Food critic Vedat Milor started a new eight-episode YouTube program. ‘Traditional or Modern?’ In the program called “baklava”, we see the story of eight popular products of Turkish cuisine, including baklava, tarhana, beans and İçliköfte, and both traditional and modernized versions of these delicacies. “When our masters are not valued, our traditional dishes disappear. The only way to keep the tradition alive is to adapt those dishes to our day… Of course, without losing their essence… I thought about this issue, I saw a mission in myself,” he says.
Describing how she felt, she said, “Excited! In the first place it is…” “When you have a great passion for a field, you shape every moment of your life accordingly. It’s almost as if a process begins in your subconscious where you always think about that subject. That being the case, it’s hard not to feel excited,” he adds. The new YouTube program that got our writer, food critic Vedat Milor so excited. It’s called: ‘Traditional or Modern?’. Eight precious products of Turkish cuisine; Milor hosts traditional taste masters and modern kitchen chefs in its eight-part program on baklava, tarhana, liver wrap, dry beans, stuffed meatballs, fish pilaki, ravioli and imambayildi. First, we see the traditional way of making baklava; then we watch the chef who brings a modern interpretation to this product. So why?
According to Milor, the interest in food has grown tremendously, especially with the popularity of social media. When the number of ingredients reached horrendous proportions, the real cooks had to differentiate themselves. We see many dishes now being made in new and new ways. But the debate on “Do the dishes should be traditional or modern” remains. What does it mean to achieve perfection? Can dishes that we think have reached perfection be revised?” He thinks we need to ask deeper questions like Another important issue is this: How can a bridge be built between the traditional and the modern? Vedat Milor says that he pursues these questions.
How to achieve perfection in food, what should we understand from perfect food?
A very difficult question. To say “it has reached perfection” is actually to prophesy that it will not develop further. Moreover, many of the dishes that we think are traditional today are versions that have become easier and cheaper over time, thus modernized… In other words, the tradition has been broken; ironic, isn’t it? For example, ravioli. If we ask the people in Kayseri right now, maybe they have never heard of it being done this way. Cooking that food the way it used to be seems like a novelty these days. I say let’s appreciate the existing, try to prevent it from getting worse, be inspired by those dishes and add richness to the richness of our cuisine.
You say, “I see the future of our cuisine in tarhana”. I’ve never heard you talk so ambitious about a product.
You’re right, here’s why: Japanese and Scandinavian cuisine has come to the fore lately. Whatever product comes to mind, they ferment them and integrate them into their meals. There is an increasing health sensitivity all over the world, it is no longer enough for the food to be delicious. If we do not take this sensitivity into account, is it possible to transfer traditional dishes to the future? Tarhana is also a fermented product and most people in our country only make their soup. Why not use it as a seasoning or a sauce that layers the flavor of the food? There are those who use it, but they do it almost shamefully because it is not customary. Instead of benefiting from the taste and healing of tarhana, we talk about “Is it the best in Kahramanmaraş or Uşak?” I made a survey, “Lentil soup or tarhana soup?”…
Lentil soup turned out to be more popular, right?
Yeah. I can’t go wrong with lentil soup, but tarhana is more special to us; moreover, he can wear any disguise. Put it in the eggplant dish without losing the balance; It can be added to meatballs like breadcrumbs, it can be a snack; Stavriani Zervakakou, the former chef of the Customs Restaurant, was making seafood rice from tarhana.
I also know tarhana as pasta sauce…
Look, I didn’t know that; Who knows what else it could be put into. This is what I mean when I say the future of our kitchen. Is it possible that such a product would not advance our food and cuisine? Let’s talk about these instead of the question “Can ketchup be added to the rice?”
How did you choose the dishes you covered in the program?
I wanted it to be the popular dishes of Turkish cuisine that everyone knows. They said, “The issue of modernizing products such as ravioli and baklava may attract criticism,” but no one has the power to change a nation’s eating habits in a short time. There are examples of this. Like the fact that the Russian Tsar Ivan brought potatoes to cure the famine, but in the 1840s, riots broke out, the people thought that a new religion was imposed on them through potatoes, and he burned the potato fields… Today, one of the biggest dangers for traditional tastes is the use of bad materials to reduce costs. . For example, making baklava with glucose syrup.
Think your baklava is already in the perfect spot?
Yes, I think so. However, minor adjustments can be made, which may be related to the quality of the material. Chef Metin Saruhanlı, who modernized the baklava in the program, said, “Baklava is already perfect. By grasping its essence; It is possible to make many different desserts by understanding how it is made, how the dough is rolled. But of course, it would be wrong to call it baklava.” It’s not about making a traditional dish better anyway. To add richness to the richness of the magnificent cuisine in this geography.
