Shish Kebab
Meats grilled on skewers have become the best-known Middle Eastern foods as the standard fare of Lebanese, Turkish, and Iranian restaurants abroad. They are a symbol, in particular, of Turkish food. Turks say that this way of cooking meat was created during the conquering era of the Ottoman Empire, when Turkish soldiers, forced to camp out in tents for months on end, discovered the pleasures of eating meat grilled out of doors on wood fires. Twenty years ago, on a gastronomic visit to Turkey, I went with an interpreter on an arranged tour of kebab houses in Istanbul. At every stop I was invited to eat. It became a grand marathon—une grande bouffe. At the fifth establishment they opened the refrigerated room and showed me all the prize cuts, which were later presented to me straight from the fire on a gigantic plate. As well as the kebabs and ground-meat kofta kebab on skewers, there were small lamb chops, kidneys, slices of calf’s liver, beef steaks, sucuk (spicy beef sausages), and pieces of chicken. It was a gourmand’s dream, but for a woman already satiated from eating elsewhere and afraid of giving offense, it was a nightmare. In Greece and Turkey, alternating pieces of onion, tomato, and bell pepper are threaded onto the skewers in between the cubes of meat. This looks good, but it is not a good idea, as the meat and vegetables take different times to cook and the meat becomes wet and does not get properly seared. So, if you must have roasted vegetables, have them on another skewer, or straight on the grill. In some countries, lumps of fat are pressed between pieces of meat to keep them from drying out as the fat melts.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Cut the meat into 1-inch cubes. Prepare a marinade by mixing the onion juice with the oil, salt, and pepper and soak the meat in this for at least 1 hour (Iranians and Turks marinate overnight), keeping it covered in the refrigerator, and turning the pieces over at least once.
Step 2
Thread the pieces of meat onto 6 skewers, preferably the flat, wide type, so that the meat does not slide.
Step 3
Grill over charcoal or wood embers, making sure that the fire has stopped smoking. Place the skewers 3 inches from the fire on a well-oiled grill. Or broil under a preheated gas or electric broiler. Cook for about 7–10 minutes, turning over once, until the meat is well browned on the outside but still pink and juicy inside.
Ways of Serving
Step 4
Serve the kebabs on top of a thin Arab flat-bread over sprigs of flat-leaf parsley or chervil; or inside a pita bread topped with a salad of finely chopped raw tomato, cucumber, and onion with herbs.
Step 5
Alternatively, place the skewers on a bed of rice or bulgur.
Step 6
In Iran the rice is garnished with an egg yolk presented on the half-shell. The yolk is then stirred into the rice at table. This is chello kebab. The Turks serve kebabs with yogurt as a sauce.
Other Popular Marinades
Step 7
For a Greek one, blend in the food processor 2 onions, 2 tomatoes, 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon, 2 teaspoons dried rigani (wild marjoram), salt, and pepper.
Step 8
For a marinade inspired by Sidqi Effendi’s nineteenth-century Turkish cookery manual, blend to a cream 2/3 cup olive oil, 2 onions, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, salt, and pepper.
Step 9
For another Turkish marinade, blend 1 1/4 cups yogurt, 1 onion, salt, and pepper.
Additions
Step 10
At the same time, broil quartered onions and tomatoes and sweet peppers cut into 1-inch pieces threaded on skewers.
Step 11
Broil whole medium-small eggplants at the same time, turning them until they are soft inside, and serve them cut open. In some Turkish restaurants in London’s famously Turkish Stoke Newington district, they thread thick slices of eggplant between pieces of meat, and the eggplants have time to roast and become deliciously tender.
Step 12
In Lebanon they thread cherry tomatoes and pickling onions between the pieces of meat.
Step 13
Lamb cutlets, or chops, and filet of beef can be marinated and grilled or broiled at the same time so as to have a mix of meats.
