Tag: adana kebab

The Adana Kebab

M's Adventures

Adana? Where is that? That is the reaction one usually gets to mentioning Adana. Although the city may not be famous, the Adana kebab (kebap here) certainly is. So what is it exactly?

It is a hand made artisanal hand minced lamb (must be from a male sheep younger than one year) elongated meat patty shaped around a metal skewer. It is grilled over an open charcoal fired grill. The Adana kebab is always grilled well done. There is a high percentage of pure white tail fat chopped into the meat mix to add juiciness and flavor. Non spicy red bell pepper can also be chopped in with the mix. The mixture is minced with a special crescent shaped cleaver, called a “zirh.” The percentage of meat to fat is 5 to 1. After the mixture is made, according to the recipe, it should be rested for a day.

There are some assumptions that the Adana kebab is spicy. It is not. Although the accompanying jalapeño chili can be. Each portion of Adana kebab is about 180 grams and it takes a master’s touch to make the meat mixture stick to the skewer so that it can be turned often while cooking. While the meat is cooking, the juices are soaked up with flat bread. This bread is served with the meat. It is fun to watch the master (“usta”) form the kebab. It takes a bit of water and a lot of skill to quickly move the hand up the skewer creating a wave of meat.

Like all kebabs, there will be the obligatory free salads (Don’t pay! They should be free!) and a grilled chili pepper and tomato. The kebab is served with flat bread, usually pide, so you can make your own delicious bites. Like most food here, you can spice or flavor the food as you like, with a sprinkle of red pepper powder, salt, or drops of lemon.

The typical drink with the Adana kebab is ayran, savory salted yogurt, or şalgam, fermented turnip. Or ice cold raki, alcohol made from grapes and flavored with aniseed.

Adana is proud and famous for the Adana kebab. Now that the Adana kebab is a designated cultural origin food, the city holds festivals of kebabs…

My informal guess is that there is a kebab shop on every block. At least one. Maybe two or four. So every day is a kebab festival!

Lost in the Alleys of Adana

M's Adventures

One day, I set out to find a well known “pilaf” eatery in old Adana. I had read that they were often sold out so one should go early. I got there at around ten thirty in the morning. They told me, “Come in, come in” but as there was no food, I said that I would come back after they opened at 11 am.

A quiet street in the inner warrens of Old Adana.

As I needed to find something to do for a half hour, I turned down an alley… in broad daylight, I generally do not feel apprehensive. The old streets of Adana are usually empty, sometimes foul smelling, worn down, and there is always a tea “shop” to be had. Today’s alleys were much the same but in one there was a man putting something in a grinder. It looked like green powder or grass powder. He looked annoyed at me so I did not stop to ask him what he was doing.

Wood stools.

Another thing I find fascinating is the variety of small stools. Today, I saw a saddle style that I had never seen before. In general, even if there is no tea shop or cafe, there will still be some stools and flat surface in or around every place of business. There are an innumerable tea boys and men running around delivering tea. Tea is a social habit, sort of like a handshake, in Adana.

Always tea.

While I was wandering around, I suddenly noticed raw meat on display, from lungs, stomach, testes, feet, and head. The heads were being blowtorched. Not sure how those heads were going to be prepared as one can get head soup, head sandwich, head cold cuts, and roast head. So many ways and apparently the cheek, tongue, and brain are the tasty bits. Am I right? (This makes me think of a “cute” street vendor in Istanbul who has been going viral because of his looks. He isn’t all that cute… anyway, there is a shop selling sheep head here in Adana that has employed that same marketing strategy. They have hired a cute “chef” who preps the sandwiches. Since they started featuring him, the views on their social media have increased exponentially.)

Sheep’s heads. And a woman.

As I walked through the meat market, sellers were calling out, “Welcome,” but I was not interested in buying any meat. I was also trying to make sure that I didn’t slip and fall on the slick tiles. Also, I noticed that there were only men shopping and only men working. I guess everywhere, butchery is a male dominated business. But, I was also in “the Egyptian Mall” and that could also be the reason that there were not many women around.

