This past summer saw me travel to both Greece and Turkey: neighbors, once foes, current rivals and friendly neighbors. Confused? There’s a lot of history between these two nations and to this day, ripples from the Ottoman Empire are felt in Greece (some good, some bad). Greece and Turkey also share some similarities when it comes to food and often, it’s one of the facets that improves Greek-Turkish relations. One might hear a Greek curse at the Turks for another “military flying exercise” through the Greek airspace in the Aegean yet in the same conversation also talk of the best pistachio Baklava they ever had…in Istanbul! Just one of the many paradoxes.
Another food that’s shared in both Greece and Turkey is the Kebab. The Kebab I’m talking about is the ground meat that’s skewered and then grilled over hot charcoal embers. The most famous version of the Kebab in Greece has to be Thanassi’s in the Monastiraki area of Athens. It is made of ground beef (or veal) and likely there is a percentage of ground pork in the mixture. This kebab is served with skewered ripe tomatoes that also placed over a charcoal pit and served with the kebab, sliced red onions and pita bread.
The Turkish Kebab has it’s origins in Adana, an ancient Greek city (even cited as Adana in Homer’s Iliad). Adana is located in the eastern Mediterranean (just inland from the coast that sits across from Cyprus) and it’s Turkey’s 4th largest city. The Adana Kebab (as known in Turkey) is extremely popular and can be found on menus throughout Turkey and restaurants around the world. The Adana Kebab is made of ground lamb with about 20% of the mixture consisting of tail fat from a lamb. The lamb meat is seasoned with finely shopped onions, spices, red pepper paste (Biber Salcasi) and minced by hand with the use if a Mezzaluna. A handful of meat is then affixed on the long flat skewers and then squeezed along the metal skewer to form a long, slender kebab.
The Kebab (unlike usual grilling) is suspended over the charcoal pit – no direct contact with the grill surface and with gravity coming into play, the fear of your Kebabs falling off your skewers becomes very real. There are a few tips one must follow if you want to successfully grill Kebabs:
- You need the flat metal skewers that will better hold onto the ground meat mixture
- The ground meat mixture needs approx 20% fat in it so that your mixture will adhere to the skewers and not fall off
- Your meat mixture must not be overly wet or, again your meat will fall off the skewers. Grated onion work best, using the side of the box grater with the largest holes. Then place in a tea towel, wring out excess liquid.
- adding some baking soda into the meat mixture will help bind and lighten the density of the minced mixture
There are two paths one can take when deciding what meat mixture to use. The Thanassi’s Kebab version utilizes ground beef (or veal) with some ground pork in the mix acting as the fat component. One could also use ground lamb with pork or go all-out pork. I like the ground beef plus pork mixture (closer to Thanassi’s).
The Turkish Kebab mixture is a little trickier to emulate as it’s difficult to find the lamb’s tail fat used in the ground lamb mixture. Your best bet is to use ground lamb shoulder in the mix or a combo of ground lamb shoulder and ground chuck beef (also containing some fat). Turkey is a predominantly Muslim nation and I ground pork wouldn’t be included in the mix.
To accompany the Kebab, some good pita bread is lightly grilled and then cut into pieces and placed on your serving platter. The Greeks will also serve a garnish of sliced red onions and the Turks often serve a salad of sliced onions and parsley tossed in sumac and salt. In both the Greek and Turkish versions, roasted tomatoes are served (plus mildly hot green peppers in Turkey). You’ll need ripe tomatoes and one can either skewer the tomatoes whole on a separate skewer or thick tomato segments and peppers at the end of your Kebab skewer.
Finally, in both the Greek & Turkish Kebab, the skewers are suspended over the charcoal pit. These pits were designed for grilling kebabs and the skewers rest over the glowing embers. You and I do not have such equipment but you can place some bricks on both ends of your gas or charcoal grill and allow the skewers to rest on them. Make a batch of rice pilaf, serve up some homemade pita bread and serve the Kebabs with the roast tomato and green pepper kebabs, the onion salad with sumac and place some beers in the fridge to get chillin’.
Grilled Kebab With Warm Pita Bread
(served 4-6)
Kebab mixture
1/2 lb. of regular ground beef + 1/2 lb. regular ground pork
OR
1/2 ground lamb shoulder + 1/2 lb. ground chuck beef
1 medium onion, grated
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. of ground cumin
1/2 tsp. of ground allspice
1 Tbsp. of red pepper paste (or 1 Tbsp. of tomato paste mixed with 1/2 tsp. of sweet paprika & pinch of cayenne)
1 Tbsp. dried Greek oregano
1/2 tsp. of baking soda
1/2 tsp. of ground pepper
2 tsp. of sea salt
Garnish
grilled tomatoes and peppers
thinly sliced onions
chopped parsley
olive oil
salt and pepper
- Place your grated onion in a tea towel and wring-out/squeeze out as much water from the onion as possible. Add all the ingredients except the meat until well mixed into a paste. Empty into a bowl and add your ground meat and mix well with your hands. Take enough meat to make a small meatball and fry it off in a small pan. Taste and adjust accordingly with salt, pepper or with any of the other seasonings. Cover and place in your fridge for at least an hour (overnight is even better).
- To form the Kebabs, divide the meat into equal portions and form into a meatball (big enough to fit in your palm) then form the meatball around the middle part of your skewer and then squeeze the meat mixture along the skewer. You should be able to form a long, slender kebab that’s about 6-7 inches along. Now, using your index and thumb, gently squeeze around the meat in 1/2 inch increments to form the ridged pattern.
- If you have extra skewers, you may place whole ripe tomatoes alternating with segments of green (I like hot) peppers or skewer them at the top end of your meat Kebabs (it’s a good idea to measure how much grilling surface you have as the bricks placed on both sides of your grill will reduce the length available). Brush the tomatoes and peppers with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Remove the grill grates from your grill.. Pre-heat your grill to a medium-high (approx. 375F).
- Your grill should be ready by now and you may place the skewers on the rows of brick that were placed on your gas or charcoal grill. Grill the kebabs, flipping them frequently so that the meat on both sides of the skewer cook evenly and at the same rate. Cook for about 15 minutes or until just golden-brown. If the tomatoes and peppers are on separate skewers, again cook on both sides, about 15 minutes total, rotating often. Now is good time to grill some pita bread.
- Remove the skewers from the grill and allow to rest five minutes. Use the warm pita bread to grab the meat and remove from the skewer and place your platter.
- Serve with the roasted tomatoes and peppers and divide and plate the Onion, parsley and Sumac salad. A side of rice pilaf is apt for the occasion and some cold beer along with your Kebabs.
25 Responses
Another great post! Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks on how to make these kebab…I always wondered how they kept them together on the skewers.
The skewers ar cool remind me of swords. I can imagine soldiers grilling their meats over an open fire or me over my backyard grill.
Wonderful post, Peter! I was in Turkey & Greece this past June and totally enjoyed these kebabs in both countries! I love how food unites us in so many ways!
I really appreciate the detail and precision that you included in your post. We love kebabs and I have learned how to make them so much tastier than I have been doing them just by reading everything here. I cannot wait until we make them again. This is where I will start and it will be soon. I love Greek food and though it is winter in Canada, we grill throughout the year and have what we need to keep them off of the grill. The onion parsley and sumac salad looks yummy, too, and I will be making that. I love sumac.
:)
Valerie
I love the FIX Hellas beer at the end, Peter. Very necessary. Interesting about the baking soda addition! I would use lamb, and err tail fat, well I wouldn’t want to know what’s in the kebab, but now you got me wanting to make some.
I love that kind of food! A great post.
Cheers,
Rosa
Great post! The kebabs look so tasty!!
I love kebab!!!! I have never visit Turkey and there way of making it , but i am sure that Thanasis will still be my favorite!!!! I always have 2 everytime i go downtown!! Great post and beautiful photos!!
Good day from Greece!!!
These look completely mouthwatering! I do actually have some flat skewers, and they are slightly longer than my barbecue, so the suspension thing could happen! But maybe in spring.
I love Mediterranean food! These kebabs look mouth watering!
