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The Yozgat Table, from Testi Kebab to Arabaşı

The quickest way to get to know Yozgat is to sit down at its table. The province lies in the middle of a high, wide steppe known as the Bozok plateau; its winters are long and harsh, its summers short and dry.

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The Yozgat Table, from Testi Kebab to Arabaşı

The quickest way to get to know Yozgat is to sit down at its table. The province lies in the middle of a high, wide steppe known as the Bozok plateau; its winters are long and harsh, its summers short and dry. This climate favours wheat, sheep and milk, and it builds a table of hearty dishes made with meat and dough. The geographical indication database of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office today lists eight registrations for Yozgat: one designation of origin and seven geographical indications. This article uses that list like a route map. It looks first at the city's two kebabs, then at its best known soup, then at cheese, bread and the products of the districts. At the end there are a few suggestions on how a visitor to Yozgat can approach this table.

What a geographical indication tells you

A geographical indication is an official registration that ties the name of a product to the place where it was born. A designation of origin says that the product takes all of its qualities from that geography. A geographical indication of the other type, called mahreç in Turkish, says that the product's reputation is tied to a place and that at least one stage of production must take place there. Most of Yozgat's registrations are of this second type, and the registration documents contain far more than a simple list of names. Each document sets out, step by step, which ingredients go into the dish, in which order and with which tools it is made. The documents also say who will inspect the product; for Yozgat's food registrations, inspection is carried out by a three member board drawn from the provincial agriculture and health directorates and the chamber, coordinated by the municipality. Reading these documents is therefore like reading the most meticulous pages of a cookbook.

The kebab cooked in a clay jug

Yozgat Desti Kebabı was registered on 19 September 2023 and is the newest dish on the list. The registration uses the word "desti", while the recipe text always calls the vessel a "testi"; both mean the same clay jug. According to the registration, the kebab contains diced lamb, tomato, long green pepper, garlic, butter, black pepper and salt. Before use the jug is filled with water and left to stand for a while, so that the vessel does not soak up the juices of the dish while it cooks. The mixture goes into the jug, the butter is added on top and the mouth of the jug is sealed with a dough kneaded from flour, water and salt. A hole is made in the middle of the dough so the steam can escape.

The cooking is done in embers. A fire of wood and charcoal is lit, and when it has burned down to embers the jug is buried in them; once steam begins to rise it cooks for about two hours. When the dish is ready, the neck of the jug is struck once with a hammer and the vessel is opened by breaking it. The document also records a small detail that makes this moment easier. A thin line is scratched with a nail just below the neck of the jug, the clay becomes thinner at that point and the jug breaks cleanly with a single blow. The vessel itself is specially made; its clay is fired for a long time, for different periods in summer and winter, so that it does not fall apart while the food cooks inside. The Wikipedia article on testi kebab also notes that in Yozgat it has become a custom for the person breaking the jug to make a wish before striking it; watching that moment at the table is half of the meal.

Bozok lamb and the tandır oven

The city's second kebab, Yozgat Tandır Kebabı, was registered in 2017. According to the document, two things set it apart from other kebabs. The first is the meat: it comes from one year old lambs, called toklu locally, raised in natural conditions on the Bozok plateau. The second is the oven: a special tandır built over fire bricks with a mortar of salt and fire clay, which holds its heat for a long time. A long iron bar stands in the middle of the oven, fires burn on both sides and the meat cooks on skewers between these two fires. A pan at the bottom collects the fat that drips from the meat; that fat is spread on the bread that is served with it.

The preparation begins a day earlier. The lamb, trimmed of sinew and excess fat, is cut into large pieces, dipped in salt and rested for a day. Oak wood is lit on the two sides of the tandır, and when the fire has turned to embers the meat goes into the oven. After a while the pieces are taken out, pierced in several places with a knife and returned to the tandır, and after this second cooking they are rested briefly. Finally the meat is sliced thin as leaves and served with tomato, parsley, pepper, onion and lavash bread. The registration requires that the meat come from lambs raised on the Bozok plateau; in other words, the name of this kebab is tied to the plateau itself.

Arabaşı, the long winter night

Yozgat's best known dish is without doubt arabaşı, and it is the oldest registration on the list. Yozgat Arabaşısı was recorded as a geographical indication in 2013 on the application of Yozgat Municipality. According to the document, arabaşı consists of two separate parts: a spiced soup made with chicken, turkey or goose meat, and a dough cooked separately. What sets the soup apart from other soups is that it is eaten not with bread but with this dough. The dough is taken onto the spoon and swallowed together with the soup without chewing. The document also stresses that arabaşı is eaten in winter.

