Introduction to the Fourth Set of Snippets: Food in Iran

Now is the time to tell you about the food. Oh my goodness, it was just great. I’ll start with Breakfasts and quickly move into Lunches and Dinners which I divide into Soups, Salads, Bread, Kebabs, Rice, Stews, Drinks, and Desserts. And then two special lunches and one very very special dinner with Nahid and her family.

Of course, I can’t leave out the Tea and Sweet breaks that happened twice every day. They were important in several ways: they gave us the chance to relax and sit down, to have a spot of reviving tea, and most of all the chance to visit a bathroom which Carolyn, our Scotswoman and tour leader, called the loo.

Breakfasts in Iran

I ate just about the same thing every day. A fried egg, some bread with (be still my heart) Carrot Jam, a small piece of fresh cheese, a little like feta but creamier, and hot tea.
To the left is a large bowl of Carrot Jam and the chef standing guard over it. Not really.
Below is the cheese I liked so much.

















I would occasionally switch out the fried egg for scrambled eggs with tomatoes which was actually a wonderful combination—probably harking back to my mid-western childhood favorite, scrambled eggs with ketchup. And in Mashhad I ate a rice pudding flavored with rose water that was simply delicious.

In most of our hotels, the buffet breakfast included a whole lot more than my usual fare: many different kinds of breads, non-pork mystery luncheon meats, non-pork sausages, beans, yogurt, dates, fresh fruit, tomatoes, and cucumbers. You understand the non-pork part of the menu. It's a Muslim country and pork is not eaten at all. Not once did we spot a piggy or any pork.

Jake West at the Metro Theatre

Thank you very much to Holly for giving me opportunities in the Metro Theatre in Victoria, BC.  The Metro is pretty much done for the summer, so we will see you in September!

Introduction to Lunches and Dinners in Iran

Lunches and dinners in Iran are virtually the same. Or at least they were for us. We ate all of our meals in restaurants and hotels, so the difference among our meals had more to do with the type of restaurant—traditional or more contemporary—than the time of day. I was always most excited about the traditional restaurants which offered more “home-style” cooking, the kinds of food a Persian grandmother might cook.

In the next few posts, I will walk you through a typical meal: soup, salads, bread, kebabs, rice, stews, drinks, and dessert. Following that, it you still aren't sated, I will give you two very special lunches and an extraordinary dinner with Nahid Sanganian and her family.

Soups in Iran

Most meals would start out with a bowl of barley soup, either tomato or cream-based, and occasionally another kind of soup.







A couple of places in Esfahan offered main course soups which were fabulous:

One with tiny meatballs, walnuts, kashk, and fried mint into which you break up pieces of flat bread. Reza, our guide, said that his grandmother used to make this soup for him.

Another with beans, herbs, kashk, and fried mint called ash Reshteh, a favorite in our hotel in Esfahan. Before eating, you stir it all up.

Salads in Iran

The question that always arises around salads in countries like Iran is "How safe is it to eat them?" Reza, our guide, said that most every place we ate would practice safety in handling fruits and vegetables and suggested that we not worry about it. Most people in the group ate whatever they wanted. A few had minor tummy problems but no one was laid flat for long.

I took a measured approach to eating anything uncooked. For the first week or so I stayed away from nearly everything like lettuce, fresh tomatoes, and the like. I did eat peeled fresh veggies like carrots and cucumbers. In the second week I introduced more fresh greens and radishes. By the third week, I too was eating whatever I wanted, including some things in the market that may have been a touch iffy hygiene-wise. But I was perfectly fine.

The salads and vegetable dishes we were offered were just beautiful. They often filled a large table in a restaurant and were self-serve. Until we got accustomed to the fact that these salads were just the start of meal, we would load up—they could have been a meal unto themselves—when, in fact, we needed to practice pacing.

My favorite selection of salads was at a restaurant in Tehran where we ate on a stop-over from Tabriz to Mashhad. There were many many more salads to choose from and all equally beautiful and tasty. The top is potato salad with dill, the next is coleslaw with raisins, and the last is a mix of corn, onions, tomatoes, and herbs.

