From Our Friends
powered by ZergNet
Looking for a cookbook of Turkish recipes. Currently choosing between Sultan's Kitchen (Ozcan Ozan) and Turkey (Leanne Kitchen). Preferences between these two, or other favorites?
My rec would be "Arabesque" by Claudia Roden. About a third of the book is devoted to Turkey. She is a remarkable food historian to whom I will bow down and honor. Istanbul (was Constantinople) is where Europe and Arabia collide.
Can't recommend a book, but I was in Istanbul recently and had a wonderful tomato salad for lunch (with kabobs, of course). This recipe is quite similar and easy to make.
http://www.foodandwine...
While not specifically Turkish, Paula Wolfert's Cooking of Eastern Mediterranean is always great.
All the books mentioned above are great. I have a copy of A Cookery Tale by Sahrap Soysal, which I like. However, I don't know how easy it would be to find--I bought the book on a trip to Turkey two years ago.
SPICE, Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean, by Ana Sortun, is impressive, as is her restaurant Oleana, in Cambridge MA. From the blurb: she 'learned the traditions of Turkish cooking from local women.'
Kitchen's and Malouf's books are beautiful and the recipes are good; they are Aussie-style interpretations of Turkish dishes rather than "authentic" (for lack of a better word) recipes, if that matters to you. Classic Turkish Cooking by Ghillie Basan was recently reissued in soft cover and it's very good. But I most highly recommend Classical Turkish Cooking by Ayla Algar, a teacher of Turkish at UC Berkeley, a linguist and culinary researcher. It has no photographs but does include a wealth of information/culinary history/background on dishes. Algar grew up in Turkey. Her recipes are very clear and produce "real" Turkish food.