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Hi, am Olga! I run Istanbul food walking tours and cooking classes and help my mother-in-law run her restaurant at the countryside.
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Category Archives: Turkish Cooking 1.0
A Word About Turkish Tomamo Paste. And A Half About Its Pepper Cuisine
Tomato paste, or domates salcası is probably the most fundamental Turkish cooking condiment. Closely followed by red bell pepper paste (biber salcası). Both thick deep-red pastes enclose the essence of summer and its flavors - that of tomato and red bell pepper. You would add both to possibly every third Turkish dish: aromatic red lentil soup and bulgur pilaf, Turkish take on tabbouleh (kısır) and nearly any Turkish stew you can think of.
5 Things You Need to Know When Cooking For a Crowd
It is characteristic how we do not grasp certain things before experiencing them. And our intellectual capacity keeps quiet until our hands or hearts learns. I sort of knew that cooking for a crowd takes stamina and organization. But have not discovered it until anne got into the hospital and I stayed back at the kitchen of our farmhouse with 8 to feed. Every day.
See more: Countryside living
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Cooking Tips from a Restaurant Kitchen: (1) Get Organized
First time I landed at a restaurant kitchen when test-driving my idea of having my own I was shocked by the harsh truths of the professional cooking world. I had a somewhat romantic notion of food, a fruit of creative labors, and much idealistic image of people making it. It is only when I saw the extreme sweat, frugality and organization at the real restaurant kitchen I understood that restaurant as a business and cooking as a profession.
Cooking at the restaurant kitchen has inevitable influenced how I cook now even at home. It comes downs to how you organize your space, prepare the ingredients before you even start cooking and use up your stock (and leftovers). Today, let me start with organization.
My Menu Planning Tricks
“And by the way, what are we going to be cooking?” - this is the question that gets me thinking for the whole evening before a cooking class. Menu planning is always about the right balance of enthusiasm and efficiency, I find. Turkish cuisine is hardly short of options and it is easy to create a new menu every time to maintain variety and my enthusiasm. Yet I know for a fact that there are simple dishes which are bound to be a success and no wonder I am tempted to include them in every cooking class.
Here are a few principles which I have learned to use in menu planning for my cooking classes and regular life. It is thanks to them I stay organized and yet truly excited about the food I am cooking.
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Is Aleppo Pepper That Hot? Truth About Red Pepper Flakes
Maraş, Urfa, Antep - these are the names you can find on the price tags of the piles of bright red pepper flakes at the spice stalls of Eminönü, bustling Istanbul food market. All three are somewhat known culinary destinations in Turkey. Maraş for its thick ice-cream made with salep, powered root of wild orchid, Urfa for its spicy kebabs, Antep for its knowledgeably grown pistachio and skillfully made baklava.
However it is Aleppo, a small village at the border with Syria which has received international fame for its peppers. It came as an absolute revelation to me that Aleppo pepper has become the next big thing in the US culinary world. Is Aleppo pepper really that hot?
7 Turkish Cooking Utensils For Enthusiastic Cooks
Maybe you are settling in Istanbul, maybe you live abroad with a Turkish spouse and feel curious to learn Turkish cooking, or maybe you got captivated by the local cuisine while traveling in Turkey and would like to recreate its taste back home. Besides looking up Turkish cooking recipes you may be interested in learning to use Turkish cooking utensils. Here are seven great tools to make your Turkish cooking experience fun and its outcome - perfect.