Cağ kebabı

Cağ kebabı (Turkish: [ˈdʒaː ceˈbabɯ]) is a horizontally stacked marinated rotating lamb kebab variety, originating in Erzurum Province, Turkey.

Cağ kebabı

Cağ kebabı, from Erzurum.
Course	Kebab
Place of origin	Ottoman Empire
Region or state	Erzurum
Created by	Disputed, with various lawsuits. Goes back to 18th century.[1]
Main ingredients	Marinated slices of lamb, tail fat, onion, sweet basil, black pepper and salt.
Media: Cağ kebabı

This uniquely prepared kebab has become, as years passed, a trademark of Erzurum where all the famous Usta,^{[nb 1]} like Şakir Aktaş and Kemâl Koç, run restaurants. Each claim to be descending from the exclusive inventors.

Cağ kebabı was registered and granted a geographical indication as 'Erzurum Oltu Cağ Kebabı' by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office in 2010.^[2][3][4]

Note that while it is increasingly available in most Turkish cities, the Cağ kebabı is especially popular in Erzurum, whereas enjoying an ever-growing success in Istanbul and Ankara.

History

Ottoman travel books of the eighteenth century cite a kebab cooked on wood fire consisting of a horizontal stack of meat, known as "Cağ Kebabı" in the Eastern Turkish province of Erzurum, which is probably the earlier form of döner as known.^{[citation needed]}

Now, the kebab is very famous in Erzurum, Istanbul and many states in the EU.^[5][6][7]

Etymology

The Turkish word cağ (IPA: [ˈdʒaː]) is borrowed from Armenian ճաղ čaġ, further from Georgian ჭალი č̣ali.^[8][9] It means "spit" or "skewer".^[10] Hence the name of the kebab that consists of meat impaled on a huge spit.

Preparation

Slices of lamb and large quantities of tail fat are left to marinate in a mixture of basil, black pepper, salt and sliced onions for the length of a day. They are then impaled on the spit (Cağ), and stacked thickly. The spit is then locked and transferred to the fire, where there is a fairly complicated device that controls the cooking of the spit. This typically includes a mechanism for turning the meat, another one for raising and lowering it, and also dents on the side to move the stack towards the fire as it gets thinner after servings are repeatedly cut away.

The meat used for Cağ kebabı is exclusively lamb.^[11]

• 
  Stacking the lamb slices on the cağ
• 
  Cağ kebabı being cut
• 
  Newly impaled meat cooking on the cağ
• 
  Cağ kebabı, served on a bico, or individual skewer
• 
  A restaurant in Ankara/Turkey that specializes in Cag Kebab (in Turkish "Cağ kebabı")

See also

• Turkey portal
• Food portal

• List of kebabs
• List of lamb dishes
• List of spit-roasted foods
• Turkish cuisine
• İzmir kebabı

Notes

1. "Usta" is a Turkish word, similar in its sense to the French word "chef" although its scope of use is wider, and it is a title, usually added after the first name, to denote a master of any craft or trade.