Leanne Kitchen - Turkey: more than 100 recipes, with tales from the road

No matter how exhausted I am after the long flight from Sydney, I start to revive when I see the Istanbul skyline come into view, punctuated as it is by hundreds of minarets and framed by stretches of deep, blue water. There is simply nowhere else on Earth quite like Turkey. By now I know Istanbul well enough to be able to make an instant beeline for my favorite shops, snack stops and restaurants, but Im still a sucker for many of the citys more clichd, if defining, charms, such as the mezzin, whose competing calls to prayer from the mosques of Sultanahmet bounce and echo around the ancient cobblestone streets like some sort of sonorous aria.

In common with most Islamic cultures, theres a particular kindness shown to strangers traveling in Turkey. In large and very touristy places like central Istanbul this kindness is not so apparent; although the endless cups of tea offered by those trying to sell something (often a carpet) could be construed as hospitality, albeit with a distinctly commercial edge. The farther off the tourist track I go, the greater the chance Ill be invited to join someone for a snack, or even a home-cooked meal. The tradition of Turkish hospitality forms the perfect framework within which to enjoy the other major reason I so love to come here the food. Journeying to Turkey, for me, is as much about meeting people and understanding the culture as it is about sharing meals and tasting new flavors.

Every time I disappear into some urban labyrinth or down an isolated village path with a new friend I marvel at my willingness to go. After all, that young girl inviting me home for tea could be a kleptomaniac, hell-bent on stealing my credit cards. Those picnicking Kurds are no doubt eyeing me up with white slavery in mind (if you never hear from me again its because Im feeding horses, ploughing dirt and hunting with falcons, utterly against my will, somewhere in deepest, darkest Hakkari province). Nothing like this has ever happened of course, but my point is this: I wouldnt be so eager to trot after someone Id barely met, on the promise of being fed and filled with tea, back home. Id be considered certifiable.

Turks are extremely proud of their culinary culture and rightly so; its a rich, varied and venerable cuisine. It is borne of many influences and sources. There are the courtly Ottoman-derived dishes (vestiges of which survive in and around Istanbul and other major centers like Bursa), right through to humble Anatolian peasant fare that speaks of a persistent reliance on the land and the seasons. It produces foodstuffs, ancient in origin, such as yogurts, cheeses and preserved meats, that derive from an earlier, nomadic lifestyle once prevalent throughout Asia Minor. Turkey shares its border with eight nations: Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria; all of these have exerted a culinary influence. Until relatively recently, there were significant Greek, Armenian and Jewish communities in the country and their culinary legacy is now so interwoven into the Turkish kitchen vernacular it is impossible to know where one influence ends and another begins.

Modern Turkish cookery is hardly homogenous. Within her borders are seven incredibly diverse regions and not only are these quite distinct culinarily, but within each of the regional borders lie towns, cities and villages which have their own unique dishes, produce and even cooking styles. In Tekirda, for example, a town on the Marmara Sea, they make a famous variant of the ubiquitous kfte thats unlike any other. In Edirne, near the border with Bulgaria and Greece, they serve a celebrated liver dish that folk will drive three hours from Istanbul just to eat. From the watermelons of Diyarbakir, the tulum cheese of Erzincan, Isparta rosewater, wheat flour from Konya, Van honey and baldo rice from Tosya to hazelnuts from Giresun, Turkey is a veritable larder of extraordinary produce. And it has a trove of regional dishes that put it to varied and delicious use.

To date, not an awful lot has been documented about regional Turkish cuisine, even within the country. Many Turks are oblivious to the rich culinary diversity on their own doorstep. Little wonder really, as specialties, such as some cheeses and preserves, are made in specific and often far-flung villages and dont get exported further than the nearest large town. Fresh ingredients specific to a region, particularly wild ones like the spring greens of the Aegean, cant readily be found anywhere else.

There are also constants in the general Turkish diet as any visitor to the place will know. Yogurt, kebabs, brek, gzleme, lahmacun, pide and orba are staples countrywide. In the west of Turkey, particularly in Istanbul, the service of meze is elevated to something of an art form with myriad varieties available. Because of the homogenous nature of much of Turkish restaurant food, and the fact that most of the really interesting stuff gets cooked in the home or on special occasions, digging beyond the standard offerings can be hard. Scoring an invite to eat a home-cooked dinner, or patronizing a restaurant specializing in a specific regional cuisine, are often the only real chances to eat beyond the usual.

My travels through Turkey were fairly random and this is reflected in the recipe content of this book a collection of some of the best dishes I documented during my travels. Many of these I had researched and sought out, venturing to towns that are well known for their culinary efforts, and others I was fortunate enough to stumble upon by coincidence. I never set out to write the definitive word on Turkish cuisine, but rather let myself be led by the hospitable people of the nation, who were kind enough to share the recipes herein.