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An original meter-and-half long Adana kebabı in its hometown, comprising only male lamb meat, red bell peppers and tail fat hand minced together. Served with charred peppers and tomatoes, an onion-sumac-parsley salad, and lavaş |
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Origin | |
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Alternative name(s) | Kıyma kebabı |
Place of origin | Turkey |
Region or state | Adana-Mersin |
Creator(s) | Goes back to the 16th century.[1] |
Dish details | |
Course served | Kebab |
Main ingredient(s) | Hand minced lamb and tail fat. |
Adana kebabı[2][3] (colloquially known as Kıyma kebabı[1]) is a long, hand-minced meat kebab mounted on a wide iron skewer and grilled on an open mangal over braizing charcoals. It is named after Adana, the fifth largest city of Turkey. It was originally known as Kıyma kebabı (lit: minced meat kebab) or Kıyma in Adana-Mersin and the southeastern provinces of Turkey.[1]
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Kebabs made out of ground lamb meat and tail fat, along with many regional variations, are fairly common in the strip of land stretching from Mersin in Turkey to Kirkuk in Iraq, including in its center Aleppo in Syria.[1] According to many authors, this very kind of kebab was born out of a fusion of Turkish and Arab cultures. Birecik, once an important locality in the Eyalet of Aleppo, is said to be the creator of this very kind of kebab.[1] The version prepared and consumed today in the province of Adana also has a history rooted in the modern Turkish Culture, only to receive a Controlled Designation of Origin in February 2005, after subsequent legal trials.[4][5]
According to the Patent Registrar, an original Adana kebabı can only be enjoyed if the culinary institution has successfully passed an inspection conducted on the spot by the Adana Chamber of Commerce.[6] A substantive list of these establishments can be found here.
The Kıyma kebabı is still widely and consumed and prepared its historical geography. It is prepared in similar fashion in the immediate neighbouring zones of Turkey, Syria and Iraq, where the meat is hand-ground with the addition of tail fat and occasionally a non-spicy capsicum.[1] Please refer to the "Variations" section of the same article for a more extensive list of the original Pan-Aleppan variants.
Although they are unprotected under the same patents and don't share the same history, many variations of the Kıyma kebabı have been enjoyed since the 1950s,[1] over some major Metropolises of the former Ottoman Empire, including Istanbul, Baghdad, and Damascus. These versions are often in a way bastardized to the local tastes and economy and don't have much in common with the original recipe. They convey popular misconceptions, such as:
According to the Designation of Origin, Adana kebabı is made from the meat of a male lamb that is younger than one year of age. The animal has to be grown in its natural environment and fed with the local flora.[3]
The meat shoud then be cleansed of its silverskin, nerves and internal fat. After the cleansing, it should be cut into rough shanks and, along with tail fat at a proportion of one to five, be laid to rest for a day.[3]
The next day, the rested meat and fat must be ground by hand, using a crescent-shaped iron cleaver known as the "Zırh". Only salt and sweet red peppers (also hand chopped with the Zırh) should be be added. The Designation of Origin also authorizes, "under certain circumstances", the addition of spicy green capsicum and fresh garlic cloves.[3]
The meat will then be thoroughly kneaded together with the fat, the salt and the additional ingredients for a few minutes until reaching homogenous consistency.[3]
After reaching homogeneity, the mixture is mounted on special pure iron skewers that are 0.5 cm thick, 3 cm wide and anywhere from 90 to 120 cm long. One portion of Adana kebabı will typically include 180 grams of meat on one skewer. A "portion-and-half", impaled on slightly wider skewers can not include less than 270 grams, as per the designation label.[3]
A little water has to be used during the impaling session to help the minced meat stick to the skewer, which is the hardest step in the making of this kebab. If not done properly by an Usta,[7] the meat will separate from the skewer during the roast, and fall on the charcoal.[3]
The impaled skewers are to be roasted on fireless, regular charcoal embers made exclusively from oak wood. When the meat turns dark brown from the original red, it is ready. The skewers are frequently to be turned during this process. The melting fat is not to be dripped on the embers, but to be collected on flatbread by pressing the latter on the skewers during the cooking process, also heating it up for later.[3]
The kebab is commonly served on a plate, as a "Porsiyon", or wrapped in flatbread, as a "Dürüm".
The kebab is served over the flatbread that the dripping fat fell on. It is accompanied by charred tomatoes, green or red peppers and julienned onions parsley with sumac. Other typical mezes in Adana-Mersin that will be always served with the kebab will include red pepper ezme with pomegranate molasses, fresh mint and estragon leaves, braised shallot hearts with olive oil and pomegranate molasses, pickled small green chili peppers, and, mostly around Mersin, green shallot stems with slices of bitter orange, citron, lime and lemon. Many restaurants around Adana will also bring sizzling hummus with butter topped with pastırma on the side.[3]
The way to eat the "Porsiyon" is to skin and crush the charred tomatoes and peppers into a paste, to put them in a cut of the flatbread together with a part of the kebab, topped by a generous pinch of the onion-sumac-parsley mixture, and to wrap the whole thing into a few small and thick dürüms.
Ayran and Şalgam are two of the staple beverages that are consumed with kebab in daytime. On hot summer evenings, ice-cold Rakı alongside Şalgam is often preferred.
The browned chunk of kebab is taken out of the mangal and pulled off the skewer on top of a large loaf of flatbread (mostly lavaş or tırnak pidesi), to be topped by a pinch of julienned onions, small diced tomatoes, some parsley, then to be sprinkled by a little salt, cumin and sumac and finally wrapped into a long roll. As a note, Ayran is more commonly consumed alongside the dürüm compared to the Şalgam.
Many variations of the Kıyma kebabı, all coming from the same hand-chopped lamb meat and tail fat base, are to be found around the Cilician and Mesopotamian parts of the former Ottoman Empire.[1]
Some notable among those, organized by regions, are: