There is a close relationship between Azerbaijani foods and folk medicine. Foods based on dough (noodle/dumpling type dishes) are mostly used for colds and digestive diseases. Kellepaça (head and feet) are said to be good for laryngitis, cough and upper respiratory distress.

In Azerbaijan, cooks are known as “aşbaz.” Food is generally prepared by women. Traditionally aşbaz are brought up in a master-apprentice relationship.

According to information given to the traveler Şahhüseyin in Baku, in small towns and villages the kitchen is within the house. In the old days, food was hung down into the wells to keep it cool. Food was not left in the miskaps (copper pots), it was put into appropriate vessels in the evening. Nowadays enamel and porcelain vessels are more used.

Cheese is stored in a skin bag called a motal. In order to keep the bag from drying out, it is wiped with water every other day.

Food for weddings and other ceremonies is cooked on wood hearths set up outdoors.

Some foods are named for the processes or techniques in their preparation such, such as dolma (filling), süzme (straining) etc. Others are named after the type of vessel they are cooked in, such as kazan kebabı, tava kebabı (kettle kebab, frying pan kebab).  Others derive from the shape of the food, such as lüle kebabı (lüle – the part of a water pipe that holds the coal), or yaprak hıngal (yaprak – leaf). Yet others are named after their flavors. Hoşab (pleasant water - compote), and turşu kavurma or turşu pilav (pickle/sour kebab or sautee).

The oils used in cooking are generally butter, some tail fat and sunflower oil.

Mutton is the dominant meat in traditional Azerbaijani cookery. In addition, “mal eti” (beef) and poultry as well as game birds are used in a variety of dishes. As with other Turkic tribes, the meat of male animals is considered to be of better flavor.

In cities and towns along the Caspian Sea, various types of fish are also eaten.

Various meat dishes are prepared for winter including bastırma, kavurma and kurutma (pressed meat/pastrami, meat cooked and kept in its own fat, and dried meat).

The oldest known Azerbaijani foods are meat dishes with various types of pasta. These include haşıl, umaç, hengel, düşbere and erişte. There are more than ten different types of erişte (hand-cut noodles). The word hıngal (hengel) occurs in the Oğuzname, and the erişte appears in the 13th century epic of Ahmet Harami.

In the city of Ağdam in the now Armenian-occupied region of Karabakh, is the world’s first bread museum. Here one can see all the various types of bread, from those of the past to those made today, such as tandır, lavaş, yufka, külçe, külfe, kömbe, etc.

Azerbaijani families, especially rural ones, cook their own bread at home in a tendir (tandır). Bread is made each week. The kalın and fetir, which we can consider as types of çörek, are delicious and nutritious.

In addition, the easily preserved lavaş bread is made every so often and stored in a closed box. Ten minutes before it is to be eaten, it is removed and sprinkled with water to soften it.

Nobody at the sofra touches the food before the oldest member of the family (aksakkal – “white beard”) begins. Before the meal begins, people say bismillahirrahmanirrahim, “In the name of Allah the merciful and compassionate.” At the end of the meal, they say Allah artik etsin (May God give food to spare) before getting up from the table.

There is a folk saying, Parmaklar yemeğin tadını hisseder, “The fingers feel the flavor of the food.” And at home, people prefer to eat with their hands, saying that the fingertips give the flavor to the food, and eating utensils mar the flavors. Pilaf especially is eaten with the fingers. Very often, sherbet is served alongside pilaf. The favored drinks are rose sherbet, and ayran.

When the weather gets hot, meat consumption in Azerbaijan goes perceptibly down, and vegetables are favored. A large portion of the vegetables used are Hudayinabit (growing on their own – wild plants). There are over three hundred different wild plants eaten. It is customary to eat them raw, and entire, without cutting them up.

Many of the plants familiar in Turkey are used, as well as others known locally.

In Azerbaijan, folk medicine is known as Türkeçarelık, and its fundamental elements are medicinal plants. Today certain plants that are easy to find in Azerbaijan such as water mint, saffron, pomegranate, violets, turnips, pink rose, mulberries, garlic, and nettles have been used for centuries in the treatment of various ailments. For example, saffron is beneficial for a fatigued nervous system, and opens the lungs and respiratory system; honey and saffron is good for those with kidney stones.