It is said that three major tyes of cuisine exist in the world:
French, Chinese and Turkish. Fully justifying its reputation, Turkish cuisine
is always a pleasant surprise for the visitor. In addition to being the
refined product of centuries of experience, Turkish cuisine has a very pure
quality. The variety and simplicity of the recipes and the quality of the
ingredients are guarantees of delicious meals.
Lamb is the basic meat of the Turkish kitchen. Pieces of lamb threaded on a
skewer and grilled over charcoal form the famous Sish Kebab(Recipe)
Döner Kebab(Recipe) is another famous Turkish dish, being a roll of lamb on a
vertical skewer turning parallel to a hot grill.
The aubergine is used in a wide variety of dishes from karniyarik and
hünkar begendi to patlican salatasi and patlican dolmasi. It can be
cooked with onions, garlic and tomatoes and served cold.
A delicious Turkish specialty is pilav, a rice dish which can be difficult
for the inexperienced cook to prepare. Börek are pies of flaky pastry
stuffed with meat or cheese. The delicious Turkish natural yogurt is
justifiably renowned. Dolma is a name applied to such vegetables as grape
leaves, cabbage leaves and green peppers stuffed with spiced rice.
Turkish sweetmeats are famous throughout the world and many of these have
milk as a basic ingredient. These include the baklava and kadayif pastries.
Turkish coffee, ayran, shira, boza and raki are the national beverages of
Turkey. The drinking of raki is a rite accompanied by a variety of meze,
or hors d'oeuvres, and Turkish music.
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