Marinated and spit-roasted, shawarma is a delicious Middle Eastern meat treat whose origins can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire era, while its name stems from the Arabic pronunciation of the Turkish word çevirme (lit. to turn; turning), and refers to the rotating skewer on which the meat is cooked.
Shawarmas are made with either lamb, turkey, chicken, beef, or a mix of different meats which are slow-cooked for hours and basted in their own juices and fat, gaining an incomparable succulence, but the real secret to a perfect shawarma is in the marinade.
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Tombik döner or gobit kebab is a variety of döner kebab where the shredded meat is stuffed in a bun-shaped flatbread known as pide ekmek. The bread has a crispy exterior and a soft interior. This dish is typically served with additional ingredients, depending on the customer's choice, such as tomatoes, onions, lettuce, or other assorted vegetables and sauces.
MOST ICONIC Tombik Döner
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Cağ kebabı is a kebab variety originating from the Turkish city of Erzurum. It is made with lamb that is marinated with onions, salt, and pepper for about 12 hours, and the meat is then placed on a big horizontal skewer and cooked over a wood fire.
The usta (master of his trade) will take a long skewer and slice off tender and succulent pieces of lamb until the skewer is full. The dish is traditionally consumed either straight from the skewer, or with the meat wrapped in warm, freshly baked lavash flatbread.
MOST ICONIC Cağ kebabı
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Kontosouvli is a traditional dish consisting of large pieces of pork marinated in a mixture of herbs and spices, then skewered and slowly cooked on a rotisserie, much like a gyro or souvlaki. The marinade often contains ingredients such as garlic, oregano, thyme, rosemary, paprika, olive oil, lemon juice, and red wine.
After marinating, the meat is threaded onto a large skewer and roasted over an open flame, which results in a rich and flavorful outer crust with a juicy, tender interior. The cooked meat is typically served in thick slices, often accompanied by pita bread, tzatziki sauce, and horiatiki salad, among other possible accompaniments.
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Gyros is one of the most popular Greek street food dishes, consisting of meat such as pork and chicken (in Greece) or lamb and veal (popular in other countries) cooked on a vertical spit. The meat is sliced in thin shavings and is then usually placed in a pita bread along with sauces such as tzatziki and vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and cucumbers.
Gyros is derived from the Greek word gheereezo, meaning to turn, referring to the constantly rotating vertical spit on which the meat is cooked. Some believe that gyros originated during the time of Alexander the Great, when his soldiers skewered the meat on their swords and cooked it over a fire.
MOST ICONIC Gyros
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Döner kebab is a delicacy that is known throughout the world, consisting of grilled pieces of meat that are shredded from a vertical skewer. The meat is typically seasoned with fresh herbs and spices. Originally, the meat used in döner was exclusively lamb, but today in Istanbul, there are kebabs prepared with a combination of lamb and beef, or sometimes only with beef.
Meat that is grilled vertically on a skewer isn't a new thing, as it has been mentioned in the 18th-century Ottoman travel books. The sandwich form döner kebab, which means rotating kebab, appeared in the early 1970s in Berlin.
VARIATIONS OF Döner kebab
MOST ICONIC Döner kebab
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Adana kebap is a popular skewered meat dish named after one of the most famous kebab cities in the country, Adana. This kebab is made with ground lamb and tail fat that are kneaded together with garlic, onion, paprika, and hot red pepper flakes, giving it a deep red color and a spicy flavor.
The whole concoction is typically placed around large and flat metal skewers, then grilled. Once it's done, the grilled meat is traditionally served on a platter over flatbreads, peppers, and tomatoes, or stuffed into pita bread along with a salad consisting of parsley and red onions.
MOST ICONIC Adana kebap
View moreShish is the most famous kebab variety consisting of pieces of meat on a skewer that is grilled over a fire. The dish originated with the nomadic tribes who used to marinate the meat in order to tenderize it and to get rid of the gamey flavors.
The marinades include any combination of lemon juice, olive oil, milk, yogurt, cinnamon, allspice, and various other spices. Authentic Turkish shish kebab is rarely prepared with vegetables on the same skewer, and it has been suggested by numerous food writers that grilling the vegetables and meat on a same skewer is a modern invention by Turkish restaurateurs to make the skewers look more visually appealing to customers.
MOST ICONIC Shish kebab
Chelow kebab consists of fragrant, saffron-spiced rice, grilled tomatoes, and kebab, which can be prepared with minced or sliced meat. It is believed that the dish originated among the Caucasian people, who passed down the recipe to the Iranians.
The serving of chelow kebab is a unique experience: rice and tomatoes are served first, followed by meat, while the final touch is a dollop of butter that is placed on the top of saffron rice. The dish is commonly enriched with sumac, a spice native to the Middle Eastern area, and is best paired with doogh—Persian sour yogurt.
MOST ICONIC Chelow kebab
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A specialty of the city of Bursa, İskender kebap is named after a butcher called İskender Efendi, who first prepared this flavorful dish. It consists of thinly sliced lamb that is grilled and combined with a spicy tomato sauce and pita bread, while melted sheep butter and yogurt are traditionally drizzled over the dish at the table.
It is recommended to pair this kebap with şıra, a Turkish beverage that is known to aid digestion.
MOST ICONIC İskender kebap
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