Kebab: An Ancient Mesopotamian Treat by Nawal Nasrallah

Kebab: An Ancient Mesopotamian Treat by Nawal Nasrallah
Adapted from a previously published article in Radcliffe Culinary Times vol. xiii, no. 2, fall of 2003)       
Iraqi Cookbook website

    If ever you order kebab at an Iraqi restaurant, brace yourself for a surprise. Instead of the familiar marinated skewered lamb cubes, you will get laffat kebab (kebab wrapped in bread). It consists of an elongated ground meat patty, seasoned with salt and pepper; grilled on a brazier till succulent, speckled with tangy red sumac, and garnished with thinly sliced onion, chopped parsley, tomatoes and probably pickles. The whole mixture would be rolled in flatbread or stuffed in diamond-shaped bread called samoun.        

 
    Kebab to Iraqis is what hamburger is to Americans. Specialized restaurants are everywhere. There was a time in downtown Baghdad where two major kebab restaurants competed with each other, like McDonald's and Burger King in the States. The best kebab, however, was provided by the small carry-out restaurants at the roofed sug (marketplace) next to the holy shrine of Al-Imam- Al-Kadhum, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad. As children, our eagerness to pay homage to that place was not motivated by our religious zeal as much as by a much more mundane desire to enjoy once again those delicious kebab sandwiches. They came with lots of greens, herbs, onion, pickles, and an ice-cold creamy yogurt drink. We devoured this treat picnic style, sitting on a spread blanket at one of the cool, breezy, roofed niches surrounding the huge yard of the shrine.        

    That was the kebab we knew growing up in Baghdad. To watch an actor in an Egyptian movie sinking his teeth into grilled rib chops or chunks of meat and call it kebab used to puzzle us. Why on earth were they calling that kebab? Surely that was tikka!  We also used to dance to an imported tune, Shish Kebab, twisting and twitching our `shoulders; we didn’t know that the kebab in the title was not the same as ours. The world outside is not as particular as Iraq in its kebab terminology. It is all kebab to them-- cubed chunks of meat, vegetables, even fruits, or patties of ground meat. To distinguish between the two types of grilled meat, sometimes the word kufta (ground meat patties)1 is used, as in the Turkish kufta shish kebabi as opposed to the Hindi tikka kebabi used to designate cubed chunks.       

 

    Turkey is generally credited with originating the signature dish as well as its name. Shish is the flat skewer or brochette, kebab the roast meat. It probably spread westward during the long rule of the Ottoman Empire (sixteenth century until the end of World War One). There is evidence, however, that the dish and its name are much older. Recently, while doing research for my book on the history of the Iraqi cuisine I discovered that the word kebab is of ancient Mesopotamian origin. In Akkadian, the language of the Babylonian and Assyrian inhabitants of Iraq, written on cuneiform tablets, kababu meant “burn” or “char.”

     Evidently the ancient Mesopotamians were sophisticated grillers, broiling or roasting meat to perfection. They put ashes or potsherds on the glowing coals to control heat. They had specific terms for grilling. For example, fish was “placed on the fire” or “touched with fire” 2 For Baghdad natives such techniques sound familiar. I have seen fishermen along the river Tigris grill fish the masgouf way, suspending whole opened fish from sticks around a campfire, letting the flames lick the fish for an hour or two, then placing them directly on the coals to finish the grilling.          

    Using skewers to grill meat was also an ancient skill. A banquet scene in an Assyrian bas-relief depicts servants carrying such choice delicacies to the royal table as grasshoppers en brochette. These were cooked on a device that has stood to the test of time, the brazier, in the Akkadian, kinunu. Slow roasting was done in a domed clay oven (in Akkadian, tinuru), usually fueled with bramble and desert bushes that generated less intense interior heat. The oven was also for baking fermented flatbreads and cakes. It is still used in Iraq and elsewhere and still called tannour, with some variants as the Indian tandour and the Turkish tandir. 

