Il pilaf dei giannizzeri. Con Jean-Baptiste Vanmour, alcuni anonimi, qualche miniatura.

Paintings by Jean-Baptiste Vanmour (Van Mour), 1671-1737 The Yeniçeri Ağası, or commander of Janissaries. Da  www.warfare.altervista.org

Siamo entro una raccolta dedicata ai risi: Risotti. Di tutto un po', Risotti di pesce, Tielle, timballi, sartù, gratin, Questo e quello, Neri, rossi, integrali, Esotici: pilaf, pilav, pilau, polow, pulaka. Medio oriente, Asia Centrale, Esotici; i dorati risi persiani, tah-digh, Esotici. India, Esotici. Pilau dell'Africa sub shariana.

I giannizzeri venivano nutriti con coffe di pilaf; quando lo rifiutavano rovesciando i calderoni, era segno di ribellione contro il sultano. Il calderone veniva portato in guerra, il cuoco era un capo militare, il portatore di cucchiaio portava una pala e via così.

Janissaries with soup kettles and the regimental spoon about 1809  Victoria and Albert Museum. Soup, the mainstay of the soldiers’ rations, had a great symbolic significance for the Janissaries. One legend claims that the order of Janissaries had been formed in the fourteenth century, with the blessing of the dervish Haci Bektas, and so the soup on which they dined together had an almost sacramental element. It was prepared in special copper cauldrons (kazan). If the worst happened, the soldiers would upturn their cauldrons and beat on them like drums as a signal of mutiny. The giant regimental spoon was equivalent to a standard in battle, and to lose it to the enemy was a sign of disgrace. Each Janissary had his personal spoon (kasik), which was carried in a special spoon container (kasiklik) on the front of his ceremonial headdress. Da collections.vam.ac.uk

Da  world4.e

The rank of this officer must not be judged of by the ideas which we should naturally be led to affix to his designation. The greatest disgrace which any of our regiments could suffer, would be in the loss of their colours; the utmost which could befall a Turkish one, would be in the loss of its ladles and kettles; every ortah, or regiment, has two of each, which are carried with great ceremony at the head of the corps, and should both be taken by an enemy, the regiment is considered as destroyed, and is formed anew before others are given to it.
In strict conformity with such ideas of military parade, the Janizaries have each of them a wooden spoon, wherewith they eat their pilau, and which they wear instead of a feather, stuck into a copper tube, which is affixed in front of their bonnets. When they receive their rations with quickness and alacrity, it is concluded that they are well affected and satisfied in their ortah; on the contrary, they show their dissatisfaction by advancing to receive their rations in a sour negligent manner; whilst the greatest sign of their discontent is to keep away altogether at the time of distribution.
In general revolts or mutinies of the Janizaries at Constantinople, they have a custom of carrying their kettles to the front of the seraglio, where they place them on the ground, upside down: when they give this terrible instance of their displeasure, it becomes necessary to appease them, by delivering the heads of the first characters of the state, who are sacrificed to them without even the form of a trial; even the deposition of the Sultan himself has frequently become the consequence of their exhibiting this mark of their displeasure. Da www.warfare.altervista.org.

I giannizzeri si avventano sul pilaf. Ottoman miniature painting, from the "Surname-ı Vehbi" (fol. 22b). Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, Istanbul.
Da wikipedia

A banquet given by the commander-in-chief Lala Mustafa Pasha to the janissaries in Izmit, 5 April 1578. Topkapi Palace Museum Library. Da www.muslimheritage.com

Mirate le coffe di riso al centro, la costellazione di piattini intorno. Apprezzate l'assoluta mancanza di donne, l'abbondanza di baffi, l'assenza di sorrisi. Da foodmuseum

Siamo in una Monografia: Medio Oriente - Nord Africa.