Kağıt Kebabı

Each portion cooked in its own sealed paper parcel, opened in front of the person eating it.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

• 800 g lamb shoulder, in 2 cm cubes
• 2 onions, finely sliced
• 2 tomatoes, in small dice
• 2 long green peppers, in rings
• 200 g mushrooms, quartered
• 60 g butter, in small pieces
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 large sheets baking parchment

Method

1. EACH PORTION COOKS IN ITS OWN SEALED PAPER PARCEL AND IS OPENED IN FRONT OF THE PERSON EATING IT. That is the dish and it is not presentation: the parcel is the cooking vessel. Lamb, onion, tomato, pepper and butter go onto a sheet of parchment, the paper is folded and crimped shut, and it bakes for an hour and a half. Inside, there is no evaporation at all -- the whole thing poaches in the juice the vegetables release, in a space the size of the ingredients. Nothing is added and nothing escapes. Cooked in a dish under foil, the same ingredients give something perfectly nice and much more dilute, because there is headroom for steam to sit in and the juices spread out thin.
2. THE PARCEL IS FOLDED TIGHT AGAINST THE FOOD WITH NO AIR IN IT. The paper is brought up over the pile and the edges rolled and crimped so the parcel hugs its contents. A loose bag inflates, the juices boil off into the space, and the paper can scorch where it is not in contact with anything wet.
3. THE LAMB IS CUT SMALL BECAUSE NOTHING SEARS. Two centimetres. There is no browning stage anywhere in this dish and no fierce heat; the cubes have to be small enough to become tender by poaching alone in ninety minutes. Large pieces are still firm when the paper is opened.
4. THE BUTTER IS DOTTED ON TOP AND NOT STIRRED THROUGH. Small pieces over the pile. It melts downward through everything as it goes, which is the only basting there is, and it also stops the uppermost pieces drying against the paper.
5. THE PARCELS ARE SERVED CLOSED AND CUT OPEN AT THE TABLE. Not opened in the kitchen and plated. Everything that makes it worth the fuss -- the smell, the steam, the fact that the juices are all still there -- happens in the three seconds after the paper is cut, and it happens once.
6. The oven heated to 170°C.
7. The lamb cut into small 2 cm cubes and mixed with the onion, tomato, peppers, mushrooms, oregano, salt and pepper.
8. A large sheet of parchment laid out and a quarter of the mixture piled in the middle.
9. The butter DOTTED over the top in small pieces. Not stirred in.
10. The paper brought up over the pile and the edges ROLLED AND CRIMPED so the parcel is TIGHT against the food with NO AIR in it.
11. All four made the same way and set on a baking tray.
12. Baked 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES. NOT opened.
13. ONE opened to test at 1 hour 30: the lamb should be tender and sitting in its own juices. If firm, the parcels go back for 20 MINUTES.
14. Left 5 minutes off the heat, still sealed.
15. Served CLOSED, one parcel per plate.
16. Cut open at the table with scissors or a knife.
17. Eaten straight from the paper, with bread for the juices.

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