Jean Chardin (Sir
John Chardin) was a Huguenot jeweler who moved to England in 1681 to escape the
ongoing religious persecution of Protestants in France. During the 1660’s and
1670’s he travelled extensively in Asia, and the first volumes of the narrative
of his travels were published in both French and English in 1686.
In 1671 Chardin visited Mingrelia in western Georgia. His account
of a marriage feast in that country was repeated over the next several
centuries in many books and journals for the general reader. The following
comes from Instructive and Entertaining
Lessons for Youth (1835) by Noah Webster.
DESCRIPTION OF A MARRIAGE-FEAST
AT GEORGIA, IN ASIA,
FROM CHARDIN'S TRAVELS.
1.The nuptial feast was
celebrated upon a terrace of the palace, surrounded with estrades, which are
beds of state, about six feet in depth, and elevated about two feet above the
floor. The terrace was covered with a large pavilion, fixed upon five pillars,
twenty feet high. The lining was of cloth of gold and silver, velvet and painted
cloth, so neatly and artificially intermixed, that by the light of the tapers,
it appeared like a wainscot of flowers and moresco work.
2.In the midst of this
room of state, stood a jet, or fountain of water. The floor was covered with
handsome carpets, and forty branches of lights illuminated the room. The four
branches which hung nearest the prince, were of gold; the rest were of silver.
Each branch supported a bowl of pure tallow, which supplied two matches, which
gave a great light.
3.The guests were seated
on the estrades. The prince in the center had an estrade somewhat higher than
the others, and covered with a canopy. His sons and brothers were on his right
hand; the bishops on his left, and the bridegroom was seated between them. The
music stood at the lower end.
4.Soon after the guests
were seated, the bridegroom was introduced by the patriarch, and was saluted
first by the prince's relations, and afterwards by other guests, who
successively paid him their compliments. Then some presents were made, consisting
of gold, silver, and small cups.
5. After this ceremony,
the guests took their seats and were served with supper. Before each one was
spread a table-cloth, as large as the estrades; then bread was served of three
kinds: one as thin as a wafer; another of the thickness of the finger; and the
third was sweetened with sugar.
6.The meat was served in
large covered silver dishes, each weighing, with the cover, four or five
hundred ounces. These dishes were set upon a table at the entrance of the room;
then certain attendants placed them before the carvers, who sent pieces of the
meat to each guest in plates, beginning first with the princes.
7. The feast consisted of
three courses, each containing sixty of the large dishes. The first course
consisted of boiled rice, and meat of three different colors. The yellow, was
boiled with sugar, cinnamon and saffron,—the red, with the juice of
pomegranates,—but the white, or natural color, was the best.
8.The second course
consisted of meats baked, stewed and fricasseed; with a variety of ragouts. The
third course consisted of roasted meats. To all which were added, fish, eggs
and sallads, for the ecclesiastics. The feast was conducted without the least
noise, and with perfect order; every attendant performing his duty without
uttering a word.
9.The cupboard contained a
hundred and twenty drinking vessels, consisting of bowls, cups, horns, flagons
and jugs. Some were of polished gold, others of enameled gold, others of
silver, or set with precious stones. The horns were those of the rhinoceros or
of deer, elegantly formed and embellished. After the third course, eight bowls
were filled, and presented to the four persons nearest to the prince, four on
each side. They rose when they drank,— those on the right hand first drank a
health, being pledged by those on the left, - then the others on the left, -
then the same eight bowls were filled for the next eight guests, and in their
order the whole company was served.
The
recipe for the day, inspired by the story of the wedding feast, comes from an
English publication, The Magazine of
Domestic Economy (London, 1837,) and purports to be from Turkey. I have
chosen it as it specifically mentions rice (pilau) coloured three different
ways.
Constantinople Pilau.
According to the quality and
number of the guests take either mutton, fowls, or pigeons; boil them till
rather more than half done, then put the meat and broth into a basin. Having
washed the pot, melt some butter in it, and when very hot, having cut up the
half-cooked meat into bits, the fowls into four, and the pigeons in half, throw
them into the butter and fry till of a light brown. The necessary quantity of
rice being well washed, is then to be placed over the meat in the pot, and the
broth to be poured over the rice till it is covered to a full finger's depth;
then cover the pot, and keep a clear fire under it, and, from time to time,
take out some grains of rice to ascertain if it softens sufficiently or
requires more broth; the rice must remain whole though thoroughly done, as well
as the pepper which is used for seasoning. As soon as the rice is done, cover
the top of the pot with a cloth five or six times folded, and the cover above
it; and in a little time melt some more butter and pour it into holes made for
the purpose, with the handle of the spoon; cover it quickly again, and let it
simmer till served. It is served in large dishes, with the meat nicely arranged
at the top. One may be white of its natural colour, another tinted yellow with
saffron, and a third red with pomegranate juice.
Though the meat is fat enough for
our stomachs, the Turks add as much as three pounds of butter to six of rice,
which makes the pilau disagree with those unaccustomed to it.
Some persons prefer rice simply
cooked with salt and water: it is served in many ways among the grandees of the
Porte; and instead of meat, an herb, omelette, or nicely poached eggs are
placed on the rice: in this manner, it can disagree with none.
Another
of Chardin’s tales appeared in a previous post here.
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