500 Years of Ottoman Cuisine
By Marianna Yerasimos

Ten days spent in Istanbul a few years ago opened my eyes to the complexities and depth of Turkish cuisine. Not only were the few Turkish dishes I was already familiar with made so much better in the city, there was also a wide range of foods I could never have imagined. There was a dessert made with ground chicken (much more delicious than it sounds), breads and pastries that I've not seen anywhere else, and kebabs and roasted meats made with spice combinations I couldn't figure out.

Reading this book makes me want to go back to Turkey, to taste everything I didn't eat the first time around. It also makes me realise why the food was so good: the Turks have had a lot of time to perfect these dishes. The book has recipes for tripe soup and chicken borek (which date back to the 15th century), Persian rice (from the 19th century), Aleppo dolmas (from the 18th century, and made with mutton, eggplant, pomegranate syrup and spices), and the chicken breast dessert of tavuk gogsu.