Main dish
Edirne tava ciğeri
Origin: Edirne, Marmara
Leaf-thin slices of beef liver, floured and fried for about two minutes, served with dried and fried hot red peppers.
Edirne tava ciğeri is beef liver cut into leaf-thin slices, floured and fried for about two minutes. The registered recipe uses liver from cattle at least one year old. Membrane and veins are removed, and the slices are cut as thin as the back of a knife. They are rinsed, lightly salted and rested in the fridge. Then they are tossed in wheat flour and fried in sunflower oil in a thin aluminium pan.
Locals also call it yaprak ciğeri, "leaf liver". The name is protected as a geographical indication; Edirne's union of tradesmen's chambers applied for it in 2006. In Edirne many liver shops stand around Tahmis Square, a pedestrian area, and the small shops are busiest at lunchtime. A plate comes with dried, fried red peppers from Karaağaç, and with yogurt, ayran or cacık on the side.
Dietary notes: beef offal and wheat flour (gluten), deep-fried. The peppers are quite hot. Yogurt, ayran and cacık are dairy.