Döner Kebab

A vertical stack carved from the outside in, so only the outside is ever cooked and the inside waits its turn.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

the stack

• 1.5 kg lamb leg, in thin wide slices
• 400 g lamb shoulder, minced
• 250 g lamb tail fat, in thin slices
• 200 ml thick yoghurt
• 1 onion, grated and squeezed for juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper

to serve

• flatbread or pide
• 1 onion, sliced thin and tossed with sumac
• tomatoes, sliced
• parsley

Method

1. IT IS A VERTICAL STACK CARVED FROM THE OUTSIDE IN, so only the outside is ever cooked. That is the whole machine and it is why a doner is not a roast. The heat comes from one side, the stack turns, and at any moment only the outer two or three millimetres are at cooking temperature -- everything behind that is still raw and waiting. The cook shaves off the cooked skin in thin slices and the next layer is exposed and browns in its turn. So a stack feeds people over two hours and every portion is cut seconds after it finished cooking. Nothing is reheated and nothing sits. At home it can be built on a skewer standing in a tin, as the al pastor page does, and roasted and carved in passes.
2. THE STACK IS BUILT FROM WHOLE SLICES WITH MINCE BETWEEN THEM. Wide thin slices of leg laid on flat, a thin smearing of seasoned mince between every few, and tail fat every third layer. The mince is mortar: it fills the gaps between irregular slices so the stack carves as one solid mass rather than falling into separate leaves. All mince and it is a meatloaf; all slices and it comes apart.
3. IT IS PRESSED DOWN HARD AND MUST HAVE NO AIR IN IT. Each layer pushed down with the heel of the hand. A gap lets heat into the middle, and once the middle starts cooking the whole arrangement is pointless -- the stack cooks through at once instead of from the outside in.
4. THE YOGHURT MARINADE IS WHAT KEEPS IT TENDER OVER TWO HOURS. Thick yoghurt and onion juice, overnight. Lactic acid works slowly and gently where lemon would firm the outside of every slice; and yoghurt clings, so the seasoning stays on a slice that is about to be stacked vertically.
5. IT IS CARVED IN THIN SHAVINGS WITH A LONG KNIFE, DOWNWARD. Two or three millimetres, cut from top to bottom in one stroke. Thick slices are chewy and expose pink meat that then has to cook again. And the carving stops the moment pink shows: the stack returns to the heat for ten minutes before the next pass.
6. The lamb leg sliced thin and wide. The shoulder minced. The tail fat sliced thin.
7. The yoghurt, onion juice, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper mixed, and the slices and the mince turned through it SEPARATELY.
8. Both covered and left OVERNIGHT in the fridge.
9. A metal skewer stood upright in a deep tin, held by a base of onion.
10. The slices threaded on and PRESSED DOWN HARD, with a thin smear of the MINCE between every few and tail fat every third layer.
11. Built into a solid cylinder with NO AIR GAPS, narrowing slightly at the top.
12. Roasted at 200°C for 1 HOUR, then the heat raised to 230°C for 20 MINUTES to brown the outside.
13. CARVED in thin downward SHAVINGS 2 to 3 mm thick, straight into a warm bowl.
14. Carving STOPPED as soon as pink shows.
15. The stack returned to the oven 10 to 15 MINUTES to cook and brown the next layer.
16. Carved again, and again, until it is used up.
17. Served in flatbread with sumac onion, tomato and parsley.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes