These days I’m reading The Baklava Club, Jason Goodwin’s fifth novel about Yashim, the Ottoman courtier and detective. Set in the twilight of the empire, the books are evocative tales told against the background of mid-19th century Istanbul. Yashim is a sophisticated investigator who operates in the shadows fighting enemies of the Sultan and solving mysteries that involve diplomatic intrigue.

But for me, at least, he is much more. A serious cook, he reveals a Turkish cuisine that is not found in restaurants. Indeed, you would find the dishes he cooks in few modern Turkish homes. Istanbul is one of my favourite cities, and friends have taken me to some expensive establishments as well as great dhabas, but I have yet to taste any of the dishes Yashim so lovingly prepares.

With growing interest in cookbooks and televised culinary programmes more and more writers are working recipes into their books

Here is our hero cooking an exotic version of peppers stuffed with rice:

“He chopped a large onion into shreds, and began to soften it in a pan with butter and garlic. He threw in a handful of pine nuts [chilghozas], stirred them in, added a cup of rice, pushing it against the pan, feeling it stick and move reluctantly. He reached into the stockpot, tore off a piece of chicken breast, and laid it steaming on the board. He chopped it quite fine, stirred it into the rice, added currants, sugar, cinnamon, all-spice and a pinch of salt, then poured in some stock…”

While the rice was cooking at a slow simmer, he cut off the top of some bell peppers and removed the seeds. When the rice was done, he squeezed in some lemon juice, stirred it in, spooned it into the peppers, and replaced the tops.

As interest in cookbooks and televised culinary programmes grows exponentially, more and more writers are working recipes into their books. One such work has been sitting in my foodie collection for nearly 25 years, and repays the occasional re-reading with fresh insights into Italian cooking. This is the Mafia Cookbook, and is about a bunch of Mafiosi on the run. As the author, Joseph ‘Joe Dogs’ Iannuzzi, writes: “Crime may not always pay, but it sure makes you hungry.”

Istanbul is one of my favourite cities, and friends have taken me to some expensive establishments as well as great dhabas, but I have yet to taste any of the dishes Yashim so lovingly prepares.

The book contains many recipes, but mostly in the Sicilan-South Italian style which often requires heavy sauces, with lots of oil, wine, butter and cream. In short, the Mafia cuisine. Here’s a recipe for veal that I must get around to trying once I have assembled the ingredients, which are: ½ cup flour; 1.5 pounds veal cutlets, pounded thin; 6 ounces of melted and clarified butter; ¾ cup of sweet Marsala wine; 2 ounces Grand Marnier [a liqueur]; 1 pound mushrooms, sliced and sautéed in ¼ pound of melted butter; juice of ¼ lemon; ¼ teaspoon white pepper.

Flour veal on both sides. Heat butter in frying pan. Sauté veal lightly on both sides over medium to low heat. Remove veal and set aside. Pour wine into saucepan and stir. Then add Grand Marnier, stir and ignite to burn off alcohol. After the flame dies, cook sauce until thickened to half the amount. Put veal back in saucepan and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the sautéed mushrooms, lemon juice, pepper and serve.

Speaking of Italian food, a friend recently cooked the classic Bolognese pasta sauce. There are countless variations of this dish, and most of the stuff you get in restaurants is rubbish. Marcella Hazan, who died last year, was probably the most influential food writer on the subject of Italian cooking of my generation, and here’s a key component of her Ragu Bolognese:

“The meat must be sautéed just barely long enough to lose its raw colour. It must not brown or it will lose its delicacy. It must be cooked in milk before the tomatoes are added. This keeps the meat creamier and sweeter tasting. It must cook at the merest simmer for a long, long time. The minimum is three and a half hours; five is better.”

Clearly a dish for a cold winter evening.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 16th, 2014