OTHER PHRASES

Göz kararı: Literally meaning “decision of the eye,” this is a tricky measurement for those who are not too familiar with cooking. You will have to let your gut decide, or rather measure with your eyes, however much you need. It is the favorite unit of measurement for Turkish grandmothers. If you are lucky the recipe will also describe a certain consistency you’ll need to achieve, which will be your main clue.

Boca etmek: While Turks have verbs like “dökmek” for pouring and “karıştırmak” for mixing, this term here would be to tip or more precisely, souse. You will need to soak or drench the ingredients in question or just pour them on top whenever a recipe calls for this.

Alacalı soymak: This is my personal nemesis. Whenever there is an eggplant recipe, such as the karnıyarık, I opt for a long explanation such as peeling them lengthwise to create stripes like a zebra’s, or some other creative descriptions. Preparing eggplants this way is the traditional route to go and this manner of peeling is ingrained in the Turkish language as such. Of course, other oblong vegetables such as zucchinis can be peeled in this manner but usually, it is an eggplant.

Kuşbaşı doğrama: If you live in or have ever visited Turkey, you will have seen meat sold cut in different shapes and one of them is “kuşbaşı,” literally meaning “bird’s head,” which sounds rather unappetizing. While no bird heads are involved (in the case with red meat anyway), this is a term that means that the meat is cut in cubes about the size of 1.5-2 centimeters (just under an inch). Most commonly, you’ll see this type of cutting in “kavurma” and “sote” dishes.