ANKARA — There are a few food names that every tourist who comes to Turkey knows before arriving, and one of them is shish kebab. It was probably the second most popular version of the kebab in the country after doner before the minced meat-based kebabs of Adana and Urfa became widely common in the 1980’s.
Throughout my childhood, my father would marinate small cuts of lamb meat and put them on skewers with slices of green peppers and onions in between when we hosted. I would help with the skewering. Then he would grill them beautifully on a coal fire. I could not get enough of this kebab.
One day I asked him to prepare it when we are not having guests. He prepared so much, in the end I said “I can’t eat anymore, I’m going to burst.”
Origins of the grilled meat cubes
The word kebab was passed on from the Akkadian language to the Sumerian and Arabic before being adopted into Turkish. It stems from the verbs for grilling or burning. The word “şiş/shish” (skewer) comes from old Turkish, it means a stick with a pointy end. Therefore, ethnology tells us that shish kebab is from these parts. In the West, animals were cooked as a whole because they had more forests.
Since there were less forests in Anatolia, therefore there was less fuel, meats were cooked in small parts. I haven’t observed the “kuşbaşı” (“bird’s head” as a reference to the tinniness of the parts) style of cutting the meat in the West, for example. As for shish kebab, we cut the meat into little cubes and put them on skewers to be able to grill them more quickly.
Seasoning of the shish kebab is important. We lay the meat to rest in an acidic source such as yogurt, milk, onion water or “salça”, a Turkish style tomato paste. Shish kebab is a wonderful food with the idiosyncratic taste of the lamb’s meat, the soft and wet texture that comes from the seasoning, the flavors that arise from the surface of the meat after grilling, and the vegetables such as tomatoes, green peppers and onions skewered in between.
It’s important to not cut the meat cubes too small; otherwise, the inside of the meat would be dry. The meat can have even more flavor with the occasional introduction of fat rendered from the tail of the animal.
Skewers around the world
So, what are the different types of shish kebab? In the West, Greeks call it “souvlaki” or “kalamaki” and prepare it from lamb, calf or pig meat. It is served with “tzatziki,” which is the Greek version of the Turkish “cacik,” and lavash bread. If we go further to the west, skewers of calf or sheep meat are served as hung upside down. In Portuguese, they are called “espetadas.” They serve a good salad alongside it, too.
The juiced waters of the meat drip down on the bread that was laid under.
Kebab is called “cevapi” in the Balkans — in Bosnia, Albania and the former Yugoslavia. They make it similar to the shish kebab. The farther eastern place that kebab has traveled to is Indonesia. The culture of kebab was brought there by the Muslims but there the skewers are called “satay.” The Indonesians season the skewers with coconut oil milk and turmeric.
However, the one which is most similar to shish kebab among all these relatives is the “shashlik” of the Georgians, which is also found in the Turkish cuisine. The difference between the two is the meat being seasoned with vinegar for the shashlik. Some argue the word comes from şiş (skewer).
Whether it be called shish or shaslik, the shish kebab is among my favorites. It always reminds me of my childhood home when prepared from well-seasoned lamb meat and served alongside rice and salad. In the end, you don’t grill shish kebab for one. It’s a delight to prepare the skewers and grill them together alongside family and friends during the holidays.
