Grilled Beef Köfte with Chile Sauce & White Bean Salad

For Istanbul’s most tender, moist, smoky char-grilled köfte, head to Hüseyin’s in the central Beyoğlu district. Each order consists of six little beef patties arranged next to a fan of thin tomato slices and a classic white bean salad, with a kicky chile sauce on the side.

The secret to Hüseyin’s beef patties is fat, which keeps them moist. Like any good köfte maker, the chef at Hüseyin’s minces the meat by hand, adding plenty of beef fat and seasoning only with salt. (Mincing ground beef and handling it lightly when you form the patties will give the tender texture of those at Hüseyin’s.) Use the fattiest ground beef you can find (you can also ask your butcher to grind a fatty cut like brisket or skirt steak and add additional fat). When forming the patties, don’t make them larger than directed, or you’ll throw off Hüseyin’s winning ratio of charred crust to the tender interior.

The recipe for Hüseyin’s chili sauce is a well-guarded secret. I’ve come close to replicating it by fermenting the chopped chiles before finishing the sauce, a trick I learned from cookbook author Andrea Nguyen. Because the chiles have to ferment for up to 4 days, you need to start the sauce well ahead. It keeps well in the refrigerator, and leftovers are lovely dolloped over scrambled eggs.

Preparation time: 1½ hours, plus up to 5 days for the chiles to ferment and sit after mixing

Serves 4

·    For the sauce

·               1 pound red chiles, such as jalapeño, cayenne, or Holland, stems snipped but caps left on, seeded or not, coarsely chopped

·               Filtered or bottled water (optional)

·               1½ teaspoons fine sea salt, or to taste

·               1¾ teaspoons apple cider vinegar, or to taste

·               Sugar (optional)

·    For the salad

·               1 small red onion, cut in half top to bottom and thinly sliced crosswise

·               4 cups cooked white beans (about two and a half 15-ounce cans)

·               ¼ cup olive oil

·               1¼ teaspoons fine sea salt

·               ½ cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

·               2 medium carrots, peeled and grated

·               2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped

·    For the beef patties

·               1½ pounds ground beef, preferably 20 to 40% fat (see headnote)

·               1½ teaspoons fine sea salt

·               1 tablespoon olive oil (if the meat is not fatty)

·               2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

·               Apple cider vinegar or red or white verjus, for serving

·               Turkish or regular crushed red pepper flakes, for serving

       1. Make the chile sauce: Put the chiles and salt in a food processor and process to a coarse paste; add filtered or bottled water 1 tablespoon at a time if needed to facilitate chopping. Transfer the mixture to a glass or ceramic bowl and stir in the salt. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a draft-free place until the mixture begins to bubble, up to 4 days. If any fuzzy mold forms on the surface, lift it off with the tip of a knife.

         2. Transfer the chile mixture to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool, then transfer to a food processor and process to a puree, adding a little water if needed.

        3. Use a spoon or spatula to press or mash the puree through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl; discard the skins and seeds left in the strainer. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. Stir in the vinegar. Cover the sauce and let it stand at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.

         4. Taste the sauce again. Add more vinegar ½ teaspoon at a time if necessary, but be careful not to add too much; the vinegar should sharpen the flavor of the sauce, not make it overtly sour. Add a pinch or two of sugar for balance if needed. Cover the sauce and set aside at room temperature for a few hours before serving or storing in the refrigerator.

       5. Soak the onion: Place the onion in a small bowl, cover with ice water, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

        6. While the onion is soaking, make the beef patties: Spread the ground beef out on a large cutting board, forming a rectangle with a thickness of about ¼ inch. Sprinkle over the salt and drizzle over the olive oil if your beef is not very fatty. With a large chef’s knife, make horizontal cuts in the beef across the board, rocking the knife back and forth to incorporate the salt into the meat. Turn the cutting board 90 degrees and repeat, cutting crosswise over your first cuts. Slip the blade of your knife underneath one short edge of the rectangle of meat and fold one third of the rectangle over toward the center. Repeat from the opposite edge of the meat, then fold half of the meat in from the top and then the bottom edges. You should now have a small squareish mound of ground meat. Repeat the horizontal and vertical cutting and the folding two or three times, until the salt is fully incorporated.

   7. Lightly oil a large platter. Divide the meat into 16 roughly equal pieces. Form each one into a little puck about 1¾ inches in diameter and ¾ inch thick. Use a light touch when handling the meat—be careful not to squeeze or compress it when forming the patties.

  8. Make the salad: Drain the onion and pat dry with paper towels. Mix the onion, beans, oil, salt, parsley, carrots, and tomatoes in a large bowl.

  9. Cook the beef patties: Heat a charcoal or gas grill, or heat the broiler with a rack set 3 inches below the heating element. Grill or broil the patties until browned and crusty, 5 to 8 minutes, then flip and brown the other side.

 10. Serve the beef patties with the sliced tomatoes, salad, and chile sauce alongside, passing vinegar and red pepper flakes at the table.

Hot-Pink Quick Pickled Cabbage :
I can’t imagine a meal of grilled fish by the Bosphorus without this pickled cabbage, which is usually served on an oval platter with shredded arugula and grated carrot— a tricolor homage to Turkey’s love of salad.

