
Kebapche (, plural: кебапчета, ''kebapcheta''; , plural: ќебапчиња, ''ḱebapčinja'') is a dish of grilled
minced meat
Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, incl ...
with spices. The meat is shaped into an elongated cylindrical form, similar to a
hot dog
A hot dog is a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term ''hot dog'' can also refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a frankfurter ( Frankfurter Würs ...
. Typically, a mix of
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...
and
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...
is used, although some recipes involve only pork. The preferred spices are
black pepper
Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...
,
cumin
Cumin (, ; ; ''Cuminum cyminum'') is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region. Its seeds – each one contained within a fruit, which is dried – are used in the cuisines of many cultures in both whole ...
and
salt
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
. Kebapche is a grilled food. It is never fried or baked.
A typical addition to a kebapche meal are chips (
French fries
French fries, or simply fries, also known as chips, and finger chips (Indian English), are '' batonnet'' or '' julienne''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and f ...
), often covered with grated
sirene
Sirene ( ; /; ; ), also known as "white brine sirene" (), is a type of brined cheese originating from Bulgaria. It is made of the milk of goats, sheep, cows, buffalo or a mixture thereof.,Characteristics of major traditional regional cheese ...
(fresh white cheese similar to feta);
lyutenitsa
''Lyutenitsa'', ''ljutenica'', ''lütenitsa'' or ''lutenica'' (, , , ''lyuto'', ''ljuto'' or ''luto'', , , , ); meaning "spicy", is a (sometimes spicy hot) vegetable relish or chutney in Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian and Turkish cuisines.
...
is sometimes used as a
dip. The expression ''a three kebapcheta with sides'' (тройка кебапчета с гарнитура, ''
troika
Troika or troyka (from Russian тройка, meaning 'a set of three' or the digit '3') may refer to:
* Troika (driving), a traditional Russian harness driving combination, a cultural icon of Russia
Politics
* Triumvirate, a political regime rul ...
kebapcheta s garnitura'') is particularly well-known. The preferred drink to go with a kebapche is
beer
Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
.
The word ''kebapche'' is derived from ''
kebab
Kebab ( , ), kebap, kabob (alternative North American spelling), kebob, or kabab (Kashmiri spelling) is a variety of roasted meat dishes that originated in the Middle East.
Kebabs consist of cut up ground meat, sometimes with vegetables an ...
'', ''–che'' is a diminutive Bulgarian neutral suffix, i.e. a "little kebab". A dish similar to kebapche and often combined with it is
kyufte
Kofta is a family of meatball or meatloaf dishes found in South Asian, Central Asian, Balkan, Middle Eastern, North African, and South Caucasian cuisines. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced meat—usually beef, chicken, lam ...
, which is often the same in terms of meat and spices but round-shaped. It often includes
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...
s and
parsley
Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum''), is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalisation (biology), naturalized in Eur ...
, which kebapche does not.
It is essentially the same dish as
former Yugoslav
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p1 = State Flag of Serbia (1882-1918).svg
, p2 ...
ćevapčići, but the Bulgarian kebapcheta are typically larger.
See also
*
Ćevapčići, a Balkan dish
*
Mici (mititei), a Romanian dish
References
*
*
*
External links
Bulgarian cuisine
Ground meat
Kebabs
Macedonian cuisine
{{bulgaria-cuisine-stub