Setting a Turkish Breakfast Table: Timing and Make-Ahead Guide

A Turkish breakfast is less a meal than a gathering. Cheeses, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers, jams, honey and clotted cream, a hot egg dish and tea that never runs out... Don't let a spread like this intimidate you. The secret is knowing what can be prepared in advance and bringing the hot things to the table at the right moment.

The backbone of the table

A generous breakfast table is usually built from the groups below. You don't need all of them; picking one or two from each group gives a good balance.

• Cheeses: White cheese (similar to feta), kaşar, tulum or crumbly çökelek. Choose different flavours and textures: one soft and salty, one firmer and richer.
• Olives: Black and green. Dressing green olives with a little olive oil, chilli flakes and thyme instantly makes the table feel homemade.
• Fresh vegetables: Tomatoes, cucumbers, mild green peppers, rocket or parsley. These are the freshness of the table.
• Sweet things: Honey, kaymak (clotted cream), jams, tahini and grape molasses. Mix tahini and molasses in a small bowl to serve.
• A hot dish: Menemen, fried eggs, eggs with sucuk (beef sausage), boiled eggs or çılbır.
• Breads and pastries: Fresh bread, simit, poğaça, pişi or gözleme.
• Tea: Brewed in a double teapot and served in tulip-shaped glasses, the colour of "rabbit's blood".

What can be made ahead?

The way to a relaxed breakfast is to leave as little as possible for the morning.

The day before:

• Make and shape poğaça or other pastry dough, cover the tray with cling film and refrigerate. In the morning, just bake.
• Spoon jams and tahini-molasses into their bowls and cover.
• Dress the olives; they taste even better after a night.
• Boil eggs ahead of time and chill them.
• Don't slice the cheese yet, as it looks fresher freshly cut, but decide which plate each one will go on.

In the morning, before guests arrive:

• Slice the cheeses and arrange the plates.
• Cut the tomatoes and cucumbers; salt them at the table, or they will weep.
• Lay the table: plates, cutlery, tea glasses, napkins.

Timing: everything hot, nobody waiting

The hardest part of breakfast is getting all the hot things ready together. The sequence below is a good model for about an hour of preparation.

1. 60 minutes to go: Start heating the oven and take the pastries out of the fridge.
2. 45 minutes to go: Put the kettle on. Put the pastries in the oven; at 180 °C they take about 20-25 minutes to turn golden.
3. 35 minutes to go: Finish the cold plates and carry them to the table.
4. 25 minutes to go: Once the water boils, brew the tea. 10-15 minutes of gentle brewing is enough.
5. 15 minutes to go: Chop the vegetables for menemen and start them in the pan.
6. Last 5 minutes: Add the eggs, take the pastries out, slice the bread.
7. To the table: Bring the menemen straight to the table in its pan.

Little touches

• Warming simit or day-old bread in the oven for a few minutes just before serving brings it back to life.
• Take the butter out of the fridge half an hour before breakfast so it spreads easily.
• Tea is what runs out and gets refilled most. Refresh the pot often; tea left stewing on the stove turns bitter.
• Many small plates look more generous than a few big ones.
• Fresh mint, parsley or rocket leaves both decorate and freshen a cheese plate.

Quantities for a crowd

As a rough guide, allow 50-70 g of cheese per person, a handful of olives, one and a half to two eggs, and one simit or two or three slices of bread. The bigger the crowd, the more variety there is, so the amount per person drops slightly.

Final word

A great breakfast table doesn't have to be perfect. Steaming tea, a few good cheeses and a menemen fresh from the pan are enough to keep people at the table for hours. Do the make-ahead jobs the night before, and in the morning, enjoy the table.