The künefe is a sort of cake that is traditionally eaten in kebab restaurants. It is usually not found in pastries, because it must be eaten hot. Originally from the south of Turkey, it is made from angel hair, a Turkish cheese called dil peynir (local version of mozzarella) butter, and sugar syrup. We strongly recommend you to taste one with warm Turkish tea.

The güllaç is an Ottoman dessert that is found especially during the month of Ramadan, it is cited in a cookbook retracing the banquet celebrating the circumcision of the son of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1539.

Considered as the ancestor of the baklava, the güllaç whose etymology comes from “güllü-aş” or “rose meal” has a unique texture with ingredients such as rose water, walnut, pomegranate, and milk. You can also find other fruits in some variants.

To prepare güllaç you must dip very thin sheets of phyllo dough in some sweet milk, then once well softened, superimpose them in a plate. Once in every two or three sheets of phyllo dough, you sprinkle walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, ground almonds, or coconut powder. Then the dish is covered with the milk used for dipping, fragrant rosewater, and/or vanilla. Everything is usually decorated with a line of chopped pistachios and a candied cherry (or pomegranate seeds, if in season).

This is by far the most famous Turkish dessert. Its origins date back from the time of the Byzantine Empire, although its shape and current recipe were developed during the Ottoman Empire.

The baklava can be compared to “mille–feuille” of phyllo dough (yufka). In Turkey, it is traditionally prepared by stuffing pistachios, nuts, or more rarely almonds or hazelnuts between layers of yufka leaves. The city of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey is famous for its baklava with pistachios and considers itself as the birthplace of this dish.

Although it can be found everywhere, it is very hard to do well and must be eaten fresh out of the oven.

First known as the “rahat lokum”, meaning “rest of the throat” in Turkish, because these fluffy bites were nice to chew, the Turkish delight is made from cornstarch, sugar, and fruit paste or nuts. It was a widespread candy among the ladies of high society during their afternoon teas. Turkish delights were also used as a love proof among couples.

This candy made the happiness and success of Hacı Bekir and his shop (which still exists in the Eminönü district). He was also appointed chief confessor of the Court of Sultan Mahmud II.

Today loukoums can be found everywhere in the tourist district of Sultanahmet, including the Spice Bazaar, but we recommend you to prefer small boutiques in less touristic neighborhoods offering only Turkish Delight because they are of higher quality, made without sweeteners and artificial preservatives.

They're not just any old butter bean, but a small version known as candir, named after the inland province where they're grown.

Delicate and flavorful, candir are mixed, together with tahini thinned with a little water, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, garlic, flat-leaf parsley and olive oil.

In the very traditional version, a soft boiled egg is roughly chopped up and mixed through just before serving.

Kisir is a salad made from fine bulgur wheat, tomatoes, garlic, parsley and mint. 

There are numerous versions from all over Turkey, but the Antakya one includes nar eksisi (sour pomegranate molasses) and pul biber (hot red chili flakes). They like it hot down south.

Made from red lentils, fine bulgur, salt, finely chopped onion, scallions, tomato and aci biber salca (hot red pepper paste) and crushed cilantro, they come in handy bite-sized servings. 

Just pop one of these nuggets of flavor onto a lettuce leaf, add a squeeze of lemon juice, roll it up and munch away.

Meatballs are so much more than just balls of meat in Turkish cuisine. Each style brings its own unique serve of history.

One of the best known is Inegol kofte, invented by one Mustafa Efendi. Originally from Bulgaria, he migrated to Inegol in northwest Turkey in the 19th century. 

Unlike other Turkish kofte his mix uses only ground beef or lamb and breadcrumbs, seasoned with onions. 

First the meat is smeared with a mix of onions, salt and black pepper and left to marinate for half a day. Then it's fed onto a long skewer and cooked horizontally over a wood fire.

Divine on its own, cag kebab is also served wrapped in flat lavas bread with slices of tomato, white onion and long thin green peppers called sivri.

This dish is cooked in a stock made from fried onions, butter, peanuts, Turkish allspice and raisins, which is mixed with fresh parsley and dill. Then filleted anchovies are arranged over the rice and the whole lot is cooked in the oven.

Usually served at weddings, perde pilav is cooked with chicken, currants, almonds, pine nuts and butter, and seasoned with salt, oregano and pepper. 

The shape of the dish is thought to represent the creation of a new home -- the rice symbolizes fertility and the currants are for future children.

First the clay jug is filled with beef, tomatoes, bell pepper, garlic and a knob of butter. Its opening is then sealed with a peeled slice of potato and covered in alfoil, before the jug is placed in a wood-burning oven. 

