page_title: Turkish cuisine
section_title: Meat dishes
hierarchical_section_title: Turkish cuisine / Dishes and foods / Meat dishes
caption_attribution_description: English: Kokoreç in Istanbul.
context_page_description: Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Eastern European and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including those of Southeast Europe, Central Europe, and Western Europe. The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm with influences from Levantine cuisines, Egyptian cuisine, Greek cuisine, Balkan cuisine, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia, creating a vast array of specialities.
  Turkish cuisine varies across the country. The cooking of Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, and rest of the Asia Minor region inherits many elements of Ottoman court cuisine, with a lighter use of spices, a preference for rice over bulgur, koftes and a wider availability of vegetable stews, eggplant, stuffed dolmas and fish. The cuisine of the Black Sea Region uses fish extensively, especially the Black Sea anchovy and includes maize dishes. The cuisine of the southeast is famous for its variety of kebabs, mezes and dough-based desserts such as baklava, şöbiyet, kadayıf, and künefe.
context_section_description: Consisted of chicken or lean veal, Döner kebap is a common Turkish fast food.
  Tantuni (similar to dürüm, meat cut in very small pieces, served with lavash, a specialty from the Mersin province of Turkey)
  Kuzu güveç (lamb cooked in earthenware casserole)
  Pastırmalı kuru fasulye (white kidney bean stew with pastırma)
  Kuzu kapama (spring lamb stewed)
  Haşlama (boiled lamb with vegetables and lemon juice)
  Kavurma which means frying, roasting or parching in Turkish, is generally used for roasted lamb or a variety of fried meat dishes. Çoban kavurma is a variety of it, prepared with diced lamb with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, peppers and herbs. Kavurma is one of the favorite dishes of Ramadan.
  Alinazik, a home-style Turkish kebab variety which is a specialty of the Gaziantep province.
  Hünkârbeğendi (the name means that the sovereign/sultan liked it, the dish consists of a puree of grilled eggplant with kaşar cheese, topped with cubed lamb meat)
  Türlü (a stew of vegetables and meat cooked in güveç-casserole)
  Külbastı
  Ankara tava (pilav with lamb)
  Elbasan tava
  Tandır (without adding any water, the meat is cooked very slowly with a special technique)
  İncik (lamb shank cooked in the oven)
  Boraniye (broad bean/spinach/squash boraniye, vegetables cooked together with meat, yogurt and chickpea)
  Karnıyarık (split-belly eggplant) (eggplants are cut off and fried. Then they are filled with minced meat, onion, garlic and tomato paste and cooked in the oven)
  Köfte (meatball) is another meat dish in Turkey. The word köfte is sometimes preceded by the name of a town, which refers to the technique for cooking it or the ingredients or spices specifically used in that region, for example; İnegöl köftesi, İzmir köfte, Akçaabat köfte, pideli köfte (Bursa), Filibe köfte, Tire köfte, Islama köfte (mainly in Sakarya province) etc. Its main ingredients are minced meat, parsley, bread-egg (not necessarily, usually homemade köfte contains egg yolk and some crumbled bread) and a range of spices: cumin, oregano, mint powder, red or black pepper powder with onion or garlic. Kadınbudu köfte is another traditional speciality; minced meat is mixed with cooked rice and fried. Içli köfte can be described as a shell of "bulgur" filled with onion, minced meat and nuts. Çiğ köfte is a meze from south-eastern Turkey meaning raw meatballs, prepared with "bulgur" and raw minced meat. Terbiyeli Sulu Köfte is another meatball speciality cooked with flour, tomato paste and water in which lemon and egg sauce is added.
  Sucuk is a form of raw sausage (made with beef meat and a range of spices, and garlic) commonly eaten with breakfast. Instead of classical sausages (sosis), sucuk is the most used ingredient for snacks and fast-food style toasts and sandwiches in Turkey.
  Pastırma is another famous beef delicacy. Both pastırma and sucuk can be put in kuru fasulye (dry beans) to enrich the aroma. Both can be served as a meze as well. Sucuk or pastırma with scrambled eggs, served in a small pan called sahan, is eaten at breakfast in Turkey.
  Kokoreç (the intestines of sheep) with spices is a traditional low-price fast food in Turkey.
  Liver is fried in Turkish cuisine. "Arnavut ciğeri" (meaning Albanian liver), served with onion and sumac, is usually eaten as a meze, in combination with other mezes such as fava. "Edirne ciğeri" is another famous liver dish from Edirne. Liver is first frozen so that it can be cut into very thin layers. After being cut off, liver layers are fried.
  Kelle (roasted sheep's head)
  Kuzu etli enginar (artichokes with lamb)
  Etli taze fasulye (green beans stew with meat)
  Etli bamya (okra with meat)
  İşkembeli nohut (chickpea with tripe)
  Piliç dolma (stuffed chicken with spice filling)
caption: Kokoreç cooking on a spit
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