Meaning

In Turkish, "böğür" is the word for the part of the human or animal body between the ribs and the hip; it can also mean a side or a slope. "Eli böğründe" is known in everyday speech above all through the idiom "eli böğründe kalmak", which describes being left helpless, unable to do anything. The name of the Amasya pastry draws less on this idiom than on the literal sense of the words, the image of someone standing with a hand placed on the waist. As one arm of the twisted dough opens outwards and turns back towards the body, it recalls an elbow resting against the hip. Local accounts say that the name comes from the way the edges of the dough are gathered and curled, just like the stance of someone holding their waist.

This explanation fits the shape and is generally accepted in the region; however, no written record has been found showing when, or on whose lips, the name first arose. In Anatolian cooking it is common for dishes to be named after their appearance, the movements used to make them, or a resemblance to the human body. In Amasya's own list, names such as "gelin parmağı" (bride's finger), "unutma beni" (forget-me-not), "sakala çarpan" (the one that hits the beard) and "kesme ibik" (cut cockscomb) show that the local cuisine uses a playful and descriptive language. Eli böğründe may be counted among the most charming examples of this naming tradition.

It should also be noted that the same name is given to an entirely different dish in another corner of Turkey. In the cuisine of Kahramanmaraş, "eli böğründe" or "eli böğründe kebabı" is a meat dish of lamb, peppers, tomatoes and garlic baked in a tray, sometimes covered with a layer of dough. The ingredients, method and place at table of the two dishes are wholly different. The prominence of the Maraş kebab in recipe searches has at times led to Amasya's walnut pastry being confused with a meat-filled börek.

Its Place in Amasya Cuisine

In the presentation of local cuisine by the Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the pastry and dough dishes are listed as follows: Amasya çöreği, yağlı or katmer, kabak kavuklu pilav, bişi, cırıtka or cızlak or akıtma, döndürme, ekmek aşı or papara, eli böğründe, haşhaşlı cevizli çörek, hengel, kıymasız mantı, kaypak, mayalı, patlıcanlı pilav, sini suböreği, tepsi böreği, yakasal böreği and yanuç. The same list is repeated in the city guide of Amasya Municipality. Some promotional texts state that these dishes have been approved as local dishes by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Eli böğründe does not hold a geographical indication registration. An academic study published in 2022 on Amasya's potential for gastronomic tourism lists nine products with geographical indications, among them Amasya çöreği and the twisted burmalı Amasya çöreği, while eli böğründe does not appear on that list. In this respect eli böğründe is recorded less by any official registration than by the living food culture of the region and by local publications.

The most detailed source documenting eli böğründe is the bilingual Amasya Mutfağı / Amasya Cuisine, published as book no. 42 in the series of the Governorship of Amasya. Edited by H. Harun Yörgüç, the book was first printed in October 2006 and again in February 2010, each time in an edition of two thousand copies. Its preparation involved food and beverage teachers from the Amasya Anatolian Girls' Vocational High School, master instructors, cooks and housewives who shared their recipes. This line-up shows that the book's recipes were compiled largely from knowledge passed down from generation to generation in the home. In the book, eli böğründe appears in the pastry section, in the same run of pages as kete, gömbe, döndürme and yanuç.

In the book's introductory essay, "A History of Amasya Dishes", Yörgüç writes that during the Ottoman period Amasya served as a school and academy for candidates to the throne, and that the city known as the City of Princes developed dishes of its own whose taste, appearance and quality were worthy of sultans. These words also reflect a local writer's attachment to his city; there is no document showing that individual dishes derive from the palace kitchen. Even so, the point Yörgüç emphasises is that in Amasya hospitality was regarded as a matter of aesthetics, and that at every ceremony presentation, a smiling face and music were held in esteem. That eli böğründe is a pastry whose shape receives such care, and which was carried to ceremonial tables, accords with this outlook.

The Dough and the Filling

The dough of eli böğründe is the leavened dough known in Amasya as kete dough. According to the recipe in the book, eli böğründe calls for one tablespoon of dry yeast, one glass of pounded walnuts, one glass of vegetable oil, water, salt and egg yolk for brushing on top; the flour is used as for kete, as much as the dough will take. In the book's English column one egg is also added to the ingredients. This small difference suggests that whether an egg goes into the dough may vary from house to house. In the kete recipe the flour is first sifted, the yeast crumbled, salt and water added, and a soft dough kneaded and left to rise. The dough must be supple enough to take shape easily in the hand, yet strong enough not to tear as it is twisted. Striking this balance is regarded in the region as the work of experienced hands.

