The Hidden Chefs of Turkey

Gaziantep is the sixth-largest city in Turkey, although you may never have heard of it. This sprawling metropolis in southeast Turkey near the Syrian border is completely ignored by most guidebooks. Even in Turkey, few people have been to this city of 1 million, which is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the world.

But unvisited doesn’t mean unrecognized. Mention Gaziantep to someone from Istanbul, and he’ll lick his lips with pleasure, because many people think Gaziantep has the best food in all of Turkey, and Turkey is a country of very fine food. When I told Turks I was traveling to this ancient city, my status rose from tourist to insider.

So late one night I found myself on a crowded Turkish Airlines flight descending on a dark, wind-swept plain in southern Turkey. You might expect a provincial town like Gaziantep to be sound asleep around midnight, but the lights glowed brightly in dozens of bakeries and baklava shops, where preparations for the next day’s pastries were already beginning.

Gaziantep is Turkey’s leading pistachio producer (last year’s harvest exceeded 20,000 tons) and the supernaturally green, incredibly flavorful nuts are a key ingredient in Gaziantep-style baklava, which is admired throughout Turkey (a Gaziantep pastry firm named Gulluoglu has branches all over the country).

Forget about visiting mosques, temples and archeological sites. If you want to see what makes Gaziantep tick, visit its central market. This teeming labyrinth of narrow streets offers a crash course in the cooking of Asia Minor.

There are six varieties of pistachio nuts, waist-high barrels of almonds and walnuts and dried apricots, plums, figs and other dried fruits of astonishing fragrance and flavor. There are vats of exotic flavorings, such as yellowish grape sugar, sweet-sour pomegranate molasses and aromatic rose water and orange flower water.

The spice vendors sell many seasonings that Americans are familiar with as well as exotic spices unique to the region, such as sumac and Aleppo peppers. The former is a tart dried red berry, popular as a seasoning for grilled lamb. The latter is a roundish, moderately hot chile that tastes like a Mexican ancho sprinkled with salt and a squeeze of lime juice. (The people of Gaziantep like their food hot.) In back-alley shops, an army of tinsmiths and metal workers provides local cooks with the equipment they need for remarkable cooking. One shop makes shish kebab skewers ranging from a few millimeters to half an inch thick, complete with cylindrical metal “quivers” for holding them. Another shop sells shallow wok-like pans for cooking flat breads and portable braziers ingeniously fashioned from 5-gallon oil cans.

My guide to all this gastronomic splendor was Ayfer Unsal, a journalist, cookbook author and culinary scholar. I asked her why this out-of-the-way city boasts such a sophisticated cuisine. “Location, climate and history,” she said.

Gaziantep lies only about 30 miles west of the Euphrates River, which wanders to the sea through Mesopotamia, traditionally considered the cradle of human civilization. Over the centuries, the city has been home to Hittites, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks and Jews (indeed, the Jewish prophet Elijah is said to be buried here). Each group contributed its unique set of flavors to the local melting pot.

Moreover, Ayfer said, Gaziantep was a way station on the legendary Silk Route, which led from China to Istanbul. Culinary ideas from both East and West passed through here, inspiring local chefs. Finally, Gaziantep’s climate--cool in the winter, hot and dry in the summer--supports an orgy of agricultural activity that makes this one of the most fertile regions in Turkey.

To this list of virtues should be added Turkey’s legendary hospitality, which I experienced that evening at Ayfer’s home. After showing me around the local markets and restaurants all day, she prepared a splendid feast of local specialties, highlighted by yuvarlama, a sort of stew of yogurt and vegetables. Yuvarlama takes its name (which literally means “rolling”) from its traditional garnish, rice and lamb meatballs the size of garbanzos. (As you can imagine, it takes a lot of rolling to make a pot full of these tiny meatballs.)

Here’s a simplified version of Ayfer’s recipe--sans meatballs but eminently delicious, thanks to its rich yogurt broth and sizzling mint topping.

GAZIANTEP VEGETABLE AND YOGURT STEW WITH SIZZLED MINT

If you are in a hurry and don’t have time to drain the yogurt, use 1 cup undrained. Turkish yogurt is so tangy you don’t really need lemon, but in this country, a few drops of lemon juice can help.

4 cups beef, lamb, chicken or vegetable stock

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pound butternut squash or carrots, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 large Yukon gold or other boiling potato (about 1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

1/2 pound green beans, ends snapped, strings removed, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained if canned)

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups whole milk yogurt, drained 4 hours (enough to make 1 cup drained yogurt)

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, optional

Few drops lemon juice, optional

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons dried mint

Bring stock to boil in large, heavy saucepan with salt and pepper to taste. Add garlic, squash and potato and simmer 3 minutes. Add green beans and garbanzo beans and continue cooking until vegetables are just tender, 5 minutes (8 to 10 minutes total).

Whisk flour into yogurt in mixing bowl. Add cream and egg and whisk until smooth. Gradually add 1 cup hot stock to yogurt mixture in thin stream, stirring continuously, then slowly stir mixture into remaining stock. Bring to gentle simmer, stirring steadily. Add parsley and simmer until sauce thickens slightly, 3 to 5 minutes.

Correct seasoning, adding salt and few drops lemon juice if needed. Broth should be rich and slightly tart.

Just before serving, heat oil to 350 degrees in small skillet. Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle mint on top of each serving in mound or X shape. Pour hot oil over mint; it will sizzle. Serve at once.

6 servings. Each serving:

305 calories; 628 mg sodium; 68 mg cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams protein; 2.41 grams fiber.