Muş köftesi
Stuffed bulgur and meat köfte
Balls of fine bulgur and hand-chopped meat filled with fatty mince and onion, boiled, then turned in butter with red pepper flakes.
Eastern Anatolia
Muş
One way into the food of Muş is through a cabbage pickle. Çorti is made without vinegar, bringing finely chopped white cabbage together with basil, pepper flakes, lemon and salt. It is eaten with meals, and in Muş çorti aşı it shares the pot with bone-in lamb, bulgur and butter. Cabbage turns up again in hez dolması, this time as leaves wrapped around diced meat and rice. Muş köftesi is a köfte of fine bulgur and hand-chopped meat, filled with fatty mince and onion and finished in butter with red pepper flakes. It belongs to everyday meals, yet it is also made to offer guests on special occasions. For something sweet, teter helvası brings village bread dipped in molasses together with cream and hazelnuts. Beside these dishes sit two local products. One is cream-colored Muş eski kaşarı, made mostly from sheep’s milk with cow’s and goat’s milk and ripened for months. The other is light-colored Muş honey, carrying pollen from many of the region’s endemic plants. A curiosity that begins with cabbage can carry on in Muş by following its cheese and its honey.
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Bulgur and butter on the Muş plain
The Muş plain, cabbage dolma and bulgur köfte in spiced butter.
Signature dishes
Explore the distinct textures of bulgur shells, cabbage leaves and slow-cooked wheat.
Muş çorti aşı
Pickled cabbage with lamb
Çorti pickle cooked with bone-in lamb, bulgur, butter and tomato paste.
Hez dolması
Cabbage stuffed with meat and rice
Cabbage leaves filled with diced meat and rice, then cooked slowly in a pot.
Helimaşı çorbası
Meat and chickpea soup
Meat boiled until it comes away from the bone, cooked with chickpeas and other pulses.
Herse
Boiled meat with wheat
Boiled boneless meat combined with boiled wheat and served with sizzling fat poured over.
Kırçik
Dried cucumber peel meze
Dried cucumber peels fried with onion and pepper, served with a garlic yogurt sauce called işkene.
Teter helvası
Bread soaked in molasses
Village bread soaked in molasses and topped with cream and hazelnuts.
Locally cooked
Recipes from this city are coming soon.
Local ingredients
Muş eski kaşarı
A cream-colored kaşar made mostly from sheep’s milk with cow’s and goat’s milk, ripened for several months.
Guide not written yetMuş çorti turşusu
Finely chopped white cabbage pickled with basil, pepper flakes, lemon and salt, without vinegar.
Guide not written yetMuş balı
Light-colored honey containing pollen from many of the region’s endemic plants.
Guide not written yetKurut
Dried yogurt, used in local dishes such as cavbelek.
Guide not written yetFood culture
The provincial education directorate’s city resource describes rug and carpet weaving, feltwork, saddle making, knitting and other handcrafts. These practices bring household skill and materials into the account alongside monumental history. District differences matter here: a food linked to the city may also circulate through village kitchens, and a provincial craft list does not mean every household practises every craft.
Pickled cabbage
Çorti, cabbage pickled without vinegar, is eaten with meals and also cooked with bulgur and lamb.
Köfte for guests
Muş köftesi is eaten every day and is also made to offer guests on special occasions.
What to bring home
- Muş eski kaşarı
- Muş honey
- Çorti pickle
- Kurut (dried yogurt)
- Hand-woven kilims
- Felt goods
History & landscape
A good way to begin exploring Muş is with the ground it stands on. The city was built on the north slopes of Kurtik Mountain, an important peak of the Haçreş Mountains. These mountains are an extension of the Southeast Taurus range. The city lies between the valleys where the Çat and Karni streams flow. No one knows when Muş Castle, in the city center, was built. The Grand Mosque was built on the slope at the castle’s foot. Seeing the castle and the mosque together makes it easier to understand how the town took shape against the mountainside.
The province’s history does not stop at the center. Malazgirt is remembered as the Turks’ entrance gate into Anatolia following the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071. Its castle is distinguished by two parallel ramparts surrounding the town. Near Varto, in the province’s northwest, Kayalıkaya Village is home to Kayalıdere, an Urartian settlement. Its castle dates from the reign of the Urartian king Sarduri II. The finds from its excavations are exhibited at the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara. The Murat Bridge dates from the Seljuk period, though its exact construction date is not known.
