Gaziantep Katmer

Katmer is a breakfast pastry, and Gaziantep's version is specific: a ball of dough is opened by hand and stretched across a table until it is almost transparent, spread with kaymak - thick clotted cream - and a heavy scatter of coarsely crushed green Antep pistachio and a little sugar, folded into a square and baked in a very hot stone oven for a few minutes, then cut and eaten immediately while the cream is still soft and the pastry crisp. It is a morning food; the shops open early and the good ones have sold out by mid-morning, and ordering katmer in the afternoon marks you out. Custom attaches it to newlyweds - a couple's first breakfast is traditionally katmer, and shops still take those orders. The pistachio is the reason it matters here: Gaziantep's own variety is small, intensely green and expensive, and it is what separates a real katmer from the versions sold elsewhere with cheaper nuts.

The main sights

• The dough stretching - pastry opened by hand until translucent.
• The filling - kaymak and coarse green pistachio.
• The stone oven - the few minutes at high heat.
• The morning trade - shops opening early and selling out.

When to go

Year-round, and in the morning - it is a breakfast dish and the good shops close or sell out by midday. Pistachios are freshest after the autumn harvest.

Good to know

It is very rich - one is a breakfast. Versions outside Gaziantep usually use cheaper pistachios and are a different thing. It does not travel or keep; eat it where it is made.

Nearby

The coppersmith bazaar and culinary museum are in the old quarter; the Zeugma mosaic museum is close.