25 Local Tastes You Must Taste in Elazig

Did you know that

Elazig cuisine has the richest cuisine after Gaziantep in terms of diversity, according to Turkey’s taste map study? According to the study of Ankara Chamber of Commerce and Ankara Patent Office, there are 154 kinds of registered dishes belonging to Elazig. I was not aware of this. Antep, Urfa and Hatay would come to my mind when talking about food and beverage business.. I am sure that many people are unaware of this situation.

When I first went to Elazig, I was amazed by the culinary culture of the city.. Its main dishes, various soups, and pastries are a real treasure with their addictive tastes.

Uncontaminated lush pastures, vineyards stretching along flat plains, the climate where the high temperature difference between night and day is high, and Elazig has its own unique tastes. Its unique culture also contributes to the flavors of Elazig.

The cuisine of Fırat Elazig is so rich that it is difficult to visit several restaurants in a day or two and get to know this cuisine.. Stay at least 1 week and visit the city and taste the local dishes of Elazig.. Do not forget that a tasteful tour of Elazig will make you gain weight.. Before you come, lose a few kilos and lighten your body and add another hole to your belt:)

Elazig Local Dishes

1. Harput Meatballs

Harput meatballs, like the seal of Elazig local dishes. You will go to Elazig and you will definitely eat Harput meatballs.. A hearty main dish as well as a delicious and traditional taste. If you listen to Harput music while eating Harput meatballs, you can now feel like half Elazığ.

The main ingredients of Harput meatballs are bulgur and ground beef.. Its appearance resembles small stuffed meatballs thrown into tomato paste water.. Of course it’s not that simple.. Ingredients other than oil and tomato paste are mixed with water for 25-30 minutes and kneaded.. When the kneading process is finished, small and round meatballs are made.

Oil is fried in tomato paste and water, dry basil and salt are added to this mixture.. When it starts to boil, the meatballs are added to this mixture.. Similar bulgur meatballs are available in other regions, but they are different in taste because they are cooked with basil in Elazig.

2. Harput Kebab

Harput dishes form the basis of Elazig cuisine. When it comes to Harput dishes, Harput Kebab takes the lead. Harput kebab is made from pieces of meat. The one made from lamb and cebiç meat is acceptable.

Roasted tomatoes and roasted red peppers are added to the fillets cooked on the grill or barbecue, and lightly burnt butter is poured on top of them while serving.. You can eat it without butter if you want.. Since the meat is marinated with thyme before it is cooked, the meat smell is not dominant.. It’s satisfying enough to keep you full for a whole day on its own.. Drinking tea and eating Dolanger dessert is a must.

3. Sırın

Secret, a kind of Elazig ravioli. Very popular in pastry dishes. You can think of it as a main course.. Eating meat with meat in the same meal can be heavy.. The presentation on the tray is also very aesthetic.. Since the garlic yogurt was added, I felt sleepy after eating the glaze.. It is necessary to drink tea or coffee to get sober on it.

Materials are phyllo dough, yoghurt, garlic.. It is made from a little thinner than the dough we know.. The phyllo dough is cut into strips on the table and rolled up.. The rolls are placed side by side on the tray and baked in the oven at 200 degrees.. When it comes out of the oven, garlic yoghurt and pan-fried butter are poured on it.

4. Kunculü Meatballs (Sesame Meatballs)

Kunculu meatballs, one of the most fancy dishes of Elazig cuisine. It is also rich as a difficult food and material variety.. It is a little difficult to find Kunculü Meatballs except for restaurants that serve local cuisine.. If you stumble upon your luck somewhere, be sure to taste it.

In Elazig, it’s called sesame küncü.. Kunculu meatballs: made from finely ground bulgur, sesame, flour, egg, onion, minced meat, black pepper, butter and walnuts.. In fact, the ingredients are so tempting that when all these come together, it is impossible to come up with a tasteless dish.. I love Küncülü, which takes time to knead, rest and prepare.. A delicious local dish that you can eat without bread.

5. Tenderloin with Sauce

I had heard of the fame of Tenderloin with Sauce before I came to Elazig. I was also a little curious, before I met the tenderloin with sauce.. Definitely a dish that lives up to its reputation.. I can easily say that it is one of the most delicious meals I have tasted in Elazig.. This dish, also called fillet with sauce, fillet skewer, is a taste that will hit the heart of meat lovers.

If you are not very good with meat, try it anyway, because there are vegetables in the dish and vegetables lighten the taste of heavy meat.. When the plate came in front of me, I thought the meat was waiting in sauce, but that’s not the case.. A delicious sauce is made with roasted tomatoes, roasted red peppers and tomato paste.. The skewers cooked in the barbecue fire are added to this sauce.. Both the look and the taste are delicious.

