The cuisine in Kars is plain and meat based. The meat in Kars is tastier and more nutritious than most parts of Turkey, due to its natural terrain which enables cattle to befed organically.
The dishes do not have fancy names in Kars. If you go to a restaurant to eat a meat dish, the choice will simply be among kebabs, fried meat, boiled meat or stewed meat with vegetables. Common as it may be, you’ll probably find them uncommonly tasty.
It is even not uncommon to have meat for breakfast. Kavurma (meat braised in its own fat) is a popular first meal of the day. Boiled or roasted goose with bulgur rice is also a delicious and popular Kars dish. Among other meat dishes unique to the Kars area, there is portletme, which is made by boiling fatty lamb on the bone in water until it is soft and then letting it partially fry in its own fat; katlet which is a kind of kofte fried and served with potatoes; sac (meat cooked on a wok-like pan over a wooden fire). Kavurma with goat meat from the Kagizman area is a treat. Standard Turkish dishes and Asian ones like biryani are also common.
In terms of vegetables, potatoes take the lead cooked with or without meat. A potato dish cooked in a tandir (an oven made in a hole in the earth) seasoned with goose oil is one of the specialties. Spinach, stinging nettle, beetroots, cabbages, courgettes, peppers and eggplants are among the most commonly used vegetables for cooking, either stewed, fried or used as pastry fillings.
Soups and doughy dishes are also common in everyday cooking. The cold soup is truly unique to Kars and nowadays also popular in western Turkey, especially in summer. Bulgur (pounded wheat) cooked with meat or goose stock, home-made noodles or macaroni are used to make many dishes or to accompany meat dishes.
There are many lakes in the Kars region and in many of them fishing can be done. But the one fish that is famed all through the region and around is the carp found in Cildir Lake. In short, although Kars cuisine is plain, it is also pretty rich and varied due to the influence of different cultures throughout its history.
A FEW RECIPES
Below are some recipes of local dishes that are found in Kars and maybe elsewhere in eastern Anatolia but are not often found in the rest of Turkey, or not made quite in the same way elsewhere. The measurements are with glasses and spoons. However, bear in mind that a Turkish tea glass is rather small, about equal to 1 expresso cup, or a bit less than two-thirds of a regular water glass. A Turkish teaspoon is half the size of teaspoons used in Europe, which are more likely to be referred to as dessert spoons in Turkey. Also a tablespoon refers to a normal- size eating spoon or soup spoon, not the bigger serving spoons sometimes described as tablespoons in English.
ERISTE (home made noodle or macaroni) INGRIDIENTS:10 kgs of flour, 3 kgs of milk or water, 20 eggs, 500 grams salt PREPARATION:Making eriste is a collective activity in Kars in the autumn months. Neighbors get together in one house and prepare its dough by mixing together all the ingredients. The kneading work falls to the young girls. Then, while singing and chatting, the women turn the dough into a huge lump and leave it to rest for a night. The next day they get together again and flatten the separate bits of dough into thick sheets and then cut them into long strips. Then these strips of dough are tied and hung out to dry, then put in the oven. After this they can be stored and used throughout the winter. The remaining little pieces are cut up and made into a soup called eriste asi, which is offered to the neighbors who come to help.
ERISTE WITH POTATOES AND LENTILS INGRIDIENTS:500 gr eriste, 50 gr butter, 1 tea glass lentils, 2 medium sized potatoes PREPARATION:Boil the lentils. Cook the eriste like cooking pasta. Mix the lentils into the eriste. Cut the potatoes in the shape of a ring and fry them. Then lay them on the bottom of a pot till it is covered completely. Place the lentil-eriste mix on the top, spread some butter over it and let it cook for six minutes on a low heat.
GATIG ASI – COLD YOGHURT SOUP INGRIDIENTS:1 liter of bone stock, 100 gr minced meat, 500 gr silverbeet (pazi), 1 glass of chickpeas, half a tea glass of rice, 1 kg of strained (suzme) yoghurt, 50 gr parsley, 50 gr dill, 50 gr asotu, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of salt. PREPARATION:Leave the chickpeas in water the night before. The next day boil them. Then you can take their skin off if you prefer. Prepare your stock prior to making the dish. Add the salt to the stock and bring it to a boil. Roll the mince into hazelnut-shaped meatballs and put them into the stock. Cut the stalk and the leaves of the silverbeet separately and thinly. Add the sliced silverbeet stalks into the stock with the chickpeas. Boil all together for five minutes, add rice and soon after add the silverbeet leaves. The boiling stock will start to evaporate. At that moment, add the asotu, dill and parsley. When it is almost entirely evaporated, take it off of the stove and let it cool. Meanwhile beat the strained yoghurt by gradually adding water until it becomes creamy, but not as runny as ayran, nor as thick as yoghurt. After adding pounded garlic, put the yoghurt into the soup and mix.
