cooking

Karniyarik, the beloved split-belly eggplant of the Turkish home table, is a dish of simple stages that come together into something far greater than the sum of their parts.

Hunkar begendi, the sultan’s favorite, may sound like a palace-only dish, but it is built from simple ingredients and straightforward techniques that any home cook can master.

The simit sandwich looks almost too simple to need a recipe, but its beauty hides a few small skills: getting the bread right, choosing the right cheese, and assembling with a light hand.

Kumpir is the giant, golden baked potato that turned the Ortakoy waterfront of Istanbul into a street-food landmark, and the good news is that you can recreate the whole spectacle in your own kitchen.

Kazandibi looks like a professional pastry chef’s creation, but it is surprisingly simple to make at home with just milk, sugar, and rice flour.

Bazlama is one of the most rewarding breads a home cook can make.

Turkish soups look simple, but their deep flavor comes from a few essential techniques that are easy to learn at home.

Making dolma at home is a quiet, satisfying craft, and it needs no special equipment, only patience and a gentle hand.

You do not need a wood-fired oven or a pastry shop’s decades of experience to make good Turkish pastries at home.

You do not need to travel to Şanlıurfa to taste its famous kebab, though you should certainly plan that trip too.

Adana kebab looks simple, a skewer of seasoned minced meat over charcoal, but the gap between the real thing and a homemade imitation is wide.

Sutlac is one of the easiest desserts in the world to make and one of the easiest to get wrong.