Kurban Bayramı - the holy sacrifice festival marks the trial of Ibrahim or Abraham and the almost sacrifice of his son.

The 4 day festival includes an Arife preparation day where familys visit the graves of lost ones and prepare many dishes in advance of the following day.

The main day includes the ritual sacrifice of an animal often a sheep, cow or goat. Which is then split 3 ways. A third for the close family, one for relatives and friends and the final most significant offering is shared amongst the needy.

The festival includes a plethora of meat dishes; unsurprisingly I didn’t find the time to photography any of my cooking but a few of our dishes for the day included

Mutton Kavurma (Sauted) and liver and onions cooked on a sac (A concave metal dish on the open fire) with paprika, oregano and cumin.

Dinner was spiced & pomegranate molasses flavoured leg and shoulder slow cooked in a clay güveç pot also on the open fire in wraps - basically Tandır

The following day I made a Suljuk inspired sweet and sour mutton and apricot stew in the slow cooker and spent some time chopping the meat in to casserole sized portions to freeze and eat over the next few months.