Meze
Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levant, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Iran. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A mezze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Mezze are often served with alcoholic beverages such as arak. Etymology The word is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, and originated from the Turkish word meaning a snack or appetiser. This, in turn, originated from the Persian word "mazzeh" or "mazzah" () 'taste' or 'relish'. Common dishes In Turkey, meze often consist of ''beyaz peynir'' (literally "white cheese"), ''kavun'' (sliced ripe melon), ''acılı ezme'' (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), ''haydari'' (thick strained yogurt with herbs), ''patlıcan salatası'' (cold eggplant salad), ''beyin salatası'' (brain salad), ''kalamar tava'' (fried calamari or squid), midye dolma and ''midye tava'' (stuffed or fried mussels), ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Meze Lido Restaurant Adalar
Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levant, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Iran. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A mezze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Mezze are often served with alcoholic beverages such as arak. Etymology The word is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, and originated from the Turkish word meaning a snack or appetiser. This, in turn, originated from the Persian word "mazzeh" or "mazzah" () 'taste' or 'relish'. Common dishes In Turkey, meze often consist of ''beyaz peynir'' (literally "white cheese"), ''kavun'' (sliced ripe melon), ''acılı ezme'' (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), ''haydari'' (thick strained yogurt with herbs), ''patlıcan salatası'' (cold eggplant salad), ''beyin salatası'' (brain salad), ''kalamar tava'' (fried calamari or squid), midye dolma and ''midye tava'' (stuffed or fried mussels), eng ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Turkish Cuisine
Turkish cuisine () is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. It is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including those of Southeast Europe (Balkans), Central Europe, and Western Europe. The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm taking influences from and influencing Mesopotamian cuisine, Greek cuisine, Levantine cuisine, Egyptian cuisine, Balkan cuisine, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia (such as mantı, ayran, kaymak), creating a vast array of specialities. Turkish cuisine also includes dishes invented in the Ottoman palace kitchen. Turkish cuisine varies across the country. The cooking of Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, and rest of the Anatolia region inherits many elements of Ottoman court cuisine, inclu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ottoman Cuisine
Ottoman cuisine is the cuisine of the Ottoman Empire and its continuation in the cuisines of Turkey, the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East and Northern Africa. Today, Turkish cuisine is a continuation of Ottoman cuisine. Sources The Ottoman palace kitchen registers (''matbah-i amire defterleri'') are important primary sources for studies of early modern Ottoman cuisine containing information on ingredients and names of food dishes cooked by the palace kitchens. Many cookbooks were published beginning in the 19th century reflecting the cultural fusions that characterized the rich cuisine of Istanbul's elites in the Late Ottoman period as new ingredients like tomatoes became widely available. There are few extant recipe collections before this era. The earliest Ottoman cookbook is credited to Muhammad Shirvânî's 15th-century expansion of the earlier Arabic ''Kitab al-Tabikh'' by Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi. '' Diwan Lughat al-Turk'' (the earliest Turkish language dictio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Haydari
Haydari is a type of yogurt dish similar to a thick ''cacık'', made from certain herbs and spices, combined with garlic and yogurt. It differs from cacık in that the recipe contains no cucumber and calls for strained yogurt or ''labne''. It is served purely as a ''meze'', being more pungently appetizing - by virtue of being saltier, more acidic and of a thicker consistency - than cacık. See also * List of dips * List of hors d'oeuvre * List of yogurt-based dishes and beverages * List of dairy products * Milk salad * Tarator * Qatiq * Raita * Cold borscht Borscht () is a sour soup common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word "borscht" is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukrainian origin, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which give ... References {{Yogurts Turkish cuisine ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tapas
A tapa () is an appetizer or snack in Spanish cuisine. Tapas can be combined to make a full meal, and can be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as ''chopitos'', which are battered, fried baby squid, or patatas bravas). In some bars and restaurants in Spain and across the globe, tapas have evolved into a very sophisticated cuisine. In some Central American countries, such snacks are known as ''bocas''. In parts of Mexico, similar dishes are called ''botanas''. History The word "tapas" is derived from the Spanish verb ''tapar'', "to cover", a cognate of the English ''top''. In pre-19th-century Spain tapas were served by ''posadas'', ''albergues'' or ''bodegas'', offering meals and rooms for travellers. Since few innkeepers could write and few travellers read, inns offered their guests a sample of the dishes available, on a "tapa" (the word for pot cover in Spanish). According to ''Joy of Cooking'', the original tapas were thin slices of bread or meat wh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cacık
Tzatziki ( el, τζατζίκι), also known as tarator or cacık (), is a dip, soup, or sauce found in the cuisines of Southeast Europe and the Middle East. It is made of salted strained yogurt or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, sometimes with vinegar or lemon juice, and herbs such as dill, mint, parsley and thyme. It is served as a cold appetizer (''mezze''), a side dish, and as a sauce for souvlaki and gyros sandwiches and other foods. History ''Tarator'' was the name of a dish made of ground walnuts and vinegar in the Ottoman Empire. Dishes of various preparations in the region, including dips, salads, and sauces, acquired the name. In the Levant, ''taratur'' is a sauce based on tahini, while in Turkey and the Balkans it came to mean a combination of yogurt and cucumbers, sometimes with walnuts. It has become a traditional part of meze. Etymology The word ''tzatziki'' appeared in English around the mid-20th century as a loanword from Modern ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Balkan Cuisine
Balkan cuisine is a type of regional cuisine that combines characteristics of European cuisine with some of those from Western Asia. It is found in the Balkan Peninsula of Southeast Europe, a region without clear boundaries but which is generally considered to at least include the modern countries of Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece and the former Yugoslavia, with the possible exception of Slovenia and northern inland regions of Croatia. Balkan cuisine can also be found in Vienna as a result of post-WWII migration to that city. Germany has restaurants serving Balkan cuisine, which were often called Yugoslavian restaurants until the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars. A restaurant selling Romani cuisine opened in Slovenia 2014. Romani cuisine, the traditional food of the Romani people, includes dishes from traditional Balkan cuisine. History The Balkans have a history of foreign rule and internal power struggles, and this has resulted in a diverse cuisine in which influences have m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stuffed Mussels
Stuffed mussels ( tr, Midye dolma) or Midye is a generic name for plump orange mussels that contain herbed and spiced rice. Midye dolma is a popular and common street food snack in the coastal cities of Turkey. History The historical preparation of the ''midye dolm''a is generally attributed to Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. According to TH. Maggakis' 1888 work ''Bizans Salnamesi'' Armenians had used big mussels and prepared the dish using sheep's tail fat or "zibir yağı", a solid fat imported from Siberia. Balıkhane Nazırı Ali Rıza Bey (1842-1928) also notes that in brickworks owner Şahbaz Efendi's Armenian cook was preparing stuffed mussels. During the 19th century it was reported that İstanbulite Turkish women were also cooking stuffed mussels. In the 1960s ''midye dolma'' preparation and business has become to be dominated by immigrants from Mardin, who had at the time recently immigrated to İstanbul's Galata district. In the following decades they have kept the m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Antipasto
Antipasto (plural antipasti) is the traditional first course of a formal Italian meal. Usually made of bite-size small portions and served on a platter from which everyone serves themselves, the purpose of antipasti is to stimulate the appetite. Typical ingredients of a traditional antipasto include cured meats, olives, peperoncini, mushrooms, anchovies, artichoke hearts, various cheeses (such as provolone or mozzarella), pickled meats, and vegetables in oil or vinegar. The contents of an antipasto vary greatly according to regional cuisine. Different preparations of saltwater fish and traditional southern cured meats (like soppressata or 'nduja) are popular in the south of Italy, whereas in northern Italy it is common to serve different kinds of cured meats and mushrooms and, especially near lakes, preparations of freshwater fish. The cheeses included also vary significantly between regions and backgrounds, and include hard and soft cheeses. Many compare antipasto to ho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eggplant
Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Most commonly purple, the spongy, absorbent fruit is used in several cuisines. Typically used as a vegetable in cooking, it is a berry by botanical definition. As a member of the genus ''Solanum'', it is related to the tomato, chili pepper, and potato, although those are of the New World while the eggplant is of the Old World. Like the tomato, its skin and seeds can be eaten, but, like the potato, it is usually eaten cooked. Eggplant is nutritionally low in macronutrient and micronutrient content, but the capability of the fruit to absorb oils and flavors into its flesh through cooking expands its use in the culinary arts. It was originally domesticated from the wild nightshade species ''thorn'' or ''bitter apple'', '' S. incanum'',Tsao ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brain (food)
The brain, like most other internal organs, or offal, can serve as nourishment. Brains used for nourishment include those of pigs, squirrels, rabbits, horses, cattle, monkeys, chickens, camels, fish, lamb, and goats. In many cultures, different types of brain are considered a delicacy. Cultural consumption The brain of animals features in French cuisine, in dishes such as '' cervelle de veau'' and ''tête de veau''. A dish called maghaz is a popular cuisine in Pakistan, Bangladesh, parts of India, and diaspora countries. In Turkish cuisine, brain can be fried, baked, or consumed as a salad. In Chinese cuisine, brain is a delicacy in Chongqing or Sichuan cuisine, and it is often cooked in spicy hot pot or barbecued. In the southern part of China, pig brain is used for ''tianma zhunao tang''. In South India, goat brain curry or fry is a delicacy. Even in Mumbai, the local indigenous East Indian community has their own version of brain masala curry. Similar delicacies from around th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting these criteria. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, and a mantle. They are mainly soft-bodied, like octopuses, but have a small internal skeleton in the form of a rod-like gladius (cephalopod), gladius or pen, made of chitin. Squid diverged from other cephalopods during the Jurassic and occupy a similar role to teleost fish as open water predators of similar size and behaviour. They play an important role in the open water food web. The two long tentacles are used to grab prey and the eight arms to hold and control it. The beak then cuts the food into suitable size chunks for swallowing. Squid are rapid swimmers, moving by Aquatic locomotion#Jet propulsion, jet propulsion, and largely locate their ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |