Baku 
Lankaran 
Azerbaijan has always been famed for its cookery. The abundance of vegetables, fruit, fragrant herbs and spices have inspired Azerbaijan cooks to invent new and new national dishes which are so distinctive that you can never mix them up with the dishes of the other peoples.
Even the most sophisticated gourmets coming to Azerbaijan from all over the world appreciate the exquisite taste and subtle aroma of these dishes.
It is for a good reason that Azerbaijan is called the home of long-livers. Researchers say that this is due, firstly, to Azerbaijan's salubrious climate, secondly, the healthy way of life of its people, and the last, but not the least, the wholesome food and eating habits.
The Republic's Intourist offers its guests a wide choice of national dishes served at the restaurants in Baku - Moskva, Azerbaijan, Intourist and Karavan-Serai, as well as the restaurants in other towns on the Intourist routes. Azerbaijanians are proud of their national cuisine and hope that you will also enjoy it.
Receiving you as our guest we will be happy to reveal to you some secrets of Azerbaijan cooking. Let's begin with the first courses.
The Azerbaijan first courses are prepared from very concentrated meat stock, indeed much more concentrated and thicker than European soups. Lavishly used the spices and a special cooking techniques lend them a peculiar aroma. Some Azerbaijan dishes are served as both the first and the second courses. Among them are piti and kyufta-bozbash. In this case the meat stock is served separately from the other ingredients (meat, peas, potatoes) which are treated as a second course although cooked in the stock.
One of the most popular dishes here is the dainty and aesthetically attractive pilau with meat, fish, fruit or other ingredients. Depending on the ingredients, there are different pilau varieties, for instance, kaurma pilau (mutton pilau), toyug pilau (chicken pilau), shirin pilau (dried fruit pilau), syudli pilau (milk pilau), etc. About 40 pilau varieties are known.
Now we would like to call your attention to shashlyks - basturma shashlyk, fillet shashlyk and lyubitelsky shashlyk. These shashlyks are made from the pieces of meat. And there are also shashlyks prepared from minced mutton with the addition of rump fat, such as lyulya-kebab, tava-kebab. These dishes are popular countrywide.
We also have many fish dishes. The most popular specialties are sturgeon shashlyk, kutum Azerbaijan, stuffed fish, balyg-pilau, Russian sturgeon pilau and balyg-chykhyrtma.
Such Azerbaijan dishes as pilau, piti, lyulya-kebab and stuffed fish Azerbaijan-style are known throughout the world.
In Azerbaijan, tea is served before the second courses. At banquets and the other celebrations the first dishes are not served as a rule. Greens of all sorts, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers (salted or pickled in winter) are always served. After the second course (especially pilau) they often serve dovga, a meal prepared from sour milk and greens. It is believed that dovga favours digestion. Dinner ends with sherbet, a favourite drink in Azerbaijan, or with pastries.
The Fragrant Azerbaijan tea is a symbol of heart-felt hospitality. It is served with quince, fig, water-melon rind, apricot, cherry, peach, plum, cornel, walnut, strawberry, dewberry, grape or mulberry jam.
We have given you a general idea of the most popular Azerbaijan dishes, unique and delicious as they are.
Below you will find some recipes. (The amount of food-stuffs is given for one portion).
You and your family will certainly appreciate the daintiness of these dishes. And you will see that they are worth your cooking efforts. Bon appetit!
Authentic Cuisine | Azerbaijan Food Recipes | Azerbaijan Cuisine
Authentic cuisine of Azerbaijan, presented in this section, is full of traditional Middle Eastern dishes combined with unique Azerbaijan food recipes. Here you can find recipes of Azerbaijan baklava, dolma, hummus and halva recipes as well as general information on Azerbaijan food.
Special Features of the Azerbaijan Cuisine
From the earliest times in Azerbaijan culinary tradition there is a rule: in order to prepare a delicious dish, the cook should be in a good mood, be a kind person, and is always encouraged to sing while cooking. Traditional Azerbaijani dinner lasts, like almost all other oriental dinners, pretty long — about three hours, and sometimes even more. To all Azerbaijan dishes churek is served (bread made with white flour) and all kinds of lavash. Using a large number of fresh spicy greens, fruits and acidic juices almost year round, as well as young meat and fowl, plus dairy foods, makes Azeri cuisine healthy and beneficent. Salt intake in Azerbaijani cuisine is significantly limited. Even meat Azerbaijan people prefer to eat unsalted, and one of the major national Azeri food, kebab, is not salted at all.
Meat in Azerbaijan Cuisine
The main meat in the Azerbaijan cuisine is mutton, and the preferred kind of a mutton is meat of young lambs. Along with the lamb a veal is frequently used. In the old authentic Azerbaijani cuisine game birds, such as pheasants, black francolins, partridges, quails had also occupied a prominent place. But nowadays are replacing by the poultry (hens, guinea fowls, chickens). The tradition to use young meat for cooking is because it is usually cooked on an open fire.
Vegetables in Azeri Cuisine
Among the vegetables in the modern Azerbaijan cuisine potatoes are possessing special place. However, the traditional Azeri cuisine did not know potatoes and could not use it. The usage of potatoes was adopted in Azerbaijan only in the Soviet times. Before, that place was possessed by chestnuts. It is with chestnuts Azerbaijani sour seasonings are best harmonized with meat. That is why for the traditional taste of Azerbaijan foods it is better to use for meat and vegetable dishes the chestnuts, but not potatoes.
Azerbaijan Pilaf
Azerbaijan pilaf also has its own characteristics being the Azerbaijan ceremonial national dish. Azerbaijan pilaf has dozens of varieties: pilaf can be cooked with stewed mutton, with braised lamb and vegetables, with chicken, with dried fruits, with milk, with pieces of fried mutton, with scrambled eggs and dill, with stewed fruits, etc. Rice pilaf prepared and served separately from other components (meat, fowl, fish, eggs or fruit and herbs), without mixing with them even on a plate during a meal. Since rice is the basic ingredient and occupies more than a half of Azerbaijan pilaf, the quality of its cooking make influence on the taste of all the dish.
Azerbaijan Confectionery
National Azerbaijan confectionery is divided into two groups: of cookies type and unique pies with nut filling named baklava, which has a number of options (Baku, Nakhchivan, and other).
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