 

(A sketch showing an Assyrian server carrying grilled skewered locusts)          

 

    The earliest kebab recipe is found in one of the few extant medieval Baghdadi cookbooks, the tenth-century Kitab al-Tabeekh (book of cookery) dealing mainly with urban ninth-century cooking by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq. His recipe calls for lean meat cut into thin slices, sprinkled with salt, and griddled on an ungreased frying pan. He calls this Kebab Khalis (kebab pure and simple).      

    In the booming carry-out food business in Baghdad during the Abbasid caliphate (eighth to thirteenth centuries) kebab in all its forms was popular. From contemporary writings we learn that a whole marketplace specialized in grilling every kind of meat and even eggplant. It was called Souq al-Shawwa’een (the grillers’ market) specifically renowned for its legendary al-kebab al-Rasheedi (named after the eighth-century Abbasid caliph Haroun al-Rasheed, immortalized in the famous Arabian Nights stories). It was usually served with thin flatbread, rolled as a sandwich, with appetizing condiments and relishes, such as sumac and vinegar-based dips. In an amusing story of twelfth-century Baghdadi writer al-Hariri, he mentions comforts to warm the soul in the damp days of winter-- a home, warm clothes, a brazier, a purse full of money, and a glass of wine after eating kebab.                                       

Kebab Allure               

A penniless man was once wandering
in the streets of Baghdad, and happened
to pass by a kebab vendor grilling meat.
The aroma was so irresistible that he took
bread out of his pocket and started eating
a piece of that followed by a sniff of the
kebab aroma. The kebab vendor took
notice of that and decided to take advantage
of the poor man. He asked him to pay for the
kebab aroma. The man refused, the vendor
insisted, they quarreled, and ended up at court.
The judge was surprised at the greediness
of the vendor and decided to teach him a lesson.
He showed him two dirhams (metal coins),
and struck one with the other, saying,
"Do you hear that?" The vendor replied
that it was the ring of the dirhams.
The judge said, "That ring you've just
heard is the price of the aroma of your kebab.
Go and get it."                         

      I was once asked to demonstrate an Iraqi dish for a group of middle-schoolers in Boston University’s Kids Program, “Cooking Up Culture” I made kebab rolled in flat leavened bread, garnished with onion relish, chopped parsley, and tomatoes. This traditional dish with its long history proved to be a hit with the kids. They asked for seconds and thirds.        

    To prepare a batch of Iraqi kebab enough for making six sandwiches, mix one pound of meat (traditionally a mixture of beef and fatty lamb) with one small grated onion, ¼ cup of flour or breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon of salt, and ½ teaspoon of black pepper (optional: ¼ cup finely chopped parsley, and ¼ teaspoon each of allspice, ginger, and chili pepper, all ground). The fat particles melt and drip during grilling, leaving behind small cavities, which give kebab its characteristic light texture. Divide the mixture into 6 portions, and insert each into an inch-wide skewer (available at Middle-Eastern grocery shops). With moistened hands, press the meat until it is about 6 inches long; make dents by pressing between the thumb and index finger. Suspend the prepared skewers over a lighted brazier or a regular grill. In the case of the latter, keep them from touching the grill by setting them on crumbled foil at each end. Grill for about 10 minutes, turning to brown on both sides, and fanning most of the time to prevent the fire from flaring and burning the meat. Roll in flat bread with some chopped parsley, tomatoes, and thinly sliced onion sprinkled with sumac. Serve the sandwich with a refreshing drink of yogurt whisked with cold water and a pinch of salt. One last caveat, do not be tempted to overindulge, but follow the advice of the creators of this meal, our ancient ancestors, the Sumerians. “He who eats too much will not be able to sleep.”

Comments

[N.McDuffe]

Thanks for enlightning us regarding Iraqi kebabs and their history. You might be interested in consulting a new book entitled "The World of Kebabs" by Anand Prakash (Whitecap Publishers)of Canada which not only gives about 150 kebab recipes from around the world but also includes the history, origin and geographical spread of kebab culture

[Bag Nutter]

I'm anxious to make a batch of the Iraqi kebab that you've listed. The image of these sandwhiches looks mouth-watering. Thanks!