Turkish Cooking Class in Istanbul: Market, Kitchen and What You Cook

A Turkish cooking class in Istanbul usually lasts two to three hours in the kitchen, or around four to six hours when it starts with a market walk, and ends with you eating the four or five dishes you have cooked. Most classes follow the same shape: buy or look at ingredients in a local market, cook a set menu of mezze, a main dish and a dessert with a cook, then sit down to the meal. We do not run a cooking school ourselves, but the market half of the experience is what our food walks do every day: our Istanbul street food tour, from $90 per person, takes you through local markets and food stops with a specialist guide. Below is what to expect from a class, what you will probably cook, and how to plan the day around it.

The short answer: what a class looks like

Classes come in three main forms. Cooking schools in the Old City and Beyoğlu run set menus for small groups in a professional kitchen. Home kitchens are hosted by a local cook in an apartment, often on the Asian side, with a family-style meal. Market-and-cook days combine a guided market visit with a class. The cooking is broadly the same; the atmosphere is not.

What you will cook

Menus change with the season and with the school, but a class usually covers one dish from each part of a Turkish meal. These are the dishes that appear most often:

• Mezze. Stuffed vine leaves (yaprak sarma), either with rice, pine nuts and currants cooked in olive oil, or with minced meat and served with yoghurt. Also ezme, a spicy chopped tomato and pepper salad, and haydari, thick strained yoghurt with garlic and herbs.
• Soup. Red lentil soup (mercimek çorbası), the everyday soup of every Turkish home and lokanta, finished with butter and dried mint or chilli.
• Dough. Mantı, small meat dumplings served with garlic yoghurt and paprika butter, or pide, boat-shaped flatbread. Rolling dough is the hands-on highlight of many classes and the part people photograph most.
• Olive oil vegetables. Dishes cooked in olive oil and served cold, such as green beans or artichokes, which show the Aegean side of the cuisine.
• Main dish. Köfte (meatballs), a stew such as hünkar beğendi (lamb on smoked aubergine purée) in Ottoman-themed classes, or stuffed aubergines (karnıyarık and its meatless cousin imam bayıldı).
• Dessert. Şekerpare (syrupy semolina biscuits), sütlaç (rice pudding) or a simplified baklava. Making real baklava from scratch takes years of practice, so most classes use ready-made filo sheets.

Turkish coffee is often part of the end of the session. Its preparation in a cezve, a small long-handled pot, is part of a coffee culture that UNESCO added to its intangible heritage list in 2013.

If you are vegetarian, Turkish home cooking is easier than many visitors expect: a large part of the mezze and olive oil repertoire contains no meat. Say so when booking so that the school can adjust the menu. Our Istanbul vegetarian food tour page has more on meat-free eating in the city.

The market part: where cooks actually shop

The market walk is the part of the day that tells you most about how Istanbul eats, and you can do it with or without a class.

• Spice Bazaar, Eminönü. The Spice Bazaar is the classic first stop: spices, dried fruit, nuts, Turkish delight, herbal teas. The streets around it, especially towards the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, are where restaurant buyers pick up cheese, olives, cured meats and coffee. Our private shopping tour of the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market, from $90 per person, covers this area with a licensed guide.
• Kadıköy market streets. On the Asian side, the pedestrian streets of the Kadıköy market are full of fishmongers, greengrocers, pickle shops, olive and cheese sellers and delis. It is where many home-kitchen classes start. Read more on our things to do in Kadıköy and Kadıköy and Moda pages.
• Weekly neighbourhood markets. Istanbul's street markets, called pazar, set up on fixed days. The best known is the Wednesday market in Fatih, one of the largest in the city. These are working markets for residents, not tourist sights, and they are good for seeing seasonal produce.

What you see depends on the season. Spring brings artichokes, broad beans and green almonds; summer brings tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and figs; autumn brings quince, pomegranates and chestnuts; winter is the season for citrus, leeks and Black Sea anchovies.

School, home kitchen or market tour: how to choose

A few points matter more than the price. Group size: with more than ten people around one counter, you watch more than you cook. Menu: most schools set the menu a few days in advance, so ask what it will be on your date. Location: a class on the Asian side means a ferry ride, which is pleasant but adds time.

When to book and how to fit it into your trip

Morning classes that start with the market are the most common, and they fit well on a day when you have nothing else fixed. Afternoon classes work if you want to see a mosque or museum in the morning. Book a few days ahead, because group sizes are small, and earlier in spring and autumn, which are the busiest months for visitors.

Some practical notes:

• Sundays. The Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays, while the Spice Bazaar usually stays open. If your market walk includes both, choose a weekday or Saturday.
• Do not combine with a big dinner. You will eat a full meal at the end of the class. Plan a light evening, or a walk across the Galata Bridge and Eminönü waterfront.
• Shopping for home. Spices, dried herbs, pomegranate molasses and Turkish coffee travel well and are what most people take home after a class. Check your own country's rules on bringing in cheese, meat and fresh produce, which are often restricted.
• Children. Many classes accept children who can work at a counter; rolling mantı or stuffing vine leaves suits them well. Ask about age limits first.

In a 3-day Istanbul itinerary, the best slot is usually the morning of day two or three, after you have seen the main monuments of the Old City.

A food day with a guide instead of a class

If you want the market, the tastings and the stories without standing at a stove, a guided food day is the simpler option. Our street food tour runs as a small-group walk through local neighbourhoods and markets with a guide who specialises in food. Along the way you taste street snacks, kebabs and regional dishes, a Turkish breakfast table, baklava and Turkish delight, and finish with tea and coffee. There is a day walk of about six hours and a shorter sunset walk.

If you prefer to go privately, a private Istanbul tour with a licensed guide, from $199 per group per day, can be built around the Spice Bazaar, the food streets of Eminönü and a ferry to the Kadıköy market. See our private Istanbul food tour page for how that kind of day works, and the food tours page for all options.

Tours that cover this

• Istanbul Street Food Tour: Local Neighbourhoods, Baklava and Coffee, from $90 per person. Small-group walk through markets and food stops.
• Private Istanbul Shopping Tour: Grand Bazaar and Spice Market Guide, from $90 per person. A private guide for the spice and food stalls.
• Private Istanbul Tour with a Licensed Guide: 1, 2 or 3 Days, from $199 per group. A day planned around food markets and neighbourhoods.

More ideas are on our experiences page and in the Istanbul destination guide.

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