[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Welcome, everybody.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Chef Musa is going
to share two recipes with you
today.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The
mung beans are used
a lot in the southeastern part
of Turkey in their cuisines.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The
western part of Turkey
is not familiar with this bean.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: From
this mung beans,
we make pilafs, soups, and
koftas, Turkish meatballs.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And they even do
a dessert with these beans.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The dish we're
going to prepare today,
the [INAUDIBLE],, or
the mung bean salad--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So
the women in the--
let's say, a village,
they talk to each other
and make a-- plan it
out on when they're
going to have this dish.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: They've
prepared at home.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And they take
it to a Turkish bath.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So after they're--
they're in the bath.
After, they're--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
BURAK EPIR: So after the
hot part of the bath,
when they go into the cold
part, they share it there.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So there's
two ways of doing it.
You do it with the
ingredients raw.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And another way is
half is raw, half is cooked.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So
the way he's going
to demonstrate today
is half is cooked,
and half is raw, the
ingredients that he's
going to put together.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Olive oil is
the essential ingredient
in this dish.
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
So in their restaurant--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So in
their restaurant,
they use five cans--
18-liter cans-- of olive oil.
That's almost about
100 liters, which
translates to about 20
gallons, 20 to 24 gallons.
So he adds in the red
pepper to the onions--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --walnuts--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --green
onions, scallions--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --basil--
fresh basil, of course.
There's another type
of basil that we
use in Turkey which is
similar to opal basil,
but it still has some
green highlights on it.
That's usually what he
would use in this dish.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Some pepper flakes--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN: Sumac.
BURAK EPIR:
--sumac-- not poison.
It's the spice sumac--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --and the mung
beans that were cooked earlier.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI:
Chef Burak, you
mentioned that olive oil is
heavily used in the cuisine.
Are there any other fats that
he would typically cook with,
or is olive oil the
go-to most of the time?
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So in this
dish, it's olive oil.
But if you were
preparing a soup--
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So if it was
being used in a soup,
he would prefer to use
butter and some beef broth,
or lamb broth, in that sense.
So he's just seasoning
with salt and pepper.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He's going
to set aside there.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Yeah, so we're
not familiar, that much,
with this type of cooking--
cook top.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he's adding--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --mint--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --garlic--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --parsley,
and some more basil.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he prefers
a pomegranate that's--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --larger
seeds that have more--
juicy seeds, I
guess, larger seeds
that have more body in them.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And then
adding the olives that--
green olives that he quartered.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So if the
olive is-- the size
is closer to the size of
the bean, it looks nicer.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI:
There's a variety
of textures, and flavors,
and contrasts going in here.
Is that very typical
of the Turkish cuisine
that really creates that
craveability to go back
for more and more bites?
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he's adding
some more pomegranate.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Yeah.
So there's lots of contrasting
flavors in Turkish cuisine.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: It can be very
spicy, but on the same time,
be prepared with
a sweet molasses
or honey, different dishes.
So that has a contrast.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So Turkey
has a very rich geography
and the people that
have lived there
over the past
10,000, 12,000 years.
So there's a lot of--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Unfortunately,
even in Turkey,
people don't realize how
rich the culture is--
or they don't recognize
how rich the culture
that they're living in is.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI: You
weren't kidding when
you said he loves olive oil.
BURAK EPIR: Yeah,
yeah, he [INAUDIBLE]..
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So this is a little
spicy with the pepper flakes.
But there is a different
version that they
can use with dried apples.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So it can be filled
with dried apples, pears,
grapes, and use a
molasses, a great molasses.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: In that,
you just slightly cook
the mung beans in some butter.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI:
Would this dish
be something served always warm?
Could it be room temperature
different times of the day?
How would this
typically be served?
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So again, it's
up to your preference.
You can have it warm, as
it's cooked, right away.
Or you can save it for later.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the fresh herbs
need to stay fresh and vibrant
so that it doesn't look--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So when you
cut the-- as you can see,
when you cut the parsley--
I mean, the mint-- far
ahead, it turns on you.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he's just showing
the difference between how
it changes as soon as you--
the knife touches the mint.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So
again, he believes
to use the freshest
possible ingredient
at the last possible moment.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So we're going to
prepare the lor dolma now--
"lor" referring to
the fresh cheese.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So this
dish usually is
prepared with a wild plant
found in the forest called
[INAUDIBLE].
