What to Eat in Trabzon: Kuymak Cheese Fondue, Akçaabat Köfte, Pide and Hamsi

Black Sea cuisine (Karadeniz Mutfağı) is completely distinct from the rest of Turkey: instead of lamb and aubergines, menus are built on rich yellow butter churned from cows grazing on 2,000-metre alpine wildflowers (yayla tereyağı), stone-ground yellow cornmeal (mısır unu), sweet Giresun/Trabzon hazelnuts, dark-green kale (karalahana) and silver Black Sea anchovies (hamsi). Come hungry for these five regional icons.

Five Essential Trabzon Dishes

1. Kuymak: the undisputed king of the Black Sea breakfast table. Coarse stone-ground yellow cornmeal is toasted slowly in a two-handled tinned-copper pan (sahan) with generous amounts of foaming local butter until nutty, simmered with water or milk, and stirred with ribbons of aged, un-salted stringy Trabzon kolot or telli cheese until the golden butter separates and rises to the top. Tear off a piece of crusty sourdough Vakfıkebir stone-oven bread, dip it into the centre, and lift your fork a metre into the air to watch the melted cheese stretch.
2. Akçaabat Köftesi (PGI-Protected Garlic Beef Meatballs): fifteen minutes west of central Trabzon along the seafront in Akçaabat (at legendary institutions like Nihat Usta, Cemil Usta or Körfez), minced local beef brisket and rib meat is kneaded solely with stale sourdough bread crumbs, finely crushed garlic, salt, black pepper and beef suet, never using cumin, onion or herbs, and grilled plump and juicy over charcoal with charred green chillies, tomato and flaky laz böreği for dessert.
3. Trabzon / Sürmene Pidesi (Round Butter-Drenched Cheese Pide): unlike thin inland flatbreads, an authentic Black Sea yuvarlak açık peynirli pide is a thick-crusted, boat-shaped or round sourdough pie filled to the brim with a blend of local cheeses, baked in a scorching stone oven, and finished at the table by dropping a huge curl of cold village butter and a raw free-range egg yolk directly into the bubbling hot cheese so you swirl them together with the crust (famous at Rüştü'nün Fırını in Kemeraltı since 1952 or along the Sürmene coast).
4. Hamsi (Black Sea Anchovies, Season: October to March): when the cold autumn currents arrive, silver hamsi appear in every form: dipped in cornmeal and pan-fried in a daisy wheel without a drop of oil (hamsi tava), baked with spiced rice and currants (hamsili pilav), or steamed with tomatoes and lemon (hamsi buğulama). (In summer when hamsi is out of season, order fresh mezgit, whiting, or kalkan, Black Sea turbot).
5. Hamsiköy Sütlacı (Baked Mountain Rice Pudding): made with rich autumn highland cow's milk simmered for hours without starch, baked in clay ramekins until a dark caramelized skin forms on top, and buried under a mountain of crushed roasted Trabzon hazelnuts.