The Levant and Anatolia · Volume 01, The Oil Coast, the Anchovy Coast and the Court Between Them
Balık Ekmek
Istanbul, Eminönü
Illustration
- Time
- 20 minutes
- Researched
- 20 sources cited
The fish sandwich sold from boats at the Galata Bridge, and the most everyday dish here.
No precise historical quantities were found for this dish; it is a street-vendor preparation, documented as beginning in the 1960s by the Istanbul fish wholesalers' trade association, with no earlier date or named originator. The version below is our own working ratio, built from consistent modern practice.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 20 minutes.
Ingredients
The tradition's method, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them.
- 4 mackerel fillets
- a very little, only if the pan needs it oil
- 1 crusty white loaf, torn into wedges
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- as available salad greens
- a wedge lemon
Method
- Pan-fry the mackerel fillets in their own released oil, skin side down first, until just cooked through.
- Serve immediately in a torn wedge of bread with raw onion, salad greens and a squeeze of lemon.
What a modern chef changes
Freshness and heat as the only real technique this dish has.
No rung, a sourcing discipline rather than a technique change
Method
- Buy the freshest mackerel available and cook it the same day. This dish has no sauce, no marinade and almost no cooking time to hide behind; the fish itself is the entire dish.
- Serve within minutes of cooking, in warm bread. This is not a dish built to rest; it is the direct opposite case to the zeytinyağlı family above, and treating it that way is itself the correct technique.