Cuisine of Turkey

Principal successor of the Ottoman cuisine, Turkish cuisine is considered by many as one of the richest national cuisines.

Breakfast

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  "Menemen", a tomato-egg dish, and other breakfast items
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  "Açma" - a breakfast and teatime bread
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  "Simit" - a breakfast and teatime bread
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  "Sucuklu yumurta" - Turkish sausage "sucuk" with eggs, a must for weekend breakfasts
• 
  Tulum peyniri (cheese)
• 
  "Portakal kabuğu reçeli" (orange peel preserve)

Soups

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  "Ayran aşı" - a cold soup
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  "Mercimek" soup, or cream of red lentils
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  "Arpa şehriye" - an orzo soup
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  "Dana haşlama", a kind of veal soup
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  "Tuzlama", a tripe soup
• 
  "Tarhana" soup

Vegetable and legume dishes

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  Artichokes in olive oil, "zeytinyağlı enginar", a cold dish
• 
  Broad beans in olive oil, another cold dish
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  Green bean stew with veal
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  "Kuru fasulye" or dry bean stew
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  "Türlü", a potpuri of vegetables
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  "Bamya" (okra) stew with veal

Pasta and pilav (rice)

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  "Ankara tava", a pilav and meat dish from Ankara
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  "Mantı", a minced meat-filled pasta dish served with garlic yogurt, tomato sauce and melted butter
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  "Pilav" (Turkish "pilaf) with orzo, just cooked
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  "Perde pilavı", pilaf covered with "yufka" (a sheet of dough) and finished to cook in an oven
• 
  "Siron", a pasta and yogurt dish from the Black Sea Region
• 
  "Börek"

Chicken and red meat dishes

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  "Köfte" or Turkish meatballs
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  "Kuzu kaburga" (lamb)
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  "Kuzu haşlama", lamb stew
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  "Patlıcan kebabı" or eggplant kebab
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  "Pirzola" (lamb choplets)
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  "Etli patates", home version of "tas kebap"
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  Şiş kebap, skewered meat (veal)
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  "Papaz yahnisi", veal and onion stew
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  "Döner kebap"
• 
  "Tavuk haşlama", chicken stew
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  "Çoban kavurma" is veal (or rarely mutton) with onions and peppers, sauteed
• 
  "Ekşili köfte", sour version of "sulu köfte", stewed meatballs

Fish dishes

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  Turkish style fish soup
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  "Lüfer ızgara" or grilled bluefish
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  "Pilav" with baked "hamsi"
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  "Hamsi tava", fried anchovies, Black Sea style
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  Grilled sardines ("sardalya")
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  Grilled seabass ("levrek")

Seafood

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  Baby octopus, grilled
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  "Kalamar tava" or fried calamari
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  "Midye tava" or fried mussels
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  "Midye dolma" or "pilav"-stuffed mussels
• 
  File:"Karides şiş kebap" (prawns shish kebab)
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  "Ahtapot" (octopus) salad

Salads, cold mezes and other entrée or accompanying dishes

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  "Kısır", a salad-meze or even teatime eatery whose main ingredient is bulgur
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  "Çoban salata" ("shepherd" salad)
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  Red pepper meze
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  "Çiğ köfte" (raw meat and bulgur balls)
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  "Cacık" is the typical summertime company of meat or rice dishes
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  "Gavurdağı" salad (with lor cheese) from Gaziantep
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  "Patlıcan salatası" or eggplant salad of Turkey is quiet different than the eggplant puree
• 
  "Deniz börülcesi salatası" (glasswort salad)
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  "Şakşuka" made with eggplants and green peppers
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  "Oruk" or içli köfte, bulgur patties with ground meat and walnuts inside
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  "Fava", a broad bean puree (on top of an olive oil-cooked artichoke)
• 
  "Ezme" and "Haydari", two cold mezes/sauces

Snacks

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  "Lahmacun" is a typical snack, fast and street food all around Turkey
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  A "dürüm" (flatbread roll, wrap) can be made of any meat or offal dish in Turkey
• 
  "Ayvalık tostu", hot sandwich from Ayvalık
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  "Balik-ekmek" or fish in a bread
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  Döner kebap served in a bread
• 
  "Midye tava" or fried mussels are like the "bocadillo de calamares" of Madrid in Istanbul, you can find and eat them in a sandwich everywhere

Teatime

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  Small "çörek" with tahin
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  A couple of "cevizli kurabiye" or Turkish cookies with walnut
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  Kurabiyes in the form of medialuna
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  Ayçöreği or "ay çöreği", the çörek that inspired the croissant
• 
  "Poğaça" are salty teatime cookies
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  "Pötifur" or "kuru pasta" (salted)

Desserts

• 
  "Ayva tatlısı" or quince dessert
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  "Aşure", a dessert with surprising ingredients like dry beans or chickpeas
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  Trays of "baklava" in Istanbul
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  "Kazandibi", a milk pudding
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  "Kabak tatlısı" or pumpkin dessert
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  "Tavuk Göğsü Dessert", a pudding similar to "menjar blanc", but with chicken breast meat in the recipe
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  "Sütlaç" or Turkish-style rice pudding
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  "Fırın helva", Turkish halva ("helva) baked with lemon juice
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  "Künefe" with "dondurma" (ice cream)
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  "Zerde", a dessert with saffron
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  "Şambali" or "Şambaba" desert
• 
  "Ekmek kadayıfı" with sour cherry sauce and "kaymak"

Liquors and other alcoholic drinks

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  "Boza", a traditional beverage that has a very low alcoholic grade
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  Beer that carries the name of Ephesus
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  "Rakı", a distilled grape and raisin liquor, from Tekirdağ
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  A toast with rakı
• 
  Rakı is colloquially called "aslan sütü" (Lion's milk in Turkish)

Cold beverages

• 
  "Ayran"
• 
  "Şıra", a fermented grape juice that tradionally accompanies İskender
• 
  "Limonata"
• 
  "Şalgam", a beverage made of black carrots
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  "Şerbet", a traditional Ramadan beverage

Turkish coffee

• 
  Turkish coffee, always with a glass of water and preferably with a piece of "lokum"
• 
  Turkish coffee is made in a pot called "cezve", generally of copper

Tea of Turkey

• 
  Tea is drinken in special glasses in Turkey

Other hot beverages

• 
  "Salep" (or "sahlep"), generally a winter drink