Persia & Caucasus / 24

Quick index

• Kabab Koobideh — Iran's national kebab: minced lamb or beef kneaded with grated onion until sticky, hand-pressed in ridges along wide flat skewers, and grilled fast over coals.
• Kabab Barg — The aristocrat of Persian kebabs: lamb fillet or sirloin sliced into thin ribbons, flattened, and marinated in onion juice, saffron and butter before a brief grilling.
• Joojeh Kabab — Chicken pieces stained gold by a saffron, lemon and yogurt-onion marinade, grilled on skewers until the edges caramelize.
• Kabab Chenjeh — The Persian answer to shish kebab: unpounded chunks of lamb, often just rested in onion and salt, skewered and grilled so the meat's own flavor leads.
• Kabab Torsh — A Caspian-coast specialty marinating beef or lamb in a paste of crushed walnuts, pomegranate molasses, garlic and herbs — 'torsh' means sour.
• Kabab Bakhtiari — A single skewer alternating cubes of saffron chicken and lamb fillet, named for the Bakhtiari nomads of the Zagros mountains.
• Kabab Soltani — The 'sultan's' order in any Persian kebab house: one skewer of barg and one of koobideh served together over saffron chelow rice.
• Shishlik — Frenched lamb rib chops marinated in onion and saffron, threaded onto long skewers and grilled bone-in — the pride of Shandiz near Mashhad, where whole restaurants exist for this one dish.
• Kabab-e Jigar — Cubes of fresh lamb liver grilled quickly over hot coals and eaten straight off the skewer with salt, lemon and basil — a late-night street institution in Iranian cities.
• Kabab Tabei — The home-kitchen koobideh: the same onion-kneaded mince pressed flat into a skillet, cooked, then cut into strips and finished with grilled tomatoes.
• Kabab Hoseini — An old Qajar-era dish of marinated lamb chunks threaded onto small wooden skewers and slowly braised in a pan with onion and tomato instead of grilled.
• Lyulya Kebab — The Caucasus's minced masterpiece: fatty lamb chopped with onion and salt — no egg, no breadcrumbs — kneaded until it grips the skewer by protein alone, then grilled and rolled in thin lavash with sumac.
• Tikə Kebab — Azerbaijan's chunked counterpart to lyulya: lamb pieces rested in onion, narsharab (pomegranate syrup) or vinegar, then grilled over hardwood coals and served with pickled onion and fresh herbs.
• Khorovats — Armenia's national grill: large chunks of pork or lamb (often bone-in, unusual for the region's Muslim-majority neighbors) skewered with vegetables and cooked over vine or fruitwood embers.
• Mtsvadi — Georgia's skewer of pork (or veal) grilled over grapevine embers, traditionally with no marinade at all — just salt and the smoke of the vineyard prunings.
• Shashlik — The pan-Caucasian and post-Soviet term for marinated meat chunks grilled on long skewers over a mangal, with vinegar-and-onion or kefir marinades varying by household.
• Kababi (Georgian Kebab) — Tbilisi tavern-style minced beef-and-pork kebabs seasoned with coriander and grilled on skewers, then rolled to order in thin lavash with a heavy dusting of sumac-like barberry or ground spices and raw onion.
• Armenian Lula Kebab — The Armenian take on the hand-minced skewer: lamb worked with onion, cognac in some family recipes, and plenty of fresh basil and parsley until it clings to a wide flat blade.
• Azerbaijani Lülə Kebab — A strictly lamb minced kebab in which the meat and tail fat are kneaded and slapped until sticky enough to grip a flat skewer with no egg or breadcrumb binder — the cook's skill is judged by whether it stays on.
• Sadj Kebab — Lamb, potatoes, eggplant, and peppers seared together on a sadj — a convex iron disc set over coals — and brought to the table still sizzling on the same pan.
• Chalagach — The prestige cut of Armenian khorovats: bone-in pork loin rib chops briefly marinated with onion and basil, threaded whole onto wide flat skewers and grilled over grape or fruitwood embers.
• Khazani Khorovats — The 'kettle barbecue' nuance of khorovats: fatty pork pieces sealed in a kazan or deep pan and cooked in their own rendering fat with onions until browned, made when weather or apartment life rules out an open fire.
• Sadj Ichi — Lamb chunks seared with potatoes, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and often chestnuts on a sadj — the convex iron disc used across the Turkic world — and brought to the table still sizzling on it over coals.
• Azerbaijani Doner — Baku's post-Soviet street obsession: chicken (more often than lamb) shaved from the vertical spit into round tandir bread or a half-loaf with pickled cucumber, fresh greens and a ketchup-mayo blend — a Turkish import re-tuned to Azeri bread culture.