HENGEL ASI INGRIDIENTS:200gr Goose meat (or lamb), 1 onion, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 clove of garlic, 1 bowl of yoghurt, 1 egg, 1 spoon of flour. For the dough: 1 glass of flour, an egg, 1 tea glass of water, 1 teaspoon of salt PREPARATION:Put the glass of flour on a clean tray or counter and open it in the middle like a pool. Break one egg inside it and then add one tea glass of water and a teaspoonful of salt. Knead it until it becomes as soft as an earlobe. Leave to rest under a damp cloth for 20 minutes. Roll it into a thin sheet of dough and then cut it into little squares. Meanwhile, cook the chopped onion with butter until pink, add little bits of goose meat and cook on a low heat for five minutes. Add two glasses of boiling water to the dish and then add the dough bits while still boiling. Meanwhile, beat yoghurt, egg, garlic and 1 spoon of flour in a bowl and add it to the boiling dish. Stew on a low heat for 10 minutes.
KOPECE
This interesting dish is unique to Kars and made with the first milk taken from the cow after birth. This milk is called bulama and locals add flour, carbonate (baking soda) and salt and mix it till it reaches the consistency of cake dough. They fry spoonfuls of it in a large pan with oil. It is served with caster sugar sprinkled on top.
ROASTED RAISINS
Raisins are washed in water, dried then roasted in oil and eaten as dessert. The same can be done with dried figs and dried plums.
KURUT (DRY YOGHURT) INGRIDIENTS: 10 kg of fatty milk, 10 kg of skimmed milk. 1 bowl of yoghurt yeast. PREPARATION: Boil 10 kg of fatty milk and 10 kg of skimmed milk. Then mix and leave to rest. When it becomes warm, ferment it. The yoghurt will be ready the next day. Put it into a cloth bag and leave it to drip for a few days until its water is drained. Then place it in a big bowl and add some salt. Separate walnut-sized bits from this solid lump of yoghurt and lay them on a tray. Cover them with a thin layer of cloth and leave them to dry under the sun. Locals use Kurut as yoghurt in winter by mixing it with water. The idea behind the tradition was to make as much yoghurt as possible when the milk of the cows is plentiful in summer so as to make sure that the yoghurt will last until winter.
KARS CHEESE
Kars cheese is famous and prized in the rest of Turkey as well as in Kars. Kars developed a cheese-making culture both thanks to its high-quality grasslands and meadows, which make the milk of the cows, sheep and goat rich, nutritious and tasty, and also due to its influence by various cultures with different eating habits.
Aged kasar (a yellowish cheese a bit like cheddar made of sheep’s milk), fresh kasar (milder in taste than the aged one), cecil (a kind of blue cheese), gruyere (like emmenthal), white cheese, tulum cheese (cheese made in animal skin), fresh curd or dry curd cheese, Turkmeni cheese (in the shape of a thin plait), sirm cheese (with herbs) are among the major cheeses of Kars.
Photograph: Vedat Akcayoz
Production of some kinds of cheese, like hellim and mihalic, came to a halt after 1920 following the emigration of the Greek population. The Russian-origin kasar cheese and Swiss gruyere began to be produced in Kars after the Russian occupation. The variety of grass and herbs growing in the high regions in Kars makes it suitab
Cole for kasar and gruyere cheese production. Especially since gruyere requires milk with low levels of acid, it is only produced in Kars in Turkey. Both kasar and gruyere are made of milk cooked at 60 degrees and are long-lasting cheeses which maintain their taste for up to 18 months. Cecil cheese releases its acid during the maturing period and reaches its eating time when it gains the antiseptic green mould. Sirm cheese, made with herbs, is unique to Kars.
During the Russian period meals started with cheese, followed by salad and ending with a main dish. The reason was that cheese rested the stomach and accelarated digestion. This habit still persists in Kars. Most of the cheese-sellers of Kars are in the center of the city and they sell almost all kinds of cheese in accordance with the season.
Most of them also sell the famous Kars honey, which is practical for visitors from out of town as cheese and honey are the two items which almost all tourists want to buy. The cheesemakers and sellers also take telephone orders and send cheese all over Turkey by cargo. They are very knowledgeable about cheese and cheesemaking and willing to share this with their customers.
Kars cheese is famous and prized in the rest of Turkey as well as in Kars. Kars developed a cheese-making culture both thanks to its high-quality grasslands and meadows, which make the milk of the cows, sheep and goat rich, nutritious and tasty, and also due to its influence by various cultures with different eating habits.