Once the contents are ready, the cook must hold the alfoil covered top in one hand and a small hammer in the other to break open the meal. 

The trick is to aim for the thin line circling the body of the vessel three quarters of the way up. 

The most popular is sucuklu yumurta, spicy Turkish sausage and egg mixed with kasar (yellow sheep cheese) but ispanakli kasar, spinach with cheese, is equally good. 

It's the crust that makes pide a winner. Cooked in a wood-fired oven, the high temperature produces a crisp crunchy base ideal for all types of ingredients.

In Kahramanmaras, home of traditional Turkish dondurma, of course. Traditional dondurma (which means freezing in Turkish) is made from milk and two special ingredients, sahlep and mastic. 

Sahlep is a type of flour produced from orchids that provides a smooth velvety finish to the ice cream, while the mastic, a natural gum, adds a unique chewiness.

The bread is placed on a large tray and steeped in water to make it expand. Then it's covered in a syrup made of sugar, water and lemon and simmered on the stove. 

The syrup is constantly spooned back over the bread to infuse it with a sweet sticky texture. When read, it's turned upside down onto a serving dish and eaten with kaymak, thick Turkish cream.

Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi’nin de en sevdiği içeceklerden olan Sirkengebin Şerbeti, İbn-i Sina tarafından da tüketilmesi önerilen bir şifa deposu aynı zamanda.

Şerbet ismini, Farsçada bal anlamına gelen “Encübin” kelimesinden almıştır. Sirke ile balın karışımını ifade eden Sirkencübin kelimesiyle de anılan bu şerbetin ana malzemeleri, isminden de anlaşıldığı gibi sirke ve baldan oluşuyor. Bu iki lezzetin bir araya gelmesinin imkansız olduğunu düşünenler olabilir elbette ama ortaya inanılmaz dengeli bir lezzetin çıktığını gördüklerinde tıpkı bizim gibi çok şaşıracaklar.

Sirkengebin Şerbeti’nin geçmişinin ta Antik Yunan’a dayandığı söyleniyor. Rivayete göre bu şerbet bundan 2500 yıl önce tedavi amaçlı kullanılıyordu ve ismi de aynı Farsçadaki gibi sirke ve bal kelimelerinin bir karışımı olan “Oxymel” idi. Vücuttaki ödemi attığı, öksürüğü yumuşattığı ve sindirimi kolaylaştırdığı için Hipokrat tarafından da önerildiği söylenen şerbetin Osmanlı mutfağında yerini almasıyla birlikte bizim de külliyatımıza dahil olmuş oldu.

Bir başka rivayete göre, gene eski bir zamanda bir imam zengin bir zeytinyağı tüccarının kızı ile evlenmiştir. Eşinin çeyizinde bol miktarda kaliteli zeytinyağı bulunmaktadır. Kadın ilk günlerde kocasına bu zeytinyağı ile hazırlanmış, içine domates ve soğan eklenmiş patlıcan yemeği hazırlar. On üçüncü günde yemek masasında patlıcan bulunmamaktadır. Buna şaşıran imam artık zeytinyağının kalmadığını öğrenince üzüntüsünden bayılır.

Bu nedenle ilk söyleyiş şekli “bastırma” olup zamanla pastırma halini almış ve Selçuklular zamanında Anadolu topraklarına getirilmiştir. Pastırma kelimesi “bastırma-bastırmak” sözcüklerinden türemiş öz Türkçe bir kelimedir. Eski Türkler her şeyin kurusunu “kak” diye ifade etmiş oldukları için pastırmaya da “kak et” demişlerdir. Divan-ı Lügat-it Türk’te pastırmaya “yazın ye” anlamına gelen “yazok et” denildiği belirtilmektedir. 

Gürcülerin de sıklıkla tercih ettiği bu tatlı, o bölgede pelamurşi adıyla anılıyor. Asıl menşei Doğu Karadeniz olan pepeçura, mübadele öncesinde Karadeniz Bölgesi’nde yaşamını sürdüren Rumların da severek tükettiği tercih edilen bir tatlıydı.

Pepeçura yapımında Karadeniz Bölgesi’nin dikkat çeken tatlarından kokulu üzüm kullanılır. Isabella üzümü olarak da bilinen bu üzüm çeşidinin şarap yapımında da kullanıldığı bilinir. Mayhoş tadıyla damaklarda etki bırakacak olan kokulu üzüm, bu özelliği ile pepeçuranın da eşsiz bir lezzete sahip olmasını sağlamıştır.