Turkish Cuisine

THE RICH TASTE OF TURKEY

A survey of types of dishes according to their ingredients may be helpful to explain the basic structure of the Turkish Cuisine. Otherwise it may appear to have an overwhelming variety of dishes, each with a unique combination of ingredients, way of preparation and presentation. All dishes can be conveniently categorized into: grain-based, grilled meats, vegetables, fish and sea food, desserts and beverages. Before describing each of these categories, some general comments are necessary. The foundation of the Cuisine is based on grains (rice and wheat) and vegetables. Each category of dishes contains only one or two types of main ingredients.Turks are purists in their culinary taste; the dishes are supposed to bring out the flavour of the main ingredient rather than hiding it behind sauces or spices. Thus, the eggplant should taste like eggplant, lamb like lamb, pumpkin like pumpkin. Contrary to the prevalent Western impression of Turkish food, spices and herbs are used very sparingly and singularly. For example, either mint or dill weed are used with zucchini, parsley with eggplant, a few cloves of garlic has its place in some cold vegetable dishes, cumin is sprinkled over red lentil soup or mixed in ground meat when making "köfte." Lemon and yogurt are used to complement both meat and vegetable dishes, to balance the taste of olive oil or meat. Most desserts and fruit dishes do not call for any spices. So their flavors are refined and subtle.

There are major classes of meatless dishes. When meat is used, it is used sparingly Even with the meat kebabs, the "pide" or the flat bread occupies the largest part of the portion along with vegetables or yogurt. The Turkish Cuisine also boasts a variety of authentic contributions in the desserts and beverage categories. For the Turks, the setting is as important as the food itself. Therefore, food-related places need to be surveyed, as well as the dishes and the eating-protocol. Among the "great good places" where you can find the ingredients for the Cuisine, are the weekly neighborhood markets "pazar", and the permanent markets. The most famous one of the latter type is the Spice Market in Istanbul. This is a place where every conceivable type of food item can be found, as it has always been since pre-Ottoman times. This is a truly exotic place, with hundreds of scents rising from stalls located within an ancient domed building, which was the terminal for the Spice Road. More modest markets can be found in every city center, with permanent stalls of fish and vegetables.

The weekly markets are where sleepy neighborhoods come to life, with the villagers setting up their stalls before dawn at a designated area, to sell their products. On these days, handicrafts, textiles, glassware and other household items are also among the displays at the most affordable prices. What makes these places unique is the cacophony of sights, smells, sounds and activity, as well as the high quality of fresh food, which can only be obtained in the “Pazar”. There is a lot of haggling and jostling, as people make their way through the narrow isles while the vendors compete for attention. One way to purify body and soul would be to rent an inexpensive flat by the seaside for a month every year, and live on fresh fruit and vegetables from the “Pazar”. However, since the more likely scenario will be restaurant-hopping, here are some tips to learn the proper terminology so that you can navigate through both, the Cuisine (just in case you get the urge to cook a la Turca), and the streets of Turkish cities, where it is just as important to locate the eating places as the museums and the archaeological wonders.

GRILLED MEATS "KEBABS"
"Kebabs" is another category of food which, like the "börek", is typically Turkish dating back to the times when the nomadic Turks learned to grill and roast their meat over their camp fires. Given the numerous types of kebabs, it helps to realize that you categorize them by the way the meat is cooked.

The Western World knows the "sis kebab" and the "Döner" introduced to them mostly by Greek entrepreneurs, who have a good nose for what will sell! sis kebab is grilled cubes of skewered meat. “Döner kebab” is made by stacking alternating layers of ground meat and sliced leg of lamb on a large upright skewer, which is slowly rotated in front of a vertical grills. As the outer layer of the meat is roasted, thin slices are shaved to be served

There are numerous other grilled kebabs beside those cooked in a clay oven. It should be noted that the unique taste of kebabs are due more to the breeds of sheep and cattle, which are raised in open pastures by loving shepherds, than to special marinades and a way of cooking. Therefore, you should stop at a kebab restaurant in Turkey to taste the authentic item.

GRAINS - "BREAD TO BöREK"
The foundation of Turkish food is, if anything, the dough made of wheat flour. Besides "Ekmek" - the ordinary white bread, "Pide" - flat bread, "Simit" - sesame seed rings, and "Manti" - dumplings, a whole family of food, called "Börek," made up of thin sheets of pastry falls into this category. There is one food without which no meal is complete, in Turkey at any rate. That is bread, a food we know so well yet never tire of. Bread is delicious all by itself when it comes steaming hot and crusty from the oven, and comes in innumerable varieties. We all have our favourites. Bread is the symbol of all food, as demonstrated by the saying to earn one’s daily bread, and held sacred as a source of life and gift of God.

We thank God for our daily bread, but also say in Turkish that "bread is in the lion’s mouth" meaning that to earn a living involves a struggle. Oaths can be sworn over bread and wasting it or letting it be trodden underfoot is a sin. Over most of the world bread is a staple food, its shape, method of preparation, and the cereal grains it contains varying widely from country to country and region to region.

