Adana kebabı

Adana kebabı

Adana kebabı in its hometown, comprising only male lamb meat, red bell peppers and tail fat hand minced together. Served with charred peppers and tomatoes, an onion-sumac-parsley salad, and lavaş
Alternative names	Kıyma kebabı
Course	Kebab
Place of origin	Turkey
Region or state	Adana-Mersin
Created by	unknown
Main ingredients	Hand minced lamb and tail fat.

Adana kebabı (colloquially known as Kıyma kebabı) is a long, hand-minced meat kebab mounted on a wide iron skewer and grilled on an open mangal filled with burning charcoal. The culinary item is named after Adana, the fifth largest city of Turkey and was originally known as the "Kıyma kebabı" (lit: minced meat kebab) or Kıyma in Adana-Mersin and the southeastern provinces of Turkey.

Kebabs are usually made out of ground lamb meat and tail fat, though there are many regional variations. Kebabs are fairly common in the area from Mersin in Turkey to Kirkuk in Iraq, and includes Aleppo in Syria. According to many authors, this kebab was born out of a fusion of Turkish and Arab cultures. Birecik, once an important locality in the Eyalet of Aleppo, is said to be the creator of this very kind of kebab. The version prepared and consumed today in the province of Adana also has a history rooted in the modern Turkish culture, only to receive a "Controlled Designation of Origin" in February 2005, after subsequent legal trials.

According to the Patent Registrar, an original Adana kebabı is made only by a vendor who has successfully passed an inspection conducted on the spot by the Adana Chamber of Commerce. A substantive list of these establishments can be found here.

The Kıyma kebabı is still prepared in its historical location. Similar dishes are prepared in neighboring zones of Turkey, Syria and Iraq, where the meat is hand-ground with the addition of tail fat and occasionally a non-spicy capsicum.