We spent today with Aysin, from Cookistan to learn how to cook a 6-course Turkish meal.  We traveled there using Uber for the first time, which worked well in getting us directly to the meeting point, though it took 93 minutes to travel 27 km (about 16 miles) in Istanbul traffic.  With Aysin’s directions, we were able to return via subway at 1/10 the cost and less time.

We began the session with a tour around her neighborhood on the European side, stopping at various stores to learn about the foods and spices, and to pick up a few items for our upcoming meal.

One shop specialized only in the “inner parts of the animal,” and photographs of lamb brains and feet can be seen above.  At another stop, we discovered men cutting the leaves off artichokes (lower right), leaving only the “artichoke heart” for sale in markets and restaurants.  We were told that the leaves and stem are sold for animal food and preparation of cosmetics.

Upon entering Aysin’s beautiful home, we immediately saw a large preparation area set up for us (upper left), laid out with ingredients, spices and utensils for our class.  After a welcoming glass of tea, we started the lesson. Aysin told us she would show us three types of Turkish food:  Istanbul, Ottoman and Antalyean.

We started making a pumpkin dessert, because it took awhile to cook, and then had to be chilled before serving.  We then went on to learn how to cook:

• Süleymaniye Soup (lower right)
• Bulgur Salad
• Cirkassian Chicken
• Börecik (middle right)
• Stuffed Dried Eggplants (lower left)

For each course, Aysin would make a dish, and we would then each make the same, color coding our plates so we would know who made which.  Then would come the taste test to see how they turned out.

All the foods involved a “Turkish pinch” (three fingers grabbing a lot of spice) for each of four spices (mint, medium-hot red pepper, cumin and paprika), plus black pepper and salt.  I kept holding back, thinking I was going to overpower the meal, but it seems that Turkish recipes do indeed use a lot of spice.

Each of the courses was absolutely delicious, though as you might imagine, there was way too much food to eat at one sitting.  We therefore took home several plates of the cold foods, which took care of dinner tonight and probably lunch tomorrow. ☺