Buying Meat

Meat can be purchased at both the butcher or a grocery store. In both places, meat is sold by weight and you often are forced to order it from a counter; meaning you have to have some basic Turkish meat related words under your belt. Bring your dictionary. If you want ground/minced beef, ask for the beef you just bought to be "Kiyma" and the butcher or employee will grind it for you. Look for the signs on the wall behind the counter--often they have pictures of different cuts of meat and their Turkish names which is very helpful. If you are unsure about how much meat to buy by weight, I have found that 250 grams is 1-2 people and 500 grams is 2-4 people. To ask for meat, point or name the meat (try to speak Turkish, it is more polite!) and ask for: 500 grams (Elli yuz gram) or 250 grams (Iki yuz elli gram). Pork is not available outside of rare specialty stores or Istanbul. There is one store in Ankara that has imported pork products but I am not sure of its exact location.