1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (121 page)

Rarely does poultry seem so exotic as it does in this sensuous dish of cold, shredded breast of chicken sauced with a creamy, thick paste of crushed walnuts and paprika. Called
çerkez tavuğu
, it is a specialty of Circassia in Anatolia, a region whose women were allegedly prized as harem slaves because their thick, arched eyebrows spanned the bridges of their noses, a mark of beauty in those long-gone harem days.

The chicken breast on the bone is cooked quite simply: poached with pot vegetables and cooled before being skinned and slivered. Its dressing requires more intricate preparation, similar to that of the Balkan
scordolea
(see
listing
). Walnuts, milk-softened white bread or
fresh bread crumbs, salt, pepper, hot paprika, and sometimes a small piece of onion are ground or pureed until they form a soft, creamy paste that is incorporated with the chicken. As a fragrant and extra-lustrous finish, additional walnuts are ground with paprika until they emit a red-tinted oil. Once the chicken is mounded on plates, this fragrant oil is drizzled over all for a lusciously nutty, creamy, and paprika-spiked first course.

Further information and recipes:
A Mediterranean Feast
by Clifford A. Wright (1999);
The Balkan Cookbook
by Vladimir Mirodan (1989);
foodandwine.com
(search circassian chicken zoutendijk);
nytimes.com
(search circassian chicken in walnut sauce).

A pilaf-stuffed legend.

Oil-glossed and slowly simmered to satiny elegance, the Middle Eastern stuffed vegetables generally called dolmas (the word actually means “stuffed”) may be part of the enticing appetizer spread known as mezes (see
listing
)—but they are important enough to be served in larger portions as a main course in their own right.

To whet appetites, they are usually filled with a savory rice pilaf that is enhanced with cinnamon and allspice and dotted with pine nuts and raisins; these are best served at room temperature. As a main course, they may be plumped with meat and rice fillings of all sorts and served hot. In Iran, the old-time Persian specialty is
dolmeh ‘ye beh
, a whole quince filled with lamb and saffron rice flavored with onion, pepper, and lime juice.

Ordering à la carte, you usually get just one type of vegetable in your portion, but the really stunning presentation is a gigantic platter of assorted dolmas: shiny, softly collapsed red tomatoes alongside sweet green peppers, silvery-green zucchini, dense orange acorn squash, large snowy onions and potatoes, boat-shaped cuts of small purple-brown eggplant, and ruffled rolls of chartreuse cabbage—what fifteenth-century sculptor Luca Della Robbia might have fashioned had he favored vegetables over fruit.

Where:
In New York
, Ali Baba at two locations, tel 212-683-9209,
alibabaturkishcuisine.com
; Turkish Kitchen, tel 212-679-6633,
turkishkitchen.com
;
In Houston
, Mary’z Lebanese Cuisine, tel 832-251-1955,
maryzcuisine.com
.
Further information and recipes:
A Taste of Persia
by Najmieh Batmanglij (2006);
Arabesque
by Claudia Roden (2006);
The Foods of the Greek Islands
by Aglaia Kremezi (2000);
The Arabian Delights Cookbook
by Anne Marie Weiss-Armush (1993);
cookstr.com
(search dolmas hoffman);
greekfood.about.com
(search dolmathakia).

Whole loaves of halvah—sliced to order—on display.

The word itself—
halvah
, or sometimes
helvah
—means sweetmeats, and in some form or another has existed since 3000
B.C.
There are many versions of this confection, most especially in India, where sweetmeats are called
halva
or
halwa
and are made of carrots, semolina, or fruits, yielding a somewhat mushy, overly sweet result.

But none can begin to compete with Turkish halvah, a firm, almost buttery loaf formed of crushed sesame seeds and their gentle oil, most classically enhanced with sugar and vanilla—honey and a touch of rosewater are the only other additions purists permit. Modern variations include additions of chocolate, whether marbleized, fully incorporated into the mix, or coating the loaf, but halvah is most satisfying savored plain or dotted with pistachios and a hint of salt.

Those who dislike halvah describe it as a mouthful of wet sand. Those who love it live for its slowly melting, burnished sweetness and nutty sesame accents, and for its quietly crunchy texture. Still, it’s not a bad idea to have a glass of ice water or some hot tea on hand as you negotiate this luscious treat, if only to enable you to eat even more of it.

Every country must have its halvah hero, and for the United States it was Nathan Radutzky, an ambitious confectioner who came from Ukraine with what he claimed was the recipe for a special treat beloved by Turkish sultans and their harems. In 1907, he produced the first batch on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and it rapidly became a favorite of the eastern European Jews who had settled nearby. His company, Joyva, still exists in Brooklyn and makes some of the best mass-produced sesame and pistachio halvah, found mostly in Jewish appetizing stores and Middle Eastern markets.

Retail and mail order:
In Istanbul
, Hacı Bekir, tel 90/216-336-1519,
hacibekir.com
(search halva);
in New York
, Economy Candy, tel 212-254-1531,
economycandy.com
; Russ & Daughters, tel 212-475-4880,
russanddaughters.com
(try their terrific halvah ice cream at the cafe).
Mail order:
alibaba.com
(search haci bekir halvah).
Further information and recipes:
The Balkan Cookbook
edited by Snezana Pejakovic and Jelka Venisnik-Eror (1987);
saveur.com
(search almond halvah);
denverpost.com
(search pistachio honey halva);
joyva.com
.
Tip:
For halvah at its best, buy it where it is sold in bulk and cut to order from large loaves. Its flavor and perfume are better preserved than when the halvah is precut into small pieces and wrapped individually. Avoid canned halvah, which is musty-tasting and overly oily.

