Origins of Turkish Food

For 500 years, the Ottoman empire ruled much of the medieval world and at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, great chefs created a sumptuous cuisine which came to rival the epicurean foods of ancient Rome. Perhaps due to the infinite variety of fish, fowl, meat, fruits and vegetables produced in Turkey or to the numerous cultures that took roots in ancient Anatolia, contemporary Turkish food is amazingly varied, and has left its mark on all who have come into contact with it. Today, from the Balkans to North Africa, virtually all the nations share a taste for the savory kebap, pilav, egg-plant specialities and tangy white cheese known as feta which had their origins in the kitchens of the Topkapi Palace or in the province of Bolu, where young men seeking their fortunes started by peeling potatoes in one of the dozens of exclusive gourmet schools set up by imperial decree.

The kebap: The dishes which are the most Turkish have their origins in the foods prepared by the Turks living on the high Central Asian plateau - the kebap often very different from the standard siskebabi most Americans and Europeans know. Kebap is a small piece of meat, and it is only when it is skewered on a metal sis or skewer and grilled that it becomes a siskebabi. Kebap is a word that has figured prominently in Turkish cuisine for more than 10 centuries and its meaning has developed to include meats that have been boiled, baked and stewed. Meat is usually cooked with vegetables; as with the siskebabi, pieces of green pepper, tomato and onion add flavor to the morsels of meat, or the guvec dishes where meat is cooked in a casserole with fresh meat is cooked in a casserole with fresh vegetables. Lamb is the meat par excellence in Turkey and is used to make various types of dolma, stuffed vegetable dishes, or for the classic Konya dish of tandir kebabi, where a whole lamb is baked in a brick oven, still built in the ground in many villages. Other wonderful kebap dishes often related to their region of origin are Adana kebabi, ground lamb seasoned with rede pepper and oregano, wrapped around a skewer and grilled or Bursa and Iskender kebabi, with luscious slices of meat from a doner kebabi placed over pide bread and smothered in yogurt, tomato sauce and hot butter. Cop kebabi meaning "scrap" kebap made from tiny pieces of leftover lamb is often accompanied by a hot tomato suace or chopped onions and parsley.

One delicious dish that requires cubed beef or lamb and a delicous puree of eggplant, has an interesting story - from which the dish acquired its name - behind it: Hunkarbegendi or "Her Majesty Was Pleased". When Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon (the third), was in Istanbul as guest of Sultan she fell in love with this eggplant puree, a specialy of the Topkapi Palace. She asked if her own cook might be taught how to prepare the dish. The Sultan obliged, but the next day the French chef begged to be excused from this impossible task: "I took my book and my scales to the Turkish chef," he said, "and he threw them out." "An Imperial chef" he told me "cooks with his feelings, his eyes, and his nose." The Empress returned to France without acquiring the recipe, but to this day it has been known as Hunkarbegendi.

Dolma: The Turkish courts of Isfahan and Khorsan introduced the very delicious and popular dish known as dolma made of any of the following: squash, eggplant, peppers, grape leaves, cabbage leaves, tomatoes, mussels and artichokes, which are filled either with a meat mixture or a mixture of rice, pinenuts, currants, herbs and spices. They are then cooked in olive oil and lemon and served hot if prepared with the meat, and usually served cold if prepared with a rice mixture. They are often accompanied by yogurt. Another classic Turkish dish which a visitor is sure to come across is borek made from layers of wafer thin, flaky pastry known in Turkey as yufka. These savory pastries may be stuffed with cheese, herbs, spinach, fish or meat, and are served either as an appetizer or as a main dish. Sigaraboregi, the pastry rolled into a cigar-shaped form and stuffed with parsley, feta cheese and egg, is the most frequently served and makes a delicious snack with afternoon tea.

Drinks: The delicious meze are traditionally enjoyed with the national drink raki. This anisette-tasting liquor is drunk with water added to it, hence it changes from a clear liquid to a milky-white and does, in fact, go extremely well with hor d'oeuvres and fish.

Turkey was the cradle of the sultana raisin from which delectable Aegean wines are produced. The hills surrounding the coastal areas have vineyards turning out grapes. Wine making has been popular in this part of the world since the neolithic period when man first began organised agricultural communities.

Fish: A country blessed with fruiful waters, Turkey offers some of the tastiest fish dishes in the Mediterranean. The locals, after lifetimes of eating fresh fish, can often tell you where and when the fish was caught. Hence, any good restaurant will not be caught serving day-old fish, and often one selects seafood from display tanks where your meal is still very much alive. Some of the most delicious dishes include kilic or swordfish skewered with peppers and tomatoes, or simply grilled lufer, bluefish, or kalkan, turbot served with lemon wedges. Another favorite is bugulama, an exotic type of fishstew which can be made from any of the larger catch of the day. If one is visiting Black Sea, one is sure to be offered fresh anchovies (hamsi) either delicately friend in butter or made into one of the other 80 hamsi dishes of the area.

Pilav and vegetables: If your main course is a meat dish, be it one the kebap or grilled meat specialties, it'll be probably come accompanied by rice. Turkish pilav or rice has to be some of the best in the world; either simply cooked with butter and meat broth or richly seasoned with pinenuts, currants, herbs and liver, it is delicious by itself. The next course of cold vegetable is cooked in olive oil. The zeytinyagli dishes are made from the seasonal vegetable and are delicious eaten as a main dish with plenty of wonderful Turkish bread.

Turkish Delights: Most people with even a midly adventurous palate have heard of or tried baklava or kadayif. They are popular throughout the Middle East, but are essentially of Turkish origin. These two flaky, pastry types of dessert dominate although there are an infinite variety of others. Another type of dessert that should definitely be sampled is the muhallebi, or milk pudding, which is served cold and deliciously dusted with pistachio nuts or chocolate.

Fruits: Turkey is a fruit paradise. Izmir's figs, melons, and sultana grapes have been coveted since the days of antiquity.Cherries have their origin in ancient Cerasus, modern day Giresun. Romans took the fruit kernels for their peach orchards from the foot of Mount Olympus in Bursa. Restaurants love to prepare fresh fruits for the table.

Coffee: To finish your meal, a taste of Turkish coffee and one of their wonderful desserts is a must. Coffee is an important drink in Turkish society as indicated by the following proverb: "A cup of coffee commits one to 40 years of friendship." It is served either plain, medium sweet or very sweet in demi-tasse cups and goes very well with your choice of desserts. If you dine with Turkish friends, one of them looks at your fortune by examining the remains of your coffee cup.