I'm not sure how
to translate that.
But it's a wild green.
And today, he's going
to show it with sorrel.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Yeah, the closest
thing to that leaf is sorrel.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So this is the--
if you're not familiar with
sorrel, it has a tangy flavor.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the
first dish that we
showed was from the
southeast part of Turkey.
This is from the east part of--
on the Iran border side--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --the northern
side of the east, so yeah.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the
ingredients in this dish,
he has bulgur, fine bulgur--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --onion,
some dried mint--
I mean, basil--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --butter--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --some clotted
fat, and the lor cheese.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And this
dish is prepared
in the springtime,
when this plant is--
there's a lot of this
plant-- abundant.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And if it's
not the springtime,
they use the dried plant,
or the dried leaves.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Alternative
things you can use
is like Swiss chard.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So
he's going to show
how to prepare the filling.
So he's going to
blanch the leaves now.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So as
you can see, he just
barely dips them in there and
shocks them in some ice water.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: They're
very tender leaves,
so it just takes a few
seconds for him to soften it.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So while that's
waiting in the water--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Has anybody tried
any other recipe in the book?
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI: Most of them
just got the book recently--
BURAK EPIR: OK.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI: --I think.
I don't know for sure.
And that would be
one of the questions
I'm going to ask chef to
think about is, if there's
two or three must-have
recipes of 550,
what's his favorite child?
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: It's a very
difficult question.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI:
Yeah, you're welcome.
BURAK EPIR: So chef
submitted 1,200 recipes.
And they've only printed
half of them, 550.
So look for another
book coming up.
And he has thousands
of more recipes
in his research over the years.
So he's using butter, as you
can see, this time, instead
of olive oil
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Salting
it, seasoning
it a little bit, with salt
and black pepper again.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So as I
was mentioning earlier,
the basil that we use has
this opal, purple look to it.
We use the green
one too, but we're
more familiar with
the purple opal basil.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So this is
number 1 fine bulgur.
There's lots of different
types of bulgur,
so make sure that
it's the fine one.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He's
adding the cream.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Some more basil.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the dolma
gets the name, of course,
from the cheese, fresh cheese.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he
didn't soak the bulgur.
The moisture from the cheese
is going to let it expand.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI: Is
that a typical approach,
to not soak the bulgur,
for many of his recipes
so that it actually absorbs
from the other ingredients?
BURAK EPIR: Yes.
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: In many other
dolmas that they prepare,
water is used.
But the significance of this
one is there is no water used.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So you have
the stem on one side--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --and the side
that doesn't have that.
So you try to roll it
up on the side that
doesn't have the stem.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So it comes on
the inside, the stem side.
So the outside is smooth.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So
he's going to show,
you can either do it
lengthwise or the width
as far as rolling it.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: That's very tender,
so you don't need the knife.
This breaks off very easily.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So again,
the areas that they
use this are eastern
part of Turkey,
on the-- closer to the Black
Sea, and the northeastern part
of Turkey.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So different
provinces kind of
have a rivalry, or
they compete, as we--
the ones that we prepare are
better than the ones you do,
that kind of rivalry.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And
then they, yeah--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: One part
might be using some water,
and the other part
does it without water,
the actual cooking.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The men
would have no idea how
to do this in those regions.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the
women are the ones
who are carrying these
traditions forward
in our culture, just in general.
So "dolma" is a word meaning
"to fill" in Turkish.
I think the Greeks also use it.
And it can refer to filling a
leaf, any type of vegetable.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So you put the
sides a little bit so that it
closes up, and then roll it up.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And he
suggests, or prefers,
to use a earthenware pot--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --to cook it in.
And then if it's a
wood-burning oven, of course,
that would also be very nice.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: It definitely
increases the flavor
if it's cooked in a
wood-burning oven.
So he's just going to
finish up rolling those.
Anybody have any questions
regarding anything?
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI: So I'm
going to wait for questions,
because I know
there's some coming.
I'm going to go back
to part of his bio
that I thought was super
interesting, about how
he studied early on with
his uncle in the bakery
as well as how he's given back
to teach children to cook.
I was hoping he could speak to--
starting with his early years--
how he got into food, especially
as it's many of the women
that are doing the
cooking, and why
he chose to teach the youth
nowadays, the young children.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he's been
in the food business
since he was five years old.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So you could
say he was born in an oven.
