|
|
|
 |
| Four
seas (The
Black Sea, Marmara Sea, the Aegean, and the
Mediterranean)
surround the Turkish landscape, and residents of
the coastal cities are experts in preparing their
fish. However, the best of the day's catch is also
immediately transported to Ankara, where some of
the finest fish restaurants are located. Winter is
the premium season for eating fish. That is the
time when many species of fish migrate from the
Black Sea to the warmer waters and when most fish
reach their mature sizes. So, the lack of summer
vegetables is compensated by the abundance of fish
at this time. Every month has its own preferred
fish, along with certain vegetables which
complement the taste. For example, the best bonito
is eaten with arugula and red onions, blue fish
with lettuce, turbot with cos lettuce. Large
bonito may be poached with celery root. Mackerel
is stuffed with chopped onion before grilling, and
summer fish, which are younger and drier, will be
poached with tomatoes and green peppers, or fried.
|
|
Bay
leaves always accompany both poached and grilled
fish. Grilling fish over charcoal, where the fish
juices hit the embers and envelope the fish with the
smoke, is perhaps the most delicious way of eating
mature fish, since this method brings out the
delicate flavor. This is also why the grilled fish
and bread sold by vendors right on their boats are
so tasty. "Hamsi"
is the prince of all fish known to Turks : the Black
Sea people know forty-one ways of making hamsi
including "Hamsi
Börek",
"Hamsi
Pilav"
and "Hamsi
Dessert"!
Another common seafood is the mussel eaten deep
fried, poached, or as a mussel dolma and mussel
pilaf. Along the Aegean, octopus and calamary are
added to the meze spread.
|
|
|
 The places
to taste fish are fish restaurants and taverns. Not all
taverns are fish restaurants, but most fish restaurants
are taverns and these are usually found on the harbors
overlooking the sea. The Bosphorus is famous for its
fisherman's taverns, large and small, from Rumeli Kavagı
to Kumkapı. The modest ones are small with wooden tables
and rickety wooden chairs, nevertheless they offer
delicious grilled fish. Then there are elaborate,
fashionable ones in Tarabya and Bebek. The fish
restaurants always have an open-air section taking up
space right by the sea; the waiters run back and forth
between the kitchen, perhaps located within the restaurant
across the street, and the tables on the seaside. After
being seated, it is customary to visit the kitchen or the
display to pick your fish and discuss the way you want it
to be prepared. The price of the fish is also disclosed at
this time. Then you swing by the meze display and order
the ones you want. So the evening begins, sipping raki in
between samplings of meze, watching the sunset, and slowly
setting the pace for conversation that will continue hours
into the night. Drinking is never a hurried, loud,
boisterous, or a lonely affair. It is a communal, gently
festive and cultured way of entertainment. In these fish
restaurants, a couple of families may spend an evening
with their children running around the restaurant after
they are fed, while the teenagers sit at the table
patiently listening to the conversation and occasionally
participating, when the topic is soccer or rock music.
|
|
