Murat Abay, chef at Olive Restaurant in Istanbul, has been cooking for 25 years and loves traditional Turkish, Aegean, and Ottoman Palace cuisine.
I’m 40, and for 25 years I’ve been working as a cook in different cuisines. After 10 years in my career, I became executive chef at a small hotel. From time to time I looked through job ads in the newspapers, and once I found one for a “Kitchen Commis.”
That position carried more weight than the job I had, so I decided to change jobs, going from “Executive Chef” to “Kitchen Commis.” I thought it would be a turning point in my career, but I was wrong: I worked only in the breakfast department for 1.5 years, and by the end of those 1.5 years I felt like a vampire.
My family was huge: I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters. As a kid I worked and helped out at shops and restaurants to help support my family. After a while I became a cook, and now I’m happy with my career choice.
My favorite cuisines are traditional Turkish, Aegean, and Ottoman Palace cuisine. I like to cook stews and dough dishes, and I like to eat all kinds of beans. My taste preferences are sour-sweet and hot.
I like to read, and if I have enough time, I like to play billiards and table tennis. I also try to spend as much time as possible with my family. I wish there were no hungry people on Earth.
I chose the dish “Grilled chicken thighs and breasts (Soğanlı Tavuk Kebabı) with onion, spinach, rice with gum mastic, cinnamon and saffron” because it represents my culture. The recipe was created by the magnificent Sultan Suleyman for a children’s circumcision ceremony nearly 500 years ago. The dish is grilled chicken thighs and breasts marinated in onion juice 1 day before cooking, with onion cooked with cinnamon, bay leaf, and vinegar until caramelized.
