Tokat kebabı

Tokat kebabı is lamb and vegetables cooked on skewers in a special oven. Meat skewers carry tail fat, potato, salted aubergine and lamb in repeated layers. Tomatoes, peppers and whole garlic go on separate skewers. In the oven the skewers hang from an iron bar, with a wood fire on both sides. They cook 10 to 12 minutes at the front fire, then 10 to 12 minutes over the embers at the back. It is served on a tray of thin pide around chopped tomato, topped with the melted tail fat.

The Tokat Chamber of Commerce and Industry registered the name as a geographical indication, protected since 2013. The rules require meat from male Karayaka lambs aged 6 to 9 months and the local Tokat pepper. Restaurants in Tokat usually make it from May to the end of October, the local vegetable season.

Dietary notes: lamb with tail fat, aubergine, potato and garlic. The pide contains wheat (gluten).