Kokoretsi

Kokoreç/Kokoretsti cooking on a spit

Kokoretsi or kokoreç is a dish of the Balkans and Anatolia consisting mainly of lamb or goat intestines, often wrapping seasoned offal, including sweetbreads, hearts, lungs and/or kidneys. The intestines of suckling lambs are preferred.

Etymology

The word 'kokoretsi' (κοκορέτσι) comes from the Albanian kukurec, whence also Aromanian kukuretšu. Turkish kokoreç, in turn, comes from the Greek.^[1]

Preparation

The ingredients are cut up and seasoned with lemon, olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper. The intestine is cleaned especially thoroughly. The filling meats are threaded onto a long skewer and wrapped with the intestine to hold them together.

Cooking

Kokoreç is usually roasted on a horizontal skewer over a charcoal, gas, or electrical burner.

A quite different preparation mixes the chopped innards with chopped tomatoes and green peppers, and then cooks them on a large griddle with hot red pepper and oregano added. The cook constantly mixes and chops the mixture using two spatulas. When done, the dish is kept warm aside on the griddle until someone orders a serving.

Serving

The cooked kokoretsi is chopped, sprinked with oregano, and served on a plate.

Sometimes it is served on a piece of flatbread. Some add tomatoes or spices in it.

It may also (especially in Turkey) be served in a flat-bread sandwich, plain or garnished.

In Turkey, common side dishes are pickled peppers or cucumbers.

National and regional

Turkey

Kokoreç is a delicacy and not a standard menu item in restaurants. It can be found at street vendors and some specialized restaurants only.

There are several ways of serving it. It is usually served as a sandwich in form of Yarım Ekmek Kokoreç (Half-Bread) or Çeyrek Ekmek Kokoreç (Quarter-Bread). It may also be served without bread, on a plate, as a normal dish.

Kokoreç is usually served with Ayran, Turnip juice, Beer or Cola. Pickled hot green peppers or pickled cucumbers may be served as side-dishes.

Most preffered and delicious kokoreç is grilled on charcoal and served with red pepper and thyme in Turkey.

Greece

Among Greeks, it is traditionally consumed at Easter, though it is available year-round.

Many Greek tavernas serve kokoretsi. Due to the mad cow disease outbreak in the late 90's, banning the consumption of the animals' offal was considered. However, due to the importance of kokoretsi in Greek tradition, the idea was abandoned.

Gardouba (γαρδούμπα) or gardoubakia (γαρδουμπάκια) is a variant of kokoretsi, but roasted in a pan in an oven, instead of over an open fire.

References

1. ^ Γ. Μπαμπινιώτης (Babiniotis), Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Δεύτερη Έκδοση, Athens, 2002

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