Fist-sized pieces are pulled from the risen dough. Flour is sprinkled above and below each piece, and the balls are rolled out with a long rolling pin (oklava). The whole surface of the dough is then spread with walnut oil. Made by mixing pounded walnuts with vegetable oil, this filling is something like a common signature of Amasya pastries. In gömbe, döndürme, kete and yağlı as well, a similar oil of walnuts, or of walnuts and poppy seed, is spread between the layers of dough. The filling separates the dough into layers and, as it bakes, gives each layer a light crispness and the scent of walnut.

There are also accounts that present eli böğründe as a börek and say it is filled with minced meat blended with fried onion, with cheese or with potato. Fillings of this kind are common in Anatolian böreks, and practices may vary from house to house. Yet the eli böğründe documented in Amasya's local publications is a leavened pastry folded and twisted with walnut oil, and its recipe has no place for either mince or cheese. No written source has been found showing whether there are households in Amasya that make eli böğründe with meat or cheese.

Shaping and Baking

The stage that really sets eli böğründe apart from its relatives in the kete family is the shape given to the dough. The sheet of dough spread with walnut oil is rolled up into a log. According to the recipe in the book, one end of this roll is twisted on its own axis and the other in the opposite direction, and the two ends are brought side by side. The English text describes the movement briefly as "wring the roll". Twisted, with its two sides leaning against each other, the dough recalls the bend of an arm resting on a hip. Its top is then pressed by hand to a thickness of about one centimetre. This pressing helps the layers hold together and lets the dough rise evenly as it bakes.

The shaped dough is brushed with egg yolk and eli böğründe is baked over a wood fire until golden. The kete recipe specifically notes that the pieces are baked one by one in a wood-fired oven; eli böğründe likewise suits the same oven arrangement. Today it is common in homes and bakeries for the pieces to be set out on a tray and baked in the oven. When they come out, they are brushed with butter and served. The glossy, reddish surface given by the egg yolk and the scent of butter soaking into the hot dough combine to produce a pastry that is lightly crisp on the outside, soft within and fragrant with walnut.

The book's recipe note gives two further important details about eli böğründe. The first is that the pastry is prepared in single portions. Unlike gömbe, baked in a tray and cut into slices, or döndürme, rolled out into large rounds, it needs no dividing up; each guest is given one piece. The second, in the note's own words, is that "it is easy to serve". These two features explain why eli böğründe was so well suited to crowded ceremonial gatherings, and especially to refreshments offered to guests who were standing or on the move.

Its Kinship with Kete, Gömbe, Döndürme and Yağlı

Eli böğründe is best understood when seen within the family of pastries to which it belongs. Kete is made from the same leavened dough; spread with walnut oil and rolled into a log, the dough is pressed to a thickness of one centimetre, brushed with egg yolk, baked over a wood fire and buttered when it comes out of the oven. Eli böğründe is like this kete roll twisted and turned into an individual shape. The ingredients stay the same, and what separates the two pastries is the movement the hand gives to the dough.

Gömbe, for its part, is the tray member of the same family. A leavened dough, kneaded with lukewarm water and left to rest for close to an hour and a half, is divided in two; one half is spread over a greased tray, a filling of walnuts and pounded poppy seed is placed in the middle, the other half is laid over the filling, and the dough is closed up inside the tray in the shape of a bundle. The risen dough is brushed with egg yolk, browned in the oven and served in slices. Döndürme, by contrast, is made from an unleavened dough containing eggs; the sheet spread with walnut oil is rolled into a log and cut into six pieces, each piece is wound around itself into a round, pressed by hand into a disc fifteen centimetres across and fried in hot oil. According to the book, döndürme is heavy to digest and very high in energy, and so is preferred mainly in the winter months.

Yağlı, or katmer, is the form of the same walnut filling cooked on the sac, the domed iron griddle. Pounded walnuts and poppy seed, thinned again with oil, are spread over thinly rolled and oiled balls of dough; the dough is rolled up from its edge, coiled like a simit and pressed down, rolled out with the oklava to half a centimetre thick, and cooked on the sac, turned until both sides are browned. Set side by side, these four pastries show clearly how many different forms Amasya cooking has drawn from a single basic dough and a single walnut filling. The technique of twisting and coiling appears again in the burmalı Amasya çöreği, which has received a geographical indication. Eli böğründe is the smallest and most personal member of this family.

