One Sandwich - The Joy of Sandwiches One Sandwich - The Joy of Sandwiches
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Turkey

The country where the sandwich is meat off a turning spit or a hot griddle, wrapped tight in lavaş or stuffed into a quarter loaf, eaten standing up.

Showing of 318 sandwiches

Kapalı Pide: an illustration of beef, onion and parsley on pita.

Kapalı Pide

Kapalı means closed. The dough is crimped fully over the filling and sealed, so the bake traps steam and the meat cooks moist against the bread. The covered form of Turkish pide.

Kanat Ekmek: an illustration of onion, parsley and sumac on bread.

Kanat Ekmek

Kanat ekmek packs charcoal-grilled chicken wings into a split loaf -- the skin rendered to lacquer over coals, the meat pulled clean off the bone, the toasted ekmek catching the drip the wing throws.

Kıymalı Gözleme: an illustration of beef, onion, parsley and pepper.

Kıymalı Gözleme

Turkish cooks insist the mince goes in raw, spread thin and sealed cold so it steams inside the fold, the one rule that sets the meat round apart from its cheese and potato siblings.

About these families

The Turkish sandwich is street food first and bread second. The defining move is not a slice and a filling but a cut and a wrap: meat shaved off a vertical spit, scraped off a flat skewer, or stir-fried on a domed griddle, then rolled tight in thin lavaş or packed into a quarter of a crusty loaf and handed over hot. The bread is the wrapper and the heat source is the argument.

The catalog of 330 sorts along those heat sources. The largest single force is the döner and the dürüm wrap built around it, the everyday fast food of every Turkish city. Around it stand the grill kebaps, Adana and Urfa and şiş and the Bursa İskender, and the griddle trio of lahmacun, pide and gözleme. The cities supply their signatures: Mersin its tantuni, Istanbul its balık ekmek pulled from boats on the water and its tripe-and-offal kokoreç, Çeşme its kumru. The bakery supplies the sesame simit and the Turkish tost pressed flat and hot, and the table supplies the ayran, the turşu and the pickled-turnip şalgam that go beside all of it.

The categories below capture how the catalog actually sorts. The two giants are the döner-and-dürüm family and the grill kebaps; the pide, gözleme and ekmek-arası anchors carry the everyday lunch. Below the anchors, the full filterable catalog lets you browse every entry by name or category.

Browse by family

İskender Kebap

Bursa's signature: thin döner over cubed pide bread, drenched in tomato sauce and melted butter, with yogurt alongside. A knife-and-fork plate as much as a sandwich. · 9 sandwiches

Çiğ Köfte

Şanlıurfa's bulgur-and-pepper-paste köfte, kneaded for hours and now mostly meatless, wrapped in lavaş with lettuce, lemon and pomegranate molasses. · 5 sandwiches

Döner: dürüm & ekmek arası

Turkey's everyday fast food: meat stacked on a vertical spit, shaved to order, rolled tight in lavaş or packed into a quarter loaf with salad and sauce. · 23 sandwiches

Tantuni

Mersin's signature: beef or lamb chopped fine and stir-fried fast on a domed sac with water and spice, rolled in lavaş with sumac onion and tomato. · 12 sandwiches

Kokoreç

Seasoned lamb offal wrapped in intestine, grilled on a turning spit, chopped fine with oregano and pul biber and packed into bread. · 14 sandwiches

Lahmacun

A thin crisp flatbread spread with minced meat, tomato, onion and pepper, baked fast and hot, then rolled around fresh salad and lemon. · 15 sandwiches

Köfte Ekmek

Hand-shaped grilled meatballs of minced lamb or beef in bread with onion, tomato and pickled pepper: the charcoal-grill staple of every köfteci. · 16 sandwiches

Kebap & ızgara

The skewer grill: Adana and Urfa minced-lamb kebabs, şiş, Beyti, cağ and çöp şiş, scraped off the skewer into lavaş with grilled tomato and pepper. · 18 sandwiches

Pide

Boat-shaped Turkish flatbread with raised, pinched edges and a topping baked into it: cheese, minced meat, sucuk, egg, baked hot and eaten in strips. · 27 sandwiches

Gözleme

Hand-rolled yufka folded over a thin filling of cheese, spinach, potato or meat and cooked on a domed griddle until blistered, then brushed with butter. · 23 sandwiches

Tost & Ayvalık tostu

The Turkish pressed toast: kaşar cheese, often sucuk or sausage, flattened in a hot press until the bread crisps and the cheese melts, Ayvalık style loaded. · 17 sandwiches

Balık Ekmek

Istanbul's fish-bread: grilled or fried mackerel in a split quarter loaf with onion, lettuce and lemon, eaten standing by the water at Eminönü. · 22 sandwiches

Kumru

Çeşme's signature: a special slightly sweet sesame roll filled with sucuk, sausage, kaşar and tomato, then pressed hot until the cheese melts. · 6 sandwiches

Simit & simit sandviç

The sesame-encrusted ring bread sold from every cart, eaten plain or split and filled with white cheese, tomato, sucuk or, the sweet way, kaymak and honey. · 15 sandwiches

Burger & ıslak hamburger

The patty-in-a-bun imports and Taksim's steamed ıslak hamburger held in a garlicky tomato sauce under glass, kept soft and wet on purpose. · 7 sandwiches

Dürüm: lavaş & yufka

The general wrap: anything rolled tight in thin lavaş or yufka, from grilled vegetables and falafel to liver, halloumi, potato and the leaf-wrapped sarma. · 35 sandwiches

Ekmek arası

The Turkish loaf with one thing in it: liver, menemen, beans, cheese, eggs, fries, tomato, eaten in a quarter or half of crusty ekmek as a quick meal. · 36 sandwiches

Sandviç (uluslararası)

The imported and deli-style sandwiches: tuna, roast beef, turkey, omelette, salami, hot dog and the submarine, made with Turkish bread but kept their own form. · 18 sandwiches

Türk sofrası: ekmek, turşu & yanında

The Turkish table that frames the sandwich: the breads themselves, the pickles and turşu, the sauces, ayran and şalgam, and the things eaten alongside. · 12 sandwiches