Turkish meze is similar to hors d'oeuvres or appetizers and are generally served before a meal. They are often accompanied by either wine or raki and the main aim of meze is to arouse the appetite for the main meal. There are many different kinds of meze and often the main meal to follow will dictate the type that is served. Some examples of meze that may be served include gozleme, fried aubergines with yogurt, lakerda, pastirma, kisir and humus. By ordering a meze you can have the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of Turkish food and share it the traditional way.
If you are drinking raki then you will often need a lot of Turkish meze and you will find there is normally at least some kind of melon as well as cheeses such as feta cheese and fresh bread. There is no such thing as a standard meze menu but you will often find dishes such as mackerel, green salad, yogurt, garlic, vegetable dishes that have been either cooked or fried in olive oil, fried crispy savoury pastry, calamari, tomato and cucumber salad, and fish eggs along with a wide range of sauces. Typically you will then have some kind of meat or fish course to follow this meze as your main meal. However if you are going to follow your meze with a kebab then the type you have may differ from this. For example you will often have salad and tomatoes in some kind of spicy olive oil, yogurt, cheese, humus, bulgur wheat and red lentil, aubergine, peppers, spices, nuts and pickles.
Other types of meze that you may commonly see are deniz burulesi which is sea greens such as samphire which can be boiled and then served with a light dressing of garlic, olive oil and lemon. In most cases this is then served as a cold dish. Cimcim is another classic meze dish in which fish is boiled and then sautéed with olive oil and olive puree. This dish is then finished by being baked in the oven and will be served as a hot dish. Aubergine often features quite highly in Turkish meze and saksuka is one such dish. In this the aubergine will be cooked in oil and then served with yogurt cold. Mastika is a dish of wild radish greens cooked similarly to deniz burulesi and served with olive oil and lemon.
Further Information;
http://turkishcook.com/TurkishFoodForum/blogs/mezes/default.aspx
