Sweet plates - Turkish baklava
On the Çanakkale Straight beach in front of the Iris Hotel where you can enjoy suntanning and swimming located within a stone’s throw from the beach, watching 150 passing cargo and passenger ships per day.
The hotel is right near the water with scintillating views of the Dardanelles and within 10km of the ancient site Troy. I always looked forward to the breakfasts here; you need them, and you have to keep looking fresh.
www.irishotel.com
Pistachio baklava individual at Karakoy Gulluoglu
I jumped at the idea of the chance of touring the world-famous baklava factory in Istanbul Karakoy Gulluoglu on the return trip from The Dardanelles and Gallipoli.
Although the easiest sweets to take back home are Turkish Delights (lokum) or marzipan or almond paste (Badem ezmesi), many say baklava has a special place amongst Turkish sweets.
To kick start off the tour was a delectable morning tea with Istanbul’s Baklava Master Nadir Gullu, after I tasted the first piece, it was almost impossible to resist taking another and another!
He was enthusiastic about everything he did and said that he treated his staff with so much care and attention, just like his product. It was one of the best factory floor tours I’ve done.
Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry found in many Middle East and Mediterranean cuisines. The most common is made of layers of phyllo dough filled with chopped pistachio nuts and walnuts and sweetened with sugar or honey and the butter here comes from the Alpine sheep adding to its distinctive flavour.
Success is determined by the cuts made and how they pour the sugar syrup. The timber wooden rollers are made from pear trees and the bench tops were madde from marble. Gullu tells me that Baklava masters are only considered when you can read a newspaper underneath the dough.
Several cultures and ethnic groups claim to have invented baklava, including the Turks. Gulluoglu produces about 70,000 pieces of baklava per day.
It was a big day when years ago Barack Obama came to Istanbul, dubbed as “Baracklava” it took Gullu five days and 40 layers of pastry to create a collage of the former President’s face, in honour of his arrival.
When we left, we were taken down to the retail shop, to meet his father who was on the cash register taking the sales and smiling.
Gullu said “When you have a shop, you should always be smiling.”
Here are my top 3 products from Karakoy Gulluoglu:
1 —Pistachio baklava individual
2 —Baklava with ice cream
The delicious taste of Baklava and the coolness of Girandola Gelato ice cream come together. This falvour which comes out of experienced hands, helps you to relax at every moment of the day. Grown from natural products grown in the season.
3 —Pistachio Baklava Burger
Adding a whole new dimension to Baklava. A Baklava Burger which enchants with its exquisite appearance!
Ingredients: Baklava Burger with pistachio contains wheat flour, clarifies butter, pistachios, beet sugar, water, what starch, egg, salt. Does not contain glucose.
Allergens: Contains gluten, milk and dairy products, eggs. It may contain small amounts of walnuts and hazelnuts.
I would like to thank the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism for providing opportunities to learn and live the exotic lifestyle and food culture in Turkey.
Teşekkür Ederim, Mel Nathan.