The kebabs of Florina

The word “kebab” comes from the Turkish word “kebap”, which means “grilled (meat)”. Kebabs are one of the most delicious local dishes in the city of Florina. Once exclusively offered at specialty little taverns of the market, Kebabs are not an easy task. First one has to find the right meat and secondly they have to be grilled over charcoal.
The kebab makers bought the minced meat from the butchers in the market, who knew well the secrets of kebap. The meat was always “bosiko”, i.e. from the sides of the animal. The largest amount was beef from the ribs. In fact, they cleaned the meat well between the bones of the animal’s ribs and ground this meat in the meat grinder. This minced meat was light in color, towards white. Then they made a small amount of minced lamb meat, specifically from the side of the yoke. They also had some ground pork on the side. The minced meat of the kebaps was ready. The tavern keeper mixed the minced meat, put in all the spices and salt and formed the minced meat into sticks, which he cut with the knife and the kebabs took their familiar shape. Later, the shape of the kebap was done with the well-known manual meat grinders.

SOURCE: florinapast / February 4, 2012 Archive Dimitris Mekassi Professions People
TEXT: Dimitris Mekasis