Clay pot cooking is a technique of cooking food in an unglazed clay pot that has been soaked in water so as to release steam during the cooking process. This technique has a long history, stretching back at least to ancient Roman times, and is commonly used in several cuisines in Africa, Europe and Southeast and East Asia. Cooking techniques: Typically, an unglazed clay pot is submerged for 15 to 30 minutes to absorb water before cooking, then filled with the food and placed into an oven. The … Read more
Mekhallel Pickling
'Pickling', also known as 'brining'or 'corning', is the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation in brine to produce lactic acid, or marinating and storing it in an acid solution, usually vinegar (acetic acid). The resulting food is called a pickle. This procedure gives the food a salty or sour taste. In South Asia, edible oils are used as the pickling medium with vinegar. Another distinguishing characteristic is a pH less than 4.6 which is sufficient to kill most bacteria. Pickling … Read more
Fish Salting Fish storage
Salted fish, such as kippered herring, is fish preserved or cured with salt. Drying and salting, either with dry salt or brine, was the only widely available method of preserving fish until the 19th century. Salting is the preservation of food with dry edible salt. It is related to pickling (preparing food with brine, i.e. salty water), and is one of the oldest methods of preserving food. Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis. … Read more
Kashkek A dish of mutton or chicken and coursely ground wheat (Keşkek)
As a collaborative social practice, the preparation and cooking of kashkek requires a joint workforce. Before the cooking process, wheat is threshed jointly with a common rhthym in a special large stone mortar called 'dibek'. It is soaked in water over night, then boiled in big vessels. Together with the boiled mutton or chicken, it is smashed with thick sticks jointly until it reaches a special stiffness which determines its degree of taste. Then it is served with fried butter and tomato paste. … Read more
Wood Ash as a natural cleaning material An economical and ecological solution for cleaning
Wood ash and natural lye have been widely used in villages for centuries as a cleaning material in the form of soaps by being mixed with natural oils in certain amounts. Wood ash can be directly used in its dry form for cleaning by scrubbing as well as in the form of lye through mixing it with water. How to prepare lye? Preferably oak or olive wood is used. Chemically processed wood ash should be avoided. Natural ash can be obtained from the bread ovens in your neighbourhood. After the ash … Read more
Tandoor Clay Ovens Ovens consisting of a clay-lined pit or a large, earthen jar buried in the ground
A traditional Tandoor oven is a cylindrical clay oven with wood coals at the bottom. The thick clay inner walls of a Tandoori oven hold in heat and radiate it back to the food. Some Tandoors are set into the ground for increased insulation. The Tandoor is used for cooking cooking meat, poultry, fish or bread in Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Transcaucasus, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia as well as India and Bangladesh. Food is exposed to live coals and cooks via convection … Read more
Tulum Cheese Using goatskin casing for ripening and preserving goats cheese
Tulum cheese (Turkish: tulum peyniri) is a traditional Turkish goat's milk cheese ripened in a goatskin casing, called Tulum in Turkish. As a rich source for protein, calcium, fat and phosphorus, Tulum cheese is an important food for healthy nutrition, with its unique flavour provided by the natural microflora created in the goatskin during ripening. Tulum cheese is made by heating high-fat goat's milk to a temperature of 30 °C (86 °F) and subsequently souring it through the addition of a … Read more
Tarhana Natural Instant Soup
Tarhana is a traditional dish in Turkish cuisine that refers to a dough or powder made using various vegetables, spices, yeast, and yogurt. The name can refer to the actual powder or dough itself, as well as a soup made by using the dough or powder and adding boiling water. Created as a way of preserving food before the invention of refrigerators and other safe food storage methods, this is effectively one of the oldest instant soups. Tarhana mixes can be purchased from grocery stores, … Read more
Kerpiç (Adobe Brick) Natural building with sand, clay and water
Kerpiç (adobe brick) is a traditional construction material made out of clay and straw widely used in Anatolia, also in the Middle East and the Americas. Use of adobe brick dates back to 7500 BC in one of the earliest human settlements in Catalhoyuk, Anatolia. As such, adobe bricks used for construction are made out of clay, with straw and manure and are baked in the sun before they are used. The result is not as hardy as regular bricks and it becomes less so with time, being especially … Read more
Cistern (Sarnic) Traditional Rainwater Harvesting in Anatolia
Evidence of human civilization in Anatolia goes back thousands of years: remains of water works have been found dating from the II millennium B.C. These ancient water works also included cisterns, which played a certain role in water supply throughout the entire history of our country: either as the only source or as an emergency water system. A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are … Read more
