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Tekirdağ Köftesi, a Coastal Flavour with a Geographical Indication

The first question most visitors to Tekirdağ ask is the same: where can I eat köfte? The question is fair, because the name of this city has become almost a synonym for a dish.

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Tekirdağ Köftesi, a Coastal Flavour with a Geographical Indication

The first question most visitors to Tekirdağ ask is the same: where can I eat köfte? The question is fair, because the name of this city has become almost a synonym for a dish. Yet Tekirdağ köftesi is not only a famous dish; it is a product whose details are set out in an official document. The geographical indication record of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office describes everything, from the animal the meat must come from to how many grams each meatball should weigh. This article reads that document as a guide, combines it with what the Tekirdağ Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism and the Culture Portal say, and closes with a few suggestions for the reader about to sit down at the table.

The journey of a name

The Culture Portal notes that the old name of the köfte was tat köftesi, that another name was Hacıköylü köftesi, and that over time it came to be called Tekirdağ köftesi. The registration document traces its origin to roughly a hundred years ago, to a master in the city who made köfte with a method of his own. Its fame spread later, and today it is a name known all over the country. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism stresses the same point. In its words, what makes the köfte distinctive is not a single secret but a chain of small details, from the meat that is used to how it is handled and how it is cooked.

What the registration says

Tekirdağ Köftesi was registered on 7 August 2020 under number 517 as a mark of origin. The application had been filed on 5 February 2016 by the Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and protection runs from that application date. A mark of origin states that a product's reputation is tied to a place and that certain stages of production must take place there. In this registration the geographical boundary is the whole province of Tekirdağ. The document requires the words Tekirdağ Köftesi to appear on the packaging no smaller than the brand, or, where there is no packaging, somewhere easily visible in the business. In other words, the name of the köfte is a shared asset that anyone who follows the rules may use and anyone who breaks them may not.

Meat from the pastures

The most interesting part of the document is the section on where the meat comes from. The köfte is made from the meat of young bulls raised grazing on the Bromus and Festuca pastures of Tekirdağ. These pastures hold local plants such as Silene frivaldskyana, Frankenia pulverulenta, Trifolium ornithopodioides and Myosurus minimus, and the document notes that in Turkey these rare species are found only in Thrace. The animals are of the Holstein, Simmental, Charolais or Limousin breeds, are at most two years old, and weigh from 200 kilograms upwards. The promotional text of the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism says that animals of one and a half years that have reached 250 kilograms are preferred. The two sources do not fully exclude each other; as the official rule, the range in the registration document applies.

The proportions of the mix

The registration describes the mix in percentages. Between 70 and 75 percent of it is veal. Roughly a third of that meat comes from the ribs, and the rest from the leg, shoulder and neck. Stale wheat bread baked over a wood fire, red onion, a very small amount of garlic and beef suet are added to the meat; for the suet, caul fat or kidney fat is specifically recommended. The only spices are cumin and black pepper, with table salt alongside. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism also emphasises that no spice other than cumin, salt and black pepper goes into the mince. The document explicitly forbids food additives, flavourings and flavouring ingredients.

What the laboratory measures

The registration lists not only the recipe of the köfte but also its measurable qualities. In raw köfte, total fat may be at most 25 percent, salt at most 2 percent and moisture at most 65 percent. Total protein must be at least 12 percent. Starch also has an upper limit, because if the bread in the mix goes beyond the measure, the köfte turns into more bread than meat. The document adds one more limit each for acidity and for the freshness of the fat. These figures were set to guarantee that behind the flavour on the plate there is no meat cut back for profit and no bread added in excess.

The mincer and the rest

The meat of the slaughtered animal is first rested in the cold for a day, then cleaned of bone, cartilage and sinew and cut into small pieces. Together with the bread, onion, garlic and fat it is passed through a specific arrangement of blades and plates; here the document mentions two plates, a 13 and a 3.5. Spices and salt are added to the mince and it is kneaded until the mixture is even. Then comes the decisive step. Before it is shaped, the mixture is pressed into trays and left at refrigerator temperature for at least 18 and at most 24 hours. According to the document, the springy texture of the köfte comes from this rest. The text of the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism gives this period as 12 to 18 hours; the range in the registration is longer, and as the rule it is the one that applies.

Shape and grill

The rested mixture is shaped the next day. Each köfte weighs about 15 grams and is a small cylinder 6.5 centimetres long and 1.5 centimetres across. Cooking is done over charcoal on a grooved sheet metal grill. The köfte are dipped in a little sunflower oil and turned constantly until they take on the colour of milky coffee. The traditional recipe on the Culture Portal describes the same detail in other words: oil is poured into the groove of the grill and the köfte are rolled in that oil with tongs before being laid on the grill. The document defines a portion of cooked köfte as ten pieces. Raw köfte should have no cracks or gaps on the surface, and the colour should stay within shades from natural pink to brown.

The plate that arrives

According to the registration document, the köfte is served with hot sauce, roasted pepper and tomato, sliced onion and parsley. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism adds a bean salad dressed with olive oil and lemon, and green peppers cooked on the grill. The hot sauce is the signature of the plate. In the photograph at the top of this article you can see the same dark red sauce and a roasted green pepper next to the köfte.

Who checks

So that the rules do not stay on paper, the registration also sets up an inspection system. Inspection is carried out, under the coordination of the Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, by a board of at least three people drawn from experts of the chamber, the Department of Food Engineering at the Faculty of Agriculture of Namık Kemal University and the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry. The board inspects regularly every six months, and at any time when needed or after a complaint. Whether the meat comes from the region is traced through slaughter reports, the colour, weight and length of the köfte are measured, and a sample of the raw product is examined in a laboratory.

The shoe shaped köfte of Hayrabolu

The köfte map of Tekirdağ does not end with a single name. The köfte made in the Çerkezmüsellim quarter of Hayrabolu district was registered as mark of origin number 1294 on 19 December 2022, on the application of Hayrabolu Municipality. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism writes that this köfte was first registered in 2009; the current document is dated 2022. Its name comes from its shape, since the köfte has an oval form that resembles a shoe, a pabuç. The mix uses a blend of rib, shoulder and neck meat and, unlike Tekirdağ köftesi, also includes ground red pepper. Each köfte weighs about 50 grams, a portion has four pieces, and it comes to the plate with fried tomato and pepper. The resting rule is the same here, with the mixture left in trays for 18 to 24 hours.

For those who want to try it at home

The Culture Portal also gives a home scale recipe based on a book written about the local cuisine. In this recipe a small piece of stale bread, a small onion and a clove of garlic are added to a kilogram of medium fat meat, and everything is passed through the mincer together. Then cumin, salt, black pepper and chilli flakes are added, the mince is passed through once more and left overnight. The proportions in the registration are hard to match at home, but two rules are easy to follow: rest the mixture, and keep the köfte small. Köfte made with a home recipe is no substitute for the registered product, but it is a good start for understanding the logic of the cuisine.

Before you sit down in Tekirdağ

The first thing to look for if you want to eat köfte on the spot is the name itself. Because the registration requires the name Tekirdağ Köftesi to be displayed where it can easily be seen, the name is not decoration but a commitment to the rules. If you buy raw köfte to take home, think about the cold chain. According to the document, the fresh product should be eaten within four days of production. The frozen product can be kept for up to six months and should not be refrozen once thawed. When planning your meal, check opening days and hours in the businesses' own announcements. After the köfte, a short walk along the shore makes a good break before visiting the museums of the city centre.

Sources

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