Andrew Lekashman
Çupra Ekmek
The çupra ekmek is the Aegean's own fish-in-bread, not a borrowing from Istanbul's mackerel boats. Bodrum farms gilt-head bream by the tonne, and the loaf is what the coast keeps for itself.
Çöp Şiş Ekmek
Çöp şiş ekmek pushes thin wooden skewers of charcoal-grilled lamb off the stick and into a split somun loaf: an Aegean thrift grill from Selçuk and Germencik, seasoned at the last second.
Çöp Şiş Dürüm
'Garbage' şiş (small meat pieces threaded on wooden skewers) wrapped in lavaş; name refers to small scraps of meat.
Çoban Dürüm
'Shepherd's wrap'; with çoban salad (tomato, cucumber, pepper, onion, parsley).
Çinekop Ekmek
Baby bluefish sandwich; small çinekop fried or grilled.
Ciğer Sarma
Edirne's famous liver wrap; thinly sliced fried liver wrapped in lavaş.
Ciğer Kebab Dürüm
Cubes of lamb liver fired over charcoal at first light and rolled hot into lavaş, the breakfast wrap of Turkey's southeast, where the iron of the grilled organ meets cold sumac onion piled raw around.
Çiğ Köfte Porsiyon
Çiğ köfte served on plate with lettuce wraps.
Çiğ Köfte Ekmek
Çiğ köfte ekmek packs the raw kneaded bulgur paste into a split crusty loaf, so a crust meets the teeth before the cold spiced filling. A 2008 raw-meat ban turned it meatless and chains scaled it.
Çiğ Köfte Dürüm
Raw meatball (now usually vegan—bulgur, tomato paste, spices) wrapped in lavaş with lettuce, onion, pomegranate molasses, lemon.
Çiğ Köfte Dürüm Acılı
Spicy çiğ köfte wrap; extra hot pepper paste.
Cevizli Gözleme
Walnut gözleme is the sweet outlier of the family: crushed walnuts with sugar and cinnamon folded in thin yufka, cooked dry on a saç, then drizzled with honey or grape molasses.
Cağ Kebabı Ekmek
Erzurum's horizontal-spit lamb, shaved onto a small hand skewer called the cağ, given a last char at the coals and pushed into a split crusted loaf. The wood-fired ancestor of vertical döner.
Cağ Kebabı Dürüm
Erzurum cooks the spit on its side. Cağ kebabı turns the lamb cone horizontally so the fat circulates back into the meat, then re-skewers the cooked edge and grills it again before the lavaş dürüm.
Cacık Ekmek
Bread with cacık (yogurt-cucumber-garlic dip); simple, refreshing.
Bursa Pideli Kebap
Bursa's plated kebab: shaved döner over squares of pide soaked dark with tomato sauce, butter poured on top, yogurt alongside. The everyday, untrademarked face of İskender.
Bursa Kebap Dürüm
Bursa's İskender flavor taken portable: the city's spit-shaved döner with a careful smear of tomato-and-butter sauce rolled in lavaş, yogurt kept on the side.
Beyti Sarma
The sliced, wrapped form of beyti kebab: skewer-grilled ground meat rolled tight in lavaş, then cut crosswise into pinwheels that show a clean spiral, bedded under tomato sauce with yogurt alongside.
Beyti Kebab Dürüm
Beyti gone portable: skewer-grilled ground lamb rolled in lavaş with garlicky tomato sauce and cold yogurt, eaten from the end. Named for İstanbul restaurateur Beyti Güler.
Bazlama
Thick, soft flatbread cooked on griddle; used for breakfast sandwiches.
Bazlama Tost
A toasted cheese built on bazlama, the thick Anatolian griddle round. Too tall for the tost press, so the kaşar melts open on a saç. The Kızılcahamam version is a protected bread, registered in 2018.