Meats

i.Şiş, Döner, and the Skewer

Given how many kebaps there are, it helps to sort them by how the meat meets the fire. The Western world is most familiar with two: şiş kebap, cubes of marinated meat grilled over charcoal on a long skewer; and döner kebap, alternating layers of seasoned ground meat and sliced leg of lamb stacked on a vertical spit and turned slowly in front of a vertical flame. As the outer layer roasts, thin slices are shaved off and served. Both forms travelled out of Türkiye in the second half of the twentieth century — döner especially, carried by Turkish and Greek emigrants — and now feed half the world. Beyond them, dozens of other kebaps exist, including varieties cooked in a clay oven sealed with dough.

The distinctive taste of Turkish kebap owes more to the breeds of sheep and cattle — raised on open pasture by traditional shepherds — than to any special marinade or cooking technique.

ii.The Kebapçı: Türkiye's Fast Food

The kebapçı — the kebap house — is by far the most common and least expensive sit-down restaurant in Türkiye, ranging from a hole-in-the-wall counter to a great lavish hall in Adana or Gaziantep. Kebap is the country's answer to fast food: quick, affordable, and not especially bad for you. A typical kebapçı menu opens with lahmacun, a thin round of flatbread topped with spiced minced meat; Adana kebabı, hand-minced lamb pressed onto a wide skewer and grilled over coals; a salad of sharp greens with red onion; and baklava to finish. Beyond those four staples, the menu reflects the house's specialty. Seek out the well-known places. If you are not yet at home in the kebap tradition, start with the milder versions, then work outward. Once the taste has set, you can eat inexpensive feasts at neighbourhood kebapçı shops anywhere in the country.

iii.Izgara and the Köfte Family

Izgara — mixed grill — is how main-course meat is most often served in a serious meat restaurant. A mixed grill plate is likely to bring lamb chops, a few köfte, and select cubes of şiş, all hot off the same wide charcoal grate. Köfte itself comes in many forms: grilled, fried, oven-baked, or boiled, after the meat is mixed with spices, eggs, and grated onion, then carefully shaped into balls, ovals, or long flat fingers. A whole geography of the country can be read in its köftes — Tekirdağ, İnegöl, Akçaabat, each city defending its own preparation.

iv.Çiğ Köfte: The Raw Tradition

Among the older preparations is çiğ köfte, often compared to European steak tartare — and traced, in popular legend, to the nomadic Turks who carried raw, spiced meat in their saddlebags. In its traditional form çiğ köfte is made by vigorously kneading raw, double-ground meat with fine bulgur and hot spices for an extended period — long enough that the dough binds itself and turns dark red. Bite-sized patties are then formed and served with fresh cilantro, valued for its digestive properties. Modern, urban, vegan versions made with bulgur and spices alone are now everywhere; the technique that produces them is the same.

v.The Meat Restaurant

Some restaurants specialise in grilled meat to the exclusion of much else. They are known as meat restaurants — et lokantası. The experience is a steady procession of grilled cuts brought hot in small portions, course after course, straight from the grill, until the diner finally tells the waiter that he has had enough.

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