6. Boiled Kibbeh

Köfte with kibbeh is one of my favorite dishes. I love both boiled and fried.. I think it is one of the most important dishes of Turkish cuisine.. Elazig’s meat is beautiful, its food culture is rich, and its stuffed meatballs are also wonderful.. Kibbeh is made in Mardin, Diyarbakir, Urfa and many other cities, but be sure to try the one in Elazig.. The prepared mortar is filled into the hollow meatballs made of bulgur wheat.. Stuffed meatballs are boiled in boiling tomato paste water and served with butter poured on them.. In the past, it was made as a special day meal on holidays.. Do not forget to try this local taste, which is on the menu of most restaurants in Elazig.

7. Eggplant Söğürme

A delicious alternative for those who don’t eat meat or those who are full of meat in Elazig swollen eggplant. Eggplant lovers, on the other hand, are delicious enough to be addictive, a great taste.. In fact, let me admit that when we bought the first fork from eggplant söğürtme in Elazig, I started to faint.. It would be enough for me if I just ate this as a main dish.. There is no such flavor.

Aubergine willow has 4 ingredients: eggplant, butter, garlic and salt.. Roasted or boiled eggplants are peeled, chopped into small pieces and crushed (I ate the roasted one) Garlic and salt are pounded in a mortar. Crushed eggplants are roasted in butter for 5 minutes. Smashed garlic is added to the eggplant and roasted a little more and served hot.

8. Meatballs with Paste-Bread

The best advice I got before going to Elazig was, ‘When you go to Elazig, make sure to eat meatballs with tomato paste’.. People say how different can be meatballs and bread. But it’s not like that. Forget about the meatball-bread you ate before, you can only eat meatball-bread from Elazig in Elazig.

When I first went to Köfteciler Street, I was not very hungry. I ordered my meatball-bread with tomato paste as a quarter and the paste was burnt in half and I surprised my friends from Elazig. .

Meatballs are cooked on the grill, you choose the size of bread you want: quarter, half or whole. Thyme paste is spread between the bread. Meatballs are placed between the bread and the salad prepared with parsley and onion is added on top of the meatballs and compressed between the toaster.. Before serving, tomato paste is rubbed on it again.

There are 3 options: the paste is burnt, the paste is burnt to the end and with tomato paste.. If the paste is burnt all over, the paste cooked with thyme in the pan is spread on the whole bread.. If the paste is burnt, it is applied to the paste until half of the bread.. The result is delicious.

9. Palu Tava

Palu Tava was the first dish I ate as soon as I set foot in Elazig.. It looks very nice and tastes good. This delicacy, prepared on a round tray, looks like a Picasso painting with its colorful vegetables when viewed from afar.. Palu Tava, which creates its own composition with intertwined flavors and smells, is one of the indispensables of Elazig cuisine.

Palu Tava is made of 4 materials.. Base material is çebiç meat. 1-year-old male and female goats are called çebiç. Capricorn is the offspring of the goat we know.. The rib part of the Çebiç meat is cut like a cutlet.. The inside of the peppers is cleaned and divided into four parts.

Meat is placed on the peppers.. On the top, the tallow is cut into small pieces and added to the oven after salt is added.. Cooked in a stone oven for several hours. Do not forget to order Palu Tava before going to the restaurant, as it takes time to cook.

10. İşgene

Isgene is also known as İşkene, one of the main dishes of Elazig cuisine.. Ishgene, which you can see in the menus of the Ottoman Palace cuisine, has two varieties: roasted and chicken.. During my trip to Elazig, I ate the chicken one because I was full of red meat and I loved its taste.

Even though it was a meat dish, it was not heavy for me.. It is made from chicken meat, tandoori bread, oil, tomato paste, onion and parsley.. Oil, tomato paste and onions are roasted. Roasted chicken meat and water are added to this mixture and boiled.. This mixture is poured on chopped tandoori bread and served with parsley sprinkled on top.

11. Muhaşerli meatballs

Muhaşerli meatballs or Mukaşerli meatballs are one of the main dishes of Elazig cuisine.. If you like vegetarian food, this unique dish of Elazig cuisine is for you.. It has a high nutritional value and a very satisfying taste.

The type of chickpea called Mukaşer or Muhaşer is called black chickpea (black chickpea).. Small meatballs are made from chickpeas, bulgur and onions and boiled in water.. Slightly large meatballs made of boiled hazelnuts are served by pouring tomato paste and pepper sauce roasted in butter.

