Kebab

Kebab (kebap in Turkish, kabab in India/Pakistan, also spelled kebob, kabob) means "grilled meat" in Turkish. Kebab is usually made of lamb and beef, although chicken and fish can be used for some styles. Pork is never used by Muslims because of religious belief but is commonly used by non-Muslim sellers.

There are many varieties of kebab and the term means different things in different countries. The term kebab without specifying the kind refers to döner kebab in Europe and to shish kebab in the United States.

Perhaps the earliest recipe is in the tenth-century Kitab al-Tabeekh كتاب الطبيخ (book of cookery) by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq of Baghdad. His recipe for Kebab Khalis uses thin slices of lean meat, salted and grilled in an ungreased frying pan.

Döner kebab

Döner kebab, literally "rotating meat", is a sliced lamb or chicken loaf slowly roasted on a vertical rotating spit. It is similar to gyros, shawarma and Taco al pastor. Döner kebab is popularly best known served in pita bread with salad but is also served on a dish with a salad and bread or French fries on the side or used on Turkish pizzas called pide or "kebabpizza".

Take-out döner kebab or shawarma restaurants are common in some parts of Europe. Döner Kebab is said to be the best-selling fast food in Germany and comes close in the popularity stake-outs in France, Denmark and Australia. Take-out gyros is quite popular in the United States where it is usually beef and lamb, shawarma is available in ethnic neighborhoods but döner kebab is unknown.

Some kebab connoisseurs will also point out that it contains every food group for a healthy meal and lifestyle. It has bread (cereals group), cabbage and lettuce (vegetables group), tomatoes (fruit group), creamy herb sauce (dairy group), oil (fat group) not to mention the döner meat (meat group), although one might note some inbalance in the relative ratios (notably, the fat, meat and vegetable groups.)

Some variants:

• Iskender Kebab – Doner kebab served with yoghurt, tomato sauce and butter

Shish kebab

Shish kebab (şiş kebap in Turkish) is a wooden or metal stick (a skewer) with small cubes of any kind of meat, fowl or fish with or without vegetables that is roasted on a grill. Vegetables typically used include eggplant, tomato, bell pepper, onion and mushrooms. A similar Greek food is called Souvlaki or Kalamaki.

Kebab was the food of Persian kings and in ancient times ordinary Iranians consumed it only once a year on Nowrooz, the Persian New Year. Today however kebab is not only consumed almost in every Iranian house on weekly base, it has also become Iran's number one selling fast food.

Some variants:

• Samak Kebab – grilled fish on a stick
• Shish Tawook or Shish Taouk – yogurt marinated chicken grilled on a stick (şiş tavuk in Turkish)
• Kofte Kebab or Shish köfte – minced lamb meatballs with herbs, often including parsley and mint, on a stick, grilled.
• Koobideh Kebab
• Barg Kebab
• Soltany Kebab
• Boryani Kebab
• Senjeh Kebab

The dish called Chelo Kabab is one of the most common forms of it in Iran which contains the Koobideh variety kabab or Barg variety with rice (slightly saffronated if desired) and grilled tomatoes.

American varieties of shish kebab include:

• Beef kebab
• Chicken kebab
• Tofu kebab
• Vegetable kebab
• Turkey kebab