The Azerbaijan first courses differ from usual soups by their concentrated and dense consistency because they usually contain a small amount of broth. The other feature of national soups is the application of sheep fat which is put into the dish in fine-cut pieces. The first courses are very seldom seasoned with tomato paste or puree. There are a lot of different first flour courses as sulu-khingal, khamrashi, umach, kurza, dushbera etc. Fresh and sour milk are widely used to make dovga, firni, sudlu syiig, kelekosh, ovdukh etc.
Main courses are mostly prepared of mutton and also of poultry, game birds, vegetables and rice.
The most popular main course in Azerbaijan is pilaff. There are about 40 recipes for preparing this dish. Many second courses are prepared of fish. Sturgeon shashlik, kutum a la Azerbaijan, kuku of kutum, balyg chygyrtma, stuffed fish, boiled, fried and stew fish, fish-pilaff, starred sturgeon pilaff, balyg mutyanjan are the most popular fish dishes. There are more than 100 names of main courses prepared of meat, fish, vegetables and flour.