Turkish Lamb Kababs

Mick
There are 3 basic components for a marinade
Acid
Oil
Aromatics

Depending on the flavour profile you are trying to achieve as to what you use. For Hogget, because it has a strong flavour I would use some lemon juice in it. Just a couple of tablespoons. I would balance it with a tablespoon of sugar and add a bit of oregano.

Cheers

Phil

That is interesting, especially the bit about yoghurt. I'd never thought of it but I do marinade meat in yoghurt sometimes for an Indian curry, never have for kebabs which when you consider how much yoghurt can feature in Turkish and Greek cooking is probably a bit dumb. Must give it a try.

The comment about it being difficult to get veg and meat to cook at the same time on skewers, made pretty much in passing, I can really relate to. Dunno about everyone else but the typical threading of meat chunks with tomato and onion, pepper etc has never really worked for me.

There's a kebab place down in Fremantle that seems to have the right idea, they don't even try to cook them together rather assemble whatever you order in a pita roll, meat taken straight off the vertical rotisseries veg from the grill, add sauce, done

For home kebabs I do much the same except just thread meat only onto the skewers and cook over coals turning often serve on a plate with grilled veg sides. Guests use a fork to de-thread the meat and have their meal

The only eaten from the bamboo skewer dish that really seems to work is the more Asian style small pieces of chicken with Satay dipping sauce at my place.

That's all from the perspective of someone who probably buys a pack of bamboo skewers about once a decade though

Can't get hogget here again at the moment, could a few years back. Bit of an acquired taste for many, when I do cook it it's always been a roast with frequent lemon and olive oil basting which does make for an excellent roast. I don't think I'll be offering it to my wife though

Cheers

OK, I'm going with the Hogget, Looks like there are a few other things in this bag.
This will be interesting as I never really paid much attention to what was in it prior to freezing.
Lets see if the buttermilk will tenderise this boot leather.


Right under this in the chest freezer was a large Hogget leg. Something else I'm going to have to deal with to make it palatable

 That's an interesting suggestion, I've made Lamb ham before and it was terrific.

Its still a little frozen to work with but tomorrow I'll whack it on the bench and start boning it out.
Ive no intention of boning the meat between those ribs for mince so I will give that recipe a go Gus while the main bits get the long marinade.
Pics tomorrow. I'm also thinking of flicking most of the spice I listed and go with garam masala as it's pretty much the same. Like Bill, I don't really want to spend to too much on an experiment but I've got a nice batch of fresh buttermilk on the go.

Well, The butter milk does work and the recipe works.
The Hogget was marinating for three days and it was tender without turning to mush. However it would have been better to use lamb due to the strong flavour still somewhat there

Ready to grill


Served with yogurt, Sumac pickled red onion and tabouli on a slather of homus.

Sorry for the necroposting......

In Greece we often cook older lamb and in parts of Greece, it is considered a delicacy... What we do is to marinate it for hours or overnight on olive oil, lemon juice, herbs and spices like black pepper, paprica etc. We never use salt in the marinade. Some of the most adenurous ones use mashed kiwi fruit as well.

The meat is then either grilled over charcoal, on the grill or on the spit, or slow-cooked in what we call "gastra", esentially a clay dutch oven, often sealed with dough.