12. Balakgazi Böreği

Pastries in Elazig dishes are as diverse and delicious as meat dishes.. A flavor that combines meat and pastry, Balakgazi pastry is also a flavor that should be tried in Elazig.. I had it at five o’clock tea and it filled me up because it had meat in it.. I think it can be eaten as a meal as well.

For the pancake-shaped dough of the pastry, a fluid dough is prepared from flour, eggs and milk and cooked in a pan.. Minced meat is added to the onions fried in oil for the filling.. By adding the stuffing to the pancakes, thicker pastries are prepared, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried in oil.. Tea is a must with it.

13. Gömme Börek (Kömbe)

Gömme or Kömme is a delicious combination of meat and dough.. Elazig deserves to exceed its borders and more than that.. It is eaten at breakfast or at five o’clock tea.. The scent is already seductive. I was lucky I ate at a friend’s house from Elazig. If you know anyone from Elazig, ask them persistently.

A dough is made from flour, salt and carbonate for embedding.. After the dough has rested, the meringues are made and rolled out thinly.. One layer of roasting oil and one layer of oil and walnuts are added and the dough is continued until the end of the dough.. Finally, it is oiled and baked in the oven until golden brown.. The result is tremendous.

14. Harput Soup

Harput Soup One of the unique flavors of Elazig. The ingredient list is bouncy, and it has Hashish that I’ve never heard of before.. Haspir is a flower from the Daisy family that blooms in different colors such as yellow, red and orange towards the end of summer.. It is also known as prairie saffron.

To prepare the soup, chickpeas and pounded wheat are soaked overnight.. Yogurt mixes with eggs, flour and salt water.. In a separate bowl, oil, onion and minced meat are roasted, and nasturtium and mint are added.. This mixture is poured on the prepared soup.

If cold Harput Soup is to be made, meat is not added.. I ate the meatless. It was June when I visited Elazig, and since the weather was quite hot, I ate meatless.. If I go again, I will taste the meaty one too.

15. We can define Patila

Patila as a pancake unique to Elazig. But even if we call this pancake you know, it would be unfair to Elazig cuisine.. The dough is rolled out thinner than pancakes. It is also made in the pan, but the one that comes out of the wood oven is acceptable.. When you drizzle butter on it as soon as it comes out of the oven, a legendary Elazig flavor emerges.. The inner mortar is placed on half of the dough opened in a round shape and closed with the other half.. A finger-wide gap is left on the edge of the closed dough.. A little decoration is made by pressing the edges with a spoon or fingertips.

A favorite of pastry lovers, Patila is a tea time pastry for me, and I ate it with cheese and potatoes for breakfast, it was delicious.. Patilla with minced meat is a bit heavy for breakfast, but it is very popular.

16. Sweet Cheese Pide

Elazig local dishes are all delicious, but for me, the most indispensable taste I’ve eaten in Elazig sweet cheese pide. I got a lot of advice about pita, saying, ‘If you go to Elazig, you must eat it, don’t come back before you eat it’.. they were right. Sweet Cheese Pide has surpassed all meat dishes, pastries and soups for me.

They eat pita with cheese as a meal in Elazig.. The ingredients are actually simple dough, cheese and sugar.. It is difficult to understand this part of how this flavor is created with so few ingredients.. Unsalted cheese is kneaded with sugar and spread on the pita.

Pistachios are also ground on it.. The application for the geographical indication of the cheese pita has also been made.. I hope we can eat pita with cheese in other cities as Elazig brand soon.

17. Cherry Ice Cream

Cherry Ice Cream, the favorite ice cream of the people of Elazig. The most common answer to the question of what to eat and drink in Elazig: cherry ice cream. Since I love fruit ice cream, I tried the famous cherry ice cream as soon as I went to Elazig.

Imagine an intense cherry flavor.. It’s like you just ate a big bowl of cherries and their flavor stuck in your throat.. When summer comes, it is not like its derivatives, which are sold as fruit ice cream, but without a speck of fruit in it.. A real taste, a seductive taste. It is made from sour cherries grown in Elazig.. Cherry ice cream of Elazig, like a sprinkle of happiness sprinkled on hot Elazig days.

18. Orcik

Orcik, the walnut sausage of Elazig. Walnut sausage is available everywhere, what’s the difference with the one in Elazig? Because Elazig is the land of grapes, the homeland of a thousand and one kinds of grapes.. Then it is fard to eat Orcik in Elazig.. I ate a lot of Orcik in Elazig because I love to eat grapes and every delicacy made from grapes, and I brought gifts to friends and family as it is easy to carry and does not spoil easily.. These threads are dipped in grape or mulberry must boiled with flour and this process is repeated many times.. The orcik that thickens each time is left to dry in the sun.. Orcik, which is made during the vintage period, is usually made from chiffoni grapes.. Eaten with tea on winter days, orcik gives energy and is very nutritious with its high calories.

