{"id":8561,"date":"2026-10-26T18:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T09:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8561"},"modified":"2026-10-31T19:10:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T10:10:44","slug":"tavuk-gogsu","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/tavuk-gogsu\/","title":{"rendered":"Tavuk G\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc is a Turkish sweet made by simmering milk, sugar, rice flour and other ingredients with finely shredded chicken breast. Its Turkish name literally means \u201cchicken breast.\u201d The meat is not left in large pieces in the smooth white milk pudding but is mixed in as fine fibers. The dish is known for a rich, substantial mouthfeel in which the meat fibers add to the thickness of the milk and rice.<\/p>\n

\n\"Tavuk\n
An example of tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc (2010; location unknown). Brown powder is sprinkled over the surface of the white milk pudding. Photo: Garrett Ziegler\uff0fWikimedia Commons<\/a>\uff0fCC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. We obtained the downscaled version from the hosting source. No content alterations or cropping were made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Shredding the meat, rinsing it and mixing it into milk<\/h2>\n

The breast meat used in tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc is first boiled, and the bones and skin are removed; the meat is then pulled apart into fine fibers or pounded. This process does not aim for the aroma of meat that has been seared hard, as in savory meat dishes. Some traditional methods also call for rinsing the meat in cold water and draining it before use.<\/p>\n

Rice flour is added to milk and heated to create a smooth, lump-free thickness. After the meat and sugar are added, the mixture is stirred continuously to distribute the fibers evenly. The thickness created by the rice starch and the fibers pulled from the breast meat play different roles. The meat alone does not set the whole mixture like a jelly; instead, the milk, rice and meat are simmered together.<\/p>\n

Rose water and cinnamon are used for fragrance. In some versions the pudding is unmolded from a large mold, and in others it is poured into a flat container and cut into pieces. Its nature as a white sweet that contains meat is linked to cooking it until it is thick enough to be removed from its container.<\/p>\n

\n\"Reference\n
Reference example of cooked, finely shredded chicken (2019). This is not a photo of tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc itself being prepared, but it shows the fibrous form described in the text. Photo: Alabama Extension\uff0fJanet Guynn\uff0fWikimedia Commons<\/a>\uff0fCC0<\/a>. We obtained the downscaled version from the hosting source. No content alterations or cropping were made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Its form in 19th-century cookbooks<\/h2>\n

The Ottoman cookbook Melce\u00fc\u2019t-Tabb\u00e2h\u00een, compiled by Mehmet K\u00e2mil and published in 1844, includes a method in which chicken that has already been boiled and shredded is added to a rice-and-milk porridge and cooked further. Both the name of this sweet and its method survive together in this mid-19th-century printed work.<\/p>\n

The Turkish Cookery Book, compiled by Turabi Efendi and published in London in 1864, also features a cold sweet containing breast meat. Rice flour, milk, sugar and rose water are combined, poured into a mold greased with almond oil and chilled, and the pudding is served sprinkled with cinnamon. Compared with the modern finish of pouring the pudding into a flat container, this clearly shows a presentation based on unmolding.<\/p>\n

The method in this cookbook also warns that if the shredded meat is not rinsed in cold water, a meaty smell will remain. This technique did not hide the chicken; it assumed the presence of meat and refined its aroma to turn it into a sweet milk pudding.<\/p>\n

\"Page<\/p>\n

Figure: Turabi Efendi (ed.), Turkish cookery book (1864), p. 60, No. 178. The steps for simmering milk and rice flour with rinsed breast meat and rose water and chilling the mixture in a mold can be read. Held by the University of Leeds Library, via Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Catalog record<\/a>\uff0fRights statement<\/a>. Obtained at 1600 pixels wide; not cropped.<\/p>\n

Similarities to blancmange, and the debate over origins<\/h2>\n

Tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc is not the only dish that combines chicken, milk, rice and sweetness. Medieval European blancmange also included \u201cwhite dishes\u201d in which breast meat was finely shredded and cooked with milk or almond milk, rice and other ingredients. Despite sharing a name, these dishes differed in composition from today\u2019s white dessert, which is chilled and set without meat.<\/p>\n

A theory tracing both dishes in a straight line back to the ancient Roman cookbook Apicius has been repeated for a long time. However, in a 2021 study, the food culture researcher Utku Can Top\u00e7u pointed out that no corresponding sweet chicken dish can be found in the surviving text of that work, and that passages from later cookbooks had been mistaken for it.<\/p>\n

