Kelle paça soup is one of the most distinctive soups in Turkish cuisine. Cooks prepare it with the head and trotters of sheep, lamb, or cattle, depending on the regional style. Long cooking produces a…
Posts TaggedTurkish Cuisine
Turkish Söğüş: İzmir’s Traditional Kelle Söğüş Street Food
Turkish sogus, known locally as kelle söğüş or İzmir söğüş, is a cold street-food dish prepared with cooked lamb head meat and offal such as tongue, cheek and brain. The meat is served cold with…
Turkish Kitchen Tools: What We Actually Use at Home
Turkish kitchen tools make more sense when you see how people actually use them. A cezve is not just a small coffee pot, an oklava is not simply another rolling pin, and a sac is…
Tarhana Soup: A Traditional Turkish Fermented Soup
Tarhana soup is one of the foods I most strongly associate with winter, family kitchens, and my childhood in Seferihisar, on the Aegean coast of İzmir. It begins with a fermented mixture of grain, yogurt,…
Fish in Turkey: Popular Turkish Fish and How They’re Eaten
Fish in Turkey changes noticeably by region and season. Along the Aegean coast, where I grew up in Seferihisar, the fish I know best are sardines, sea bream, sea bass and red mullet. Their availability…
Turkish Kumis: The Magic of a Deeply Rooted Beverage
Kumis, also written as koumiss or qymyz, is a traditional fermented drink made primarily from mare’s milk. Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts work together during fermentation, giving the drink its characteristic acidity, light carbonation, and…
Turkish Dining Etiquette: What I Learned Growing Up in Turkey
Turkish dining etiquette is something I learned at home long before I ever thought about writing about Turkish food. I grew up with certain habits around the table: waiting for everyone before starting, saying Bismillah,…
Sucuk (Turkish Sausage): What It Is and How Turks Eat It
Sucuk is the strongly seasoned fermented sausage that most people in Turkey simply know by its Turkish name. English speakers often call it Turkish sausage, and you may also see spellings such as sujuk outside…
Tokat Kebab: What It Is, Ingredients and How It’s Made
Tokat kebab is a regional Turkish kebab made with chunks of lamb, tail fat and vegetables cooked together in a distinctive vertical oven. Unlike kebabs built mainly around minced meat, Tokat kebab treats the meat,…
Turkish Pastries: Börek, Poğaça, Boyoz and More
Turkish pastries are difficult to fit into one neat English category. In Turkey, I would not normally think of börek, poğaça, boyoz, gözleme and baklava as identical types of food, even though English-language food guides…
Turkish Pide: Exploring the Soul of Traditional Turkish Cuisine
Turkish cuisine, known for its rich flavors and diverse dishes, offers an array of traditional foods that have been savored for centuries. Among these, Turkish pide, or “pita” as it’s locally known, stands out as…
Kokorec: What It Is, What It Tastes Like & İzmir vs Istanbul
Kokoreç (often written “kokorec” in English) is one of the Turkish street foods I know from years of actually eating it, not from a one-off tasting. I first tried it in Aydın around 2011 or…