potato salad

Potato was domesticated in the southern Peruvian and northeastern Bolivia regions during 8000-5000 BC. It has spread throughout the world since then and became one of the basic food in many countries.

Spaniards brought potatoes to Europe during the second half of the 16th century. When arrived in Europe it was first used as animal feed. Public refused to eat this ugly and shapeless roots coming from the heathen lands. Aristocrats in England, Holland, Belgium, France, Prussia and Russia ate it, liked it, and the public started consuming.

When potatoes were added to the European kitchens, farmers could raise much more food than they could, and it created a safety net for hard times. With the highly nutritious potato's help, more birth and less miscarriage ratios took place, and there was a population boom in Europe, America and in the British Empire during the 17th and the 18th centuries.

They say that Germans found the potato salad, and that they used olive oil, vinegar and a herbal sauce. It is assumed that it migrated to the US and that the mayonnaise was added to the recipe over there.

tags gluten-free, parsley, mayonnaise, potato, yogurt

mayonnaise

My most trusted and classical reference book Larousse Gastronomique defines mayonnaise as egg yolk and olive oil whisked to the desired thickness, where vinegar, salt, black pepper and mustard are added for a refined taste. The book talks about 4 rumors regarding the roots of it's name, where the oldest dating back to 18th century. And then it describes enriching the taste of mayonnaise with different ingredients and creating tartar sauce, green sauce, Dijonnaise, Remulade, Russian etc. Then comes the recipes where the first one is like mine, where olive oil is used. Yes I even like extra virgin olive oil where the end product is rich and strong, and for your info I do not make my mayo for French fries. I can not refrain from telling you that my strong mayo can even bring French fries to a next level. If you prefer you can use corn oil, hazelnut oil, sunflower oil or canola oil, either by mixing with olive oil or simply on their own.

The taste and the texture of homemade mayonnaise is by far at a higher level when compared to what is sold in the market. When you consider that the industrial mayonnaise lives for 6 months, whereas homemade just for 3-4 days, it is impossible not to think about the production technology and what is added to the products.

tags egg, olive oil

baked sea bass

Essence of Fishing is not to destroy, but to hunt in season and within limits. We have to appreciate, think, understand and protect this richness that very few countries have in todays world, says Dear Ali Pasiner, in his book, where the first edition was published in 1997. He was with a strong understanding of what taste is, and he definitely was a gourmet. He was my mentor when it got to seafood. Besides being one of the old-timers of the Advertising World in Turkey, was an excellent fisherman and had various publications and articles on Fish.

In the Sea Bass section of his book Ali Abi says

Sea bass reaching 15 kilos in Black and Marmara seas, exceeds 20 kilos when in the Aegean and Mediterranean waters. The real tasty ones are 1 to 2 kilo range. Sometimes they swim in 30-40 schools and give us the chance to hunt more than one round. They usually swim in shallow waters and reeds and hidden areas where its really quiet. During winters they lay at the bottom and stay without moving. Because they are one of the major feeds for dolphins they prefer to live in shallow rather than open waters.
They have rocket shape bodies, a little pushed in from the sides, and their scales are large, shiny and dense. This tasty fish is really liked both in our country and in Europe.

Each time I do anything with fish, I think of Ali Abi, who we lost in 2003, with love.

tags bass, parsley, wine, garlic, italian pepper

cheese sticks

Annemin hem anneannesini hem de babaannesini tanımış ve onlarla zaman geçirebilmiş olduğum için kendimi hep çok şanslı hissederim. 🙂

One of the grandmas, Saadet Taylan was into cooking, and with the courage and motivation provided by her husband, she even participated in cooking courses given by professional chefs. Mom gave 2 of her recipe notebooks to me when I started my cookbook collection. Once in a while I go through its pages to see how things were done at her time and I really enjoy doing it. Today as I was chatting with Aydın about baton sale, and I remembered seeing it in my grandma's notebook. Picture on the right is her original hand written recipe. I stayed with the original recipe and even added the aged kashari cheese she used in her yeasted baton sale recipe, and of course made my own adjustments. Fresh out of the oven, still hot and we devoured half of the tray, they must be tasty.

tags milk, whole wheat flour, butter, yogurt, egg

sour cherry jam

There is a long history to jams made with whole or sliced fruit cooked in syrup. A very old book called Culinary Matters written during the Roman era of the first century includes certain jam recipes. Middle eastern countries acquired the knowledge of sugar canes and sugar production from asian countries, and they had an abundance of sugar at hand, so jams were one of their daily foods. They also used honey for sweetening jams. And through this people could make use of vitamins in fruits all year round.

Kings, alchemists, scientists and saints loved jams' taste, smell and color. The rumor goes as Jeanne d'Arc ate quince jam before each war she had. When Catherine de' Medici married King Henry the 2nd, she took her perfume makers, cake chefs and experts to France with her. Besides all sorts of gastronomic pleasures she had, the queen enjoyed jams extremely. They say that Nostradamus, before writing his prophecy about the end of the world, wrote a thesis on jams and marmalades. Marie Curie, during her research on radioactivity, whenever free time was available she spent it on jam making experiments.

