Some dishes are cooked not to fill the stomach but to bring a community together, and keşkek stands at the head of such dishes in Anatolia. At a wedding, on the morning of a religious festival, at a charity table or at a soldier's send-off, cauldrons are set up, wheat and meat stay on the fire for hours, and the food becomes the shared labor of the crowd that prepares it. In much of Turkey this labor ends with pounding: the contents are beaten with a mallet or a spoon until they turn into a paste. In Amasya, by contrast, the pot is put into a stone oven and left alone for many hours, and when the lid is lifted there is a browned crust on the surface and, beneath it, wheat, meat and chickpeas softened by patience. This is exactly what sets Amasya keşkek apart from its neighbors: the components are not pounded, and after cooking they can still be told apart.

Origin of the Name

The word keşkek is formed by adding a diminutive suffix to "keşk," a word of Arabic and Persian origin. The Burhan-ı Katı dictionary describes "keşk" as wheat that is boiled after its bran is removed and eaten with yogurt as a side dish, and gives "harisa" as its Arabic equivalent. İlhan Ayverdi's dictionary defines keşkek as "a dish made by pounding meat and wheat until they become a dough." This definition reflects the common form of the dish; the Amasya style departs from it, as will be seen below. In Hatay the same dish goes by names such as herise, dövme and aşur, while in Persian, Arabic and other linguistic circles closely related words such as keşk, kişk, kishkiyya and kishek have been used for very different foods. Among the names that vary from region to region in Turkey, "kesmek" is also recorded for Amasya; no other document on the use of this name in Amasya has been found, and it is cited here only as a record of a local designation.

Its Roots: From a Persian Palace to a Hittite Table

Keşkek is counted among the oldest known dishes in Turkish food history. Dishes that cook meat and grain for a long time are too old to be tied to a single people or geography, so it is not possible to give a definitive verdict on where and when keşkek first appeared. The most striking trace in Amasya, however, comes from beneath the ground. In the excavations at Oluz Höyük, in the village of Oluz in Amasya, a roughly 2,500-year-old terracotta vessel containing animal bones and grain was found in a palace kitchen of the Persian period. According to the excavation director, Prof. Dr. Şevket Dönmez, the vessel is about 30 centimeters long and large enough to cook for 30 people. Because it does not resemble the cooking pots of ordinary families, it has also strengthened the supposition that the area where it was found was the kitchen of a Persian palace. The excavation has been under way for about seventeen years, and the monumental entrance and kitchens of the Persian palace were uncovered in the course of this work; many animal bones, grain remains and grinding stones were found in the same area. Dönmez says they found sheep bones and grain remains in the vessel, that the shape of the vessel and the materials inside it "closely resemble" today's keşkek culture, and that they consider the remains may belong to Anatolian aş or a keşkek-like dish.

This find should be read with caution, because the excavation director's statement reports a resemblance and a possibility. There is no firm document showing that the vessel was a direct ancestor of today's Amasya keşkek, and the headline "2,500-year-old keşkek found," so often repeated in the news, overshadows this caution. Even so, the find matters because it suggests that cooking grain and bone-in mutton in a large vessel for a crowded table was a very old kitchen habit in these lands. Yaman Kesim, a gourmet and the author of the book "Geçmişten Günümüze Amasya Mutfağı" (Amasya Cuisine from Past to Present), takes the history of the dish back to the Hittites, about 3,000 years ago, and describes it as a sacred dish the Hittites offered to their kings and gods. This is one researcher's assessment, and it has not been seen to rest on a written document in the sources.

Two Keşkeks: the Amasya Style and the Merzifon Style

There are two separate geographically indicated keşkeks within the borders of Amasya province, and they are not the same dish. According to Turkish Patent records, Merzifon Keşkeği was registered as an indication of origin on 30.12.2014 under number 186; the application is dated 06.12.2011 and was made by the Merzifon Municipality. Some publications give the registration year as 2015. According to the description on the Culture Portal, beef, chickpeas and whole wheat of the kind used for aşure are cooked in stone pots over a wood fire, that is, in stone ovens, for about twelve hours. Then everything is crushed into a paste by beating it in the pot with a wooden spoon (çömçe), and a butter-and-tomato-paste sauce is added on top. That the question "Did you pound the keşkek?" is asked in the region while keşkek is being made shows how central pounding is at the Merzifon table.

Amasya Keşkeği departs from this path. The components are not pounded but placed in the pot whole, and after cooking the meat, wheat and chickpeas can be seen separately. The account of the Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism draws the same distinction: in the Merzifon region all the contents of the pot are pounded into a paste, whereas in the Amasya style the ingredients remain distinct when the keşkek is served. To describe keşkek as a dish pounded with long mallets into a thick, sticky consistency is correct for the Merzifon style and for ceremonial keşkek in Anatolia generally, but it contradicts the registered definition of Amasya Keşkeği.

Geographical Indication: Registration No. 1183

According to the record in the Geographical Indications Portal of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, Amasya Keşkeği is an indication of origin in the product group "Dishes and soups." The file number is C2021/000383, the application date is 30.09.2021, the registration number is 1183 and the registration date is 28.07.2022; the applicant and registrant is the Yeşilırmak Basin Development Association. According to news reports, the Amasya Governorship and the Amasya Federation of Tradesmen and Craftsmen's Chambers also took part in the application. With the registration, the number of geographically indicated products in Amasya rose from 4 to 13; the governor of the time, Mustafa Masatlı, stated that with 20 applications still pending they aimed to raise this number to 33.

According to the registered definition, Amasya Keşkeği is produced from keşkek wheat, mutton, veal bone marrow, sheep tail fat, chickpeas, çemen (fenugreek paste), salt and water. Within the geographical boundary it is cooked for at least 12 hours in a keşkek pot called a "cab" and in a stone oven fired with wood. No tomato paste is used in production; however, optionally, a sauce prepared by mixing the excess fat that collects on top after cooking with tomato paste and hot water may be poured over it at serving. The registration text also states that the product's history is old, that it holds an important place in Amasya's food culture, and that it is always served on special occasions such as weddings. The practical consequence of the registration is that the name Amasya Keşkeği and the indication-of-origin emblem may be used only for a dish made to this definition and must be displayed on the product or its packaging or, where that is not possible, in a place easily visible at the establishment.

Ingredients and the Traditional Method

The recipe given on the Culture Portal, based on the Amasya Governorship's Amasya Mutfağı Kitabı, lists the four main components of keşkek as meat, tail fat, keşkek wheat known as "kendimelik," and chickpeas. The quantities are as follows: 1 kilogram of keşkek wheat, 500 grams of mutton (from the shoulder or the loin; a roasting cut will also do), 200 grams of sheep tail, 100 grams of chickpeas, one tablespoon of çemen thinned with water, and salt. Into the keşkek pot (cab) go the wheat, meat, çemen and chickpeas, along with the tail fat with its cartilage removed, salt, and the marrow of two large bones cracked open to extract it. Water is added to a depth of "three fingers" above the contents, the lid of the cab is closed and the pot is put into the oven. The excess fat that collects on top of the cooked keşkek (bar) is taken into a pan, and a sauce is made with tomato paste and hot water; the keşkek ladled from the cab onto plates is served with this sauce added to taste. No tomato paste goes into the cab.

Çemen is a small but decisive detail that sets Amasya keşkek apart from other keşkeks. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism notes that keşkek is made in many regions with small differences, and that in Amasya a little çemen is present alongside the mutton leg that accompanies the coarse cracked wheat. On the meat, the sources do not fully agree. The registration text says mutton. Muharrem Geçici, a cook with 30 years of experience, says that lamb, veal or chicken can be used in Merzifon keşkek, whereas in Amasya keşkek lamb is indispensable. News reports, for their part, list the ingredients as lamb neck meat, marrow bone, chickpeas, cracked wheat and butter. These differences show that there is no single written recipe for the dish and that each household and each master passes the recipe through his or her own hands.

A Contradiction over Cooking Time

Cooking time varies by source. The registered definition at Turkish Patent says "at least 12 hours"; the press describes the pot being put into the oven in the evening, cooking through the night and being ready to serve in the morning, and presents the dish as "one of the longest-prepared dishes in the world." By contrast, the recipe on the Culture Portal says "4-5 hours in an oven that is not too hot," and a food news item mentions 5-6 hours over low heat in a pot or saucepan. Since the sources do not explain this difference, it would not be right to tie the time to a single number: the minimum duration of the registered definition is 12 hours, while the traditional recipe on the Culture Portal gives 4-5 hours. It may be thought that the versions cooked at home and the production described for the registration represent different scales, but no record confirms this.

The measure of whether cooking in a stone oven has turned out well is, according to Kesim, the "çeper," the crust that forms on the surface: "The secret of keşkek is definitely in the crust. If a crust and collagen form on it, this is the sign of a good oven keşkek." Even though the mouth of the pot stays covered, the heat of the oven forms a crust on the surface in contact with the vessel, and this crust is the most visible difference in the appearance of unpounded keşkek.

At the Table, at Ceremonies, at Festivals

According to the Amasya Cultural Atlas, especially at village weddings, cauldrons of keşkek, pilaf, meat and helva are boiled at the wedding house, and tables are set on the rooftops and in the courtyards. In the past, because spoons were hard to supply and serve, guests would come to the table with a wooden spoon tucked into their belts, and the food was eaten together to the sound of drum and zurna. That keşkek is indispensable on festival mornings and at weddings is repeated in many sources. Another feature of Amasya is that keşkek is not confined to ceremonies but is part of everyday life: the press reports that Amasya people eat it at all three meals of the day and that it appears on the menus of the city's restaurants.

Ceremonial keşkek across Turkey, meanwhile, is a very widespread ritual. According to the sources, keşkek is cooked and distributed at weddings, circumcisions, births and soldiers' send-offs, at religious festivals, pilgrimage visits, rain prayers, mevlits, in the month of Muharram, at charity meals and at Hıdırellez. According to the review by Görkem Teyin published in the journal Gastroia, the common structure of the tradition is that wheat is cooked with meat and pounded until it becomes a paste, and clarified butter is poured over it. In ceremonial settings such as weddings, births and soldiers' send-offs, where crowds gather, keşkek is prepared by communal effort and again eaten all together; Teyin stresses that this shared preparation reflects unity and solidarity in society. The wheat is soaked the day before the wedding, boiled in large cauldrons from the morning of the wedding day and then pounded with mallets in the cauldron; this is the familiar sequence of the tradition. The comparison "gum-like keşkek," used for well-pounded keşkek, describes a consistency that stretches when drawn from the plate with a spoon. Today, mixers made only for this job are also used, yet keşkek pounded by the traditional method is still considered preferable in villages.

The "Ceremonial keşkek tradition" was inscribed in 2011 on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at the sixth session in Bali, Indonesia; the date of the inscription is known as 28 November 2011. This inscription was given to the ceremonial tradition across Turkey and is not an inscription specific to Amasya's stone-oven keşkek. Teyin's article regards the dish's entry onto this list as an important example for other local products and cultures of the country to be added to the list and promoted.

Pounded and Unpounded

Ceremonial keşkek in Anatolia and the Merzifon style are defined by "pounding." According to an article in Hürriyet, the pounding is mostly done by men because it demands great stamina; in some regions a mallet made of walnut wood, also called "callap," is used. Keşkek is not made in a single way in Anatolia. In the Şuhut district of Afyonkarahisar, keşkek made with hulled wheat called göce and with "zıpkın" meat, taken from the part of the back near the tail, has received a separate geographical indication; around Ayancık in Sinop, a different type of keşkek is cooked from cracked corn and kidney beans. In the Amasya style the distinguishing feature is that the pot is left alone in the stone oven for a long time and the components remain visible separately. Both methods serve the same festival and wedding tables; the real difference is in the final consistency.

Where to Taste It

In Amasya, keşkek appears on the menus of restaurants that serve the city's traditional dishes. The sources contain no list of which establishments produce it in line with the registered definition; it is best to ask the establishment before visiting. Among the notable dishes of Amasya cuisine, alongside keşkek, are stuffed broad beans, meat okra stew, liver wraps, madımak, mıhlama and beetroot with pastırma.

Chronology

About 2,500 years ago (Persian period): A terracotta vessel containing bones and grain was found in the palace kitchen at Oluz Höyük; the press gives the dating as "2,500 years."

28 November 2011: The ceremonial keşkek tradition was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

30 December 2014: Merzifon Keşkeği was registered as a geographical indication under number 186.

30 September 2021: The Yeşilırmak Basin Development Association submitted the geographical indication application for Amasya Keşkeği.

28 July 2022: Amasya Keşkeği was registered as an indication of origin under number 1183.

Sources

Academic studies

  • Teyin, Görkem (2020). "Kültürel Bir Miras; Tören Keşkeği Geleneği". Gastroia: Journal of Gastronomy and Travel Research, 4 (2), 313-321 (DergiPark).
  • Face Dergisi, "Anadolu'nun Kadim Yemeği: Keşkek" (word origin and names).

Official sources

  • Culture Portal (Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye): "Amasya Keşkeği" (geographical indication page and What to Eat page; source: Amasya Governorship, Amasya Mutfağı Kitabı), "Merzifon Keşkeği" and "Amasya Düğün Öncesi Hazırlıkları ve Düğün" (Cultural Atlas).
  • Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, "Keşkek" (amasya.ktb.gov.tr).

Other sources

  • Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, Geographical Indications Portal: records for "Amasya Keşkeği" (Registration No. 1183) and "Merzifon Keşkeği" (Registration No. 186).
  • TRT Haber, Hürriyet and Ekovitrin: news reports on the geographical indication registration of Amasya Keşkeği (2022).
  • Objektif Amasya: "Amasya'da 2 Bin 500 Yıllık Keşkek Bulundu" and "Dövülerek Hazırlanan 3 Bin Yıllık Lezzet: Merzifon Keşkeği". objektifamasya.com
  • Türkiye Günlüğü, GZT, Sabah and Akdeniz Gazetesi: news reports on stone-oven keşkek (interviews with Yaman Kesim and Selçuk Başün).
  • Gıda Hattı, "Amasya Keşkeği nasıl yapılır? Diğer yöresel keşkeklerden farkı ne?"
  • Hürriyet, "Keşkek UNESCO korumasında" and Wikipedia, "Keşkek" (supplementary source).

Online sources