Gourmet Flavors of Kars Cuisine
Kars has one of the most original and delicious cuisines of Eastern Anatolia, which should be included in the gourmet routes with its local dishes besides the world-famous Kars Gravyer and honey.
If the most amazing aspect of traveling, other than seeing new places, is to try new flavors, local dishes and different tastes for you, it is certain that you will be impressed by Kars. Let’s say right now that when you think of what you eat here, your mouth will be watering and your stomach will rumble.
Travelers Who Has Gusto Will Love The City Of Kars
The romantic word Gusto means taste in Latin and it means pleasure and admiration in Italian. Having gusto is a term used for people with refined tastes. Refined flavors specific to Kars cuisine, Gravyer, Goose Pastrami, Honey, Kete and Yellow Carp offer an unforgettable taste for travelers with gusto.
With the prominence of food culture tours and gourmet routes in tourism, the rich cuisines of Anatolia such as Antep and Hatay and local flavors such as Kuymak have uttered both at home and abroad. Although Kars has won the world’s admiration with its Gravyer cheese, its cuisine is not known enough. In this respect, it contains flavors that have not yet been fully discovered by food lovers that will astonish them.
The following list is the food we can say “Do not Leave Kars Without Tasting”:
1) Goose in Brick Oven
Goose meat is unique to Kars cuisine, making it a special and unique place among other culinary cultures in Anatolia. Brick Oven Goose is one of the local dishes you should try first. The geese, which are left to dry in the sun for about 5 hours after being cut, are then hung in the Brick Oven and while they are cooked slowly over wood fire, the oil drips onto the previously boiled cracked wheet which is placed in the Brick Oven under the geese.
2) Piti
One of the famous meat dishes of the region, made with lamb or sheep in casserole. The oil accumulated in the casserole is poured over the bread pieces laid on the base of the dish, and the meat in the stew is served with chickpeas. There are also restaurants that cook piti with vegetables or add vegetables to the service, but originally it consists of bread, meat, broth and chickpeas and is eaten with hot pickles.
Piti, which holds a special place among the locals, is very popular with those who love lamb, but we want to say that it is a bit heavy local flavor. It is a highly refined taste. Since Kars is a region where pasture livestock continues, meat in this region is precious and its taste is strong.
3) Gruyere
After tasting the Kars gruyere, unfornuately, it is not possible to like another gruyere, disappointment is an inevitable result. We are talking about a truly special flavor that will change your relationship with cheese. The giant cheese wheels weighing at least 30 kilos each, the honeycomb structure of how the cheese is cut will feast your eyes, while the magnificent smell and taste will blow your mind. If you think we’re exaggerating, cheese is a passion in Kars, we’d like to remind you. But gruyere is such a special cheese that even those who do not eat cheese start to eat cheese, or rather, Kars gruyere after trying Kars gruyere.
Don’t forget to visit the Cheese Museum in the village of Boğatepe, the village where the gruyere was born, listen to the story of the Swiss cheese producer David Moser, the father of the gruyere in Kars, and buy gruyere from here.
4) Kete
Kete is one of the delicious pastries that emerged in the Eastern Anatolia region during the war and were produced from poverty. By the way, it is very famous in North Eastern Anatolia regions such as Erzurum and Van, but Kars kettle is completely different. You should eat the kettle, which contains flour kneaded with butter, with tea while it is hot.
5) Feselli & Nezih & Kars Katmer
You should definitely taste these three beauties at breakfast or a tea time in Kars. Nezik is a kind of bread in which the fermented dough is rolled using cream, cooked on a sheet, its smell will blow your mind, and you can’t resist eating it. Feselli is the also a fermented dough just lie the Nezih but it is rolled out in butter it is also cooked on a sheet. Kars Katmer is also called Kars böreği is a very special local flavor in which thin rolled doughs are poured threadly. It is made beautifully all over Kars, one of the starred flavors you must taste.
6) Umaç Halva
It is the most famous dessert in the region. Although it is similar to semolina halva, its taste is also different because it is not cooked by roasting like other halva. The flour is kneaded, poured into hot oil and added to the syrup. If you are a dessert lover, you can ask for your halva together with Kars’ delicious cream.
7) Hangel
Don’t be fooled by the appearance of this delicious dish, which has a ravioli effect with onion instead of meat, you won’t find the flavor of this dough rolled out with eggs in Italian pasta. Served with yogurt and butter and onion sauce, Hangel is one of the favorites of Kasr cuisine.
Also; Revan Meatballs, Hörre, Haşıl, Evelik Soup, Hasuda are other local delicacies that you should definitely taste.