Döner Kebab
Döner kebab (döner kebap in Turkish) literally means "rotating grilled meat" (any type of meat applies). They were first developed in Bursa. Authentic Turkish döner is made with bread, salad and meat from lamb; regardless, mostly beef or a mix of beef and lamb is used in Europe. Although frozen kebab is available at convenience stores, they don't match fresh home-made kebab and may not be consistent with your taste and spicing. This article has the recipe for a complete European-style pita kebab. In Azerbaijani it is pronounced as dönər.
Total Time
5 hours
Servings
Varies
2 kg (4½ lb) ground beef or other minced meat
11–12 tsp chicken salt/season salt
6 tsp black pepper (amount depends on taste preference)
2–3 dl (⅘–1¼ cups) plain yogurt
1–3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pinch salt
1 tsp basil
1–1½ tsp black and/or white pepper
Green-, lemon-, or red pepper (optional)
Chile pepper or powder (optional)
Cayenne pepper (optional)
Tabasco sauce (optional)
1 can (70 g / 2½ oz) tomato purée
½–1 tsp salt
½–1½ tsp white pepper
½–1½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp basil
1 pinch oregano
Ketchup (amount depends on preference)
Pita bread
Salad (see notes)
Rice
Chips/French fries
Mix all the ingredients into a farce-like chunk.
Use a mixer or your hands to get air out of the chunk.
Optionally, make a hole in the chunk with a knife so that excess fat can drain out.
Wrap it tightly in aluminium foil, using more than 2 layers of foil to prevent rupture.
Put it into the oven and set the temperature to 100 °C (210 °F). Let it cook for 4 hours. Note that 4 hours applies even if you scale down the recipe. Let's say, if you want a 1 kg chunk (half of the original portion), you should NOT leave it for 2 hours; 4 hours apply for every size. The idea is that it gets cooked slowly.
4 hours
When it is done, remove it from the oven, open the foil, and let it cool down. If you did everything correctly, you should be able to use a shredder or a knife to cut it in thin slices.
Combine all the ingredients for the sauce(s) you are making.
Mix well.
- •If you want, you can add other spices to the meat like chili, cayenne, garlic, BBQ sauces, etc.
- •A salad consisting of tomatoes, pickles, cucumbers, and Chinese cabbage with mayonnaise is probably the most common salad eaten with kebab in Europe. There are tons of variations, of course. If you want a healthy choice, make sure you balance the cereals class (pita), meat class (kebab), and vegetable class (salad) well! You can also add chile peppers, jalapeño, red onions and such for the salad to fit your taste!