25 replies to this topic

[Gor-Gor]

Now I'm not a big meat-eater, but every time my mom makes kha'ourma, I can't help but eat it!!

It is probably the most fattening meat dish you will ever eat.

I'm told that it is a native Dikranagerd dish. And that it is a dying recipe. None of my Armenian friends (even a Dikranagertsi) have heard of it. But my mom is famous for this food, and our kertasdan anxiously awaits the next time she prepares it.

So, it's basically lamb meat, cut in large 2-3 inch cubes. They are cooked in a "gatsa" on low heat for HOURS (probably 6 or more) in pure melted butter. The meat becomes so tender, and with the butter, it melts in your mouth. Then there are whole quinces cooked along with the meat. Best of all, it is served with madnakash that has been "tatkhvadz" in the butter.

So so good!!

Has anyone heard of this/tasted this?

I'm not sure if this is an Armenian or a Turkish recipe. The name clearly isn't Armenian "kha'ourma" -- the "kh" is pronounced low in the throat, like in Arabic. Maybe it had an Armenian name at one time but was lost in Ottoman Turkey.

[Stormig]

It is in fact a popular Turkish dish. Kavurma basically means "braising."

Kavurma

[Gor-Gor]

Thank you!

Some days I think our culture is more Turkish than Armenian!

Assimilation, apparently, is an old tradition for Armenians...

[Nakharar]

It is in fact a popular Turkish dish. Kavurma basically means "braising."

Kavurma

No offense, but I already lost my appetite looking at these.



Why would anyone want to eat cow dung?



What on earth is this?

[Stormig]

No offense, but I already lost my appetite looking at these.



Why would anyone want to eat cow dung? 

Please don't get me started on what mashed potatoes look like. 'Sides, that's not what cow dung looks like, city boy.

[Nakharar]

Please don't get me started on what mashed potatoes look like. 'Sides, that's not what cow dung looks like, city boy.

Do you have to remind me of that too?

[Stormig]

Thank you!

Some days I think our culture is more Turkish than Armenian!

Assimilation, apparently, is an old tradition for Armenians...

I wouldn't bother to say so. Nothing so special about the preparation of such a "dish"... It's like trying to get the patent for BBQ, meat on spits. Story for the caveman, weather for the ducks.

[Stormig]

Forgot!

Then there are whole quinces cooked along with the meat. Best of all, it is served with madnakash that has been "tatkhvadz" in the butter.

Quince, right? As in the fruit? Cooked along with the meat and butter? And for hours? I certainly hope not. Quince is an awesome fruit if it can find the suitable climatic conditions (somewhat continental) to grow and bear fruit in. (The Gulf Stream deems for example the UK unsuitable.) Even just baking it like an apple is a crime.
BTW, what is madnakash and how is it treated in the butter again?

[Nakharar]

I wouldn't bother to say so. Nothing so special about the preparation of such a "dish"... It's like trying to get the patent for BBQ, meat on spits. Story for the caveman, weather for the ducks.

I totally agree! It doesn't take a genius to put meat on "sticks". Like always, some have to take credit for everything. I remember back in the States when I was watching a cooking program, this very agitated Greek lady emphasized over and over again that gyros is an ancient Greek dish and shouldn't be called doner. I couldn't help but chuckle. But I have to assume the honor is all yours.

[Stormig]

Ah, γύρος/yiros, the food of the gods, though only after nectar and ambrosia.

[Arpa]

Thank you!

Some days I think our culture is more Turkish than Armenian!

Assimilation, apparently, is an old tradition for Armenians...

HEY YOU GUYS!
To borrow a phrase from Sesame Street/Electric Company.

Will you stop promoting Turkish culture on this Armenian/HyeForum!!

On second thought! Please do! Only with twist.
Kha'urma is not a Turkish word. It is Armenian.
Surprise?
It is based on the Armenian word "khor" as in khorovel/khorovats which literally means to braise/to sear, to broil.
How it ended up as kha'urma/gavurma/kavurma, beside the fact that there is not "KH" in post Kemalist Turkish, the latter form is because at one time there was no letter O in Armenian until the Kilikian times. We used the diphthong of AU (just like the Latin) to produce the sound, and when we wrote khaurel, to be read as khorel some would still pronouce it as "khaure/khawrel", that is where the so-called Turkish "kha'ur-ma" comes from. The only Turkish element in the word may be the ending -ma, as it is customary in Turkish to form nouns out od verbs is to add -ma or -me. This is readily visible in a word like "doen-me" which is based on the verb "doen"=to turn, yo convret. As long as we are talking about the subject consider also"khash-la-ma" which is also a turkified form based on the Armenian word "khash/kharsh"=to boil.
On the other hand if khaurma means fried then the modern Armenian word for that would be "tapkats/tapak" which in turn is based on "tap"=heat. The word does not have much use except as "fever", as in "tokatap" (pneumonia) etc.