Eli Böğründe at Ceremonies and as a Treat for Guests

In Amasya, food is not thought of apart from ceremonial life. Among the customs compiled by Yörgüç are many occasions, such as the wedding-night meal called güvey önü, the table for an honoured guest (ağır misafir), the bride's bath meal, provisions for pilgrims and the meal welcoming them home, the bride's mirror, the barama meal, the circumcision bath and the tesbih çekme gathering of prayer after a funeral. Each has its own dishes. The table for an honoured guest holds six dishes: toyka soup, a whole joint of meat, rice pilaf, sinisu böreği, okra and a dessert. At the bride's bath, bakla dolması, walnut puaça, bat and lokma are eaten. Eli böğründe, for its part, is especially associated with two of these customs.

The first of these is the circumcision bath. The boys about to be circumcised and their friends were driven around the city in phaetons and brought to the bathhouse on their return. While the boys were washed and dressed in their circumcision shirts, a hired band of saz players performed inside and in front of the bathhouse, and the guests attending the ceremony, who were mostly children, were offered simit, poaça, eli böğründe and sweets. Being made in single portions and easy to carry in the hand, eli böğründe had become the natural treat for this crowded and lively occasion.

The second occasion is the barama meal. Silkworm breeding was once one of Amasya's main sources of livelihood and, according to the book, was carried on in seventeen villages. When the stage of cocoon-spinning was over and harvest time came, the head of the household would call in the neighbours, and the cocoons, the baramas, were handled and gathered in the spirit of imece, communal shared labour. The gathered cocoons were placed in large handleless baskets woven of reed, called heğ, and sent to the cocoon market, known locally as the mezat. The head of the household offered a meal to the guests who had joined the imece, eaten to the accompaniment of tambourine, oud, violin and shouts of nara. Depending on the means of the household this meal could become a feast, but at its heart were bakla dolması and bat. Families serving only one dish would set up the sac and offer pastries such as yağlı, yanuç, kete and gömbe with samovar tea. The recipe note for eli böğründe likewise records that this pastry was served at barama meals.

These two ceremonies show clearly the social setting in which eli böğründe lived. In shared tasks such as the barama imece, the kneading, rolling and twisting of the dough was also very often the joint work of women who had come together. Done to the accompaniment of conversation, this work had become a tradition in which manual skill and solidarity were kept alive together. In this way eli böğründe, too, settled into the memory of the region as the treat of communal labour and celebration.

Eli Böğründe Today

Although circumcision baths and silk cocoon raising have lost their former prevalence, eli böğründe continues to be made in Amasya. Today it can be found at any hour of the day in some of the city's bakeries and pastry shops. It is eaten most often at breakfast or at teatime, alongside well-brewed tea. As a savoury pastry, it completes the bread-and-pastry side of the breakfast table together with çörek and poaça. In homes it continues to be made as one of the favourite offerings at teatime and on tables laid for guests.

In promotions of Amasya cuisine, bakla dolması, keşkek, toyga soup and Amasya çöreği usually take the foreground. In the 2020s some of these dishes received geographical indication registrations, and studies of gastronomic tourism have stressed that Amasya has a cuisine distinguished by its pastries. Although eli böğründe does not appear near the top of that list, it is one of the most instructive examples for anyone wishing to understand the city's pastry tradition. Standing on a small scale beside kete, gömbe and döndürme, this pastry shows on its own how many different forms can be drawn from the same ingredients.

The future of eli böğründe depends largely on the number of hands that know how to make it. The recipe itself is simple; the real knowledge lies in getting the consistency of the dough right, twisting the roll without tearing it and bringing the two ends together in balance. This knowledge entered a book in 2006, but the feel of the dough in the hand can only be learned by doing, and it is still passed on mostly in homes, from mother to daughter and from neighbour to neighbour. The fact that vocational school teachers, master instructors and housewives worked together on the Governorship's book also shows that this transmission continues between the school kitchen and the home kitchen.

Chronology

October 2006: The first edition of the Governorship of Amasya's book Amasya Mutfağı / Amasya Cuisine is printed; the recipe for eli böğründe appears in its pastry section.

February 2010: The second edition of the book is published.

24 August 2021: Amasya çöreği is registered as a geographical indication with a designation of origin (mahreç işareti).

7 June 2022: Burmalı Amasya çöreği is registered as a geographical indication.

30 December 2022: An academic study of Amasya's potential for gastronomic tourism is published; eli böğründe is not among the products with geographical indications.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Official sources

Other sources

Online sources