Künefe

Künefe is shredded pastry baked around melted cheese, soaked in sugar syrup while still hot. It's one of Turkey's most-loved desserts precisely for the contrast it plays with — crisp, syrup-soaked pastry against a stretchy, salty-sweet cheese pull at the centre.

What it actually is

Kadayıf, fine shredded pastry that looks like vermicelli, is layered in a round pan, buttered generously, filled with a mild, unsalted stretching cheese, then topped with more kadayıf and baked or pan-cooked until deeply golden and crisp on both faces. The moment it comes off the heat, hot sugar syrup is poured over, which the pastry absorbs while staying crisp on the outside.

Cut into it while it's still warm and the cheese inside pulls into long strands — a künefe served cold, with the cheese set solid, has missed the point of the dish.

How it's served

• Hot, straight from the pan, cut into wedges, the cheese still stretching.
• With a scoop of kaymak or ice cream on top, melting slightly into the warm pastry.
• A light dusting of ground pistachio, for colour and a little crunch against the soft cheese.

Writing it on a menu

• Note the gluten and dairy; both are unavoidable and central to the dish.
• Say if it's made to order; künefe genuinely does not hold — a rested one loses the crisp-to-stretch contrast that defines it.
• Mention it's very sweet, from the syrup; worth a line for guests who don't expect quite how much.
• Flag nuts if you finish it with pistachio.