Irmak is a pastry chef, serving meals inspired by her Turkish background
Get to know Irmak in this Q&A, and get her šæGrilled Chicken with Garlic Sauce, Thursday (4/1) and Friday (4/2) from 5-7PM!
Q: What can you tell us about the dish youāre making?
Irmak: Itās grilled chicken with garlic sauce, broccoli and seasoned chickpeas. It is a balanced, low calorie plate with steamed vegetables. Each item is healthy and delicious.
Q: Where did you grow up and what kind of food did you grow up with?
Irmak: I am from Turkey. If you know Turkish cuisine (aka Mediterranean) it is a mix of many cultures and cuisines over time. That means meat, fish, vegetables and pastries are all part of the daily lives.
Irmakās šæGrilled Chicken with Garlic Sauce, Broccoli and Seasoned Chickpeas.
What I love about living in Chicago is, I get to explore different ingredients and try to improve on recipes. Iāve been trained in European pastries and breads so Iām a big fan of desserts and living in Chicago for the past five years allowed me to explore various ingredients, allowing me to be flexible and more creative with my recipes.
Q: Whatās your cooking background?
Irmak: Cooking and especially baking has started as a childhood hobby. My grandmother and my babysitter loved to cook, bake and teach. By their influence and with a little bit of skill; I started practicing, trying new methods, new recipes, and improving different ones.
Unfortunately, instead of going to culinary school, I studied business and finance in college. However, I knew that was not possible to spend my whole life away from what I wanted, being in the kitchen and working with food.
Irmakās šChicken SautĆ© with Rice and Hot Pickles.
Finally, upon graduation I was accepted to a culinary school in Turkey and found my way, in a more formal fashion, to the kitchen, cooking and baking. Since then, Iāve been specializing in pastry and breads.
Q: Anything else we should know about you and your cooking?
Irmak: Each cuisine has different ways, habits and ingredients. I love to try, mix and be open minded.
I donāt like to waste food my goal is to build a menu around interchangeable ingredients so that at the end Iām having full meal with limited waste.
Get Irmakās šæGrilled Chicken with Garlic Sauce, Thursday (4/1) and Friday (4/2) from 5-7PM on Shmeal!