Lemony tart and not too salty, the pickled cabbage is delicious on its own and perks up plain leaf lettuce salads, especially in winter, when fresh tomatoes leave much to be desired. It makes a great addition to Connoisseur’s Griddled Fish Sandwich. You can substitute green cabbage for red, though the color won’t be as pretty.

Preparation time: 15 minutes, plus at least 1 hour resting time

Makes about 4 cups

·               1 medium-large head red cabbage, shredded

·               1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher or other coarse salt

·               ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

·               2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or white verjus

·                       Fine sea salt (optional)

1. Place the cabbage in a colander, rinse, and shake dry. Transfer to a large bowl, sprinkle over the kosher salt, and work it into the cabbage with your fingers until it begins to soften 30 seconds to 1 minute. Don’t overwork the cabbage—you don’t want it completely limp.

2. Dump the cabbage back into the colander. Rinse out the bowl and then rinse the cabbage, tossing it with your fingers to remove most of the salt. Shake dry and place back in the bowl. Add the lemon juice and vinegar or verjus and toss. Taste the cabbage—it should be quite tart and a little salty. Add more lemon juice ½ teaspoon at a time and/or fine salt by the pinch if necessary.

3. Cover the cabbage and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. It will keep for days but will begin to soften dramatically after 3 hours. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Chocolate-Filled Crescent Pastries :

These generously sized crescent-shaped pastries, featuring a thin, flaky pastry shell with a moist dried-fruit-and-nut-studded chocolate filling, are a staple at bakeries all over Istanbul. Made with leftover pound or butter cake, cocoa, powdered sugar, and milk, “moon biscuits,” as they’re called in Turkish, are one of my favorite Istanbul indulgences. They’re easy to make at home. This recipe was inspired by the crescent pastries from Oktay Pastanesi in Beşiktaş.

You can use any leftover or fresh dense-crumbed plain cake and either natural or the more intensely chocolaty Dutch-process cocoa powder for the filling. Most Istanbul versions include walnuts and raisins, but you can use almost any combination of nuts and dried fruit, or leave them out. The pastry is similar to piecrust; if you’re short on time, you can substitute three store-bought 9-inch crusts and trim them to fit.

These treats are best within a day or two of baking (keep in a covered container or wrap in plastic wrap), but they freeze well.

Preparation time: 1½ to 2 hours

Makes 8 large crescents

·    For the pastry wrappers

·               3 cups plus 2 tablespoons (12½ ounces) all-purpose flour, plus flour for kneading and rolling out the pastry

·               1 tablespoon sugar

·               1 teaspoon fine sea salt

·               8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

·               ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces

·               ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water

    For the filling

·                  3cups pound cake or butter cake crumbs

·                 ⅓cup natural or Dutch-process cocoa powder, or to taste

·                   3tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

·         ½ cup whole milk, plus more if needed

·         A generous ¼ cup dried fruit, such as raisins, diced dried apricots, or dried cherries

 ·           ½ cup chopped nuts, such as walnuts, blanched hazelnuts, or blanched almonds

   For the wash

·           1  egg yolk

·            1 teaspoon water

·         Pinch of fine sea salt

           2mounded tablespoons chopped nuts, for garnish (optional)

1. Make the pastry: Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the butter and shortening and cut in the fat using two knives, or rub the fat and flour together with your fingertips until they form coarse crumbs. Add the ice water and toss with a fork until the dough begins to come together (add more water a teaspoon at a time if it is too dry). Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2. While the dough is chilling, make the filling: Put the cake crumbs, cocoa powder, and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix with a fork. Stir in the milk. Taste the filling and add more cocoa if you want a more intense chocolate flavor. The mixture should be moist: Squeeze some of it in your hand, and it should hold together. Add more milk a tablespoon at a time if necessary to achieve the right consistency. Stir in the dried fruit and nuts.

3. Place the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Make the pastries: Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 8 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll one piece of dough (cover the remaining dough with plastic wrap) into a 9- or 10-inch-long log, then pat or roll it into a 4- or 5 inch-wide rectangle, with a long side toward you. Place one eighth of the filling (about 3 mounded tablespoons) in the middle of the pastry rectangle and use your fingers to shape the filling into a log, leaving a ½-inch pastry border at each end. Fold the top of the pastry down over the filling (a dough scraper helps here) and roll it into a log. Pinch the long seam together, then pinch the ends together and tuck them under (if the ends are raggedy, trim them before pinching). Lay the pastry seam side down on one of the baking sheets and gently bring the ends together to form a crescent. Don’t worry if the pastry shell cracks a little bit; just massage the cracks with a wet fingertip. Repeat with the remaining dough (wipe any filling from your hands before handling the pastry) and filling to make 8 crescents, 4 on each baking sheet. With a sharp knife, make 2 or 3 slashes in the top of each pastry, so that a little of the chocolate filling will show through when they’re baked.

5. Make the wash: In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk, water, and salt with a fork. Generously wash the top and sides of each crescent and then sprinkle the nuts over, if using. Bake until the pastries are colored but not browned, 25 to 30 minutes, switching the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.