Turkish cuisine
Turkish cuisine is highly influenced by its Ottoman heritage, and thus, it is a fusion and refinement of Turkic, Arabic, Persian and Greek cuisines [1]. Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm, with particular influences from Middle Eastern cuisines, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia such as Yogurt [2]. As a result, the Ottoman Empire created a vast array of very technical dishes which passed into Turkish culture after its downfall. Furthermore, it can be observed that various regions of the Ottoman Empire contain bits and pieces of the vast Ottoman dishes. The best flavored white cheeses and yogurt are prepared from sheep milk. Although rice, which is called pilav (pilaf), is the essential part of many foods, bulgur (prepared from wheat) can also be used for the same purpose. Especially in the western parts of Turkey, where olive trees are grown abundantly, olive oil is the major type of oil used for cooking. The bread is prepared from wheat, barley or corn. Pide (broad, round and flat kind of bread made of wheat) and tandır ekmeği (baked on the inner walls of a round oven called tandır) are some examples for authentic types of bread in Turkish cuisine. Another type of bread commonly eaten in Turkey is simit (or "gevrek"), a ring shaped bread covered with sesame seeds,very much similar to bagels. Simits are eaten either plain or with cheese or jelly.
Frequently used ingredients in Turkish dishes include eggplant, green pepper, onion, lentil, bean, tomato, garlic, and cucumber. Grape, apricot, cherry, melon, fig, lemon, pistachio, pine nut, almond, hazelnut, watermelon, and walnut are among the most abundantly used fruits and nuts. Preferred spices and herbs are parsley, cumin, pepper, paprika, mint, and thyme.
Turkish eating habits
Turkish cuisine went through dramatic changes in 20th century and the eating habits of the Turkish people has significantly changed due to the Western influence. Fast food is gaining in popularity and all major fast food chains can be seen all over Turkey. At home, however, microwaveable goods and pre-prepared or frozen foods are rare and households rely primarily on the the rich and extensive dishes of the Ottoman Empire.
As with most cuisines, until recently, meat was always considered a luxury item for the Turkish people, mainly since milk-fed lambs, the most popular source of meat, have a very low yield. Meat was eaten almost only at the wedding ceremonies and during Kurban Bayramı (Eid ul-Adha), usually not in the form of kebabs but as etli pilav (pilaf with meat). However, after the advent of fast-food chains all around Turkey and introduction of industrial meat production, meat had become a part of the daily diet for most Turks, often in the form of döner kebab eaten at fast-food restaurants. Veal, which was usually shunned, became a familiar kind of meat. However, even today, the main use of meat at cooking is putting kıyma (ground meat) in small amounts to vegetable dishes, thus attaining names such as kıymalı fasulye (bean with kıyma).
Another profound change in Turkish eating habits is the abandonment of traditional ingredients. With the high-level production of sugar beet sugar in Turkey, honey and pekmez were effectively replaced by sugar in making the Turkish desserts. Margarine is widely used for cooking instead of butter, kuyruk yağı (tail fat of sheep), sesame oil or even olive oil. Ketchup is eaten as a substitute to various sauces made from tomatoes, paprika, and spices, known as çemen, acıka, etc. It is also important to note that today Coca Cola is by far the most popular cold beverage in Turkey. Even the famous Ayran would be left to oblivion if it were not revived at döner junctions. However, ayran has always fans and it has gained importance again in the last few years and in Burger King restaurants, ayran has become a choice of drink besides Coca Cola.
Breakfast in Turkish culture is a rich one. Cheese, butter, olives, eggs, reçel (the difference from marmelade is that fruits in reçel are preserved as they are, they are not mashed) constitute the sine qua non elements of an ordinary Turkish Breakfast. Sucuk, pastırma, börek, even soups can also be eaten for breakfast in Turkey.
Soups
A Turkish meal usually starts with a thin soup (çorba) with a low consistency. Soups are usually named after the main ingredient they are prepared with. The most common types of soup are made of lentil (often mashed) called mercimek çorbası and tarhana called tarhana çorbası. Delicacy soups are the ones that are usually not the part of daily diet, like shkembe (işkembe çorbası) and paça çorbası (made with lamb's or kid's feet), although the latter also used to be consumed as a nutritious winter meal. Before the popularisation of the typical Turkish breakfast, soup was the default morning meal for most households.
