Adana Kebabs with Roasted Red Pepper, Hot Aleppo Chili Flakes, Salt & Pepper with Lamb Tail Fat. Optionally Parsley and other ingredients. It’s a simple dish that packs a wonderful Flavor. The Heat you can customize to your level by adding more or less Hot Aleppo.

There are different varieties of this, depending on what region you are from, that also include Hot Green Chilies & Garlic.

Authentic Adana Kebabs

The Original Adana Kebab wasn’t spicy at all.

In the Strictest sense, Adana Kebabs is only Lamb & Tail Fat with specifics on how old the Lamb must be. Criteria on the handling and preparation of the meat as well as the Kebab in general. The only other ingredients that go into an Adana Kebab, are Red Capsicum Pepper and Salt.

The Tail fat is crucial for flavor and is at about 20 % of the meat mixture. Some exceptions were given for Spicy Green Capsicum and Garlic to be included.

Then there are guidelines on how much meat to use, the skewer type, how long the kebab should be and so on.

Variations of Adana Kebabs

This evolved into including Hot Green Chilies and Garlic. Then later, Sumac was added to the meat mixture. Then Onions and various other spices such as Paprika, Parsley, Coriander, Cumin.

Depending on the source, these Kebabs can contain any of the above or other ingredients as well. However, there are two main Kebabs offered in Turkey, categorized as Spicy and Not Spicy.

1. Spicy – which is the Adana Kebab
2. Not Spicy – which is the Urfa Kebab. Urfa Biber Chili Flakes are used in place of the Hot Aleppo Chili Flakes, and the Black Pepper can be dropped or reduced if desired.

Some sources state that the Urfa Kebab does not contain additional Herbs & Spices and is more likened to the original Adana Kebab. In general though, the Adana Kebab is spicy and the Urfa Kebab is not. They are both made the same way, just with different Peppers.

Peppers

There are a wide variety of Peppers available that are commonly used in Turkey and surrounding areas. In dried form, they are called Pul Biber. Which is a catch-all name for Chili Flakes.

Since this is a Turkish Style Kebab, I will stick with the two main ones. Aleppo Pepper & Urfa Pepper. There are other Capsicum Peppers that are used as well. Chopped up fine and included with the Kebabs.

Aleppo Pepper

There are a few varieties of Aleppo Pepper. Aleppo or Sweet Aleppo & Hot Aleppo.

The Aleppo pepper has some fruitiness and mild cumin-like undertones. Its flavor is similar to the ancho chile, but oilier and slightly salty.

The Hot Aleppo is much spicier. More so than Urfa Pepper or Urfa Pul Biber.

Urfa Biber pepper

Urfa Pul Biber is a Turkish chile pepper that’s distinctive for its dark burgundy color and intriguing salty-sweet-smoky-sour flavor. It is less spicy than many other chili peppers but provides a more lasting build of heat.

Comparison of Peppers

I taste tested these side by side and this is their ranking for heat because Urfa Pepper was showing that it was hotter than the Aleppo Pepper on the Scoville Chart.

• Aleppo Pepper or Sweet Aleppo is the least spicy, in fact not really spicy at all.
• Followed by Urfa Pepper, which has some heat.
• The spiciest was Hot Aleppo.

So I am not sure why the Scoville Chart shows Urfa being hotter than Aleppo, unless it is comparing it to the Sweet Aleppo. But the Sweet Aleppo isn’t really a significant source of heat. It is more fruity in taste than anything.

Included Vegetables

Most Kebabs nowadays include Onion, Garlic, Parsley and Peppers. Always chopped fine and with the juices squeezed out before adding to the minced meat. As excess liquid will prevent proper formation. As does too many vegetable fillers added to the minced meat.

For the Pepper you can use Sweet Red Bell Pepper, but the most common one I see in use is the Long Red Sweet Pepper, pictured below.

I also regularly buy Roasted Red Peppers and use in place of here for this recipe. As well as for Red Greek Sauce if I don’t have Fresh. Which by the way along with Tzatziki Sauce is wickedly good with these Kebabs. Just scoop some Tzatziki Sauce along the plate. Kebab on top with Red Greek Sauce drizzled over.

Minced Meat

Kebabs in general are chopped very fine with a Zirh. This is a Huge knife that is rocked back and forth to chop the meat and fat into very small pieces until homogeneous. This is needed in order to create better bonding of the meat.

I use a food processor instead. It’s very important that the fat is frozen and in small pieces, and that the ground meat is very cold. Purée everything a few seconds, or until all the ingredients are equally distributed throughout the meat.

Allow the meat to rest for an hour or more in the fridge. This allows the salt to work and create a stronger bond and the flavors to blend.

FAT

The Fat you really want is the Tail Fat from Lamb. However, this can be difficult to get. I have made these with exchanging the Fat with Beef Suet or Chopped Pork Fat. It does change the flavor as the Fat is the main flavoring component.

The Key with the Fat is that you want it frozen or really cold and to chop it into small pieces so that it mixes well with the meat but doesn’t start to break down.

Hom Skewers

The Hom Skewers can be picked up at your local Middle Eastern Store for pretty cheap. Depending on how big your oven is. You may have to chop these in half and cut out a Tip. These are typically used for the Grill. I cut mine in half, so I can use them in the oven.

Pack the meat unto the Skewers and lay them down on top of a casserole dish, so the meat is not in contact with anything and the dish can act as a catch pan for any drippings.

Shaping Kebabs

I am still working on this myself, and it is quite difficult as I want the restaurant look and feel rather than just shaping it on there.

Not bad eh? I am getting better. Right now I can get the ripple effect, it just doesn’t come through the final product as prominent. I think however if there was less meat between the ripples I would get the desired outcome.

Place the meat unto the Skewers. With wet hands, pack it around the skewer until it is evenly distributed, for the most part. With no side thicker than the other and evenly shaped. This also has the added benefit of packing the meat tighter.

Then wet your hands again and shape the meat to the desired aesthetics. First on one side, wet your hands again and repeat on the other side.

There are other cool designs you can shape the meat into as well, like the Knot or Bead effect. This is where it kind of looks like meatballs, but they’re all connected.

Catch Pan Grease

Don’t discard the flavor that drips off into the Catch Pan. Traditionally, Flat Bread is placed on top to soak that up into the bread and heat the bread up at the same time. The Kebabs are placed unto Flat bread as soon as they are done cooking.

If serving this with Flat Bread, brush the bread with the Pan Drippings to add extra flavor, as well as drizzling or brushing the meat with the Juices. This is extra flavor you don’t want to miss out on.