Δεν μπορώ να πω με τίποτα οχι, σε ένα νόστιμο κεμπάμπ!!!
Καλή βδομάδα Peter:)
Everything is so thoroughly explained, I can’t wait to try it! Love Kebabs! Tanks for sharing!
Another great post…….I love the Adana Kebab, every time we go to a Turkish restaurant in Toronto we order this Kebab. Especially when we are in Istanbul visitng my husband’s relatives thats all we order mostly. I do have the flat skewers and we do make them in the summer time on the bbq. I will try your recipe this time. Mine is similar but will try yours. Thanks for sharing another recipe with your great pictures.
That looks soooooooo tasty!
I made something similar for the first time this summer. They were wonderful. At first I had trouble because my skewers were non-stick and it wouldn’t hold. Switched to bamboo and it worked great.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of this food! Makes me happy to see all of your pics!
I enjoyed the Turkish kebabs in Istanbul this past winter; the tail fat is sold in every butcher shop in Lebanon, already ground! in the US, I do like you , a mixture of both fatty beef and lamb. Thanks for the tip about the bricks and also the idea to soak the onions in water (why?); I usually sprinkle salt and sumac on the onion and call it ready!
Adana kebab is my absolute favourite. I have to force myself not to order it al the time in restaurants or else I would never try any different dishes. I did attempt to make it once…and the warnings you mentioned above came true. The meat wasn’t fatty enough, it was too wet and the skewers were too thin – needless to say the meat fell off the skewer and collapsed!
I want to be classy and say there were many things I enjoyed in Turkey this last summer, but come to think of it, the best part was the Kebabs! I have had my share of delicious kebabs but the thought of kebab’s we had makes my mouth water! And now I have a recipe for it. How good is tht!
Ha! I’ve always wanted to get down to business and write a post on the differences between the kebabs… looks like you’ve done a great job of it! And I learned a few things myself. Delicious.
Super informative post Peter! I tried making kebabs like this over the summer, and most fell off the skewers. Next time I know to use the flat ones. Also, a butcher recommended that you either use a finer ground meat or a less fine grind – and I can’t remember which! Any thoughts on the grind?
Jenn, if you’re going for a leaner mix, a finer grind and I would mix it in the food processor. If coarser grind, you would need more fat. In Turkey, they traditionally mince the meat with a mezzaluna which means the ground meat is coarser but with about 20% fat.
Splurge on the flat skewers too!
Hello, I love your blog. I ve been browsing it for days now :) As a person with Cypriot origins, I m very much interested in Levantine cuisine but Greek & Anatolian cuisines as well. And this website is like an oasis for me. By the way, I d like to comment about some info on this recipe page. It is actually hard to call Adana a Greek city i guess, since It is originally a very old Anatolian city founded by Anatolian civilizations. First settlements go back to neolithic period (6000BC), which is the time of the first human settlements known. But I think you mean Antioch instead, because it was founded by one of Alexander’s generals (around 300BC) and has a great history as well :) On the other hand, both Adana city and Antiochia (which is the center of Hatay city right now) cuisines are closer to Syrian cuisine than common Anatolian cuisine. And Adana kebab is purely one of them :) There is also another “less spicy” version of Adana kebab in Urfa city, which is at the south eastern corner of Turkiye, far from the sea but still close to Syrian border. Antiochian cuisine also has many similarities with Cyprus cuisine of course, since they are so close. Such as lamb chop kebab. Also hummus, a very common, traditional dish in Cyprus but within Turkiye it is only traditionally known in Antiochia. Or they have a tinier version of the stone-broken green olives called tsakistes or chakistes in Cyprus :) I think they call it Halhali there. Because Hatay (and Antiochia) is just in the middle of Turkiye and Syria, there are habitants from both countries. So as far as i know it is quite multinational, cosmopolitan and in terms of nationalism and racism, a very openminded place with a wise and tolerant community. And Adana (which may not be so tolerant) is just next to it, on the other side of Iskenderun Gulf (Which means Alexandretta). So they are just like siblings on two sides of the Gulf of Alexander :)