Mortadella: my first attempt

Mortadella is not something you would normally associate with Middle Eastern Cuisine. Firstly it is pork. Secondly it is Italian. So how come it featured on my Syrian food blog?

Well first things first, our mortadella is not pork although the pork variety is available in Christian areas in Damascus and Aleppo. Secondly our mortadella has very little to do with the Italian variety. Mortadella along with other clod meats has been introduced to the Syrian cuisine by the Armenian population mainly based in Aleppo with smaller communities in Damascus and other cities.

Syria has an estimated 300000 (although numbers vary a lot with some authors put the number at 800000) ethnic Armenians. This is the largest Armenian community outside Armenia and Russia.

Armenians were present within or around the northern borders of Syria since ancient times. The ancient Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia occupied the north western parts of greater Syria. This kingdom was part of the region historical and political landscape. It was involved in all the major events of the area from Mongols, Crusaders, Turks and Ayyobid wars. The Armenians established few towns in Greater Syria like Urfa and Aintab. These towns are in modern day Turkey and with virtually no Armeniains left. The kingdom finally fell under the control of Mamluks rule and the Armenian population numbers in Syria dwindled gradually as most of them either immigrated to Cyprus or lived under Ottman Turkey north of the Syrian border. The only town in modern Syria with an original Armenian population is Kassab in the north west of the country, with an Armenian presence estimated to be a 1000 years old.

Most of the current Armenians in Syria today came during the Armenian genocide at the turn of the twentieth century. Tens of thousands of Armenians were forced out of there villages by the Ottmans and taken to the edge of the Syrian desert near Deir Az'Zor were they were killed and buried in mass graves. Armenians who fled the genocide came to Aleppo and other cities in northern Syria where they were given refuge and protected from the slaughter. From there they spread to The rest of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Cyprus and Greece.

Although Armenians protected their identity, language and culture over the last century they are fully integrated within the Syrian community. This integration is reflected in the Syrian Armenian cuisine. Their food has influenced and been influenced by the wider Syrian food. These influences are most felt in Aleppo were Armenian specialities like pasterma and sujuk are an important part of the city cuisine.

Cold meats are another Armenian speciality. Different flavoured mortadella and sliced cold roasts can be bought from Armenian sandwich shops in Damascus. Hagop in Sha'alan and Syrob in Salhiyah are two famous Armenian take-aways that existed since the dawn of time and serve some of the best sandwiches in Damascus.

I had a go on making mortadella myself but unfortunately it was not that successful so I will not put a recipe. The flavour was very good but the texture was grainy (as you can see in photo) and the motadella didn't hold shape very well so I couldn't slice it thinly and above that it came out white coloured instead of a nice light pink.

I used chicken breast meat and eggs as a binding agent. I think this is where I got it wrong. Possibly in the future I will use an extra binding agent like corn flour or gelatin and I will add meat from the legs as the higher collagen content in will add extra binding and give smoother texture.

I will try again in the future and when I get a recipe I am happy with I promise I will publish it. Meanwhile, if anybody reading this have a recipe that works well please let me know.