Nevin Halici’s Turkish Cookbook

"I first met Nevin at a conference of the International Olive Oil Council in Istanbul. She’s probably the person who has done the most in bringing Turkish cuisine to light. The thing about Turkish food is that there are so many different influences. Geographically, the country stretches from right down on the Syrian border to the Caspian Sea and Russia. So you’ve got all the regional foods, the religious foods like the Sufi cuisines, the Ottoman cuisine and the palace cuisine of the caliphs. Food has been so important in Turkey that even the janissaries’ titles were the titles of cooks. It’s very strange. And when they were annoyed with the ruler they would symbolically kick over one of the great kettles of the sultan’s food to show their displeasure – because the food was all prepared for them in the imperial kitchens. Until I read Nevin’s books I hadn’t realised that the whirling dervishes’ dance is connected to certain dishes. I’ve been cooking from this book for several years and I’m currently preparing for a cooking school in Istanbul. I’m indulging myself and reading all this background information. Like anywhere, people think the food is terrible because they go and eat in the touristy places where it’s always the same food. It’s a transaction: the restaurants are giving people what they want. If you want to sample all of the different Turkish foods you have to do your research. The mezze in Turkey is more varied than anywhere else. But you have to go to a place that specialises in it. I like dishes with a history or story behind them. For example, in the time of the caliphs it used to be said that the Circassian girls were the most beautiful and prized in the harem. They would sometimes have special dishes cooked for them. Circassian chicken was one. You poach a whole chicken, take all the flesh off the bone and put it on a platter. Keep the stock and add various spices to it. Then grind up this paste with lots of walnuts, some stale bread and add some of the stock. Mask the whole platter of chicken with the sauce so it’s completely covered. Serve it cold and all you see is this flecked expanse. It’s got the most incredible flavour. I tend not to do it as a mezze . I eat it with a knife and fork. Well, maybe. I like the story anyway – I always like a story. People ask me why water buffalo, used for making mozzarella, ended up in Italy. What I tell them is possibly true: no one knows for sure why these buffalo are in Italy because they are not a native species. But when Hannibal was attacking Rome he brought them for milk. They encamped in the hills above a swampy area in Battipaglia, near the Greek temples in Paestum. And the elephants, as engines of war, were killed. But the buffalo, as domestic animals, ran away, found this swamp and survived. So there we are: it’s Hannibal we may have to thank for mozzarella. Yes. But you do get spicier food, particularly near the Syrian border. There are so many strata to Turkish food. Years ago, I was researching my book on Mediterranean food. I was in the south of Turkey and saw the village women making the bread on a tandir . It was very much like the Indian tandoor . I think it all originally came from Persia."