Minced-Meat Şiş Kebap (Turkish Grilled Kebabs)

How to Make Minced-Meat Şiş Kebap

Şiş means skewer, and Turkish skewered kebabs include both cubes of meat and minced mixtures. The supplied images show the second form: long ridged logs of seasoned lamb and beef moulded around broad flat skewers. This recipe does not borrow the protected identity of Adana Kebabı or the specific mild profile of Urfa Kebabı. It is a practical, generic minced-meat şiş with onion, parsley, cumin and pepper.

Skewer security begins before the grill. Grate the onion and squeeze away excess liquid, because free juice loosens the meat. Knead the cold mixture until salt extracts proteins and the mass becomes sticky enough to cling to the bowl. Chill it thoroughly. Broad flat skewers provide more surface grip than thin round ones, while wet hands help press an even layer without sealing in large air pockets.

Build a two-zone charcoal fire and place the kebabs over medium-high direct heat only after the grate and skewers are hot. Leave the first side long enough to set before turning; impatient movement tears soft meat away from the metal. Rotate in small increments for even browning and move briefly to the cooler zone if dripping fat causes flare-ups. Several representative centres must reach 71°C.

Rest the kebabs on a clean platter, never the tray that held raw meat. Serve with warm flatbread, sumac onion, grilled tomato and peppers, keeping their bright acidity beside rather than inside the mixture. A finished skewer should lift as one juicy ridged piece with dark grilled patches, not break into dry crumbs or slide from the metal into the coals.