[LAUGHTER]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So his mother's
father was a master baker.
His uncles are bakers.
All his brothers are bakers.
So all his older
brothers are bakers.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he remembers
going to work, 3:00,
4:00 in the morning,
about a mile and a half
in the middle of the night--
just things that he
remembers of his childhood.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he
started at that age,
but he always had
a passion for it.
And I think the passion was
given to him by his mom.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He noticed that,
overall, the society wasn't
really realizing what a
rich food culture Turkey--
the geography in Turkey-- has.
So he noticed that
at an early age
and always had some ideas of
preserving or learning more,
especially from the elderly.
Because those are the ones that
were doing all these dishes.
And that's the only way of
preserving it and moving it
to the next generations.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So people would
know what a cheesecake is.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: But they would
not be familiar with this lor
dish, this lor dolma.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI: Any
questions from the audience?
BURAK EPIR: The question
was, wood-burning ovens
are kind of going to be
obsolete in the future.
What would be a alternative
way of doing this?
Is that correct?
OK.
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he
believes there can be
lots of different alternatives.
Mankind, or humankind, can
definitely find a way of--
a different way of
doing it if that's
going to be an issue as far
as the environment being--
with the smoke.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So if
we respect nature
and don't destroy
nature, everything
should work out evenly.
So that's something that
we all have to work on.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So let's say
you squeeze the juice
of a lemon or an orange.
You can use the seeds
for medicinal purposes.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: You can
use the skin for a jam.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So because we're
in a consumer society now,
we don't tend to use
everything to the fullest.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the
capitalist system
is unfortunately
making us consume more
and not use everything that is
available from that ingredient,
or from that fruit or vegetable.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI: Do you know
if, in the-- within the book,
does chef offer
these types of tips?
Or is this more anecdotal,
from his storytelling?
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: In Netflix,
if you watch that,
it mentions some of these.
And in the book, you
will see small excerpts.
But it's mostly from the Netflix
show that he talks about this.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI:
Question here in the front.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Imagine the dolma
was inside the clay pot.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So because
of our time constraint--
so we're seeding it.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So we sauteed
the onions and the butter--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --added the
basil and black pepper.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And you
cook it at-- bake it off
for about 20
minutes in the oven.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the
bulgur is going
to absorb all the milk
while it's cooking.
And so it'll be nice and soft.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He's
going to explain
how the people in the
region that this is cooked--
how they eat this.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: They don't
consume any meat or fish.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: When they're
going to eat this,
this is the only thing they eat.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The previous dish
that referred, the same way,
they would just eat that and not
combine other things with it.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So they don't
have a soup first, and then
a appetizer.
This would be the meal.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: In
reality, we don't have
eating tradition like that.
It's just this one
dish in this case.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: In the
larger cities--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --they
will have a soup.
They'll have some appetizers--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Some
other cold dishes--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --flatbreads with
some type of meat on top--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --and then a
meat dish or a entree dish--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --and
then some desserts--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --and drinks.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So
[INAUDIBLE],, I don't know.
This is Arabic, I believe.
[INAUDIBLE]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He thinks--
he believes it's Arabic.
But he just says that when
you have all that food,
your inside is just--
there's too much
mixture going on there.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: It's
like a dirty river.
When do you add the herbs
fresh, and when do you
add the herbs dry?
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So salt
has to go with onions.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: If you put the
black pepper and the basil
at the beginning--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --you'll
lose the flavor.
It takes away from the flavor
if you put it too far ahead.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: When you add it
at the finishing, the end
part of the dish, you
still have that aromatic
that's coming from the herbs.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Most bakers still
don't have health insurance.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he's been
dealing with these issues
for the past 40 years.
And 40 years ago, there was a
lot of political instability
in Turkey.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So people had
some rights that they had.
But with this political
turmoil and the military coups,
they lost those rights.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And unfortunately,
this is the reality of Turkey.
How difficult was it to get
all this knowledge and all
these recipes from different
parts of the country?
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he's never
worked with a pen and paper
or with a camera,
going up to somebody
and asking for their
knowledge or their recipe.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He tries to be part
of the dish as far as helping
the person who's preparing that
dish and learning that way.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he
shares his knowledge.
And in return, the person
that has that knowledge
shares their knowledge.
