Kokoreç
Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul's iconic street food — seasoned lamb intestines wrapped around a spit of sweetbreads and offal, roasted over charcoal until crackling, then chopped on a hot griddle with tomatoes and peppers before being stuffed into crusty bread. The outside is impossibly crispy, the inside rich and savory. Best eaten at 2 AM outside a meyhane (tavern). The EU tried to ban it; Turkey refused.
Ingredients
- 500 glamb intestines (cleaned/bleached)
- 200 glamb sweetbreads
- 2 tbspdried oregano
- 1 tbsppul biber (aleppo pepper)
- 1 tspcumin
- 2 rollscrusty white bread (baguette style)
- 1 mediumtomato (finely diced)
- 1 piecegreen bell pepper (finely diced)
Directions
- 1
Thread the lamb sweetbreads onto a horizontal skewer.
- 2
Carefully wrap the cleaned intestines around the sweetbreads tightly to form a thick log (spit).
- 3
Roast over a charcoal fire (or a high-heat grill), rotating constantly until the exterior is deeply browned and crispy.
- 4
Slice a portion of the meat off the log and place it on a flat griddle.
- 5
Chop the meat finely with spatulas on the heat, mixing in the diced tomatoes and peppers.
- 6
Season aggressively with oregano, pul biber, cumin, and salt.
- 7
Slice the bread open, press it onto the meat to soak up the fats, then fill with the chopped mixture. Serve hot.