EatingTurkey

Checking the pot, drinking the tea. Two weeks ago, while road...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 05:25:06 -0400

Checking the pot, drinking the tea. Two weeks ago, while road tripping in Aegean Turkey, we came upon a family of wedding caterers cooking for a wedding party of 700 in an empty parking lot by the sea. We stopped to have a look, accepted some tea and spoke with the head cater-ess about her work. Hop over to the full post on EatingAsia to learn more.

Şevketi bostan [Shehv-keh-tee boh-stahn], Blessed thistle or...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:37:46 -0400

Şevketi bostan [Shehv-keh-tee boh-stahn], Blessed thistle or golden thistle —one of many, many otlar (wild greens) foraged and eaten in the Aegean region and other parts of Turkey. The thistle’s thick white stem hides a woody interior that is stripped before the whole plant is boiled (for a long time — those pointed leaves are sharp on the tongue!), then used in various meat and non-meat recipes. The flavor? A lovely cross of artichoke and asparagus with a hint of mushroom. Spring in the mouth.

Artichokes!

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:50:16 -0400

‘Tis the season, especially on the Turkish Aegean. We’ve been eating them as a classic olive oil-stewed meze (with fresh peas and carrots), in rice pilaf and with lamb.

Lor

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:54:30 -0400

Rich, milky tuzsuz lor peyniri (an Aegean cheese similar to ricotta, this version sans salt), a fabulously simple dessert served with black mulberry preserves. If you’ve never tried lor, you’re missing out. We’ve purchased good lor at the Saturday market in Beşiktaş, Istanbul.

Breakfast: a dough of flour, water and salt rolled paper thin...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:11:46 -0400

Breakfast: a dough of flour, water and salt rolled paper thin and then thrown roti-style, spread with a beaten egg, herbs and çökelek (crumbly cheese made with whey left over from making yogurt), folded over and griddled till crisp. This breakfast treat, called katmer (Turkey boasts multiple versions of katmer), was amazingly light and greaseless. The generous shaving of salty Tulum cheese took it all up a notch.

Under normal circumstances we’ll always choose savory over...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 02:37:34 -0400

Under normal circumstances we’ll always choose savory over sweet, but there’s something about Turkey that turns us into raving sugar hounds. Maybe it’s the fact that you can be wandering around anywhere — a tiny fishing village on the Aegean, for example — and bump into a guy selling something sweet and tasty from the back of a bike, the trunk of his car or, as the case was today, the rear of a bright orange converted school bus. Şambali [shahm-bah-lee] are cakes of semolina, almond flour and milk doused with just enough sugar syrup to hold them together. Their tops and bottoms are scorched and caramelized, sticky and a little crackly-crusty, which makes for a nice contrast to their tender interiors. Our vendor offered his sade (plain - 1.5 TL) or kaymakli (filled with milky clotted cream - 2.5 TL), with or without a sprinkle of cinnamon. We went for full fat, of course, cinnamon sprinkled. Surprisingly light, these were. So even though we’d just finished lunch, we ate two. No regrets.

Road food. Village bread, baked in a tandoor-like oven, strong...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:57:00 -0400

Road food. Village bread, baked in a tandoor-like oven, strong salty Bergama cheese from Izmir, soft salt-free organic olives, rocket and tomatoes. All purchased this morning at a farmer’s market. A picnic by the water at a harbor on the Aegean. Lunches like this are why we try, whenever possible, to travel by car in Turkey.

In Jan-Feb 2012 we drew a big circle around central Turkey,...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 23:39:29 -0400

In Jan-Feb 2012 we drew a big circle around central Turkey, starting in Kayseri, heading northwest to Cankiri, then east to Tokat and south to Malatya and Kahramanmaras. Last year’s winter was harsh; much of the ground we covered lay under a thick blanket of snow. The landscapes were desolate yet eerily beautiful.

In Sivas temperatures averaged -5 to -10C. The main market, encircled by shops and teahouses but open to the sky, held much promise. But every stall was empty; it was simply too cold to display fresh produce. The only action was in front of dry goods shops, where sellers hovered over their mounds of dried fruit as smoke from coal braziers rose around them.

In 72 hours we’ll be back in Istanbul, en route to the...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 06:36:00 -0400

In 72 hours we’ll be back in Istanbul, en route to the Aegean and then out east. A classic Galata Bridge shot, with a nohutlu pilav (rice and chickpea pilaf, eaten with chicken) cart in the foreground. Can one ever tire of this view?

Meze

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:16:00 -0500

From the kitchen of a small family-owned lodge about 90 minutes from Istanbul, these meze-made-with-love were several dozen cuts above what you’re served at most meyhane in the city. Clockwise from upper left: biber dolmasi (peppers stuffed with rice); gently stewed bakla (young fava beans), pods and all, smothered with yogurt and fresh dill); olive-oil stewed leeks; a very tahini-ish hummus; celery root halved and simmered with peas and carrots, more dill garnish; a wonderfully garlicky dip of chopped red peppers and walnuts; shakshuka or stewed tomatoes, peppers and eggplants; broccoli; and deliciously creamy barbunya beans in a light tomato sauce with lots of fresh parsley. This amazing spread was followed by the tastiest sheep’s liver I’ve ever eaten — sliced super thin and flash-fried in olive oil reddened by lots of flaked chili.

Baklava

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:26:53 -0500

In Gaziantep, the photographer takes a break from the kebab trail: “Here’s a photo of baklava with sheep’s milk kaymak that started our day. The key to a good baklava, I was told, is new crop pistachios. Every layer should be crunchy, and it shouldn’t be too sweet.” (Note: In Turkey Gaziantep is known as Baklava Ground Zero.)

Kebab Cart

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 04:53:15 -0500

One of us is in Gaziantep, photographing (and presumably eating) kebabs like there’s no tomorrow. The other of us is in Istanbul, posting this photograph of a post-work commute kebab stand. We were on our way to dinner, but the meaty smoke rising from his grill made our stomachs rumble. Friday evening, across from the ferry terminal / tram stop in Kabataş.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 03:02:52 -0500

For a minute you thought you’d landed on a Chinese food tumbr, right? But we ate this lovely sweet-tart ekşili tavuk (ehk-shee-lee tah-vook, “sour chicken”), made with grape pekmez and pomegranate molasses, in Tokat. Served with the ubiquitous (and usually left aside, by us) wedge of raw onion. The dolma in the background, a type quite different to the grape and cabbage leaf-wrapped parcels most Turkish food lovers know, were equally delicious. But that’s for another post.

Köy Yumurtası (Village Eggs)

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 05:52:52 -0500

He unwrapped a loaf of bread, touched it with his fingertips, then swaddled it in its brown paper. “Hot - just out of the oven.” Unpacked four fresh eggs bought from a lady at the weekly market — köy yumurtası, village eggs. Broke them into a bowl, barely muddled the yolks with a fork, tipped them into a pan and set them over a low flame. Another staff meal, this time breakfast for the wait staff, cooked by a waiter.

Zılbıt

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:32:07 -0500

Spotted at many a central Black Sea market over the last couple of weeks: zılbıt, strange looking thick-stemmed leafy vegetable that’s foraged during the winter from the region’s many forests. Vendors told us zılbıt is most often boiled, squeezed dry, chopped and cooked with eggs. Today we ate it in a börek, where its lovely combination of earthy mushroom flavor with a hint of chard-y greenness paired spectacularly with wheaty handmade yufka.

Not Just For Gin

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:34:20 -0500

As we walked into our hotel this afternoon one of its owners handed us a branch. “Eat the berries. They’re very healthy, especially for those with diabetes,” she said. It took us a few moments to figure out that we were eating fresh juniper berries. They’re delicious, surprisingly sweet with a pleasant pine-y essence. If we had a kitchen at our disposal we’d stew them with some Black Sea beef, or boil them with fresh village milk to drink hot, with a bit of sugar.

Elma Kurabiye

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:14:00 -0500

Every town beyond Istanbul has one or a dozen pastane, shops selling Turkish and western-style cakes, cookies and pastries.Many are mediocre at best, but not so the tiny pastane from which we bought this elma kurabiye, or apple cookie. The Bursa-trained owner’s love for his craft is evident in everything he makes, from breads made with organic wheat and corn flours to this crumbly, not-too-sweet half moon dusted with walnuts and icing sugar, and filled with tart local apple gently warmed with cinnamon.

Sugar Beet Syrup

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 02:22:01 -0500

Pekmez is usually translated as “grape molasses” but apples, pears, mulberries, figs, and even cactus fruit are also cooked with water to make this sweet syrup. Yesterday we sampled pekmez made from sugar beets (which are widely cultivated in an area stretching east from Ankara, and processed into white sugar); it tasted like the darkest possible caramel, reminiscent of Vietnamese caramel syrup without the bitterness. Then we ate a local winter cold remedy: an intriguing hot fruit soup made with dried sour plums in which sugar beet pekmez stars as a main ingredient.

Staff Lunch

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:46:35 -0500

How to keep your resto staff happy: etli kuru fasulye (dried white beans in tomato-red pepper sauce with just a touch of minced beef), buttery rice pilaf and a fantastically refreshing cacik made with from-the-village yogurt, cucumber and fresh dill, mint and parsley.

Lamb Delivery

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 14:43:47 -0500

This is not an especially common sight on the central Black Sea coast. Despite Turkey’s reputation as a country of lamb eaters, most folks here prefer beef. The butcher receiving this carcass is the only one of the ten or so in town who hangs a lamb carcass alongside the massive sides of beef in the climate-controlled aging case in his front window.