Kokorec

Ingredients

Offal

• 1 kglamb intestines
• 500 glamb sweetbreads, heart, lung and kidney
• 500 gcaul fat, optional

Cleaning

• coarse salt
• flour
• juice of 3 lemons
• vinegar

Seasoning

• 2 tbspdried oregano
• 2 tbspdried thyme
• 2 tspground cumin
• 2 tspchilli flakes
• 2 tspblack pepper
• salt
• 100 mlolive oil

To serve

• half a bread loaf or a sandwich roll
• tomato
• chilli flakes
• oregano

Directions

1. The cleaning is the whole job and it takes longer than the cooking. Buy from a butcher who has already turned and rinsed the intestines if you possibly can.
2. Turn each length of intestine inside out by pushing one end through with a stick or the blunt end of a spoon, then rinse it under running water.
3. Turning them inside out is not optional. Rinsed only on the outside they stay foul and no amount of fire or oregano hides it.
4. Rub them hard with coarse salt, then flour, then lemon and vinegar, rinsing between each, and repeat three or four times.
5. Keep going until the water runs completely clear and they smell of nothing.
6. Chop the sweetbreads, heart, lung and kidney into pieces and season everything heavily with the herbs, spices, salt and olive oil.
7. Season far harder than seems reasonable. Offal takes an enormous amount of salt and oregano, and the spice is what makes kokoreç taste of itself.
8. Thread the chopped offal onto a long flat skewer in a tight bundle.
9. Wrap the caul fat around the bundle if you have it, which bastes it from the outside.
10. Now wind the cleaned intestines tightly around the whole bundle, overlapping, from one end to the other, and tie off the ends.
11. Wind them tightly and overlap generously. The intestine casing is what holds everything together and it shrinks as it cooks, so a loose wrap falls apart on the spit.
12. Set it on a rotating spit over charcoal, well above the coals.
13. Turn it slowly and continuously for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours.
14. Distance and patience. Close to the coals the outside chars black while the middle is raw, and the fat dripping causes flare-ups that ruin it.
15. It is done when the outside is deep brown and crisp and the inside is cooked right through with no pink.
16. Cook it thoroughly. This is offal and it is never served rare.
17. Take it off the spit and chop it finely on a board with two heavy knives or a cleaver, mixing the crisp outside through the soft inside.
18. Return the chopped mixture to a hot griddle briefly, scatter with more oregano and chilli, and pile it into split bread.
19. It is Istanbul street food above all, sold late at night, and the Greek kokoretsi is the same construction cooked whole at Easter and served in slices rather than chopped.

Technique

• Half a loaf, yarım ekmek kokoreç, is the standard order and it is enormous.
• The chopping and re-griddling at the end is what distinguishes the Turkish version from the Greek.
• It was the subject of a genuine national argument during EU accession talks, when there were fears it would be banned.

Substitutions

• Pre-cleaned intestines from a Turkish or Greek butcher, which saves two hours.
• A domestic rotisserie, or an oven at a low heat turned regularly.

Variations

• Kokoretsi, the Greek Easter version, cooked whole and sliced.
• Şırdan, the stuffed abomasum sold in Adana.
• Made in a pan rather than on a spit, which is the home version.

History

Charcoal-grilled seasoned lamb intestines; rumours that EU accession rules would outlaw it caused public outcry in the 2000s.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kokorec?

Kokorec is a street food from Turkey: seasoned lamb intestines grilled on skewer, chopped into bread. Charcoal-grilled seasoned lamb intestines; rumours that EU accession rules would outlaw it caused public outcry in the 2000s.

How long does Kokorec take to make?

Kokorec takes 2 hr of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Kokorec?

Yes, within limits. Pre-cleaned intestines from a Turkish or Greek butcher, which saves two hours. A domestic rotisserie, or an oven at a low heat turned regularly.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kokorec?

The cleaning is the whole job and it takes longer than the cooking. Buy from a butcher who has already turned and rinsed the intestines if you possibly can.