Occasionally salads would be wrapped in plastic and be present at our places at the table, as in a restaurant in Tabriz.

For one lunch in Yazd, we had a specially constructed salad in the shape of a Persian paisley design which Geri, one of my traveling companions, pointed out to me.

Yogurt with cucumbers or shallots were brought to us in bowls or plastic cartons nearly every lunch and dinner. If you want to try to make your own Yogurt with Cucumbers, click on the recipe title and it will take you to the posting.

A wonderful dish with herbs and eggs, baked like a frittata, called kuku. I'll get you the recipe before too long. The first photo to the left is from the Ferdowsi Restaurant in Tehran and the one below is my own version, called Fresh Herb Kuku, with a nice Patty Pan Squash Salad.

At an Armenian restaurant in Esfahan, I decided to make the salads my whole lunch. Just look at the wonderful plate I made for myself.

Bread in Iran

There are lots of different kinds of bread in Iran. But the bread which is served at every meal is flat with tiny holes punched in it. We saw several different kinds of bakeries making it: some more mechanized than others. But the bread itself was always fashioned by hand, even if the baking process involved a conveyor belt.

Some comes wrapped in plastic, at a restaurant in Hamadan.

Some comes freshly made and still warm, at a restaurant in Yazd.

In my opinion, the best bread of the trip was made in a restaurant in Shiraz. The baker stood next to his blazing hot oven fashioning the bread from the balls of dough next to him.

Here he is decorating it with a tool. Sorry for the arm; the restaurant's manager was explaining the process.

With great agility and speed, the baker pops it in and it adheres to the side of the oven.

When it was done, he reaches in with a hook and pulls it out. Now that's fresh.

Kebabs in Iran

On our flight from Tehran to Mashhad, the flight attendant, a nice young woman, started to give me a box lunch. I said “No thank you.” She said “Why don’t you want lunch?” I was a little startled, but I said, “Because I just had a large lunch of salads and kebabs and I’m full.” She persisted, “Where did you eat and what kind of kebabs did you have?” I said, “We ate a mix of different kinds of kebabs: some chicken, some minced lamb, some regular lamb.” “Oh,” she said, “that mix is called Bakhtiyari and it’s very good.” End of conversation.
So kebabs are ubiquitous. And everyone, including flight attendants, has opinions about them. What we discovered is that some are better than others and everyone, including me, develops favorites.

This is the Bakhtiyari mix of kebabs which the flight attendant likes: regular lamb, chicken, and minced lamb, as made in Tabriz.

This kebab featured chicken on one side of the skewer with minced lamb patted onto the chicken on the other side, as made in Hamadan.

This restaurant in Shiraz specialized in minced and regular lamb kebabs.

These lamb chops, from a restaurant in Esfahan, would have been enough for two or three people. I ate all seven. They were so good. French fries often decorate the dishes of kebabs.

Rice Dishes in Iran

Rice is grown in Iran north of the Alborz Mountains close to the Caspian Sea. It is certainly on every restaurant table we visited. But apparently it is not as prevalent as bread. We saw a lot of wheat growing as we traversed the country.

Rice with a decoration of yellow saffron rice was the standard.










Occasionally we’d have a rice mixed with herbs.











In Na’in on the way to Esfahan, we had a pilau with rice, lamb, and raisins which was superb.

And the dolma stuffed with rice in Tabriz were juicy and delicious.

Stews in Iran

In addition to the kebab and rarely in place of it, we would be offered special stews. These were the items on the menu that I treasured the most.

Pomegranate stew (Fesenjan) is made with chicken or little meatballs. This one in Tehran has meatballs. If there is a national dish, it is this. The second photo is my version of Chicken with Pomegranate Sauce (Khoreshe Fesenjan). If you click on the recipe title, you'll go to the post on this blog.

Yellow split pea stew with lamb often decorated with French fries, in Tehran. In Yazd, the chef added a bit of cinnamon which added a nice touch.

