Turkish cuisine and its regions
Not one kitchen but a map: Aegean olive oil, Black Sea anchovy and maize, south-eastern isot and pomegranate molasses, Central Anatolian yoghurt and dough.
Where it comes from
What is cooked in Turkey today is several kitchens laid over one another: the grain, dairy and meat of pastoral peoples who came from Central Asia; the inheritance of the Byzantine, Greek, Armenian and Kurdish neighbours who lived in Anatolia before and alongside them; and the Ottoman palace kitchen at Topkapı, whose account books record ingredients and quantities from the fifteenth century on. Regional differences are far larger than the label “Turkish cuisine” suggests. The Aegean cooks vegetables slowly in olive oil and forages wild greens. The Black Sea builds on anchovy, maize meal and black cabbage. The south-east pairs bulgur with meat and cooks with isot, pomegranate molasses and tail fat. Central Anatolia leans on yoghurt, dried pulses and dough — mantı, tarhana and yufka come from here. Which dish belongs to which people is often disputed, and this page does not claim to settle those arguments.
At the table
At the table food usually arrives together rather than in courses: soup, a braise, pilaf or bulgur, yoghurt or cacık, pickles and bread are all there at once. Olive-oil dishes are eaten tepid or at room temperature, meat dishes hot. Bread is part of almost every meal and is used to gather the sauce from the plate.
Fat, aromatics and acid
Figures are approximate; apart from those that are a definition or a regulation, they vary by product, recipe and source. Where we have no measured value the line reads “—”.
- ≈120–150 °C Sizzled butter — When the foam dies the water is gone, and in this range the milk solids start to brown. Chilli flakes darken within seconds here, so they go in once the pan is off the flame.
- ≤100 °C Olive-oil braising — The vegetable cooks in its own water under a lid; the oil carries rather than fries. Served at room temperature because chilled olive oil thickens and clouds.
- 1–2 dk / min Pepper and tomato paste — Paste is fried in fat for a minute or two before any liquid goes in; the raw, metallic edge goes and its sugars colour slightly.
- pH ≈2–3 (limon, nar ekşisi) · ≈4.0–4.6 (yoğurt) Acid — The sourness has several sources: lemon and pomegranate molasses are sharp, yoghurt is a gentle acid. In the south-east sumac and pomegranate molasses often stand in for lemon.
- — Tail fat — In south-eastern kebabs it is minced into the meat or threaded between pieces on the skewer. Its melting range differs from butter’s; we have no measured source for the exact figure.
How this kitchen cooks
- Olive oil dishes The signature of the Aegean and Marmara.
- Terbiye — tempering a sauce How yoghurt and lemon soups keep from splitting.
- Blooming in fat The chilli butter poured over mantı and soups.
- Grill & BBQ Kebab fire from Adana to Urfa.
- Fermentation Tarhana, pickles and yoghurt.
- Drying Vegetables, fruit and tarhana dried for winter.
- Meze How the table is laid out.
- The griddle Yufka and bazlama on the sac.
What is in the pantry
Dishes cooked on this site
The historical claims rest on these books. Contested origins are written as contested.
- Priscilla Mary Işın, Bountiful Empire: A History of Ottoman Cuisine. Reaktion Books, 2018.
- Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press, 1999.