Liver Kebab

Small cubes of lamb liver threaded on a skewer with pieces of tail fat between them, grilled over charcoal for a few minutes until the outside catches and the centre is just pink, and served on lavash with onion, sumac, parsley and grilled peppers: ciğer kebabı is the breakfast of Şanlıurfa and Diyarbakır and the dish that separates kebab cities from kebab restaurants. In Urfa the liver shops open before six in the morning and the skewers are cooked to order over narrow charcoal troughs, eaten standing with a glass of tea; in Edirne the liver is sliced thin and fried instead, as tava ciğer, which is a different dish. Adana and Gaziantep have their own versions, and across the country ciğer şiş appears as a cheap, quick kebab order. It is about speed and freshness, because liver cooked a minute too long is ruined, and liver that is a day old tastes of it.