And they work together.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He's going
to give another example.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: There was a
mother that was 96 years old.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: She was very alert.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The daughter
was 70 years old.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He was
talking to the mom.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the things
that the mom was explaining,
it was unbelievable
things that--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The daughter had
never heard of these before,
but they were living together.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So they started
bickering, or fighting.
Because why are you
telling him and you never
told me about this stuff?
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Musa
is like my friend.
I feel like he's my
friend from my childhood.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And
then he was saying,
you know, ask that
question to you,
why I didn't share
this with you--
to the daughter, she said.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So this is
an example, as I said,
of the type of interactions
he has with the elderly
when he's collecting
these recipes.
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So
traditional kitchens,
or traditional cooking methods--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So
traditional dishes,
with everything evolving,
also evolve slightly.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He's going to
try to explain that to us.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: There's a
dish called meftune.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So he's researched.
And there's some
written documents
backing to the date of 1490.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: At the
beginning, it describes it
as a dish prepared
with a wild root.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So it has
a sour, tangy flavor.
And they use sumac
in cooking it also.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Further
in history, they
come in contact with
eggplant from India.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And then
the dish evolves
into a dish being prepared
with eggplant once eggplant was
introduced into the geography.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And then the squash
is introduced into Turkey
from the Americas.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And the
dish has, again, evolved
that it's being prepared
with the squash.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Okra comes into
the culture from Africa.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The same dish
is prepared with okra.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: If we juice preserve
our traditions and the way we
prepare the dishes,
it automatically goes
through this--
it evolves, I guess.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And the cooking
technique stays the same.
But you can evolve the dish
with different ingredients.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So some
of you might have
heard of the dish
called imam biyildi--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --which translates
into "the fainting imam."
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The oldest
recipe that he knows of,
of this dish--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --is prepared
with the eggplant fried
in the-- pan fried in olive oil.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And then
you also have a mixture
of sauteed onions and garlic.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And then you
combine these, the eggplant,
and the onions, and garlic--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --and continue
cooking them together
after the combination.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: After
peppers and tomatoes
came into the geography--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --the
filling evolves.
You're using those
peppers and tomatoes now,
besides the onion and garlic.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So another--
so a modern take on
this imam bayildi
that he's recently seen--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --they take a
piece of bread that's toasted.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: They put some
fried eggplant on top.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So as I said, the
eggplant, after it's peeled,
is placed on top of the bread.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Small, squared
eggplants are fried up also.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: A sauce made
with mayonnaise and mustard
is prepared.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: They put the mixture
of the sauce, the mustard
and the--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --mayo in.
And then they put some
raw tomatoes, peppers.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: The peel that was--
the peel from the eggplant is
dried in a humidifier,
I guess, or a--
it's air dried.
And it's sliced very finely,
like seaweed, fine seaweed,
wakame.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: This is
a bad take on the way
of the traditional dish.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: I mean,
you can do this.
But it doesn't stay
traditional that way.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And you can't
call this imam biyaldi.
You can't keep
the same name when
you evolve it to that extent.
The question is,
if someone hasn't
tried Turkish dishes,
what are some things
that he would suggest?
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: First
of all, the book.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: He has
two definitions,
or two explanations.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So we have our
traditional, classical dishes.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: Imam biyildi is
one of the classical dishes
that we [INAUDIBLE]
Turkish dish.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: And the dishes
that he prepared today,
the lor and the mash salad,
are more regional dishes.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the
classical dishes in the book
are labeled as in all regions.
So all regions are
familiar with those issues.
Those are the classic dishes.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: [SPEAKING TURKISH]
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: As I
mentioned, Istanbul
and other all other
regions in Turkey
would be familiar
with that dish.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So the
chefs in Turkey
need to know the
classical dishes first.
And then they can expand
to more regional dishes.
Because that's more complex.
MUSA DAGDEVIREN:
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: So if you ask a
Turkish chef if he's familiar
with these dishes, the lor
or the mung bean salad,
80% of the Turkish
chefs wouldn't say
they are not familiar
with this dish--
MUSA DAGDEVIREN: All right.
[SPEAKING TURKISH]
BURAK EPIR: --if that explains
your question as far as--
so in the book, try to look
at the classical dishes first.
And then you can expand
to the regional ones.
SCOTT GIAMBASTIANI: A
huge round of applause
for Chef Musa, Chef Burak.
[APPLAUSE]
