Taste of Turkey Everyone Should Try

It's 4:40 AM EST, and in my head it's 11:40 AM, needless to say jet lag is kicking my ass. Normally, even if I do wake up at about 5AM, I could take a walk to the local börekici and grab some börek (stuff puff pastry), a cup of tea, and bread for 5 TL (~$3USD), but, sadly, I am not there. So, to further frustrate myself, I'll write about all the different foods I ate in Turkey.

I woke up thinking I was going to get some cucumbers, soft white cheese, white bread, tomatoes, maybe some olives, and a strong glass of çay (pronounced chai), but I'm in Queens, which means cold cereal and whatever junk food I may be able to scrounge up. It's been 2 days, and I already miss the food.... it was dirt cheap and really good. So here's what people should try, all of it can be found in Turkey and I think most of it can be found in a Turkish restaurant, maybe. I say maybe only because some things may not be hot sellers in the US and most of it is street food. 

For all to try:

1. Döner: If you haven't already had it in Europe or the US, do so. Comes in et (meat) or tavuk (chicken). It is prepared by stacking layers upon layers of meat onto a vertical spit and roasting it for the whole day. Never get before noon. The juices just haven't sinked in and the taste is just not there. Served as a platter w/ rice, ekmek (bread), or dürüm (wrap). They will run you anywhere between 6TL to 1.5TL depending on where you are.

2. Kebap or Kebab: Self-explanatory, seasoned meet on a stick, grilled, served with whatever the fuck the restaurant wants to serve it with. Specifically worth trying in Turkey: Adana kebap, spicy ground beef and lamb. I avoided anything that said "steak" or "beefsteak", since I'm picky with my steaks. Also, lamb chops were great, but don't expect what you find in the US. Their lamb chop is about 1/2 the size of ours (go figure), and is fattier (read: better).

3. Balik ve Ekmek: As literal and simple as it translates: fish and bread. It's simple grilled fish (whatever they can catch) and bread. It's not that great, nothing too special, but these restaurants float up to the shore of the Golden Horn and sell this stuff only Friday-Sunday. They set up shop, have simple seating, cook on super rocky boats, and you get a full fish meal for 5.50TL. The kitchen looks like this: 

Floating kitchen

4. Lokum: This stuff ROCKS. For 2TL, you get 5 pieces. You should not try to finish 5 pieces. It's sweet fried dough sprinkled with pistachio. They're crispy on the outside, covered with this sweet syrup, but soft on the inside, and melts in your mouth. It's fresh and sells FAST and it is a fight to get to them. Only found them on weekends though.

Dude prepping Lokum

5. Pide: Roughly, it Turkish pizza. Long flat bread with meat, cheese, eggs, all sorts of stuff on top. Generally not bad, but is better served like street food. I was in a part of Istanbul where no non-Russian and Greek (I will explain in a later post) go, Fener. I was starving and found a pide place. They did it right, they cut it in half, rolled it up, and you eat on the walk, it's great.

6. Roasted Corn: If that's your thing, which it is my mom's so maybe for more people it is, you'll love it. For me, not so much, especially at 2TL a pop, should have gotten lokum.

7. Köfte: Grilled meatballs. Much more tender than US meatballs and has never failed me. Best place: Cafe Osman in Edirne. 

8. Börek: Puff pastry stuffed with either meat, cheese, spinach, potatoes, or what one guy called "spice". These things are huge, 1.5'x1.5', and you buy by the kilo. 1 kilo will feed a small village. Most places I had this in Istanbul was not fresh, like pipping hot fresh. It's mainly a breakfast food, but good throughout the day, especially when it comes straight out of the oven. 1 kilo, in Izmir, ran about 5TL. I love this stuff and will forever miss it. Best place: this small shack in Edirne where there was a line of about 20 people every time the oven opened up.

9. çop şiş: Small beef kebaps, grilled, and made into a sandwich with grilled onions and hot peppers, seasoned only with chili and oregano. They do it right in Selçuk and no where else, Cais and I went to this stand almost religiously. They are great at cooking this stuff. First, it's on what I call an open George Foreman grill. It's a tilted grill, with a charcoal burning (if it's gas, it will suck) underneath. The drippings all run off onto one side of the grill. Healthy, you might think. NO! The drippings are collected and your bread is wiped on the drippings before it gets grilled (AMAZING IDEA!!). Second, they take a huge piece of beef fat, and press the meat down with it to cook it (GENIUS IDEA!!!). The large piece of beef fat, then, sits on the end of the grill collecting drippings, until it is once again pressed onto the meat. Greasy, fatty, grilled goodness, everything right about the world.