Adana kebabı

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Adana kebabı

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
Origin
Alternative name(s)	Kıyma kebabı
Place of origin	Turkey
Region or state	Adana-Mersin
Creator(s)	Goes back to the 16th century.
Details
Course	Kebab
Main ingredient(s)	Hand minced lamb and tail fat.

Adana kebabı (colloquially known as Kıyma kebabı) 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.

History

Tail fat, the essential ingredient of any Kıyma kebabı

Kebabs are usually made out of ground lamb meat and tail fat, though there are many regional variations. Kebabs are fairly common in the strip of land stretching from Mersin in Turkey to Kirkuk in Iraq, including in its center Aleppo in Syria. 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. 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.

Geographical distribution

Original geography

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. A substantive list of these establishments can be found here.

The Kıyma kebabı is still widely and consumed and prepared in its historical geography. It is prepared in similar fashion in the immediate neighboring zones of Turkey, Syria and Iraq, where the meat is hand-ground with the addition of tail fat and occasionally a non-spicy capsicum. Please refer to the "Variations" section of the same article for a more extensive list of the original Pan-Aleppan variants.

Recent geography and misconceptions

Although they are unprotected under the same patents and do not share the same history, many variations of the Kıyma kebabı have been enjoyed since the 1950s, 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 do not have much in common with the original recipe. They convey popular misconceptions, such as:

• In Istanbul, or in any Turkish Metropolis outside of the former Vilayets of Adana and Aleppo, a Kıyma kebabı is either an "Adana kebabı" (the spicy variant) or an Urfa kebabı (the non-spicy one). Truth is that the original Adana kebabı is not spicy at all, and Urfa kebabı does not even exist, even in Urfa, where the local variation of the Kıyma kebabı is called Haşhaş kebabı and has slightly different contents (see variations). The versions consumed in metropolises outside of the Adana Province also mostly do not include the compulsory basics for the Adana kebabı, as, with the exception of Adana, only 109 institutions were identified by the ACC all over Turkey as of 2011.

• In Damascus, a kind of non-spicy Kıyma kebabı named "كباب حلبى" (Aleppo kebab) is served with a thick tomato sauce and rice. This kind of serving is greatly unknown in Aleppo, where the Kıyma kebabı is called "كباب خشخاش" (Haşhaş kebabı - see variations) and served with flatbread, onions, parsley and sumac, just like in Turkey.

Preparation

Mincing and kneading

Mincing the meat with the zırh

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.

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.

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 added. The Designation of Origin also authorizes, "under certain circumstances", the addition of spicy green capsicum and fresh garlic cloves.

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.

Broad skewers of pure iron, specially crafted for the Adana kebabı

Impaling

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.

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, the meat will separate from the skewer during the roast, and fall on the charcoal.

Adana kebabı on the mangal

Cooking

The impaled skewers are to be roasted on fire-less, 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.

Serving and eating

The kebab is commonly served on a plate, as a "Porsiyon", or wrapped in flatbread, as a "Dürüm".

Porsiyon

Adana kebabı served as Porsiyon with the right accompaniments and ayran

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.

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.

Dürüm

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.

Variations

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.

Some notable among those, organized by regions, are:

Adana-Mersin

• Metrelik kebap: A recent specialty that saw the light thanks to some of most famous Usta (ref.) of Adana. That variety is nothing but a very long and thick Kıyma kebabı, than can reach anywhere from 1 up to 10 meters in total, depending on the number of guests on the table. The required huge iron skewers are also very heavy (some weigh up to 15 kilograms) and specially crafted.

• Beytî: A take on the famous Beyti of Istanbul. Parsley and fresh garlic cloves are chopped alongside the meat and the fat instead of any sort of capsicum, giving it a typical taste.

• Kebab Tarsûsî: More common in the eponymous city of Tarsus than anywhere else, this Kıyma kebabı includes only minced onion along the meat and the fat.

Greater Aleppo

• Haşhaş kebabı or كباب خشخاش: Very famous in Nizip, Urfa, Birecik and Aleppo, this is a very simple form of Kıyma kebabı, that can at times contain a hint of caul fat and crushed walnuts, making it crispier.

• Simit kebabı or كبّة مشويّة: Literally mass consumed in the Antep-Kilis-Halep line, this distant cousin of the Kıyma kebabı includes, per kilo of meat, one glassful of soaked bulgur, a few shallots, 30 grams of pine nuts and only 100 grams of tail fat. Different spices such as dried mint flakes, paprika powder, sumac and cumin will also be added to the mixture to taste.

• Fıstıklı kebap: A speciality of Antep that has around 150 grams of coarsely ground pistachio kernels per kilo of meat and fat.

• Sebzeli kebap: Another specialty of Antep where red and green peppers as well as onions and parsley are hand-chopped together alongside the meat and the fat.

Iraq

• Süleymâniye Kebabı or كباب سليمانية: An Iraqi variety, that differs from the classic Adana kebabı in a few ways, notably the fact that no pepper or spice whatsoever is added to the mixture, who is also roasted in a very special mangal that has a powerful blower mounted on one side, constantly blowing air on the charcoal, much raising their temperature. The result is a quite uncommon but very tasty Kıyma kebabı that has a kind of glazed and crispy outer crust.

See also

• Kabab koobideh
• Keema
• List of kebabs

External links

• Article and Picture Gallery about the preparation of the Adana kebabı by the Adana Chamber of Commerce
• Recipe: Adana Köfte (Turkey)
• Introduction to Turkish Food Regions -- Adana