‘Turkish cuisine is excellent, but we are like an irresponsible child scattering his father’s legacy’
Did you do this program because you felt a responsibility?
Turkish Cuisine is really excellent. But despite being one of the world’s leading cuisines, I think we lost our cuisine very quickly. We’re like an irresponsible kid scattering his father’s legacy. We focus on trends and try to get away with it. Turkish cuisine has gone backwards due to reasons such as deterioration of materials, less labor-intensive dishes, and the gradual decrease in the number of masters. There are Japanese masters who have devoted their lives to making the best tempura and have tried different combinations for 39 years. In our case, the tradition of mastery is disappearing. Our traditional dishes are lost when we do not appreciate the masters. The only way to keep the tradition alive is to adapt it to the present. Of course, without losing its essence… I was thinking about how we can do this and I saw a mission in myself, yes.
THEN I WILL PUT YOGURA UNDER THE MANTI, NOT ON THE OVER…
‘Turkish cuisine is excellent, but we are like an irresponsible child scattering his father’s legacy’
There are many different ways of making İçliköfte, so it is more open to different experiments. The ravioli is a bit like this… The chef Murat Artukmaç, who participated in the program, puts yoghurt under the ravioli. When you put yogurt on something hot, you quickly cool it down. However, when you put it under it, you get the warm textured product in your mouth first. From now on, I will eat like that at home. Like I said, it has to have a theory when modernizing things.
‘Turkish cuisine is excellent, but we are like irresponsible children
scattering his father’s legacy’ Kadriye Yaşar’s traditional (left) and Murat Artukmaç’s modern ravioli.
– Dünyanın her yerinde en lezzetli yemekler fakir mutfağından çıkmış, insanlar artakalan ürünleri çok iyi değerlendirmiş. Bizdeki kuzu ve dana ciğeri bunun bir örneği… Edirne tava, yaprak ciğer, şiş ciğer sarma, arnavutciğeri… Ciğer, Türkiye’de başlı başına bir kültür; hakkını vererek yapanı bulmak kolay değil. Programda ilginç bir şey oldu. İzmirli şef İnanç Çelengil ciğeri değil, Ege otlarını kuzu gömleğe sardıklarını söyledi ve ciğer sarmanın daha sağlıklı bir versiyonunu izledik. Balık pilakiyi Derin Arıbaş ve Kaan Sakarya portakal suyu ve farklı bir-iki baharat çeşidi kullanarak modernize etti. Sağlıklı ve çok lezzetliydi. Lezzetten feragat etmeden sağlıklı yemekler yapmak mümkün ve bence genç şeflerimiz bu dönüşümde öncü olacak!
‘Türk mutfağı mükemmel ama biz, babasının mirasını savuran sorumsuz bir çocuk gibiyiz’
Kuru fasulyenin modern yorumu da çok lezzetliydi. Alaf’ın şefi Deniz Temel yaptı. Deniz aslında İskilip dolması yapmak istedi. Çok heyecanlandım. İskilip’teki yetkililere ulaştık. Yardımcı olmak istediler ama maalesef programa gelecek bir usta bulamadık. İskilip dolması yurtdışında ses getirecek bir yemeğimiz ama işte… Daha biz bile yiyemedikten sonra… Hakikaten bu yemekler kayboluyor!
‘Türk mutfağı mükemmel ama biz, babasının mirasını savuran sorumsuz bir çocuk gibiyiz’
HEM GELENEKSEL LEZZET USTALARI HEM MODERN MUTFAK ŞEFLERİ…
“Last year, we covered pita in the documentary ‘Guide’. We developed the main idea with lawyer Besim Hatinoğlu, it was highly appreciated. We wanted to shoot a sequel. Beko believed in us, and its top managers, Can Dinçer and Mehmet Tüfekçi, became our supporters. Besim was again the main consultant of the project. We hosted traditional taste masters such as Feridun Ügümü, Süleyman Köşkeroğlu, Cemal Akdemir, Hülya Tunçer, Mehmet Akif Köse, Hülya Yılmaz, Mustafa Topçuoğlu and Kadriye Yaşar. Modern kitchen chefs İnanç Çelengil, Fatih Tutak, Deniz Temel, Metin Saruhanlı, Çiğdem Seferoğlu, Kaan Sakarya, Derin Arıbaş, Umut Karakuş and Murat Artukmaç were also with us.”