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Adana Kebab
Found in: Turkish words and phrases
Adana Kebab (Adana kebabi in Turkish) is a long, charcoal grilled, minced meat brochette mounted on a wide skewer. It is named after Adana, the fifth largest city of Turkey, in the Mediterranean region. It is originally known as kiyma kebabi (minced meat kebab) or simply as kiyma in Adana.
The original Adana Kebab is made from ground lamb meat cleaned of its silverskin (connective tissue) and mixed with fat from the lamb tail. Ideally the meat is hand chopped but often you will find it machine ground in a single pass, mixed with fat in a proportion of one to five. Only salt and dried red pepper flakes (sweet or hot according to taste) are added to the meat. Red bell pepper can be hand chopped into very small pieces and be used instead of chili pepper. 4 or 5 ounces (100 or 150 grams) of meat are mounted on a special skewer which is about long (80-90 cm) and about an inch wide (2.0-2.5 cm). Then it is grilled over hot charcoal.
During the grilling the fat melts and burns on the charcoal. The fire is not allowed to reach the meat; otherwise it leaves black soot on the meat. The dripping fat is usually removed by a piece of fresh flatbread - pide (also known as berberi) bread or lavash.
After the meat has browned, it is slid off the skewer onto a bed of pide or lavash bread slices and is served with an accompaniment of onion salad garnished with sumac, barbecued tomato quarters, and bell peppers, on a large white plate. Parsley, mint, and a salad of choice, are served alongside on separate dishes. Lemon juice is used to provide a sour taste to cut through the high fat content of the meal.
Usually ayran (a diluted yogurt drink), or algam (turnip juice), is served as a beverage with it. However, raki, (anise based Turkish liqueur), is frequently served. An alternative is to serve it as a roll (durum also known as sokum); the meat and the vegetables are rolled in a pide bread. This is more of a fast food style of serving this dish, although the vegetables and meat are all prepared fresh.
Adana Kebap is a protected Geographical Indication under the Turkish patent office.
See also
Doner kebab
Kebab
Adana
External links
Introduction to Turkish Food Regions -- Adana
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Adana Kebab