Furthermore, to stop promoting Turkish culture on an Armenian medium we can also call our delicacies by their original Armenian names such as "lits" instead of dolma and "terev" instead of sarma, and more...

Edit: Let me add before I forget that there is no W sound in Turkish just as in Persian as well. So "kha'urma" would be pronounced as "kaVurma". Contrary to the prevailing wisdom that insists to not there being W sound in Armenian as well, it is wrong. We did have the W sound once and Mashtots devised the letter hyun for it. Consider words like "kov" and "hav" which are spelled with the hyun rather than the sovietized ho, are correctly written as "kou" and "hau" respectively to sound like "cow(e)" and the English "how".

Edited by Arpa, 12 December 2004 - 03:52 PM.

[Arpa]

No offense, but I already lost my appetite looking at these.
Why would anyone want to eat cow dung?  What on earth is this?

No. Not cow dung.
More like camel droppings.
We had a teacher of Arabic who was a Christian Syrian and had very little regard towards the Arabs. He thought they lazy and dirty. He would tell this story;
When the Arabs in the desert got hungry they would go lie under the date tree wuth their mouths wide open hoping that dates would fall down into their mouths. When they got thirsty they would go and lie under a (fenale)camel hoping that milk would drip down into their mouths. And sometimes if by mistake the camel happens to be a male they would get another liquid instead of milk and "dates" from the posterior end.

[Stormig]

How it ended up as kha'urma/gavurma/kavurma, beside the fact that there is not "KH" in post Kemalist Turkish, the latter form is because at one time there was no letter O in Armenian until the Kilikian times.

I have reason to believe it is a solid K.
Either way, here's some humour - check out the atrocious translations, especially "kurban kavurma"...

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[Gor-Gor]

Storming: It is certainly a unique dish, and not something as commonplace as bbq.

Madnakash (matnaqash) is a traditional puffy, soft Armenian bread. It is dipped in the butter until the bread soaks the butter.

I asked my mom about her childhood memories with kha'ourma. She said her mom used to prepare very large amounts in the fall, then store the meat in jars, completely ensconced in the butter. The jars would then be stored underground, as a refrigeration method. And then during the winter, they'd take some of the meat out, warm them up and eat it. There was a lack of meat in the winter and otherwise they'd not be able to eat meat during that season.

[gamavor]

There is nothing unique about "kavurma". It is one of the most popular dishes in Bulgaria, and Bulgarians believe that it is their own national dish. Same is I guess in Yougoslavia.

[Sasun]

I thought that kavurma (actually I heard more like ghavurma) is boiled beef meat which then they freeze in the its own broth and oil.

[Nané]

ղավուրմա - cooked meat preserved in fat, method of preserving meat for the winter

Another name is տհալ ... not sure if it's an armenian word. Arpa? ի՞նչ ես կարծում

[Armen]

Ghavourma is a typical nomadic winter dish. Kirghiz, Uzbek and other Central Aisan nomads stuffed horse intestines with sheep meat and fat for the winter. Armenians never used sheep or any other fat and would never use butter to made Ghavourma because it was too wasteful to use that much butter.

Also, besides Ghavourma all Central Asian Turkic nations have Demla-ma, Beshpar-ma and variety of other dishes from the same league - Mutton in its different variations.

[Ariane]

Now I'm not a big meat-eater, but every time my mom makes kha'ourma, I can't help but eat it!!

It is probably the most fattening meat dish you will ever eat.

I'm told that it is a native Dikranagerd dish. And that it is a dying recipe. None of my Armenian friends (even a Dikranagertsi) have heard of it. But my mom is famous for this food, and our kertasdan anxiously awaits the next time she prepares it.

So, it's basically lamb meat, cut in large 2-3 inch cubes. They are cooked in a "gatsa" on low heat for HOURS (probably 6 or more) in pure melted butter. The meat becomes so tender, and with the butter, it melts in your mouth. Then there are whole quinces cooked along with the meat. Best of all, it is served with madnakash that has been "tatkhvadz" in the butter.

So so good!!

Has anyone heard of this/tasted this?

I'm not sure if this is an Armenian or a Turkish recipe. The name clearly isn't Armenian "kha'ourma" -- the "kh" is pronounced low in the throat, like in Arabic. Maybe it had an Armenian name at one time but was lost in Ottoman Turkey.

I love KHAVURMA, wonderful meal, I've done one the other day CHAD HAMOVER , PILAFIN HED

[ExtraHye]

I love KHAVURMA, wonderful meal, I've done one the other day CHAD HAMOVER , PILAFIN HED

Sharing is caring; could we please have the recipe?