Azerbaijani cuisine has common features with the Transcaucasian cuisines, while on this basis it has created its own menu and flavor range, giving it its originality. The cuisine of this country is focused on the preparation of vegetable and meat dishes. Long-term recipe traditions, harmonious combination of meat and vegetable components give the Azerbaijani cuisine originality and uniqueness.
National features of Azerbaijani cuisine
The main meat in Azerbaijan is mutton, while young lambs are preferred. Veal and various game (partridges, quails, pheasants, etc.) are also very often used. In most cases, they tend to use just young meat, because it is customary to cook it over an open fire. The taste of meat is combined with sour fruits (cherry plum, pomegranate, dogwood): cornelian cherry gives flavor to veal, cherry plum to mutton, and pomegranate to game.
Unlike Transcaucasian cuisines, Azerbaijani uses fish, which is usually cooked on a grill or grill, baked with nuts or fruits. Also, fish is prepared using the steam bath method. Azerbaijanis prefer to use red fish.
Fruits, vegetables, herbs (especially spicy herbs) are used raw, boiled and fried. Almost half of the volume of any dish is made up of vegetables or herbs. When cooking vegetable and meat dishes, the meat is very boiled, therefore such dishes are vegetable porridge with meat gravy.
Potatoes are often used in modern Azerbaijani cuisine, but traditionally this vegetable was not used and was replaced with chestnuts. Some classic Azerbaijani meat spices are combined with them: mountain (unripe grapes), nar (pomegranate and its juice), sumakh (barberry), abgora (grape juice after fermentation), etc.
Azerbaijanis mainly use aboveground vegetables (artichokes, asparagus, cabbage, peas, beans), rarely cook beets, radishes or carrots. Spicy and aromatic herbs, as well as nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, etc.) are held in high esteem by Azerbaijanis.
It is customary to use green onions, leeks, lemon balm, dill, garlic as spices for fried meat dishes. When frying, butter is used. Rose petals are used as an aromatic plant for making jams, syrups.
The traditional national dish is Azerbaijani pilaf, for which rice is served separately from the rest of the ingredients, without mixing them even during meals. Rice should not crack, boil, or become sticky. To make delicious Azerbaijani pilaf, only local varieties of rice are used. Meat, game or eggs are used as an additive.
Rice is usually served a little warm so that the oil does not cool in it. The meat or meat-fruit portion is served on a separate platter. Thus, the real national pilaf always consists of three parts.
Eating young meat, game, dairy products, herbs, vegetables makes the Azerbaijani cuisine healthy and healthy. Also, Azerbaijanis limit their salt intake. It is customary to serve the meat unsalted; the taste is given with the help of sour fruit juices.
Azerbaijani lunch rules
A classic lunch lasts about 3 hours. It starts with appetizers (balyk with green onions, radishes, fresh cucumber, which is eaten with churek and washed down with iron), while vegetables are served uncut. Then sour fruits (cherry plum, peaches) are served. Then comes the turn of soups - piti, kyufta-bozbash or dovgy.
Next, the second courses are served: after piti, it is customary to serve galya (veal with dogwood) or dolma, chickens or pheasants on a spit, after dovgi, lamb govurma may follow. Second courses are abundantly accompanied by spicy herbs.
After the second one comes the turn of the main course - Azerbaijani pilaf. If the previous dishes included lamb, then pilaf should be with a bird. When the soup contains game, pilaf is prepared with herbs, fruits or eggs.
After pilaf comes dessert in the form of a sauce of raisins, dried apricots, almonds or pomegranate juice. Sherbet, halva, cookies, kaymak with honey can be served as a sweet. Desserts are accompanied by tea, which is drunk with any meal. Azerbaijanis prefer strong long tea, which they drink from narrow pear-shaped vessels.
