Adana Kapab

In the early eighties I spent two years trying (unsuccessfully) to get a television series called 'The Ottomans' off the ground. The idea was to try to explain Ottoman culture though the craft - as evidenced by the remains - and to try to piece together the social and political history from the artefacts and the written evidence.

One episode of the series was supposed to be about food. There remains so much evidence both visual and written as well as metalwork and ceramics. The military history is particularly rich. If an army marches on its stomach then the Sultan's crack troops - the Janissaries - weren't leaving anything to chance. Their insignia was the cooking pot and spoon. Each regiment carried their enormous copper kettle into battle as their standard. Their officers held posts named after the kitchen hierarchy - as 'chief cook' 'soup cook' and 'water carrier' - and when they were displeased with their treatment by the Sultan they would over turn their pot - symbolically refusing the Sultan's rations (and therefore his politics). With an empire that at its height stretched from the gates of Vienna to Jeddah and included much of North Africa Ottoman culinary influence can be discerned today in many cuisines.

My interest in Turkey arose from a magical holiday spent with two Turkish friends Metin and Cem. We spent a few days at their house in Bebek on the European shore of the Bospherous and then at their villa on Burgazada in the Kizil Adalar archipeligo in the Sea of Marmara just south of the Bospherous. Later we took the ferry from Istanbul to Izmir and then drove on to Bodrum where they berthed their Gulet and sailed east towards Kemer. Whilst we ate many delicious fish during the trip, one recipe that we found in Stamboul, the islands, Izmir, Bodrum and all along the south coast was Adana Kebabı. Later, during research for the series treatment, I ate Adana Kebab in and around Çukurova province and in the city of Adana itself. I've probably eaten scores of versions of this kebab...

Adana Kebab is a köfte but it's worth thinking about the origin of the word before reaching for the mincer. Köfte comes from the Persian word kūfta. In Persian, کوفتن kuftan means 'to beat' or 'to grind' as in the mortar. Adana Kebab should not be made from minced lamb. Traditionally it would be made from lean meat such as lower leg bulked with lamb tail fat in the ration 5:1. The meat fibres need to be relaxed but not ground fine and certainly not minced to a paste.

In Turkey I've seen this mixture beaten then chopped and beaten again. But it's possible to do this carefully in the magimix. Despite my butchers offers to give me lamb tail, for the most part life is too short allow too much time rendering lamb fat, so we use shoulder which has about the right amount of fat once the shoulder is chopped up. Prepare the shoulder as 1-1.5cm cubes then add what ever seasoning you prefer. Working in batches of about 500g put the mix in the magimix and pulse it 10 or 12 times. This should leave you with a mix that is relaxed and where the lean is a variety of sizes but the fat is evenly distributed and more 'smashed' than the lean. Overall the mixture is sticky enough to form into a Şiş.

There are two schools of thought about seasoning. One set of chefs use a variety of seasonings including some or all of cumin, ground coriander, fresh coriander and or fresh parsley. All the recipes call for some form of pepper (whether sweet or hot) as well as salt. Over thirty years I have not been able to form an opinion about who is right. But I have decided how I prefer to cook it. We favour the purist approach simply using great lamb to start and seasoning this with salt, chopped bell pepper and a little ground black pepper.

Adana kebab does require a proper skewer. You need a wide skewer - at least 5/8ths and preferably 7/8ths. The resemblance between this and a foot soldiers sword is too great to resist. I am sure this is pre (or post) battlefield food. So here is the recipe we use - collected and adapted from many years of Turkish travel.



Adana Kapab

1Kg Lamb shoulder
1 Bell pepper
1 tspn sea salt

Prepare the lamb as above. Form it into Şiş around your skewer - these Şiş should be between 1.5 and 2 inches wide, 1 inch thick and around 7-8 inches long. 1 Kg makes 3 or 4 Şiş.

Grill on a hot charcoal grill but not directly over the coals. Build the fire to one side of your barbecue and set the Şiş in the middle. Collect the dripping on a piece of Pide. Timing depends on your fire but the kebab is done when it becomes a little springy.

Serve immediately with

Fresh sheep yoghurt
Lemon quarters
Grilled tomato quarters
Fresh parsley
Onion Salad (Slice a whole sweet or red onion very thinly. Dress with lemon juice and sprinkle with Sumac)
Pide Bread (recipe here)
Ayran (recipe here)










Thirty years on, Cem is still a cook -here interviewed by Jason Goodwin, author of the 'Yaşim' detective novels - he makes yet another köfte - 'Ladies Thighs' or Kadin Budu: