Tavukgöğsü facts for kids
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| Alternative names | Tavuk göğsü |
|---|---|
| Type | Pudding |
| Course | Dessert |
| Main ingredients | Chicken, milk, sugar, rice flour |
Tavukgöğsü (pronounced "tah-vook-gyoh-soo") is a special Turkish milk pudding. What makes it unique is that it's made with real shredded chicken breast! This sweet treat was once a fancy dish served to Ottoman sultans in their grand Topkapı Palace. Today, it's still a very popular and well-known dessert across Turkey.
A Sweet History
For a long time, people thought this chicken pudding came from an ancient Roman cookbook called Apicius. They believed it traveled from the Roman Empire to the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as Byzantium) and then to the Ottoman Empire. However, no copies of Apicius actually have a recipe like this.
Similar sweet dishes from Arab countries existed around the 900s. Because there's no clear proof of a Roman link, it's more likely that tavukgöğsü found its way into Turkish cooking from Arab cuisine.
How Tavukgöğsü Is Made
The traditional way to make tavukgöğsü uses white chicken breast meat. First, the chicken is boiled until it's very soft. Then, the meat is carefully pulled apart into super thin fibers, almost like threads. Sometimes, it's even pounded until it's completely smooth.
This finely prepared chicken is then mixed with milk, sugar, and ground rice. Other ingredients are added to make it thick, like a pudding. Often, a nice flavor like cinnamon is sprinkled on top. The final result is a thick, creamy pudding that is sometimes shaped in a special way before it's served.
A Pudding's Relatives
Tavukgöğsü is quite similar to a medieval European dish called "white dish" (or blancmange). This blancmange was a common fancy food for upper-class people in Europe a long time ago. It was even mentioned in the famous book The Canterbury Tales. While blancmange has changed a lot over the years in modern Europe and Latin America, its older form was very much like tavukgöğsü.
See also
In Spanish: Tavuk göğsü para niños