Şeker bağımlılığımı yıllar içerisinde kontrol altına aldıkça hazır reçelleri maalesef yiyemez oldum. 1-2 markanın ‘şeker ilavesiz’ diye pazarladıkları özellikle mayhoş meyve reçellerini az miktarda tüketebiliyordum. Geçen yaz evde reçel yapmaya başlayınca 1 kilo meyveye 1 kilo şeker oranı ile tanıştım ve yiyememe sebebimi anladım. 🙂 Şekeri dörtte bire indirerek ilk şeftali reçelimi yaptım, çok beğenildi. Zamanla kendime göre 5 kup meyve – 1 kup şeker gibi bir oran buldum. 5 kup, meyvesine göre 750 gram ile 1,5 kilo arasında değişiyor. Meyvenin tatlılığına göre kimi reçel biraz daha tatlı kimi ise mayhoşa yakın olabiliyor. Az şekerin koruyuculuğu da az olduğu için diğer reçellere nazaran daha çabuk tüketilmesi gerekiyor. Reçellerim, meyve tadının öne çıktığı, iç bayıltmayan, gerçekten keyifle yediğimiz bir lezzet oldu bizim ev halkı ve paylaştığım arkadaşlarım için. Sanırım hala pazarlarda vişne bulabilirsiniz, denemeye değer.

tags pomegranate molasses, sugar, cinnamon, sour cherry

dried fruit cake

Cakes were being baked even during the Classic Age (500-336 BC) of the Ancient Greek Civilization. Roman senator Marcus Porcius Cato, wrote De agricultura in 160 BC, among some other recipes he mentioned a sacrifice cake to be presented to the Gods to show their gratitude. With the availability of dried fruit during the Middle Ages, fruit bread entered the western European kitchens. During the Crusades soldiers ate cakes with dried fruit and spices to get the energy they needed. With the cheaper sugar arriving from the colonies Europe was introduced to the modern fruit cakes. Baking fruit cakes for weddings and special days was popular during the 18th & 19th centuries.

I personally do not like dry and sweet cakes, they stick to my palate and burn my throat. Using a scientific trial and error method I reached the recipe that I am sharing with you. I am sure that you can play around with the flexible ingredients to find the taste to your liking.

tags date, dried fig, milk, whole wheat flour, egg

sandwich roll

Levent’teki Tadal pastahanesi elemanlarından Mahir beye “siz sandviç ekmeğine süt koyuyor musunuz?” diye sordum. Ertesi gün dükkanın önünden geçen kocam Aydın’ı çevirip “abi bu tarifi yengeye götür” diyerek bir not kağıdına yazılı malzeme ve ölçüleri bana ulaştırması ile sandviç ekmeği maceram başlamış oldu. 🙂

The recipe shared here has my adjustments as always.

tags whole wheat flour

cumin

Posted on 08/10/201504/05/2020 by Zehra

Cumin, already mentioned in 14th century B.C. Mycenaean tablets, is a spice often used in Middle Eastern, Latin American, North African and Asian cuisine. It was also used in Europe during the times of the Hellenic civilisation and the Roman Empire, but disappeared during the Middle Ages except in Spain and Malta. It is even said that the ancient Greeks, like Turks do, serve cumin in its special container at meal times. It is thought that Latin America got acquainted with cumin through the Spanish colonizers.

Cumin, mentioned in the Old Testament, is a plant of the parsley family. According to the New Testament, it is a spice used in soups and the production of bread.

The plant is native of Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. The cumin flower, known as cumin grains, may be light colored or black. As compared to the light colored seeds, the black cumin seeds have a more complex, peppery taste.

One of the main components of known as chili powder, curry and North African spice blend ras-el hanout is cumin.

While Persia was historically the main supplier of cumin, India, Syria, Pakistan and Turkey are known today as the major sources of the spice.

Aromasını daha uzun süre koruduğu için tohum olarak almanızı tavsiye ederim. Kullanacağınız zaman yağsız tavada, kokusu çıkıncaya kadar ısıtıp değirmende öğütebilir veya havanda dövebilirsiniz.

To make cumin tea, add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds to 1 cup of water and bring to the boil. Remove from burner, let it rest for 10 minutes and drain. Enjoy this tea, said to act as a diuretic and tranquilizer.

tags cumin

pumpkin soup

Meaning something healing/livening, the word restaurant was used in the 16th century France, for a very concentrated soup that was marketed by the street vendors as a "fatigue antidote". In 1765 an inn owner named Boulanger opened a shop in Paris where he sold soups of that nature. This original place is the source of the word restaurant as we use today.

tags pumpkin, gluten-free, potato, garlic, onion, milk

semolina dessert

My mom Yonca Kartal is extremely capable when it comes to food. She is that mom where you can easily say "wait till you try my mom's". The most famous in my book is her semolina dessert (İrmik Helvası). Helva to us is an everyday dessert that we can make whenever we want. My son and my nephew ask for special orders from mom. We cook helva for all sorts of beginnings with the belief that it will bring good luck and abundance, and we say "Let us eat sweet and talk sweet"

Yıllardır yediğim, pişirdiğim 1 tereyağı (125 g), 2 irmik (250 g), 3 şeker (375 g), 4 süt (500 ml) oranlı tarifle oynayacağımı pek düşünmezdim. 🙂 Pardon anne ama, uzun zamandır hep yaptığım irmik helvasının yağ ve şeker miktarı bana fazla geliyordu. İlk denemede genelde amerikan tariflerine uyguladığım yarısı kadar yağ ve şeker ile yapınca pek tatlıya benzemedi ancak doğru yolda olduğumu da gördüm. Bu paylaştığım tarif ise bence oldu. Denemenizi tavsiye ederim.

tags semolina, sugar, milk

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love thy kitchen

Don't eat anything your grandma wouldn't recognize as food!..