Sultan's Meatballs- Turkish Cuisine

My great-grandmother Wibbiena’s father owned an ocean-going freighter in the Netherlands in the 1800’s, with voyages as long as three months. Wubbiena and her only sister, Liez, alternated years going to school and sailing with their father. They say my great-grandmother was a great storyteller and delighted her grandchildren with stories of staying in
harem in Turkey until the Moslem chief told her father he wanted to marry her. She would also sometimes wrap herself in a sheet and tell ghost stories and about strange events at sea. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries this was made for the sultans in the Ottoman. So, it I possible it is something they may have eaten during their visits to Turkey.

Sultan's Meatballs

Turkish

8 slices stale bread
1 pound ground beef or veal
1 tabllespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried mint
Salt
freshly ground pepper
4 slices kasseri cheese for mild cheddar

Remove crusts and soak the bread in water for a couple of minutes. Squeeze
dry and crumble. In a bowl place the ground meat, bread, oil egg yolk,
cumin, mint and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well with your hands,
kneading the mixture.

Divide the meat mixture into 8 hamburger size pieces and shape into
patties. Place a slice of cheese on one patty, wet your hands and place
another patty on the top of the cheese. Using your fingers, hide the cheese
inside the 2 patties, pressing with your fingers to seal them together.
Repeat with remaining patties and cheese. Oil the pan and grill them on
both sides until done.

Yield: 4 servings