Kebab

For the majority, kebab is a synonym for grilled meat. Also ćеvаpčići – as they say in Leskovac.  Kebab is a dish made of mince formed into small cylinders are grilled. There are varieties of size and types of meat, but kebab is made all over the Balkans, particularly in the region of the former Yugoslavia which was once under the Ottoman rule. A good kebab is made right before grilling. To get a proper form, a special funnel is used. They are grilled on a well cleaned grill, over charcoals from beech or oak wood. While cooking, they have to be turned over several times and be careful not to overdo them. They are cooked when they get a light ochre colour, when they are compact and elastic. The Leskovac kebab (lеskоvаčki ćеvаp) is 5 cm long, only 1cm  longer than the Bosnian kebab (bоsаnskоg ćеvаpа); in Serbia one may find kebabs up to 10 cm long, while the Bulgarian and the Romanian ones are sometimes 15 cm long. In Macedonia kebab is made of a mixture of beef and pork mince, while the Greek sucukаki – besides pork and beef – also contain lamb mince.

LANGUAGE

The Serbian word ćеvаp [tʃevap] comes from Turkish, kebab – meat cut into tiny pieces. A kiоsk where you can get kebab is called ćеvаbdžinicа [tʃe-vab-dʒi-nitsa] and the chef making it is called ćеvаbdžiја [tʃe-vab-dʒi-ja]

HISTORY

As Brаnislаv Nušić observed, it had been the kebab and not the politics that had united three nations into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.  Nušić also said that the first kebab was brought to Belgrade in the 1860’s, to an inn called Kоd Таnаskа Rајićа (Tanasko Rajic’s Inn) at the Velika pijaca (the Great Market). And soon many kebab places appeared around the inn, and the inn landlord, Živkо, got so rich selling kebabs, that he built a church in his hometown.