Seafood
Four seas (the Black Sea, the Sea
of Marmara, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean) surround the Turkish landscape.
Residents of the coastal cities are experts in preparing fish. However,
the best of the day's catch is 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 warmer waters and when most fish reach their mature
size. So, the lack of summer vegetables is compensated by the abundance
of fish at this time. Every month has its own preferred catch, along with
certain vegetables which complement the taste. For example, the best bonito
is eaten with arugula and red onions, blue fish with lettuce, and 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 sold
by vendors right on their boats is 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 pilaf and hamsi dessert! Amazing
isn’t it? Another common seafood is the mussel, eaten deep-fried, poached,
or as a mussel dolma and mussel pilaf (Webmaster’s note: Don’t miss stuffed
mussel with fresh lemon juice! Oh god!). Along the Aegean, octopus
and calamari 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. (We are anxiously waiting for you to introduce these)
The
Bosphorus is famous for its fisherman's taverns, large and small, from
Rumeli Kavagi to Kumkapi. The modest ones are small with wooden tables
and rickety wooden chairs, nevertheless they offer delicious grilled fish.
Then there are the elaborate, fashionable ones in Tarabya and Bebek. Fish
restaurants always have an open-air section right by the sea. The waiters
run back and forth between the kitchen, perhaps located in 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 (demo) 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 for hours into the night. Drinking is never a hurried,
loud, boisterous, or 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.
