Kebab

(Redirected from Kabob)

Categories: Persian cuisine | Turkish cuisine | Meat

Kebab (kebap in Turkish, kabab in Iran and India/Pakistan, also spelled kebob, kabob) means "grilled (or broiled) meat" in Persian and Turkish. Kebab is usually made of lamb and beef, although chicken and fish can be used for some styles. Pork is never used by Muslims because of religious belief but is sometimes used by non-Muslim sellers.

There are many varieties of kebab and the term means different things in different countries. The term kebab without specifying the kind usually refers to döner kebab in Europe and to shish kebab in the United States, though, if not specifically noted as a specific type the content can vary.

Perhaps the earliest recipe is in the tenth-century Kitab al-Tabeekh كتاب الطبيخ (book of cookery) by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq of Baghdad. His recipe for Kebab Khalis uses thin slices of lean meat, salted and grilled in an ungreased frying pan.

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Döner kebab

Image:Döner kebab.jpg
Döner kebab
Main article: Döner kebab

Döner kebab, literally "rotating meat", is a sliced lamb or chicken loaf slowly roasted on a vertical rotating spit. It is similar to gyros, shawarma and Taco al pastor. Döner kebab is popularly best known served in pita bread with salad but is also served on a dish with a salad and bread or French fries on the side (not in Australia) or used on Turkish pizzas called pide or "kebabpizza". Take-out döner kebab or shawarma restaurants are common in some parts of Europe. Döner Kebab is said to be the best-selling fast food in Germany and comes close in the popularity stake-outs in France, Denmark, Finland and Australia. Take-out gyros is quite popular in the United States where it is usually beef and lamb, shawarma is available in ethnic neighborhoods but döner kebab is unknown.

Some kebab connoisseurs will also point out that it contains every food group for a healthy meal and lifestyle. It has bread (cereals group), cabbage and lettuce (vegetables group), tomatoes (fruit group), creamy herb sauce (dairy group), oil (fat group) not to mention the döner meat (meat group), although one might note some inbalance in the relative ratios (notably, the fat, meat and vegetable groups.)

Some variants:

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Shish kebab

Shish kebab (şiş kebap in Turkish) is a wooden or metal stick (a skewer) with small cubes of any kind of meat, fowl or fish with or without vegetables that is roasted on a grill. The name literally means 'skewer of grilled meat' in Persian. Vegetables typically used include eggplant, tomato, bell pepper, onion and mushrooms. A similar Greek food is called Souvlaki or Kalamaki.

Kabab was the food of Persian kings and in ancient times ordinary Iranians consumed it only once a year on Nowrooz, the Persian New Year. Today, however, kabab is not only consumed in almost every Iranian house on a weekly basis, but it has also become Iran's number one selling fast food.

Some variants:

The dish called chelow kabab (rice with kabab) is one of the most common forms of serving kabab in Iran which combines a variety of Persian kababs with saffroned Basmati rice , lavash (a paper-thin bread), grilled tomato, raw onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and Somagh and often a side of salad shirazi, mast khiyar and doogh (nowadays carbonated). An old Iranian tradition is to break a raw egg yolk over the rice, along with plenty of butter, just before serving.

An Indian dish called Seekh Kebab is popular in many Indian restaurants. It is cooked in a tandoor, and is often served with chutneys or mint sauce. It is often included in Tandoori sampler platters, which contain a variety of Tandoor cooked dishes.

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Shish Kebab in Other Languages

  • Albanian: shishqebab
  • Armenian: khorovats/khorovadz
  • Bosniak/Croatian/Serbian: šiš ćevap
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Similar dishes

Anticuchos (Peru), Brochette (French), Ćevapi (Balkans), Espetada (Portuguese), Satay (Oriental), Shashlik (Russian), Souvlaki or Kalamaki (Greek), Yakitori (Japanese),de:Kebab es:Kebab fi:Kebab fr:Kebab he:קבב it:Kebap ja:ケバブ nb:Kebab nl:Kebab nn:Kebab pl:Kebab pt:Kebab sv:Kebab zh:羊肉串