Turkey · Main · Medium
Adana Kebab
Rome's most famous pasta. Silky egg and Pecorino sauce clinging to every strand, studded with crisp guanciale. No cream, ever.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Adana Kebab, in 5 ideas
- Fat is structural. Twenty percent fat lamb holds together and stays juicy. Lean lamb crumbles and dries out.
- Flat skewers, not round. The meat spins on round skewers and cooks unevenly. Wide flat skewers grip it.
- Wet hands, firm press. Wet hands keep the meat from sticking to you. Press out every air pocket or it splits on the grill.
- Chill before shaping. Warm ground meat is slack and slides. An hour in the fridge firms it up.
- Charcoal beats gas here. The smoke is part of the flavor. If you only have gas, it still works, but you miss the point.
What you need
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground lamb (20 percent fat)
- 2 tbsp red bell pepper paste
- 2 tsp Aleppo pepper, plus more to serve
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 flatbreads
- 2 tomatoes, halved
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 tbsp sumac
- Lemon wedges
How to make it
Directions
- Knead the lamb, pepper paste, Aleppo pepper, cumin, salt, and black pepper together by hand for a full 8 minutes, until sticky and tacky. This develops the bind that holds it on the skewer.
- Cover and chill 1 hour. Cold meat molds better and holds its shape.
- Divide into 8 portions. Wet your hands and mold each portion around a wide flat skewer into a long sausage about 8 inches long, pressing firmly so there are no air pockets.
- Grill over hot charcoal, turning every 3 minutes, until charred in spots and cooked through, about 12 minutes. Grill the tomato halves alongside.
- Warm the flatbreads on the grill for 30 seconds. Slide the kebabs off onto the bread so the juices soak in.
- Serve with grilled tomato, onion tossed with sumac and parsley, lemon wedges, and extra Aleppo pepper.
Knead until sticky. Eight full minutes. The meat should cling to your hand when you lift it. Under-kneaded kebabs fall off the skewer into the fire.