Making the dough takes patience. Part of the water is brought to the boil, flour is whisked into the rest to make a batter, and the batter is stirred into the boiling water. The dough is stirred constantly with a rolling pin, and when it begins to puff up like popcorn it cooks for a few more minutes before being poured onto large trays wetted with water. The trays are shaken so the dough spreads evenly, and it is left to cool. The cooled dough is cut into diamond shapes with a wet knife, the centre of the tray is cleared and the soup bowl is set there. The secret of the soup lies in the meyane, a roasted flour base. The flour is roasted patiently over low heat for close to half an hour, and the heat is turned off when its colour turns yellow and it gives off its aroma. The cooled meyane is thinned with water to the consistency of ayran and added little by little to a broth prepared with tomato paste, red pepper flakes and black pepper sautéed in butter. The shredded meat goes in last, and those who like it add a squeeze of lemon. The registration places weight on the meat coming from poultry raised in natural conditions or on the uplands.

The cheese that ripens in a clay pot

Yozgat Çanak Peyniri was registered in 2017 and takes its name from its container. The cheese is pressed tightly into a pot made of earth, and the pot is buried in sand to ripen. According to the registration document and the description on the Culture Portal, the milk comes from sheep, goats and cows; each family either processes its own milk or several families come together and turn their milk into cheese in turn. This shared method is called the milk house. The rennet is homemade.

The stages of production form a long chain that demands care. When the curdled milk sets, it is put into cloth bags and hung up, then pressed under stones. The salted and crumbled cheese is pressed a second time, under heavier stones, for several days; locally this step is called tercan, tecin, tecen or bastırık. The cheese is then packed into the pot so that no air remains, its mouth is covered with a vine leaf or a cloth and sealed with dough. The pots are turned upside down, buried in fine, slightly damp sand and left to ripen for months in a cool place.

Finger bread and Sorgun yağlısı

The wheat of the steppe leaves its mark on bread and pastry as well. Yozgat Parmak Çöreği was registered in 2013, on the same day as arabaşı. It is made from flour, water, salt and yeast; what makes it different is a sourdough taken from the previous day's dough. According to the document, this sourdough gives the bread its distinctive taste and lets it form a thick, crisp crust as it bakes. The dough is divided into portions and each portion into four equal pieces. The pieces are stretched, joined side by side and closed into an oval at the ends; the resulting shape looks like fingers lying next to each other, which is how the bread got its name. According to the description on the Culture Portal, the bread bakes in a stone oven in a way that keeps the wood fire from touching it, by the heat of the oven alone, and it contains no additives.

The Sorgun district's own bread, Sorgun Yağlısı, was registered in 2021. According to the document, this bread consists of at least seven layers. Butter or margarine is spread between rolled sheets of dough and the folding is repeated at least seven times; the dough is shaped into a circle or an ellipse and baked on greaseproof paper in a stone floored oven over a wood fire. Sesame and nigella seeds may be sprinkled on top. The document also states that the bread keeps for only one day at room temperature and is eaten daily; in other words, Sorgun yağlısı can only really be tasted in Sorgun, on the day it comes out of the oven.

The salep of Akdağ and the melon of Aydıncık

Two more registrations describe the geography of the districts. Akdağmadeni Salebi was registered in 2021. According to the document, the salep comes from the tubers of an orchid called Dactylorhiza romana that grows in Akdağmadeni, a district covered with pine and oak forests. The district lies in a transition zone between the Black Sea and continental climates; it receives Black Sea style rain in spring and autumn and spends the summer under a continental climate. The tubers are lifted at the beginning of summer, washed, heat treated, dried and ground in a stone mill. The document also notes that the old tuber is buried back in the soil so that it can produce again the following year. Salep is drunk boiled with milk, with cinnamon for those who like it; the registration text adds that this salep is also favoured in making ice cream. The only designation of origin on the list is Yozgat Aydıncık Bağrıbütün Kavunu, a melon registered in 2020 on behalf of Aydıncık Municipality.

How to approach this table

The season in which you come to Yozgat decides your table. Even the registration document of arabaşı says that it is eaten in winter, so it is best sought in its most natural form in the cold months. Daily breads such as Sorgun yağlısı, on the other hand, can only be found fresh and on the spot. When you order testi kebab, wait for the jug to be broken at the table; that moment is the presentation of the dish.

According to the registration documents, businesses that sell or serve a product with a geographical indication display the product's name and the indication emblem on the product, on its packaging or visibly on the premises. Looking for that emblem is a good start if you want to know whether a product is really made by the registered method. If you want to buy çanak cheese or salep, do not hesitate to ask the seller where and how the product was made; all of the registration documents are open to everyone on the geographical indications portal of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. For daily breads such as Sorgun yağlısı and parmak çörek, it is enough to watch for the morning bakery hours. Yozgat's table is close enough to be explored on the same day as the city's museum and mounds; at the end of a day on the steppe, a hot bowl of arabaşı is what best explains the climate of the plateau.

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