Turkey / 40

Quick index

• Adana Kebab — Hand-minced lamb and tail fat seasoned with hot red pepper, pressed by hand along a wide flat skewer and grilled over coals.
• Urfa Kebab — The milder southeastern sibling of the Adana: the same hand-minced lamb on a flat skewer, but seasoned with smoky, non-hot isot (Urfa) pepper and a touch more garlic.
• Iskender Kebab — A Bursa invention from the 1860s: thin ribbons of doner laid over cubes of pide bread, doused with tomato sauce and sizzling melted butter, with thick yogurt on the side.
• Doner Kebab — Seasoned lamb, beef, or chicken stacked into an inverted cone on a vertical spit and shaved off in thin slices as the outside roasts.
• Yaprak Doner — The connoisseur's doner, built from whole marinated leaves of lamb or beef layered on the spit rather than minced paste.
• Tombik Doner — Istanbul's plump doner sandwich: shaved meat tucked into a round, hollow gobit bun that is toasted against the spit so it drinks up the fat.
• Durum — Any grilled kebab or doner rolled tightly in thin lavas or yufka flatbread with onions, parsley, and sumac.
• Tantuni — Mersin's street-food signature: finely chopped beef or lamb flash-fried on a domed sac griddle with cottonseed oil, then rolled in thin bread with tomato, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon.
• Beyti Kebab — Grilled minced lamb or beef rolled inside lavash, sliced into pinwheels, and finished with tomato sauce, butter, and yogurt.
• Shish Kebab — The archetype of the family: marinated cubes of lamb (or beef) threaded on a sword-like metal skewer and grilled over open coals.
• Cop Shish — Aegean 'trash skewer' from around Selcuk and Ephesus: tiny nuggets of lamb and fat — originally butcher's trimmings — packed on thin wooden skewers and grilled fast.
• Chicken Shish (Tavuk Shish) — Cubes of chicken thigh or breast marinated in yogurt, tomato or pepper paste, and garlic, then char-grilled on skewers.
• Cag Kebab — Erzurum's horizontal-spit ancestor of the doner: layers of marinated lamb roast sideways over a wood fire, and portions are speared off the crusty edge onto small skewers called cag.
• Testi Kebab — A Cappadocian showpiece in which meat, vegetables, and juices are sealed inside a clay jug and slow-cooked in embers, then the vessel is cracked open at the table.
• Tepsi Kebab — A Hatay/Antakya specialty where spiced minced lamb is kneaded with garlic and pepper paste, pressed flat into a round baking tray, topped with tomato and pepper rings, and baked.
• Ali Nazik Kebab — A Gaziantep classic pairing fire-roasted, smoky eggplant puree beaten with garlicky yogurt under a topping of buttery minced lamb saute or kebab.
• Turkish Kofta (Shish Kofte) — Turkey's grilled meatball family: minced lamb or beef kneaded with onion, breadcrumbs or bulgur, and spices, shaped onto skewers or into patties and char-grilled.
• Orman Kebab — The 'forest kebab', a homestyle oven stew of bone-in lamb chunks braised with carrots, potatoes, and peas.
• Patlican Kebab — A southeastern skewer alternating thick slices of eggplant with balls of spiced minced lamb, grilled so the eggplant collapses and soaks up the meat's fat.
• Corum Tandir Kebab — Whole cuts of lamb slow-roasted for hours in a sealed tandir pit or oven until the meat slips from the bone, a specialty associated with Corum in central Anatolia.
• Kuyu Kebab — Lamb suspended inside a deep, sealed 'well' oven dug into the ground and roasted by radiant heat, notably in Aydin and central Anatolia.
• Buryan Kebab — The pit-roasted lamb of Siirt and Bitlis: whole carcass halves hung in a covered well oven over embers, steaming and roasting at once until the fat crisps.
• Tas Kebab — An old Ottoman 'bowl kebab' of beef or lamb cubes braised slowly with onions and tomato until spoon-tender, often served with rice or mashed potatoes.
• Kazan Kebab — Meat and vegetables cooked down in a heavy cauldron (kazan) so the lamb fries gently in its own rendered fat before braising.
• Kagit Kebab — Lamb and vegetables sealed in a parchment (originally greased paper) parcel and baked, so the meat steams in its own juices — a specialty of Antakya and southeastern kitchens.
• Islim Kebab — Meatballs or lamb chunks wrapped in ribbons of fried eggplant, pinned with toothpicks, and oven-braised in tomato sauce.
• Ciger Kebab (Liver Kebab) — Cubes of fresh lamb liver interleaved with tail fat on thin skewers and grilled hard and fast over coals, a dawn ritual in Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir.
• Kusleme — Gaziantep's most prized skewer: the small, tender loin strips along the lamb's spine, grilled with almost no seasoning so the meat speaks for itself.
• Keme Kebab (Truffle Kebab) — A springtime rarity of Sanliurfa in which earthy desert truffles (keme) are skewered alternately with lamb cubes and grilled.
• Sogan Kebab (Onion Kebab) — A winter dish from Gaziantep: small kofte roasted in a tray among whole baby onions, then dressed with a tart pomegranate-molasses sauce.
• Yeni Dunya Kebab (Loquat Kebab) — A fleeting spring specialty of Gaziantep and Hatay pairing halved loquats with minced-lamb kofte on the same skewer.
• Simit Kebab — A Gaziantep skewer in which fine bulgur (called simit locally, no relation to the bread ring) is kneaded into spiced minced lamb before grilling.
• Fistikli Kebab (Pistachio Kebab) — Gaziantep's showpiece: minced lamb kneaded with a generous measure of chopped Antep pistachios and grilled on flat skewers.
• Kokorec — Seasoned lamb intestines wound tightly around sweetbreads on a horizontal spit and roasted until crackling, then chopped fine with tomato and oregano into a half loaf of bread.
• Cokertme Kebab — A Bodrum-coast dish of thin strips of marinated veal laid over a bed of shoestring fried potatoes, garlicky yogurt, and tomato sauce.
• Manisa Kebab — The Aegean town of Manisa's take: slim, casing-free kofte grilled and served over cubed pide slicked with butter and tomato, with grilled peppers and yogurt.
• Sarimsak Kebab (Garlic Kebab) — A spring-only Gaziantep tray kebab in which whole heads of fresh green garlic braise among lamb kofte until mellow and sweet.
• Sebze Kebab (Vegetable Kebab) — Chunks of eggplant, pepper, zucchini, tomato, and onion marinated in olive oil and Turkish spices, skewered and char-grilled.
• Ramazan Kebab — An Istanbul iftar dish of sauteed lamb and onions spooned over torn fresh pide and yogurt, finished with hot butter.
• Hashas Kebab (Poppy Kebab) — A little-known specialty of Denizli in which minced meat is spread thin over flatbread dough with ground poppy paste and baked or grilled.