Name: Cafer Usta Kebap
Address: Son Durak, Harbiye, 9 Sultan Caddesi, Defne, Hatay, 31000, TR
Telephone: 0536 541 76 30
Rating: 4.7

Türkiye

Turkey

Hatay

Cafer Usta Kebap

Hand-chopped lamb and tail fat, seasoned with little more than salt and red pepper, pressed along a long flat skewer, grilled over charcoal and served on flatbread with grilled peppers, tomato, onion with sumac and parsley: Adana kebap carries the name of its city for a reason. It comes from Adana in southern Türkiye, where the name has been a registered geographical indication since 2005, with rules on the meat (lamb from animals under a year old, shoulder, leg and brisket), the fat (tail fat, about one part to four or five of meat) and the knife (a zırh, the wide curved blade, not a mincer). Its relatives are easy to confuse: Urfa kebap is the same construction without the heat, and a beyti is a kebab rolled in lavash with yoghurt and tomato sauce. A true Adana is spicy, coarse-textured and tastes first of lamb and charcoal.

The meat is chopped by hand until it is a rough paste with visible pieces of fat, then kneaded with salt and flakes of dried red pepper from the region, sometimes a spoon of red pepper paste for colour; onion and garlic are not in the registered recipe. The mixture rests cold so the fat firms up, then is pressed by hand along a flat skewer two or three fingers wide, pinched into ridges so it grips, and laid directly over a bed of oak or fruitwood charcoal with no grate between. The cook turns it often and presses the bread onto the meat as it grills to catch the dripping fat. Four to six minutes is enough. Ground meat from a machine will not stay on the skewer unless egg or bread is added, which is why minced versions taste of filler.

Score the texture first: the cut face should show distinct bits of meat and fat, not a smooth sausage grain, and the skewer should hold together without binders. The outside wants to be lightly charred at the ridges, the inside juicy and faintly pink. Dryness means too little fat or an overcooked skewer; a grey, bouncy interior means minced meat. The heat should build on the second bite, not scorch on the first. Expect fat-soaked lavash underneath, long grilled green peppers, a tomato half and sliced onion with sumac; a glass of şalgam or ayran is the usual drink. Mark down a kebab served on a plate without bread, beef passed off as lamb, and any Adana that arrives mild, which is an Urfa with the wrong name.

Adana kebap

Valla kardeşim özledik diye midir nedir baya bayılarak yedim. O sulu domates kızarmış ekmek adana kebap aşırı güzel olmuştu. Susam da yakışmıştı. Baya lezzetliydi. Dükkanda az kişi çalışıyor diye çok geç geliyor ve yanında salata humus meze bir şey gelmiyor. Yine de yediğin en iyi harbiye kebaplarından biriydi.

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