Vegetable dishes
A vegetable dish is the usual main course in a Turkish meal. There is a very large variety of vegetables used such as ıspanak spinach, pırasa leek, karnıbahar cauliflower or enginar artichoke. A typical vegetable dish is prepared with a base of chopped onions and garlic sautéed in olive oil, later with tomatoes or tomato paste. The vegetables or legumes and boiling water will then be added. Vegetable dishes usually tend to be served with a large liquid part (with the cooking water), thus often named in colloquial Turkish as sulu yemek ("watery dish"). Sometimes meat can be added to a vegetable dish but vegetable dishes cooked with olive oil (zeytinyağlılar) are almost always conceived to be strictly vegetarian.
Another very common Turkish speciality for breakfast is menemen. Recipe: Roast green peppers with olive oil in a pan. Add graded tomatoes and wait until the tomatoe juice boils down. Then add some eggs and mix them with the peppers and tomatoe. 1-1 measure is suitable. If you have 2 long green papers 2 big tomatoes and 2 or 3 eggs will be sufficient according to taste.
Çılbır is another traditional Turkish food made by eggs and yogurt. Recipe: Break eggs into boiling water. Add some salt with olive oil and wait until the eggs stiffen. Put them into a plate with the help of a spoon-drainer. Add some yogurt and melted butter with paprika. Afiyet Olsun...
Eggplant (aubergine) has a special place in the Turkish cuisine. However most of the times it is combined with minced meat: İmam bayıldı(meaning imam has fainted), karnıyarık.
Meats
Meats (especially shish kebabs: chicken or lamp shish) are usually marinated and grilled over an open fire. Although every kind of halal meat is consumed, lamb from milk-fed lambs is especially favored. A famous beef delicacy is pastirma. Iskender kebap is a relatively recently invented type of döner kebap which is usually consumed in the northwestern parts of Turkey. Döner kebap has established itself as an alternative fast food in Western Europe countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Britain.
Today, döner kebab, which is similar to the Greek Gyros, is typically served as a kind of sandwich in pita (flat bread) or in a piece of regular bread. This type of döner kebab has been available in Istanbul since about 1960. The döner kebab with salad and sauce served in pita, which is predominant in Germany and the rest of the world, was invented in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1971 to adapt it to the german taste. Lahmacun is the Turkish variant of the Pizza which means dough with meat in Arabic. Pide which can be made with minced meat, kashar (a kind of cheese), pieces of meat, sucuk, pastirma is one of the most common traditional Turkish speciality.
However, Turkish cuisine have a huge variety of kebaps and meat dishes such as; Adana, Urfa-Beyti kebaps, yogurtlu kebap (with yogurt), fıstıklı kebap (with Antep pistachio), eggplant kebap, spring kebap, oruk kebap, Ali Nazik, Hünkar Beğendi (meaning that the sovereign/sultan liked it), türlü (mixture of a range of vegetables and meat), tandır (which requires a special way of cooking for hours) or kavurma.
Additionally, sucuk is a form of sausage (beef meat and a range of spices) commonly eaten with breakfast. Kokorec (the intestins of sheep) with spices is a traditional fast food in Turkey.
Meze
Meze which is a selection of food served as the appetizer course with or without drinks or sometimes as the main course and consists olives, mature kashar cheese (similar to strong cheddar cheese in flavor) or white cheese, pickles turşu, cacık (tzatziki), köfte (meatballs), pilaki (made of bean, garlic and olive oil), dolma (grape leaves, cabbage leaves, peppers, courgettes, pumpkin or eggplant stuffed with rice and/or meat. Dried fruits and a range of spices are usually added to the mixture. See below for further information), Arnavut ciğeri Albanian liver, çerkez tavuğu Circassian chicken, börek (very thin phyllo dough stuffed with cheese, meat or vegetables), hummus (coming from Arabic and prepared from sesame, chickpea, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice). Şakşuka, patlıcan salatası eggplant salad, acılı ezme hot spicy freshly mashed tomatoe, içli köfte, çiğ köfte raw meatballs are just some of the other varieties. Gözleme is a food typical in rural areas, made of lavash bread folded around a variety of fillings -- spinach, cheese, meat, potatoes -- and cooked on a large griddle. In the coastal towns of Turkey seafood mezes can also be found such as Kalamar, Ahtapot octopus salad, deniz börülcesi or midye dolma mussels stuffed with rice.
