The Turkish Cookbook

The definitive cookbook of hearty, healthy Turkish cuisine, from the leading authority on Turkey’s unique food traditions, Musa Dagdeviren, as featured in the Netflix docuseries Chef’s Table

Vibrant, bold, and aromatic, Turkish food – from grilled meats, salads, and gloriously sweet pastries to home-cooking family staples such as dips, pilafs, and stews – is beloved around the world. This is the first book to so thoroughly showcase the diversity of Turkish food, with 550 recipes for the home cook that celebrate Turkey’s remarkable European and Asian culinary heritage – from little-known regional dishes to those that are globally recognized and stand the test of time, be they lamb kofte, chicken kebabs, tahini halva, or pistachio baklava.

Editorial Reviews

*04/01/2019

Dagdeviren, a Turkish restaurateur and chronicler of the country’s foodways, draws clear lines between culture and cuisine in this impressive, comprehensive work. „Soup heals the sick and feeds the poor,“ he writes in the introduction to a chapter that includes recipes for red lentil and cracked wheat soup from Gaziantep, nettle soup from the Black Sea, and catfish potage with greengage plums from Eastern Anatolia. Each recipe is accompanied by information on the region it’s from, prep time, cooking time, and an informative headnote: lamb meatballs with cumin are known as „ladies’ thighs meatballs“ due to their „voluptuous shape“; crepes filled with veal, mushrooms, and walnuts and then dredged in cornmeal and fried were once carried by hunters for sustenance; and in an Istanbul dish first prepared by Ottoman Greek tavern owners for their Muslim patrons, mussels are stuffed with rice, pine nuts, and currants. The breadth of the work is astonishing: the chapter on bread and pastries could be a book on its own, covering everything from sweet walnut crescents to tiny dumplings. Desserts (including baklava with sheep’s milk clotted cream) and beverages (a cordial made from the sweet dew that develops on oak leaves) also get their props. This an outstanding, deeply researched investigation works as both a cookbook and guide. (Apr.)
– Publishers Weekly

‘Thorough, thoughtful … A book that savors culinary history.’ – Food & Wine

‘This book is a definitive catalog of healthful, hearty Turkish cuisine.’ – Forbes

From a country rich in culinary traditions comes an exhaustively researched, written and photographed book.’ – Sunday Times

‘Wonderful … An account of a nation and a culture through it’s food.’ – Spectator

‘The best cookbook writing of the year.’ – Bon Appétit

‘A whopping 550 recipes for Turkish food…all made accessible to the home cook.’ – Epicurious

‘There are many cookbooks that explore Turkish food, but Musa Daĝdeviren…takes it a step further … This is clearly a definitive guide to Turkish cuisine.’ – Eater

‘Musa is a chef and an intellectual who’s gathered and preserved recipes from across Turkey. His talk about the state of Turkish cuisine was eye opening and his book, [The Turkish Cookbook] by Phaidon is a must.’ – Yotam Ottolenghi
– From the Publisher