 Cağ kebabı, fromErzurum. | |
| Course | Kebab |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Ottoman Empire |
| Region or state | Erzurum |
| Created by | Disputed, with various lawsuits. Goes back to 18th century.[1] |
| Main ingredients | Marinated slices of lamb, tail fat, onion, sweet basil, black pepper and salt. |
Cağ kebabı (Turkish:[ˈdʒaːceˈbabɯ]) is a horizontally stacked marinatedrotating lambkebab variety, originating inErzurum Province, Turkey.
This uniquely prepared kebab has become, as years passed, a trademark ofErzurum where all the famousUsta,[nb 1] like Şakir Aktaş and Kemâl Koç, run restaurants. Each claim to be descending from the exclusive inventors.
Cağ kebabı was registered and granted a geographical indication as 'Erzurum Oltu Cağ Kebabı' by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office in 2010.[2][3][4]
Note that while it is increasingly available in most Turkish cities, the Cağ kebabı is especially popular inErzurum, whereas enjoying an ever-growing success inIstanbul andAnkara.
Ottoman travel books of the eighteenth century cite a kebab cooked on wood fire consisting of a horizontal stack of meat, known as "Cağ Kebabı" in theEastern Turkish province ofErzurum. Now, the kebab is very famous in Erzurum, Istanbul and many states in the EU.[5][6][7]
The Turkish wordcağ (IPA:[ˈdʒaː]) is borrowed fromArmenianճաղčaġ, further fromGeorgianჭალიč̣ali.[8][9] It means "spit" or "skewer".[10] Hence the name of the kebab that consists of meat impaled on a huge spit.
Slices of lamb and large quantities oftail fat are left to marinate in a mixture ofbasil,black pepper,salt and slicedonions for the length of a day. They are then impaled on the spit (Cağ), and stacked thickly. The spit is then locked and transferred to the fire, where there is a fairly complicated device that controls the cooking of the spit. This typically includes a mechanism for turning the meat, another one for raising and lowering it, and also dents on the side to move the stack towards the fire as it gets thinner after servings are repeatedly cut away.
The meat used for Cağ kebabı is exclusivelylamb.[11]