Dolma
Dolma which is the past participle of the verb dolmak in Turkish means to be stuffed or be filled up (Redhouse Turkish-English Dictionary 12th Edition). Dolma has a special place in the Turkish cuisine. It can be eaten as a meze or a main dish. Likewise, it can be cooked as a vegetable dish or meat dish. If meat mixture is put in, it is usually served hot with yogurt and some spices such as oregano or red pepper powder with oil. Zeytinyagli dolma means dolma cooked with olive oil and staffed with a rice-spices mixture. Such a type does not contain meat and is served cold. In Turkey it can be seen a wide variety of dolma. Courgette, aubergine, tomatoe, pumpkin, pepper, cabbage, mussel dolma constitute the most common types. Vine leaves could be staffed not only with rice and spices but also with meat. In this case, it is served hot with yogurt. Sarma which refers to dolma made with vine leaves and olive oil means 'wrapped' in Turkish. This word is also used for some types of desserts because of their being wrapped while being prepared such as Pistachio sarma. Dolma can also be found in neighbour cuisines such as in Greek, Armenian, Persian and Middle Eastern cuisines.
Desserts
One of the best-known desserts in Turkish cuisine is baklava (which can also be found in the Greek, Arabic and Armenian cuisine.) The word Baklava is accepted as derived from ancient Turkish words meaning dough bags. Milk based deserts such as Rice and starch puddings (muhallebi, sütlaç, keskul, kazandibi) are also popular desserts, helva (halva): un helvasi (usually cooked when someone has died), irmik helvasi (cooked with semolina and nuts), yaz helvasi, kos helva, kadayıf (it has several types; Tel (wire) or Burma (wring) Kadayif, Kadayif with walnut or Antep pistachio. Kadayif as found in neighbour countries are generally of wring type with walnut, less sweet and lacks in syrup), ekmek kadayıfı, şöbiyet, saray sarmasi, sütlü nuriye, künefe, revani (with semolina and starch), aşure (like a sweet soup containing boiled beans, wheat and dried fruits. Cinnamon and rose water is added when being served. According to the legend it was first cooked in the Noah's Ark. All the Anatolian peoples have cooked and are still cooking aşure), şekerpare, kalburabasma, hanimgobegi, kemal paşa, ayva tatlısı quince desert, incir tatlısı fig desert, kabak tatlisi pumpkin desert, pismaniye, zerde, höşmerim, lokma, tulumba, cezerye, Güllaç (Ramadan dessert), walnut sucuk, fruit pestils are among other varieties. Kaymak (clotted cream) is often served with sweet desserts to cut through the sweetness. In addition home made cookies are called Kurabiye in Turkish. Most famous types are un kurabiyesi (flour kurabiye) and cevizli kurabiye (kurabiye with wallnut).
Tea or thick Turkish coffee (with or without sugar) is usually served after dinner or more rarely together with desserts. Lokum (or Turkish Delight, in English) is another well-known jelly like sweet/candy with many varieties. Tavukgöğsü is a sweet, gelatinous, milk pudding dessert made from very thinly peeled chicken breast which is used to give a chewy texture.
Summer diet
In hot summer, many Turks prefer to have a "lighter" meal with summer vegetables and fruits. The summer meal is usually made up with fried vegetables (aubergines, potatoes, courgettes, green peppers) served with a yogurt or tomato sauce, sheep's cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, melons, and tahini halva. The type of halva consumed at a summer meal is named yaz helvası (summer halva), which has a lighter and less sweet taste. Sweet black tea often accompanies the summer meal, as in the style of a typical Turkish breakfast.
Beverages
Although the majority of Turks profess the Islamic faith, alcoholic beverages are as widely available as in Europe. However, most of the Turks abstain from drinking alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan. There are a few local brands of lager such as Efes and large variety of international beers that are produced in Turkey such as Miller, Becks and Tuborg with a large number of exported beers. There are also a variety of local wines such as Kavaklıdere and Angora which are getting more popular with the change of climatic conditions that affect the production of wine. Rakı, an alcoholic beverage flavoured with anise, is the usual tipple with meze. The other favorite beverages include ayran (a salty cold yogurt drink), boza, and turnip juice.
- See also Turkish beers
See also
- Mangal
- Turkish tea
- Turkish coffee
- Sekerpare
- Kadayif
- Mantı
- Kumpir
- Gozleme
- Kazan dibi
- Baklava
- Elma tatlisi
References
3. On olives and olive oil in Turkey and Turkish cheeses see Artun Ünsal http://kitap.antoloji.com/kisi.asp?CAS=118636
External links
