There are a few cooking methods that fascinate me beyond words. They might not be the rocket science but in my book they are fairly close: it took a freaking genius to break the ground, and thanks to the group of talented and dedicated people the pursuit goes on. Take tarhana making, or turning tomato-loaded fermented dough into a winter soup during the fall preservation marathon. When did people start doing this? Who came up with the idea? Why don’t we know the name of the person to whom a prayer should be sent before every winter meal of deliciously tangy and sometimes life saving tarhana? Or, think about making phyllo pastry. Have you ever thought that even before the commercial kind made it to the supermarket shelves there must have been a reliable method to produce phyllo pastry at home?
Delicious Istanbul
Pistachio Labne Ice-Cream Without Machine
on August 11, 2013
The whole summer I have been theorizing about homemade ice-cream. But the practical implementation had to wait: maybe I live too close to an excellent artisanal ice-cream parlor or, even more likely, I am just afraid to clatter my kitchen with a new ice-cream maker. Whenever I clean the kitchen (every day, few times a day) I find a utensil that has to go or pantry item that needs to be used immediately because the expiry date is too close or I have abnormal quantities of that (1 kg whole dry sumac berries from Antakya anyone?). And still my kitchen is packed, and there is no way to fit even a small ice-cream maker in the cabinets.
Zapekanka (Russian Cottage Cheese Bake) with Tel Kadaif
on August 8, 2013
I have not seen my friend Yulia for exactly a year, and what a year it was: I got married and she gave birth to the twins Anastasia and Sofia. There was occasional catching up over skype, and I even got to see the girls - yet the proper meeting was overdue.
When we stopped by Yulia’s in Moscow I did not know what to expect. Has my friend changed after her family doubled and she took on much anticipated yet a completely unknown role of a mother? And most importantly: does the change in her life mean I have to change something in mine?
Milk
on August 4, 2013
Did I mention before how it is hard to find fresh milk in Istanbul? Most of the milk sold in the Istanbul supermarkets is UHT (uzun ömürlü): it is destined to the long life outside of the fridge. It seems people here don’t mind a huge shelf with UHT and a tiny compartment in the refrigerator where you (might) get the real deal since your favorite brand is often out of stock.
Call me a culinary dinosaur but I had no idea about the existence of the UHT milk for the first 22 years of my life. At the first year of the business school my world was shattered when I learned about the mere possibility of producing (and consuming) something like UHT: me and a few of my classmate played a business simulation and our task was to find the optimal mix of the fresh milk and UHT to produce and market in Europe. I was shocked anyone in their clear mind would buy UHT.
Spiced Roasted Eggplant with Millet
on July 31, 2013
I am often assumed to cook Russian dishes for my Turkish family or at least sneak in some Russian influences in our daily fare. The disappointing truth is I can’t remember cooking much Russian food here in Turkey apart from the potato fritters I prepared during the romantic stage of the relationships with my husband-to-be.
The fritters that manifested the Russian culinary ascetics were accepted and eaten for two reasons: 1) fried foods are universally lovable and 2) I was too new to the family to discourage my efforts even though Özgür’s mom did immediately suggest how I could ‘improve’ the Slavic classic, and I had neither the confidence nor the language ability to say that giving dish a Turkish touch does not equal improvement.
Çarşı Balık: Fish, Rakı and Turkish Football
on July 28, 2013
Beşiktaş football team may not enjoy such a wide support as the two Istanbul giants Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, but its supporters are not less furious and a way better defined. Honestly, you can’t tell a Fenerbahçe fan from the Galatasaray’s just by looking. But you can often identify an avid Beşiktaş supporter - young, educated, free thinker and slightly anarchic. It was Çarşı, the hooligan organization of the Beşiktaş fans, that fearlessly led the recent protests at its home base, in the heart of Beşiktaş district also called Çarşı.
Çarşı, a commercial quarter that usually acts as a center of a neighborhood, in Beşiktaş is a curious place. It undividedly sympathizes Beşiktaş football team yet tolerates other teams’ supporters. Say, at the Kadikoy market every single shop owner would put out Fenerbahçe flag on a match day, and you would not see many walking around in the Galatasaray jersey. But you can wear a non-Beşiktaş jersey in Beşiktaş, even if your team is playing with theirs that day.
How to explain this difference? Is it the abnormal hatred between the Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe or the outstanding tolerance of the Beşiktaş fans?As far as I am concerned the latter wins, yet another proof of which was the gathering of the retired Galatasaray hooligans (= my husband’s friends) that was set at Çarşı Balık, a fish restaurant at the Beşiktaş Fish Market.
7 Russian Foods I Miss in Istanbul
on July 24, 2013I am often asked what Russian food I miss most. Well, Turks confident in abundance and superiority of their food may not be so curious, but everyone else always asks me this question hoping to learn more about the exotic Russian fare. Also, folks back home seem to measure my patriotic feelings by the culinary longings: during my latest visit I left someone speechless when I claimed I did not to miss a very special taste of Russian potato that must be (according to that person) impossible to find in Turkey.
More often than not I am puzzled when asked about the Russian food I miss. I used all my cross-border moves to learn more about the cuisines different from my native, and I took it to the extreme when I moved to Turkey solely for its food. I also tend to think that if you cook you can replicate most of the foods you might miss.
However the recent trip to Russia proved me wrong: I could not get enough of the foods I thought I was fine without. I guess appreciating your roots comes with age, and I am happy to have gotten there. So here is my far-from-exhaustive list of the Russian foods I miss in Istanbul.
