My wife and I recently spent two weeks in Turkey.
We booked the tour through a company called "Rick Steves' Europe".
Yes, that's the guy who's had a show (by the same name) on PBS for years. He also puts out a bunch of excellent do-it-yourself tour books as well. Anyway, this is the third time we've been on a tour with them (the first was Germany/Austria/Switzerland and the second was Spain/Morocco) and it won't be the last.
Before we go too far I'd like to say that Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris is the best airport anywhere. That's right. You can buy cheeses (fromages) and foie gras... in the airport! Many of you already now that I am a foie gras slut. But don't get me started on it recently being banned in California.
A lot of people ask me about traveling internationally but say they're afraid to eat in foreign countries. I always tell them that I love to eat off the economy and usually look for food that the locals are eating. I've also never had any significant gastrointestinal problems doing that. But, yes, I do always have a stash of Imodium just in case. The biggest concern is drinking the local water. In many countries you can but in some you shouldn't. You just need to do some homework before you go.
But if you're traveling and really need your fix of American fast food don't worry. You can easily find all the usual places. But why? Come on. There's too much real food out there to try out. I can't eat it all by myself. Well, I can, but I shouldn't.
We started out in Istanbul.
Out and about one night we found this guy who had a portable kabob stand cooking beef and lamb over charcoal.
I had the lamb with grilled vegetables and it was terrific. And all wrapped up in soft lavash bread. The lavash bread in Turkey is similar to Greek pita bread but about half as thick as what you usually get with a gyro.
Now this guys food was really, really good but I will admit that there was drinking involved earlier that evening.
Don't get too excited. It was just flavored tobacco.
Our drink of choice was Raki. It has a strong, black licorice flavor. It's a clear liquid that turns milky-white when you add cold water. It's an unsweetened, anise-flavored alcoholic drink that is popular in Turkey and in the Balkan countries. It's similar to Ouzo (Greece), Mastika (Bulgaria), Absinthe (France), Sambuca (Italy), Tayyara (Iraq), Orujo (Spain), Musar (Lebanon), and Zibib (Egypt).
After drinking this regularly for two weeks I was starting to think I would have to go to Betty Ford to dry out after I got back. But I didn't and everything's fine. What kept me going was the Turkish coffee.
Forget about the double espresso at Starbucks. This is the real deal.
The term Turkish coffee refers to the preparation. Roasted coffee beans are finely ground and boiled in a small pot, usually with sugar. It is then served in a small cup where the grounds are allowed to settle.
Once it's settled you sip it. One reason to sip it is because it's really strong and really hot. They other reason is you don't want a mouth full of sludge at the end.
This method was adopted by the Ottomans from the Arabs around the 16th century.
Getting back to eating off the economy, this is an example of the sort of food stand I like to go to.
This guy had all sorts of great smelling things cooking.
I had his lamb shank. It was so done it fell off the bone. That's probably a good thing because I had planned on just picking it up and going all Flintstone on it. Another in a long line of great foods we had all over the country.
But the best meal I had was at a restaurant called Özel Ciğerci in the city of Konya.
The restaurant is owned by four brothers and is open 24/7. The specialize in kabobs (beef, chicken, and lamb) cooked over charcoal. And they know what they're doing.
When we got there the place was packed. All locals. Not a foreigner in sight except for our motley crew. The turnover on the tables was very fast. I can't even begin to speculate on how many covers they do in 24 hours.
All of our tables ordered the beef, chicken, and lamb kabobs.
I tried to find out how they prepared the meats but they weren't saying. You know, secret recipe stuff. I know that there are two different ways to make Turkish kabobs.
The first way involves marinating the meats overnight. For lamb you mix up milk, olive oil, grated onion, salt, and pepper. For beef it's milk, cumin, olive oil, paprika, salt, and pepper. And for chicken it's plain yogurt, cumin, cayenne pepper, a crushed garlic clove, pomegranate paste, and olive oil.
What I think these guys did was to do a rub using red onion, parsley, tomato, dried oregano, urfa pepper, maras pepper, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
The kabobs are brought to you straight off the grill and placed in the middle of your table. You take a piece of lavash bread, add what ever sides you want (tomato puree, red onions with crushed dried maras peppers, grilled onions, grilled tomatoes), then pull off as much meat as you want off the skewer. You could never do this in the States because some idiot would stab them self with a skewer and then sue the restaurant. I'm happy to report that we had no such occurrence. While the beef and chicken were great to eat I'd have to say the lamb was the winner of the night.
Just when I thought they couldn't have anything good enough to follow that, they brought out some Künefe for desert.
This blew my mind. The way it's made varies by region but it's usually shredded phyllo dough that's mixed with milk and melted butter. A lot of melted butter. Break out the Lipitor. Half goes into the baking dish. Then it's covered with Nabulsi cheese (usually made from either sheep or goat milk). It's similar to a mozzarella. On top of that does another layer of the phyllo dough mixture. It's baked for about 45 minutes. While it's baking you make a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water) and add a little rose water or orange blossom water. When it comes out of the stove you pour the syrup over it and let it soak in for about 5 minutes. Okay, at this point I may need some Insulin. Then you top it with crème fraîche and finely ground pistachios.
This constitutes food porn. Oh baby, oh baby. Bow chicka bow wow.
Yes, they had to roll me out of the place, but this was a meal and a half.
Looking back we had a great time. The Turkish people in every village, town, and city were all courteous, gracious, friendly, and warm to us. This was an unbelievable vacation.
Hi-yo Silver, away!
