Turkish Kebaps (Roast Meats)

Kebap (or kebab) simply means "roasted," and usually refers to lamb roasted in some form, but may refer to chicken—or even (roasted) chestnuts—as well.

The most familiar Turkish kebap is shish kebap: chunks of lamb roasted on a skewer. It sounds simple enough, but to make it best you need Turkish free-range lamb, a true charcoal grill, and the knack for getting the outside singed while the inside of each chunk remains soft and succulent.

Döner Kebap is lamb roasted on a vertical spit and sliced off when done. When laid on a bed of chopped flat bread and topped with savory tomato sauce and brown butter, it becomes Iskender (or Bursa) Kebap.

Izgara Köfte is ground lamb mixed with egg, rice or bread crumbs and spices, formed into longish meatballs and grilled. If you squoosh the meat onto a long flat skewer and grill it you have shish köfte. (Shish köfte may take on the name kebap if the chef adds his own touches to it.)

Çöp Shish is three or four little chunks of lamb, and a chunk of fat, grilled on a small wooden skewer: a specialty of the Aegean region, especially south of Izmir. More...

Shashlik is chunks of lamb interspersed with tomatoes, onions and peppers/pimientos (although any good Turkish chef will cook the lamb and vegetables on separate skewers because their cooking times are quite different).

Döner Kebap

Iskender Kebap

Çöp Shish

Köfte (Meatballs)

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Above, döner kebap, Turkey's national dish.

Below, a big plate of shish köfte-style kebap with bulgur wheat, crudités, tomatoes, peppers, onions and parsley as prepared at Hamdi Restaurant near the Egyptian (Spice) Bazaar in Eminönü, Istanbul.