Karadeniz Cuisine Guide: Corn, Anchovies & Butter

Karadeniz cuisine is the cooking of Turkey's Black Sea coast, from Samsun and Sinop east to Trabzon, Rize and Artvin. It runs on corn rather than wheat, on hamsi (Black Sea anchovy) in winter, and on butter and cheese from mountain pastures. Kuymak (cornmeal cooked in butter and cheese), cornbread, black cabbage soup, closed pide (leavened flatbread) and Rize tea define it, not kebab.

Key Takeaways

• Corn is the region's historical grain, not wheat. Steep, wet slopes suit it, so cornmeal goes into bread, soup, kuymak and the coating on fried fish.
• Hamsi season runs roughly November to March. Trabzon cooks fry it, bake it into bread and wrap it around rice.
• Rize is the wettest province in Turkey and the home of Turkish tea. Commercial tea gardens were planted there in the first half of the twentieth century.
• Turkey grows more hazelnuts than any other country. Ordu and Giresun are the heart of that crop.
• Kuymak and mıhlama are the same dish under two names — fine cornmeal cooked in butter with a melting local cheese, eaten at breakfast.

Drive east from Samsun and the country changes shape. Mountains come down to the water, tea gardens climb from the shoulder of the highway, and the air stays damp in a way the rest of Turkey does not recognize.

By Trabzon the bakeries sell cornbread. By Rize the hillsides are terraced in tea. In winter the fish stalls are all one fish, sold by the kilo out of plastic crates.

This is not kebab country.

This is the regional overview: geography, the corn-anchovy-butter triangle, the dishes worth knowing, and how to shop for them in the US. Our complete guide to Turkish recipes by region shows where the coast sits on the wider map, and the fish already has its own guide to hamsi in Turkish cooking, which this article does not repeat.

What Makes Karadeniz Cuisine Different From the Rest of Turkey?

Most Turkish cooking sorts into families. The Aegean pours olive oil over greens. The southeast, Gaziantep above all, builds on lamb, bulgur, pistachio and clarified butter. Karadeniz cuisine sits apart from both, and the differences are structural rather than a matter of spice.

• Corn over wheat. Cornmeal was the everyday starch for centuries, and cornbread, corn soup and cornmeal porridge still carry the identity.
• Butter over olive oil. Olives are a rarity on this coast. Cows are not.
• Fish over meat. Hamsi above all. Akçaabat köfte (grilled meat patties) is famous, but meat is not the daily protein it is in the southeast.
• Greens and beans over eggplant. Karalahana (a dark, collard-like cabbage), white beans and pumpkin do the vegetable work.
• Melting cheese as an ingredient. Fresh and lightly aged cheeses are cooked into dishes, most famously kuymak.

How Does the Geography Shape Black Sea Cooking?

The Pontic Mountains run parallel to the coast and, in the east, rise steeply within a few miles of the shore. Moist air off the sea hits them and drops its water. Rize is the wettest province in Turkey, with more than 2,000 millimeters (roughly 80 inches) of rain in a typical year.

That climate decides almost everything.

Why Corn Instead of Wheat?

Wheat wants flat, drained fields and a dry ripening season. The eastern Black Sea has neither. Corn, which reached the Ottoman lands from the Americas, tolerates slopes and rain, and within a couple of centuries it was the staple grain of the coast.

Tea, Hazelnuts and High Pastures

Two cash crops grow where little else would. Tea was planted around Rize in the first half of the twentieth century; how a Black Sea crop became the national drink is told in our guide to Turkish tea culture and çay rituals. Farther west, Ordu and Giresun are hazelnut country, and Turkey is the world's largest hazelnut producer by a wide margin.

Above the tea line are the yayla (highland summer pastures), source of the region's butter, yogurt and cheese — and the reason dairy sits at the center of the kitchen.

What Does Karadeniz Cooking Do With Hamsi?

Hamsi is at its fattest in the cold months. The season runs roughly November to March, when the fish is cheap, everywhere and eaten almost daily along the coast. The rest of the year it is a memory and the subject of folk songs.

The local boast is that there are dozens of ways to cook it. Four cover most tables:

• Hamsi tava. Fish dredged in cornmeal and fried, often laid in an overlapping ring so they come out as one crisp disc.
• Hamsili pilav. Rice pilaf — onion, and often currants and pine nuts — wrapped in butterflied anchovies and baked until the fish crisps.
• Hamsi buğulama. Anchovies gently braised with onion, tomato, parsley and lemon. The quiet opposite of the fried version.
• Hamsili ekmek. Cornbread with anchovies baked into the batter.

What Are the Corn, Butter and Cheese Dishes to Know?

Mısır ekmeği (cornbread) is the baseline: dense, unsweetened, fine cornmeal and little else — a world away from American cornbread with its sugar and baking powder. Traditionally it was baked in a pileki, a shallow stone or clay dish set in the embers.

Trabzon butter is the fat: deep yellow and grassy from cows grazed on high pastures, and used without restraint. Much of the traditional kind is churned from yogurt rather than sweet cream, which gives it a faint tang. Where butter and clarified butter each fit, see our guide to Turkish butter and sadeyağ.

The cheese is local, fresh or lightly aged. Kolot (a firm, mild cheese made around Trabzon and Rize) is the classic melting cheese. In the US a young kaşar (semi-hard yellow cheese) melts in a similar way and is the standard substitute.

Kuymak or Mıhlama?

Put the three together in a pan and you get the region's signature dish. Melt butter, stir in fine cornmeal, cook briefly, add cheese and stir until molten and stringy. It is eaten hot from the pan, at breakfast, with bread for scooping. Trabzon and Giresun call it kuymak; Rize and Artvin tend to say mıhlama. Our mıhlama recipe with the cheese and cornmeal ratios walks through it step by step, so this guide will not.

Building the pantry: the melting cheeses that stand in for kolot are on the Turkish cheese shelf, and the dried white beans for karalahana soup sit with the rest of the dry beans and legumes.

Which Other Karadeniz Dishes Should You Know?

Beyond the corn-fish-butter core, a short list explains most of a Black Sea menu.

• Karalahana çorbası. A thick soup of shredded black cabbage, white beans and cornmeal or corn kernels, sometimes with a little meat for depth. It is the everyday winter soup.
• Karalahana sarması. Sarma (stuffed leaf rolls) made with the same leaves, wrapped around rice or bulgur with cornmeal and minced meat. Bigger and earthier than the grape-leaf kind.
• Karadeniz pidesi. Black Sea pide is closed, not boat-shaped. Trabzon pide is a long, sealed loaf filled with cheese, kavurma (meat slow-cooked in its own fat) or minced meat, finished with butter. Bafra pide, from the Samsun district of Bafra, is thinner, rolled tight and cut into short pieces.
• Akçaabat köfte. From the Trabzon district of Akçaabat: coarse-ground beef with garlic, bound with a little stale bread, shaped into flattened ovals and grilled over charcoal.
• Laz böreği. Despite the name, not a savory börek (layered pastry): thin dough layered with milk custard, baked, soaked in syrup and often dusted with black pepper. It belongs to the Laz communities of Rize and Artvin.
• Hamsiköy sütlacı. Sütlaç (rice pudding) from a mountain village above Trabzon, known across the region.

How Do You Cook Black Sea Food From a US Turkish Grocery?

You cannot ship the rain, but the pantry travels well and sits in any well-stocked Turkish grocery in the US.

• Cornmeal. Turkish mısır unu (cornmeal) is ground fine, closer to corn flour than to American medium grind. Use fine for kuymak and cornbread; medium works for dredging fish.
• Butter. A good cultured or European-style butter gets you close to the Trabzon kind. Buy more than you think you need.
• Melting cheese. Young kaşar for kuymak, plus a fresh white cheese for the table; our breakdown of Turkish cheeses from beyaz peynir to kaşar explains which is which.
• Anchovies. Fresh hamsi almost never reaches the US. Some Turkish groceries carry it frozen in season; otherwise small fresh anchovies or well-rinsed salted anchovies stand in.
• Dried white beans. For karalahana soup, with collard greens standing in for the cabbage.
• Rize tea. Loose-leaf black tea, brewed strong in a double teapot and diluted to taste. No Black Sea meal ends without it.
• Hazelnuts. Whole, roasted or as a paste, for the dessert side of the table.

Kuymak takes ten minutes, hamsi tava five. This is weeknight food, which is more than can be said for baklava.

The drink and the dessert: the Rize black teas that finish every Black Sea meal are on the Turkish tea shelf, and roasted hazelnuts from the same coast live in the nuts and seeds range.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Karadeniz cuisine known for?

Karadeniz cuisine is known for corn in place of wheat, the Black Sea anchovy called hamsi, and butter and melting cheese from mountain pastures. Signature dishes include kuymak, dense cornbread, black cabbage soup, closed pide and fried anchovies in winter. Rize tea and hazelnuts round it out.

Why is corn so important in Black Sea cooking?

The eastern Black Sea coast is steep, wet and short on flat land, which suits corn far better than wheat. After corn arrived from the Americas it became the staple grain and stayed so for centuries. Cornmeal still goes into bread, soup, kuymak and the coating on fried hamsi.

What is the difference between kuymak and mıhlama?

None in the dish itself. Both are fine cornmeal cooked in butter with a melting local cheese, stirred until stringy and eaten hot with bread. Kuymak is the name around Trabzon and Giresun; mıhlama is more common in Rize and Artvin. Each province insists its version is the correct one.

When is hamsi season in Turkey?

Hamsi season runs roughly November to March, when the Black Sea anchovy is fattest and cheapest. During that window it is eaten almost daily along the coast, fried in cornmeal, baked over rice or braised with vegetables. Outside the season it is largely absent from markets.

What can I substitute for karalahana in the US?

Collard greens are the closest substitute for karalahana, the dark, collard-like cabbage used in Black Sea soup and sarma. They have a similar leaf structure and stand up to long simmering. Lacinato kale also works for the soup. Avoid ordinary green cabbage, which turns soft too quickly.

Is Karadeniz food spicy?

Not in the chili sense. Black Sea cooking relies on butter, salt, black pepper and the natural flavor of corn, dairy and fish rather than on red pepper. What heat there is comes from a little pul biber (Turkish red pepper flakes) at the table. For fiery Turkish food, look to the southeast.