Top\u00e7u examines connections with Arab cuisine and suggests harisa, a dish of meat and grain cooked together, as a possible ancestor. However, the presence of similar ingredients alone does not establish a route of transmission, and there is no consensus on the origin. Today\u2019s sweet, the recipes (ingredient proportions and methods) printed in 19th-century cookbooks and even older similar dishes need to be considered as products of different periods.<\/p>\n

Kazandibi, with its caramelized surface<\/h2>\n

Kazandibi<\/a> is a sweet whose name means \u201cbottom of the pot.\u201d In one style, the bottom of tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc is deliberately scorched to give it a browned surface, adding the aroma of caramelized sugar and milk to the white milk pudding. After it is cut, it is plated so that the browned surface is visible.<\/p>\n

S\u00fcti\u015f, a milk-pudding shop in present-day Istanbul, offers kazandibi made with cow\u2019s milk and water buffalo milk, chicken and rice. The style of incorporating breast meat into the white part and combining it with a caramelized layer continues today. A sweet in the style of tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc made without chicken is sometimes labeled yalanc\u0131 (\u201cimitation\u201d). Because the original made with meat and a white milk pudding modeled on it exist side by side, it is clear that this sweet has been passed down through both the breast-meat technique and the milk-pudding tradition.<\/p>\n

\"Kazandibi<\/p>\n

Kazandibi with chicken, showing the caramelized surface and the interior. Photo: E4024, 2016-05-26, location unknown. Original image<\/a>\uff0fCC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the hosting source; no additional processing.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Blancmange<\/strong>: In the Middle Ages, a name that included \u201cwhite dishes\u201d made with meat, rice, milk and other ingredients. Its proportions differ from those of the modern dessert of the same name.<\/p>

Kazandibi<\/strong>: A milk pudding with a scorched bottom. The name means \u201cbottom of the pot.\u201d<\/p>

Yalanc\u0131<\/strong>: A Turkish word meaning \u201cfalse\u201d or \u201cimitation.\u201d It is also used for versions made without chicken.<\/p>

Utku Can Top\u00e7u<\/strong>: Author of a study on the origins of tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc and blancmange.<\/p>

Harisa<\/strong>: A group of dishes in which meat and grain are cooked together. Top\u00e7u discussed it when examining the lineage.<\/p>

Mehmet K\u00e2mil<\/strong>: Author of the cookbook Melce\u00fc\u2019t-Tabb\u00e2h\u00een, published in 1844.<\/p>

Melce\u00fc\u2019t-Tabb\u00e2h\u00een<\/strong>: An Ottoman cookbook published in 1844. It contains the method for the breast-meat sweet described in this article.<\/p>

Apicius<\/strong>: The name of an ancient Roman cookbook. The theory that tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc originated directly from it has been criticized as resting on a mix-up of sources.<\/p>

Turabi Efendi<\/strong>: Compiler of an English-language Turkish cookbook published in 1864.<\/p>

S\u00fcti\u015f<\/strong>: A shop in Istanbul selling milk puddings and other items. This article cites it as one present-day example of kazandibi made with chicken.<\/p>

Recipe<\/strong>: The complete set of ingredient proportions and method.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. Gurmestan, \u201cTavuk G\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Meat preparation and a reconstruction based on the 1864 cookbook.<\/li>
  2. Wellcome Collection, \u201cTurkish Cookery Book\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Bibliographic details of the 1864 book, and verification based on the archived OCR and original page for No. 178.<\/li>
  3. Utku Can Top\u00e7u, \u201cArab Origins of Tavukg\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc and Blancmange\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Theories of origin and the 1844 printed record. The opening section of the publicly available full text was read.<\/li>
  4. CooksInfo, \u201cTavuk G\u00f6gs\u00fc\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An explanation that includes the modern meatless version.<\/li>
  5. Emirgan S\u00fcti\u015f, \u201cKazandibi\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients of the shop\u2019s product made with milk, water buffalo milk, chicken and rice.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Tavuk g\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc is a Turkish sweet made by simmering milk, sugar, rice flour and other ingredients with finely shredded chicken breast. Its Turkish name literally means \u201cchicken breast.\u201d The meat is not left in large pieces in the smooth white milk pudding but is mixed in as fine fibers. The dish is known for a rich, substantial mouthfeel in which the meat fibers add to the thickness of the milk and rice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7704,"menu_order":332,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Tavuk G\u00f6\u011fs\u00fc","subtitle":"A white milk pudding with chicken breast added as fine fibers","topics":"Finely shredding and rinsing chicken breast\uff0fA milk pudding simmered with milk and rice flour\uff0fIts relationship to a sweet with a caramelized surface","country":"Istanbul and other parts of Turkey","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["cream"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["cooked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[164],"class_list":["post-8561","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t