"Börek" is a special-occasion food which requires great skill and patience, unless you have thin sheets of dough already rolled out from your corner grocery store. Anyone who can accomplish this delicate task using the rolling pin becomes the most sought-out person in their circle of family and friends. The sheets are then layered or folded into various shapes before being filled with cheese or meat mixes and baked or fried. Every household enjoys at least five different varieties of börek as a regular part of its menu.

Wheat is the only cereal containing sufficient gluten to rise significantly and give a spongy consistency. To a much lesser extent rye has the ability to form a leavened bread, but other grains like maize, barley, and millet can only be used to form flat cakes rather than bread proper unless mixed with a high proportion of wheat flour.Wheat bread made with wheat flour, yeast and water contains 35% water, 53% starch, 8% protein, and 1.4% fat, and each 100 g contains 240 calories. In addition bread contains significant quantities of B and B2 vitamins, niacin and iron. In all bread is a valuable foodstuff in its own right.Kneading is an important part of bread making since it ensures that the yeast is evenly distributed. The dough is then left in a warm place to rise, a process by which the yeast liberates carbon dioxide gas. The bubbles of gas are prevented from escaping by the elastic gluten in the flour. Rising may take anything up to 4 hours. The dough is then divided and shaped into loaves and left to rise for a second time. Just before going into the oven cuts are made with a knife in the top, and it is baked at temperatures of 230-280 degrees Centigrade. Bread made by this classical kneading method has more flavour. The bread was first made twelve thousand years ago by mixing coarsely ground grain with water and baking it on hot stones in hot ashes. Yeast, which is a microscopic fungus, was discovered after dough was affected by the fungus by accident, and its favorable effect on the bread observed. Although most Turkish bread is made of wheat flour, some regions also use barley, rye, or in the Black Sea region maize flour. Roughly speaking Turkish breads fall into three categories: very thin rolled sheets known as "yufka", flat leavened breads such as "pide", and loaves known as "somun". "Yufka", the most usual type of bread among nomadic communities, is cooked on a griddle and then dried, in which state it will keep for a long time. "Pide" is cooked in an oven. Shaped into flat circles or ovals it may be sprinkled with sesame seeds or black cumin, and brushed with beaten egg. In the month of “Ramazan” the evening meal is not complete without “pide”, and queues form outside the bakeries as the hour of breaking fast approaches.
The round loaves known as “somun” used to be made of flour with a high bran content, usually by public bakeries. Their equivalent in most Turkish cities today is known as francala, and made of highly refined white flour.
 KEBABCI
"Kebabci" is by far the most common and the least expensive type of restaurant, ranging from a hole in the wall to large and lavish establishments. Kebab is the traditional Turkish response to fast food that is at the same time not especially bad for you. A generic kebabci will have "Lahmacun" (Turkish pizza) and "Adana" (spicy scewered ground meat, named after the southern city where it was born), salad greens with red onions and baklava to top it all off. Beyond that the menu will tell you the speciality of the kebabci. The best plan is to seek out the well-known ones and to try the less spicy types if you are not used to kebab. Once you develop a taste for it, you can have inexpensive feasts by going to the neighborhood kebabci anywhere in Izmir, Ankara or Istanbul. "Izgara"- mixed grilled meat, it is how main course meat dishes are prepared at a meat restaurant. Mixed grills are likely to include lamb chops, "Köfte," or "Sis" (select cubes of meat). The way of preparing ground meat will be the "Köfte."

These are grilled, fried, oven-cooked or boiled, after being mixed with special spices, eggs, and grated onions and carefully shaped into balls, oblongs, round or long patties. Another popular dish, inspired by the nomadic Turks who carried spiced, raw meat in their saddles, and known to Europeans as "Steak Tartar", is the raw “köfte”. Here, it is made of raw double ground meat, by kneading it with thin bulgur and hot spices vigorously for a few hours. Then bite-sized patties are made, and served with parsley, known for its stomach-protecting qualities. Some restaurants specialize only in grilled meats, in which case they are called meat restaurants. The fare will be a constant stream of grilled meats served hot in portions off the grill, until you tell the waiter that you are full.
KARNIYARIK(VEGETABLES)
Along with grains, vegetables are also consumed in large quantities in the Turkish diet. The simplest and most basic type of vegetable dish is prepared by slicing a main vegetable such as zucchini or eggplant, combining it with tomatoes, green peppers and onions, and cooking it slowly in butter and its own juices. Since the vegetables that are cultivated in Turkey are truly delicious, a simple dish like this, eaten with a sizeable chunk of fresh bread, is a satisfying meal for many people. A whole class of vegetables is cooked in olive oil. These dishes would be third in a five-course meal, following the soup and a main course such as rice or börek and vegetable / meat, and before dessert and fruit. Practically all vegetables, such as fresh string-beans, artichokes, root celery eggplants, pinto beans, or zucchini can be cooked in olive oil, and are typically eaten at room-temperature. So they are a staple part of the menu with variations depending on the season. Then there are the fried vegetables, such as eggplant, peppers or zucchinis that are eaten with a tomato or a yogurt sauce.