Here is my version of this wonderful dish, shown above, called Lamb Khoresht with Split Peas and Fried Potatoes.

Herb stew with red beans and lamb, in Yazd, slightly off kilter and not because I had been drinking. The round shapes are dried limes.

Here's my recipe for the above called Fresh Herb Stew (Khoresh-e Qormeh Sabzi).

Lamb with sliced almonds, dried limes, and barberries, in Kermanshah. You can tell I had already been piling this onto my plate of rice. The round shape is a dried lime, used for flavoring, which is usually not eaten. I ate this one and it was delicious.

Tabrizi meatball the size of a baseball with a plum inside, at a restaurant in Tabriz. I couldn't eat all of it, obviously, but I got to the plum.

Eggplant stew with kashk drizzled on top, in Zanjan at the caravanserai restaurant.  Kashk is a yogurt product. You can find it in jars at a Persian deli.

Here is my recipe for Eggplant with Traditional Whey. I made a double recipe for a recent dinner party. It was the favorite dish of the meal.

Madskillz Starts Friday, June 24

Both Chris and I will be performing and teaching workshops.  See you there!

Drinks in Iran

Alcohol of any sort is not legally available in Iran and consequently we didn’t drink a drop of it the entire time we were in the country. Drinks of choice around our group’s table were Coke, Coke Zero, Coke Lite, Fanta, ZumZum (an Iranian cola), non-alcoholic beer which came in various flavors, like hibiscus, and of course bottled water. I chose water and after the meal hot tea if it was offered.

Desserts in Iran

Three desserts were customarily offered: gelatin of various flavors including of all things banana and one that looked like blue Scope, crème caramel, and ice cream. Some were tastier than others. After a couple of not so tasty crème caramels, I was able to decline most desserts, except for the occasional saffron ice cream which was heavenly.

Baklava and dates were a treat after one lunch in Tehran.

Saffron rice pudding and halva in Esfahan, a departure from the usual, along with a cup of tea.

Two Special Lunches

Abgusht in Jolfa
After visiting an Armenian Christian Church north of Jolfa, very close to the border of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, we went to a special tea house for lunch. They specialize in a soup which is very easy to prepare in their tiny kitchen and just delicious. It is call abgusht.

First thing in the morning, the owner fills mug-sized metal containers with lids with a combination of lamb, a potato, a tomato, garbanzo beans, and onions, some water, and I assume some salt.

The containers are set in a metal box with a lid over a low flame and cook for 4 or 5 hours until the ingredients are soft, the broth is tasty and it’s time for lunch.

Containers with metal bowls, bread, a pounding device, fresh onions and chiles are brought to the table.

To eat it, you pour the broth into the bowl and add bread and fresh onions, if you'd like. That’s the first course.

Next you pour the vegetables and meat into your metal bowl and pound it with the plunger-like thing until everything is all mushed together.

You eat that mixture with more fresh onions and green chiles. I realize it doesn't look all that appetizing but believe me it is totally splendid and so fun to eat.






Visit to a Restaurant Kitchen

After visiting the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth imam of Shi'a Muslims, in Mashhad, we took the bus out into the countryside for lunch at a place that specialized in lamb chop kebabs. They were just delicious. I asked Reza, our guide, if I might visit the kitchen. We had to wait until lunch service was over—the restaurant had been packed with customers—to venture down into the basement kitchens. The head chef showed me around as Reza translated. Just look at that face.

The cooks marinating the lamb and threading them onto flat skewers for the dinner service.

The chef who makes all the salads.

The pastry chef. Why are so many pastry chefs women? Michelle, do you have an answer? (Michelle is my daughter-in-law who is the pastry chef at Range in San Francisco.)

The giant pots for cooking rice and the area behind the pots where the grilling takes place.

A dish sterilizing device of which the head chef seemed particularly proud. Once washed, the dishes move on to a conveyor belt which takes them through the sterilizing process involving a high temperature.





I don't know why I get such a kick out of seeing restaurant kitchens around the world. But I do. Thanks to Reza, I got to see one in Iran.