19. Dolanger Dessert

Dolanger dessert, the most famous dessert of Elazig. Dolanger, which is loved by the people of Elazig, is made both at home and in restaurants.. From the outside, it looks like sherbet desserts in the baklava category.. Similar ones are probably made in other provinces as well.

It should be added to desserts in Elazig’s local delicacies.. I ate for the first time in Elazig and I liked it very much.. Difficult to make but very good to eat. Desserts with sorbet are usually heavy, but the dolanger is definitely too light.. The dough prepared for Dolanger is rolled out one by one to be very thin.. It compresses the dough from both sides on the rolling pin and separates from the rolling pin.. After the dolanger, which is placed on the tray in the oven, is fried, the syrup is poured on it.

20. Agin’s Roasted Chickpeas

Agin’s district of Elazig. Grand chickpeas of the network takes its name from this district.. It is made of a chickpea species with a hairy, thick shell, unique to Ağın, which has adapted to a calcareous soil structure.. This chickpea species is grown in natural environments without any chemical spraying or fertilization.. Here is the crucial point of the netted chickpeas.

What distinguishes the netted chickpea from other chickpeas is the soil it grows and the technique of making it.. Hairy chickpeas grown in Ağın region are boiled in ash water in the furnaces.. Boiling is not done in other regions.. Boiled chickpeas are roasted once in a carbonated sand. After roasting, the skin is removed and sold as such.

21. Şavak Overalls

Şavak overalls are named after Şavak. The name of a tribe living in Erzincan, Tunceli and Elazig, which is mostly engaged in animal husbandry, has not completely broken away from the nomadic lifestyle.. Şavak’s tulum is the most delicious cheese you will eat in Elazığ, and it is an addictive flavor especially for those who love tulum cheese.. This cheese, which is usually prepared with a mixture of sheep and goat milk, has a very special aroma as it also carries the smell of the baguette in which it is matured.. No bitter taste and odor in some Tulum cheeses. If you go to Elazig, be sure to try the Şavak overalls.

22. Pestil

Pestil or basmati, a traditional flavor made from Elazig’s grapes. In the lands where so many varieties and aromatic grapes are grown, it is impossible to leave Elazig without trying Pestil.. Pestil, which is in the same category as Orcik, is really beautiful in Elazig.

Grapes are collected and boiled during the vintage period to make fruit pulp.. A little flour is mixed into the boiled wort and dried in the sun on a thin. Sometimes sesame seeds are added to the thin dough sheet.. Basically, the orchid-like fruit pulp is rolled up like a pastry in layers.. It tastes even more delicious when you put walnuts between it while eating the pestil.. The one made from mulberry is just as good as the one made from grapes.

23. Harput Dibek Kahvesi

Still, we turned around and the door came to Harput. Because I love coffee so much, my radar is clear about coffee.. I tried Harput Coffee in Elazig too. I like it because I like soft and aromatic coffees. It may be a little light for those who like strong coffee.

Harput Dibek coffee contains finely ground, medium roasted Turkish coffee, cocoa, coffee cream and cardamom plant.. Two-thirds of the classic Turkish coffee cup is filled with water and the remaining part is filled with Harput Dibek Coffee.. Sugar is added upon request.. I drank without sugar. It’s good without sugar as it has a mild flavor.. Turkish coffee has no bitter taste.

24. Grape

Grape is not only a flavor in Elazig, it is also the symbol of the city.. From past to present, it is both the locomotive of Elazig’s economy and an integral part of socio-cultural life.. The most important agricultural product that Elazig sells to both the domestic and foreign markets. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I summed it up as Elazig means grapes.

In Elazig, where 60 kinds of grapes are grown, the annual average product amount is 85 thousand tons.. Actually, there were more varieties, but some species disappeared due to lack of interest.. The geographical indication of Öküzgözü and Boğazkere grapes has been obtained in Elazığ, whose climate and geography are very suitable for grape production.. Applications have also been made for the development and registration of other grape varieties.

25. Wine

Wine is not consumed much in Elazig, but there is a great potential for wine production in Elazig.. The history of wine production, which does not attract much attention nowadays, dates back to the Hittites.. The registered agricultural product of Öküzgözü Elazığ, which is the pillar of wine production in Turkey.

Two big producers Kayra and Eskibağlar Vineyards in Elazığ are working hard for wine production and grape development.. You can try the wines of these two companies, which produce high quality wine, in the vineyards in Elazig.. I’m not very good with alcohol, but I tasted half a glass of Eskibağlar wine.