Sauced with yogurt for added richness and tang, best and most often made with lamb, meat kebabs come in many ingenious forms in these parts. The most spectacular of these may be the
doner
, or ever-turning, kebab, best known outside Turkey as the Greek gyro or the Arab and Israeli shawarma. An enormous barrel-shaped column of meat upended on a turning spit as it sears in front of a vertical grill, the doner looks like a big, solid tree trunk of meat. But this kebab reality is far more complicated than it seems. For the best traditional doner kebab, the meat will be composed of three different cuts of fresh-killed lamb: scaloppine-like slices, small cubes, and ground meat complete with considerable fat for maximum juiciness and flavor. Marinated briefly with onion juice and various seasonings, the meat is slid onto the long, vertical spit in layers—slices, cubes, ground—all tightly packed so that when cooked and sliced, the meat ripples into almost solid ribbons. In this as in all other kebab preparations, beef can be nearly as good as lamb, but turkey or chicken simply do not make the cut.

The familiar shish kebab (
souvlaki
in Greek), made of cubes of lamb or beef, often gets much the same marinade as the doner kebab. But its meat is threaded onto individual skewers, alternating with cuts of tomato, green pepper, and onion.

Named for Adana, the city of its origin in southeastern Turkey, the Adana kebab is shish kebab’s elusive, less famous cousin. More subtly complex and with fiery overtones, the meat is preferably lamb shoulder, sometimes combined with beef. Finely minced, it is thoroughly, richly seasoned with the famed red Aleppo chile flakes, parsley, paprika, and salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Redolent with the red chile’s incendiary heat, the meat is shaped into thick, flattish, fingerlike ribbons or belts that are threaded onto extra-long, flat-bladed skewers. Grilled on an open flame, from which they emerge sizzling hot and juicy, the kebabs are eased off their skewers and either served with an assortment of salads and sauces or sold as street foods in pita pockets.

When any of the above kebabs are served
au yaourt
, they come with thin slabs of pita bread that absorb the meat juices and become the base for the dish. (In the case of the doner kebab, the pita is even sometimes placed beneath the grilling meat to catch some of its flavorful drippings.) The yogurt is served at room temperature and sometimes flavored with salt-crushed garlic, its slightly sharp creaminess mingling with the seasoned meat juices—and, for the brave of palate, with a sprinkling of thinly sliced, fiery green chiles.

Where:
In Istanbul
, Pandeli, tel 90/212-527-3909,
pandeli.com.tr
;
in Seyhan, Adana
, Yüzevler Kebap, tel 90/322-454-7513,
yuzevler.com.tr
;
in New York
, Ali Baba’s Terrace, tel 212-888-8622,
alibabasterrace.com
;
in Brooklyn
, Tanoreen, tel 718-748-5600,
tanoreen.com
;
in San Francisco
, Tuba Restaurant, tel 415-826-8822,
tubarestaurant.com
;
in Montreal
, Barbounya, tel 514-439-8858,
barbounya.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Planet Barbecue!
by Steven Raichlen (2010);
Arabesque
by Claudia Roden (2005);
The Cuisine of Armenia
by Sonia Uvezian (2004);
Greek Islands Cooking
by Theonie Mark (1974);
turkishcookbook.com
(click Kebabs, then Yogurtlu Kebab);
saveur.com
(search shish kebab);
food.com
(search adana kebab).

Various types of meat and poultry are expected choices for skewered, charcoal-grilled kebabs, but the pairing of swordfish and bay leaves—
kiliç şiş
(KILL-ich shish)—isn’t widely known outside of Turkey and Greece, where they’re known as
xifias souvlaki
. In these countries, it is a seasonal treat from late June until mid-September, prime months for catching the deep-water fish.

Because swordfish has so little fat, it’s a tricky candidate for a successful kebab. To impart succulent moistness and a sunny, fresh-air flavor, one-inch cubes of lean and snowy swordfish are marinated for three or four hours in a combination of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Meanwhile, brittle, dried bay leaves soak in boiling water for about 30 minutes, or until soft and pliable—unless (and preferably) fresh bay leaves are available.

Lightly drained, the fish and bay leaves are threaded onto skewers and brushed with melted butter or leftover marinade as the kebabs grill or broil. The bay leaves lend a piney, dry haze of flavor to the supple and substantial fish, which is slid off the skewers onto a nest of rice or bulgur pilaf. Oil-brushed chunks of tomatoes and green peppers, grilled on separate skewers, are often added to the plate as garnish.

Where:
In Chicago
, Athena Restaurant, tel 312-655-0000,
athenarestaurantchicago.com
.
Mail order:
for Turkish bay leaves, Penzeys Spices, tel 800-741-7787,
penzeys.com
.
Further information and recipes:
A Mediterranean Feast
by Clifford A. Wright (1999);
Egyptian Cuisine
by Nagwa E. Khalil (1980);
foodandwine.com
(search swordfish kebabs with lemon and bay leaves).
Tip:
In order to avoid further depleting the endangered swordfish population, home grillers can substitute mahimahi.