Turkey

Aydın

Hulled wheat and meat, usually lamb or chicken, boiled together for hours and then beaten with wooden paddles until the grain breaks down and the meat shreds into a thick, elastic porridge, served with a pool of hot butter and red pepper on top: keşkek is the ceremonial dish of Anatolia, cooked in cauldrons for weddings, circumcisions, funerals and the first day of Ramadan. UNESCO listed the keşkek tradition as intangible cultural heritage in 2011, for the communal cooking as much as the food: the wheat is washed and pounded the day before, the pots go onto wood fires before dawn, and the beating is done in turns by the men of the village. Relatives exist from the Balkans to Iran, where harisa and haleem follow the same idea; in Türkiye it is strongest in the Aegean, the Black Sea and central Anatolia, and every province claims a version.

Aşurelik buğday, wheat with the bran removed, is soaked overnight. It goes into the pot with the meat, bone-in lamb shoulder or a whole chicken, plenty of water and salt, and simmers for four to six hours until the grains have burst and the meat falls from the bone. The bones are lifted out, and then the work starts: the pot is beaten with a long wooden spoon or a paddle, dövmek, for half an hour or more, until the wheat and meat have become one smooth, stringy mass that holds a spoon upright and stretches when lifted. The consistency is adjusted with broth. To serve, a ladle is pressed into a shallow bowl and a hollow made in the top, into which melted butter, often with sweet or hot red pepper, is poured; some regions add a spoon of tomato sauce or cumin. It is eaten hot with bread and pickles or a glass of ayran.

Judge the texture first, because it is the point: keşkek should be smooth and glutinous, with the wheat fully broken down and the meat present as fibres rather than pieces, and it should pull slightly when the spoon lifts. Grainy wheat means it was undercooked or underbeaten; a watery, soupy bowl means too much broth; a gluey paste with no meat flavour means too little meat. Taste for the meat and the wheat together, salted properly and seasoned mostly by the butter and pepper on top. Mark down a bowl with the butter already absorbed and cold, a greyish mass with no visible meat, a blender-smooth version that lacks the fibrous pull of hand-beaten keşkek, and any portion that tastes of stock cube. Served at a wedding from a cauldron it will be judged on generosity; in a restaurant, on whether the kitchen did the beating.

Keşkek

Türkiye

Melek Abla'nın Yeri

Keşkek güzeldi. Burada keşkeğin içine eklenen et miktarı az, biraz daha hafif oluyor. Dilerseniz üzerine kavurma alabilirsiniz. Çok fazla ezilmemiş bir şekilde servis ediliyor. Genel olarak güzel yine giderim fiyat iyi. 

United States

A long Italian roll with a thin crackly crust, split and layered cold with sliced meats, provolone, shredded lettuce, tomato and onion, dressed with oil, vinegar and oregano, and never heated: the hoagie is Philadelphia's sandwich, and the city regards the word, the roll and the order of assembly as its own. The name is usually traced to Hog Island, the shipyard on the Delaware where Italian workers ate these sandwiches during the First World War, though competing stories involve a jazz musician and a street vendor, and none is settled. The city council named it Philadelphia's official sandwich in 1992. The classic Italian hoagie carries Genoa salami, capicola, prosciutto or ham and sharp provolone; the roast pork, turkey and tuna hoagies follow the same build. A cheesesteak on the same roll is a separate dish, hot and griddled.

The roll is the argument. It should be a seeded or plain Italian loaf about thirty centimetres long with a crust that shatters slightly and a chewy, open crumb, baked that morning; Amoroso's, Sarcone's and Liscio's are the names Philadelphians argue over. It is cut lengthways but hinged, and some delis pull a little of the crumb from the top half to make room. Meats are sliced thin to order and laid in overlapping sheets, provolone on top or beneath them, and then the vegetables: shredded iceberg, thin tomato slices, thin raw onion, hot or sweet peppers if asked for. The dressing is olive oil and red wine vinegar with dried oregano, salt and pepper; mayonnaise is available but a Philadelphian will tell you it does not belong on an Italian. The sandwich is closed, cut in half and wrapped tightly in paper, which compresses it and lets the dressing soak the lettuce for the five minutes it takes to get outside.

Judge the roll first, because a hoagie on a soft hot-dog-style bun is not a hoagie: it should crackle, have chew, and hold the filling without tearing or going soggy before you finish. The meats should be fresh-sliced, with clear flavour from the salami and capicola, the provolone sharp enough to notice, the lettuce cold and crisp, the oregano and vinegar present in every bite. Mark down a stale roll, pre-sliced meat dried at the edges, a sandwich drowned in oil, one assembled an hour ahead and wilted, mild provolone, lettuce that has gone warm and limp, and a filling padded with lettuce to hide a thin layer of meat. A whole hoagie is a meal for one with appetite; a half is a lunch. Served hot or toasted, it should be scored as a different sandwich.

Hoagie

Tuki Çarşaflı & Hamburger

Çarşaflı denilen kendi özel kaşarını sac üzerinde kızartıp sandviçi kapattığı bir tost yedik. Sandviç içeriği ayvalık tostu gibi çeşit bol kendiniz seçerek de oluşturabilirsiniz. Ancak özellikle gidip yemeye değecek bir şey değil.

Dokusu ve tadı oldukça iyi yarma buğday iyi pişmiş sert değil, içerisindeki et keşkekle bütünleşmiş. Üzerine ek olarak gelen kavurma da gayet yumuşaktı. Tavsiye ederim.

Rank	Place	Top dish	Reviews	Score
1	Melek Abla'nın Yeri Caferli, Kavşağı, 09430 Kuşadası/Aydın, Türkiye Top dish: Keşkek	Keşkek	2	8.312 reviews
2	Tuki Çarşaflı & Hamburger Camikebir Mahallesi Kemal Arıkan Caddesi, Bülent, Camikebir, Çağatay Sokak, 09400 Kuşadası/Aydın, Türkiye Top dish: Hoagie	Hoagie	1	6.581 review

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Keşkek

Hoagie

Keşkek

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