We are so deeply involved in WAYANA as a Wine House so that makes us neglecting the flavors our kitchen offers us. Actually almost all of our guests who come to WAYANA choose from our food menu as well as our wines, and they make all our friends happy by sharing their appreciation for both our tapas and starters.

We devoted today's article to lacquerda, a unique Istanbul flavor. Its uniqueness is related to Istanbul being a Bosphorus city. When I scanned the resources on the internet on this subject before this article, one of the interesting comparisons I came across was the story of a Jewish fisherman from Toledo, included in the book "Secret Corners of Istanbul" by the late Aydin Boysan. The romantic side of the story, which is associated with the Spanish 'La kerrida' due to its similarity in sound, is of course fascinating. But when we look at the history of lacquerda from the analysis of a research academic like Andrew Dalby, we date back to the Byzantine period and we see that in ancient Greek, lacquerda was used in the sense of 'salted bonito or tuna'. In this respect, it would not be wrong to say that the journey of lacquerda, an Istanbul delicacy, dates back thousands of years.

We briefly mentioned above that the reason why we call it the unique taste of Istanbul, is the Bosphorus. Experts who study the migration routes of fish state that the fish that pass to the Black Sea to feed in the spring return to the Marmara Sea in the autumn, bigger and fat. In short, the existence of a waterway such as the Bosphorus allows bonito to follow this route. That's why experienced fishermen say that the best time to make lakerda is between October and December.

Different methods have been developed in every region to preserve fish for long periods of time. While the Scandinavian countries prefer to preserve it by smoking it due to the cold climate with little sun, the Mediterranean region emphasizes sun drying as in kippers or salting as in laker.

Bonito family is preferred in making lacquerda. The gypsy bonito, as the locals call it and the smallest of the family, is not suitable, but the bonito and the larger members of the family, toric and dungeon fish, are perfect fit.

At WAYANA kitchen, we do not make our own lacquerda, but we have a supplier who works so hard and is passionate about her job. The lacquerda prepared by Ms. Aylin under the Aylak Lakerda brand are included in the WAYANA Tapas Menu under the name MARUSA PARHU. We derived the name of the product inspired by the Hittite expression for salted fish.

While preparing for service, we serve the lacquerda with red onion pickle produced by WAYANA kitchen staff. Lacquerda also has a special place in our seafood plate.