/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Eat however you want to eat it. They're not gonna kick you out for not following protocol.

>>3757588
I know that, I'm sure they don't give a shit as long as I pay and come back, but I'd like to know how not to look like a retard.

Lol, I know how you feel OP, that's how I felt the first time I went to an Iranian/Persian place, but oh damn that food is SO GOOD. The herbs and cheese with flatbread is called Sabzi, and it really is basically an appetizer/salad course. You should put the herbs and cheese and whatever on the flat bread and nom it up. Here's my favorite things to order:
Kashk-e-Badjemon - appetizer - eggplant and onions cooked with tomatoes topped with yogurt and mint FUCKING DELICIOUS
Gormeh Sabzi - greens, herbs and onions cooked with beef and kidney beans (like a thick stew)
Zereshk Polow - chicken cooked in a saffron broth with barberry rice (Barberry rice is the best rice dish EVAR)
Cheloe Mahi - fish sauteed in a lemon-herb-garlic sauce
All the kabobs I've ever had have been really good, too, but I only order the beef, either the Koobedeh (seasoned ground sirloin) or Barg (filet). I don't really like chicken kabobs much, they get too dry. Oh, and the Lamb is really good too.
Be sure and order some Tah Deeg if they offer it. It's the crispy rice from the bottom of the rice pot, which is actually WAY tastier than that sounded, lol.

>>3757616
Thanks! I wrote those down and I'll be sure to try them. The person I went to the restaurant with ordered some beef and chicken kabobs and they were out of this world! So juicy and tender it was outrageous. Even the chicken!

And the crispy rice from the bottom of the pot sound great. My mother always cooks rice so that there's always a crispy layer at the bottom and it's easily my favourite part of eating rice back at home.


If served yogurt, as I was the other day, is it meant to be dipped into with the flatbread or eaten alone or what? My first instinct was to dip but it was served after the bread and with a spoon. It was very, very thick and had garlic and possibly black pepper in it. It was really flavourful and fresh but I didn't really knot what to do with it.

Most of the guides I found were intended for Iranian homes. I'm guessing this was in the U.S? I doubt they would expect you to follow Iranian etiquette. Some of the suggestions are common sense:
>Eat only with the right hand.
>Try some of everything.
Not sure about these though, it would depend on the responses you got from your servers:
>You will be offered multiple helpings, it is considered polite to decline, and the first few refusals will not be taken seriously.
>You will be served more than you'll be expected to eat, as it is polite to leave food on your plate.

With your hands if cutlery isn't on the table

No advice OP but that sounds like food of the gods

>>3757551
Iranfag here. If you want to eat like they eat it you would have to go to their country because the whole atmosphere is different. The food served in restaurants is usually served in an western fashion so it does not really matter how you eat it because it is not really the same. Don't worry because Iranians here won't care.

>>3757628
That's why I posted here. I found no help on Google at all, every "guide" I found was for eating in an Iranian home as opposed to eating out at a Persian restaurant. Not sure if these restaurants just aren't all that common (it was my first time going to one and I haven't seen many around) or it's meant to be obvious how to eat all that scrumptious shit and I am just an imbecile. Could easily be the latter, to be fair.

>>3757633
It was, you have no idea! I don't know what I was expecting but it was like nothing I have ever had before. I just had a leftover chicken thigh, straight out of the fridge and still in the restaurant box, and I almost licked the fucking container and cried when I was done with it.

>>3757635
So I won't be glared at if I do it wrong, like if I poured soy sauce on my sushi at a proper sushi place?

>>3757655
if*

>>3757642
Same Iranian here. The etiquette shown in that list is true. But only acceptable in restaurants owners you are friends with, or id you are in Iran. the restaurants here won't care one bit if you decline food i promise you. I can tell you all Iranians eat differently. Like my father would always put his yogurt on everything where my uncle would eat it separate.
>>3757648
Its all personal preference.

>>3757655
Alright, thanks, that helps. Won't feel so self conscious next time. Do you live in Iran currently?

Hmm.. There's this Persian dish that I've been wondering about, I always get it at this local place.. Or one of them- there's a million around here because a lost of Persians immigrated here.

It's like kinda poopy looking... But it's fucking delicious. Orangey-brown, has eggplant and onion- the top is covered in white.. I think maybe that's yogurt? But I'm not sure.

Gimme a hand anyone?

>>3757659
Nope i live in Canada but have been to many Iranian restaurants and have family in Iran. Also, In the restaurant is it people new from Iran or have they been there for awhile? It might be important.

>>3757662
see >>3757616

>>3757662
Its called Kaske Badamjan

>>3757666
Do you cook Iranian food at home? Do you have any recipes?

And honestly, I don't know. Our server was some kind of middle eastern but didn't have an accent, there was an older guy walking around the restaurant, I assumed him to be the owner, and he did have an accent but god knows.

>>3757668
>>3757672

I thought it might be, I wasn't sure because I couldn't really recognise tomatoes in it. I'll take you guys' word for it though.

>>3757666

Whereabouts in Canada are you that you don't see a lot of Persian restaurants?

From experience I know the area I live in around Vancouver has a pretty high persian population, but I've heard Ontario and Quebec has some pretty high ones as well.

>>3757694
I live in Alberta
I don't know any recipes yet sorry. Try some online although they would not be the same because it is a family recipe type thing in Iran.
I am going to guess they are new (if they server wine or alcohol beverages i am correct). Eat comfortably and enjoy :)

If they are not new eat the same but they might run the place differently by bringing out foods at different times and such.

My favorite meals: Ashe Reshte for appetizer.
Any kebab with rice.
Also try doogh is they have it. It is a salted yogurt drink that is popular in Iran. I would try it out.

>>3757698
Sorry i said "I am going to guess they are new" meant to say they came awhile ago lol.

>>3757698
And at "If they are not new" i meant to say if they are new >.<

Any good vegetarian food in Iranian restaurants? Heard about Kuku Sabsi - some kind of pastry.

>>3757551

Bread: pita functions similarly to Indian naan bread. You can spread cheese/hummus/yogurt and eat it or otherwise use it as a scoop for, really, anything. It's not uncommon for bread to be used to eat rice.

Yogurt: Yogurt sauces are seen throughout Mediterranean cuisine. The most popular version in the US is the Greek tzatziki. The yogurt can be consumed alone, but it's basically a condiment. Can be eaten with rice, meat, and/or bread.

Etiquette: do not use your left hand. Traditionally, only the right hand is used for eating. Everything can be eaten with your hands, with the assistance of bread (save for soup).

Now, you could just eat things the way you feel comfortable. The etiquette isn't nearly as emphasized as it is for, say, sushi culture. No one will glare if you use a fork, knife, and spoon. Some things are really designed to be eaten a certain way (like taking a piece of bread and sliding off a piece of hot kebab), but it always comes down to preference.

Relax, OP. You shouldn't be worrying about how to enjoy food.

>>3757551
sounds like you had Fesunjoon
thats one of my favorite dishes

Usually you will have a quoresh and a big plate of rice
Just pour some rice on your plate and top it with a kohresh of your choice(for instants in your pic the orange one with potato cuts on top or the one that consists of eggplant(sometimes its had on its own which is fine) and feel free to add some to the side kabob is fair game to take whenever
the rice with sweet berry took some time of getting used to but my taste plus my mother's improved cooking has made it quite appetizing

>>3758048
khoresh*
and instance*
am a bit tired but now tired and hungry

If you want to fit it with the locals, eat loudly , burp loudly, then stand up and throw acid on your daughter saying she has brought shame on the family. Then go fuck a goat.