Turkish food - what is it?
I'm just starting my compulsive Chowhounding for the day and I already see two separate references to something that is completely new to me - a Turkish/Ottoman cuisine that is something unique and interesting. I had always thought of Turkish of just a variation, if that, on the kebab/rice theme. Please describe true Turkish to me in all its deliciousness!
julesrules
Dec 20, 2006 03:32PM
julesrules, the food that was produced during the Ottoman Empire, included what is commonly referred to as "palace cuisine" (the dishes that were created specifically for the sultans). These so-called "palace" dishes were more elaborate than the more common foods of the villagers, who likely had little knowledge of the extraordinary foods coming out of the Topkapi Palace, of particular culinary fame.
It is said that Turkish cuisine is the root of Middle Eastern cuisine as we know it today, from the meze to the pilafs, to the dolmas (stuffed vegetables), the boreks, the grills, to the sweet and syrupy pastries and puddings that are common to all Middle Eastern cuisines.
The Topkapi Palace was built with enormous kitchens, and it is said that as many as 1400 people worked in the kitchens at some point in the 1600's (keep in mind that up to 10,000 people per day were often fed on palace grounds).
Although I am not Turkish and have never visited Turkey, I did a research project on Turkish cuisine while at chef school a number of years ago. It was fascinating to delve into this cuisine, which is considered one of the three great cuisines, along with French and Chinese.
I have cooked many Turkish dishes, including cheese Sigara Boregi (cheese cigars), simmered olive oil dishes (carrots, lentils, onion and garic simmered with coriander seeds is one of my favourites), Imam Bayildi (literally, "the imam fainted", which is a simmered stuffed eggplant dish), Hunkar Begendi (a lamb stew served atop a smoky eggplant puree), etc., etc.
A couple of Turkish cookbooks that I recommend:
"Classic Turkish Cooking" by Ghillie Basan (my favourite);
"Classical Turkish Cooking" by Ayla Algar
I'm not sure whether these are still in print. I purchased them about 7 years ago.
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That Hunkar Begendi sounds great.
I realized I have some familiarity with turkish *fast* food, thanks mostly to two places that have opened in my hood - Pizza Pide and Champion (they do the baked potatoes there but I've only really had the shwarma).
Thanks for the info and the recs, I just had no idea that Turkish cuisine was considered so influential in the region.
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I LOVE Ayla Algar's books. Also loved pretty much everything I ate in 3 weeks in Turkey, way too long ago. More butter than you might think. Persian is probably a heavy influence all round, ancient Persia was quite the cultural force in its heyday.
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Aside from the grilled meats and yogourt-based dips, I don't see much similarity between Turkish and Persian cuisines. Their stew-type dishes and pilafs are very, very dissimilar.
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My family is Greek and Albanian and the food we cook is clearly influenced by Turkish cuisine and vice versa. Basically if you look at a map of the Ottoman empire at its height you will get a good representation of the areas influenced by this great cuisine.
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There is also, at least in Western Turkey, a distinct Mediterranean influence. I had some of the best fresh marinated anchovies I've ever tasted at a restaurant in Istanbul.
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Can you call something mediterranean influenced when the country is on the mediterranean?
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Indeed. Perhaps what we consider "Mediterranean" cuisine is actually Turkish-influenced...
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I think BobB meant coastal as opposed to more landlocked provinces.
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Quite so, but MVNYC's comment is apt. Perhaps rather than Mediterranean influence I should have said Mediterranean flavor.
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Also, check out "The Sultan's Kitchen" by
by Ozcan Ozan, owner of the restaurant of the same name in Boston.
I found that while the food was "familiar", i.e. there
was nothing wholly unrecognizable from prior encounters with Lebanese, Armenian, Greek, and Israeli food (the"kebab/rice/eggplant/tahini/olives" theme) some of Ozan's cuisine was head-and-shoulders above comparable dishes anywhere else I'd had 'em. This in a place which, when I ate there, did most of their biz as carry-out, seated maybe 20 people, and served with plastic utensils in a sort of "cafeteria line" arrangement.
r gould-saltman
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Nice book; I have cooked from it often. Inspired me to pickle and use some of the grape leaves in my back yard.
IMHO, I find Turkish food, despite the similarities, more fetching than Greek. I haven't quite ciphered out the "why" of it yet, but it (Turkish) feels more expansive. Maybe I haven't been exposed to a full enough range of Greek cuisine.
Still, I am drawn to the Turkish menu, and the book mentioned above is a good read/buy.
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Today's Toronto Star has a review by Jennifer Bain on Shirin Kebab House, a Turkish restaurant at 1880 Eglinton Ave. E. in the Golden Mile Plaza. Here's a link to the article: http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainm...
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