Baklava

Baklava is dozens of paper-thin pastry layers with ground nuts, baked in butter and soaked in syrup. It is the best-known dessert of Turkey and of the wider Ottoman and Middle Eastern table, and it is a specialist's craft — most restaurants buy it from a dedicated baklava maker rather than make it in-house.

What it actually is

Sheets of yufka (filo) are rolled until they are almost transparent, then stacked — often forty or more layers — with butter brushed between them and a filling of ground pistachio or walnut in the middle — one or the other, not both in every portion. In the Antep recipe the dough also contains egg. It bakes until golden, and sugar syrup goes over it once it is out of the oven: one traditional method pours cooled syrup over the hot pastry so the layers stay crisp, while other cooks do the reverse.

That syrup is sugar, water and lemon; the registered Antep recipe uses sugar syrup rather than honey, though baklava elsewhere is often made with honey. The balance is the whole skill: too little syrup and it is dry, too much and the layers go soft.

Gaziantep is the reference city for Turkish baklava, and Antep Baklavası holds an EU protected geographical indication — the protection covers that name and recipe, not baklava in general.

How it's served

• In small portions, cut into diamonds or squares — it is very rich.
• With tea or Turkish coffee, rarely on its own.
• In its variants: rolled sarma, or şöbiyet with a cream filling.
• Sometimes with kaymak (clotted cream) alongside.

Writing it on a menu

• Name the nut — pistachio or walnut — and don't imply both are in every piece. It sets the price and it is the first thing guests ask.
• Sell it by the piece or by weight, the way baklava shops do, rather than as a single vague portion.
• Flag the allergens plainly: gluten, egg, nuts and dairy; the nut depends on the filling, pistachio or walnut.