The meat market.

On the side streets of the meat market, there were lots of shops selling everything for grilling and cooking meat from knife stores to grinding equipment stores and some that sell everything but the meat. Aside from meat, there were the usual cell phone stores, sneaker stalls, cigarette stalls, and oddly, fake money stalls…

A grilling store.

In this warren of alleys, one could easily get lost, but not really because this area is only one city block. Eventually, one pops out on a “modern Adana” street again.

A street in the old town of Adana.

Another time, I’ll talk about the pilaf eatery and the dramatic stories of love, family, and money woes from some of the staff there.

Must Try Foods of Adana

M's Adventures

Adana is known for its food. It has contenders for most foodie city in Turkiye from the likes of Gazientep, but more on that later. There are certain dishes one must try when in Adana, so let’s discuss them here.

So good, it’s named after the city — the Adana kebab (or kebap). It’s made of chopped lamb mixed with spices, bits of tomato, and fat to keep it moist. Served with roasted tomatoes and chili peppers. Usually jalapeño. One makes a sandwich as one wishes. Also on the table before the kebab, are plates of salads that you can eat on their own or put in your wrap. See the ones in the background of the liver photo below. Each place will make their own but they tend to be the same, onion, tomatoes, parsley, pickles, etc.

Adana kebab.

Liver for breakfast with raki. If you are going to have it, try it here where it will be fresh and good. The liver is tender and not strong in flavor. When part of a wrap, you can hardly taste it at all. It is normally eaten after a night out, so from 5 am on.

Liver kebab.

Fermented purple turnip juice, şalgam (“shawl-gawm”) is sour and can be served spicy. It is quiet tart so can cut through anything you are eating. Served with pickled purple turnips (that look like carrots) or other pickles. Tastes like sour pickle juice. Made with a fermentation process sort of like kombucha. But doesn’t have fizz. Just sourness.

Fermented turnip juice.

Şirdan is so special that I think that it should be considered a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Along with the other dishes I have mentioned.

Şirdan, (“Sheer-dan”) stuffed lower sheep intestine. This is the one that is most difficult to stomach (punny!) as the smell is strong. Make sure to go to a place recommended by locals. It will taste better if you are drunk and hungry. Both men and women like this dish but it is a distinctly Adanali dish. It is a bit like haggis but is filled with only rice. The flavor of the broth and the rice is a gentle soup flavor. The texture of the sheep’s intestine is rubbery but less so at one end. Usually one removes the string and puts salt, cumin, chili spice, and lemon juice on it — before shoving it down as fast as one can. It is meant to be eaten with two hands and gobbled.

A sewn up stuffed sheep intestine.

Like in all cultures, every part of the animal is eaten. In Italy, they eat spleen sandwich and tripe. In other cultures, these parts are turned into sausages, or as Dickens called them, “bags of mystery”… or in this case, rice.

Many people will never try these dishes. There are many other things to eat that are much easier… but at least try the kebab.

From Rome to New Rome to Before Rome

M's Adventures
The Roman Stone Bridge with the Sabanci Central Mosque in the background.

A few years ago, I lived in Rome, Italy. For the past two years, I lived in the “new Rome” of Washington, DC, in the USA. Now, I have moved to a place that is still connected to Rome (after all, all roads…) but it’s also near history from before Rome. (Rome was founded in 753 BCE). I’ve moved to Adana, Türkiye.

A “simit” vendor on the Roman Stone bridge.

Despite being a city of two million people, Adana is a less famous than Istanbul (Istanbul is 575 miles/925 kilometers from Adana) but Istanbul is its own universe.

Adana kebab is minced meat. It is the most famous dish from Adana.

I’ve moved somewhere famous for its kebab (More on that later). Adana is also known for its Roman stone bridge (Taşköprü in Turkish), and more recently for being near the location of another famous bridge (Varda Viaduct) featured in a recent James Bond movie. But there are over 12,000 years of history in this area of the world including the famous Göbekli Tepe, from 9500-8000 BCE.

There is so much to explore. I look forward to the adventure!