Page Updated

October 30, 1999

Glossary of
Turkish Dishes

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Category: Meat Dish

Preparation Time: One day

Cooking Time: 30 minutes to first serving

Description

Ingredients

Method

Doner Kebab is available all over the world wherever there are Turkish communities.
As with all imported ethnic food, the true flavor and presentation is invariably compromised to suit local tastes and preferences.

The traditional Doner Kebab is served in many different ways. As a snack it is served wrapped in Pide Bread with salad or as the meat element of a main meal such as Iskender.

The specialized equipment required to cook this dish and the amount of meat required, make it difficult, and a little impractical to produce at home.

This recipe serves 20

• 2kg filet of lamb
• 750g minced mutton
• Lamb fat (optional)
• 4 large onions
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• Olive oil

Final Touches:

• Keep the marinade for basting.

Comments and
Serving Suggestions:

1. Vary the amount of pepper and salt to suit individual taste.
2. Best cooked on a charcoal grill with a vertical rotating spit.
3. The slices of doner can be served in different ways. As a sandwich with pide bread or as the meat element of a main course.
4. Variations include adding slices of seasonal vegetables between the slices of lamb.
5. Less traditional, but becoming popular in the Turkish resorts, is the substitution of the lamb fillet with chicken breast and the mutton mince with minced chicken meat from the legs and thighs.

1. Trim the lamb fillet, cut into slices about 2mm thick and place in a bowl.
2. Liquidize and sieve the onions, discard the pulp.
3. Mix the salt, pepper, olive oil and onion juice and pour over the slices of lamb.
4. Cover the bowl and leave in the lower part of a refrigerator for 24 hours.
5. Thread the slices of marinated lamb onto a vertical rotisserie skewer adding a thin layer of mashed mutton mince between each layer of lamb.
6. To prevent the doner becoming too dry, thin slices of lamb fat can be added at intervals between the slices of lamb (optional).
7. For the real taste rotate slowly in front of a charcoal grill. For convenience gas grills are common, though the flavor is not quite the same.
8. Place the marinade in a tray beneath the spit and bast the meat from time to time.
9. As the outer layer becomes cooked and turns a dark brown, long thin strips should be removed vertically using a long sharp knife and collected in a suitable receptacle so that they do not drop into the marinade.
10. As strips of cooked meat are removed turn the raw side towards the heat.