Turkish Eggs: Çılbır

 "Turkish eggs" go back several hundred years to the earlier Ottoman Empire, the core of which has become the modern country of "Turkey," much of which encompasses the Anatolian Peninsula, also called Asia Minor.

  

 "Çılbır" is pronounced as if "chill-burr" (but say it quickly, not dragged out) and also as "shill-burr."

Ingredients (4 servings):

4 eggs

1 cup Greek yogurt (plain), at room temperature

1 large garlic clove, minced

4 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon aleppo chili flakes (or other red chili flakes)*

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Let the yogurt come to room temperature, or you can give it a few seconds in the microwave to take the chill off of it. Mix the minced garlic and salt into the yogurt, set it aside for the moment. In a small skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Add the red chili flakes and mix together well and let cook for just a minute or two (the butter will likely take on a reddish color from the chili flakes, but some people like the butter to be light brown before they add the chili flakes. Your choice.) Poach the eggs, and while they cook, add 4 tablespoons of the yogurt mixture to each serving plate or shallow bowl. Spread the yogurt out a little; that is, don't leave the yogurt in a 'clump.' Place a poached egg on top of the yogurt and spoon some of the melted chili butter over the egg and yogurt. While the yogurt mix has salt, if you prefer, you can sprinkle some salt over the egg. Have a piece of toast ready to dip into that egg yolk, but don't let it drip, or that would mean ... "the yolks on you."

* Aleppo pepper is a ground or flaked red chili pepper common in the Middle East and Turkey. It is named for the Syrian city of Aleppo. The chili pepper has moderate heat.

  

WORD HISTORY:

Philology- This word for a "linguist" (one who studies language, including its history), is a compound with the prefix "philo" closely related to the suffix "-phil(e)," and it is related through Indo European to Old English "bilewit" (bil-eh-wit), meaning "calm, gentle, merciful," and to Old English "bilehwit," meaning "honest, sincere," with both of these words coming from the Germanic roots of English (note: for those who know German, the prefix, suffix and the two Old English words are related to German "billig," which now means "cheap" (its Old High German ancestor, "billih," then "billich," meant "suitable, proper, appropriate, justifiable," which worked its way through the centuries to mean "obtainable at a suitable and just price;" that is, "cheap," but just as with English "cheap," German "billig" has taken on the additional meaning, "of low quality"). "Philo" goes back to Indo European "bil," which had the idea of "appropriate, suitable, proper, good," and this gave transliterated Ancient Greek the adjective "philos," meaning  "dear, beloved," (its noun form, with the same spelling, meant "friend"). The "logy" part goes back to Indo European "leg," which had the notion "to gather, to collect, to pick;" thus also, "select, choose." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "légein," which meant "to say" (pretty much literally, "to pick or choose words"), and this gave Greek the noun "lógos," essentially meaning "something said;" thus, "word, statement, story, utterance;" thus also, "something thought through;" thus, "reason" (note: the idea of "word, statement" gave the meaning in religious writings and context, "the word of God"). Together these parts gave Greek "philologíā," literally, "love of words," but further, "love of reason and learning;" thus too, "love of literature," as written words had entered into the meaning from the idea of "reason, thought, learned words (learn-ed with 'ed' pronounced);" that is, "words to be studied and considered." Latin borrowed the word from Greek as "philologia," essentially with the same meanings, and this passed to French in the Middle Ages as "philologie," and English borrowed the word circa 1400, likely from Latin, but with French reinforcement. The early part of the 1700s saw the additional more specific meaning "study of language" become popular in Britain, but the word has never had the same extensive usage in the United States, where "linguist" has remained the main word.