A Taste of Sun & Fire

Gaziantep cuisine is rooted in the soil. Fresh produce ripens in the summer sun and dishes are cooked in wood ovens and over charcoal fires, with rich yet subtle flavours. Whether roasted to a perfect golden brown in the oven, simmered gently over glowing embers, or grilled over a flaming barbecue, all these flavours owe their intensity to the combination of sun and fire.

One aspect of Gaziantep’s culinary diversity is the use of many different cooking methods. The kebabs for which this cuisine is celebrated are just the beginning of a whole range of stewed, fried and steamed dishes. Pilafs can be full-scale feasts while the countless yogurt-based stews and soups are a culinary category all their own, unmatched anywhere else.

In Gaziantep the whole city is part of the food preparation process. Customers just tell the butcher what dish they are planning to cook and he not only chooses the right cut of meat but even does the initial preparation for some dishes. Trays of börek, baklava and topped flat breads are carried to the local bakery to be cooked in the wood-fired stone oven for perfect results impossible in a domestic oven. The grocer chooses which of the many varieties of bulgur, wheat berries, rice and pulses is right for each dish his customers are planning to cook, and the herb and spice shop keepers prepare mixes according their customers’ taste in spices. Consequently there is constant interchange between home, market, grocery, butcher’s shop and bakery, each one contributing their skills to the preparation process, as if a magic wand were orchestrating a city-wide symphony of flavours.

RECIPE CATEGORIES:
- Soups
- Yogurt Dishes
- Flavours from the fire
- Minced meat dishes with vegetables & fruit
- Stews with meat, vegetables & fruit
- Oven baked flat breads
- Stuffed vegetables & wrapped leaves
- Pilafs
- Meat balls & bulgur balls
- Sweet pastries, helvas, milk puddings