Azerbaijani barbecue: choice of products, cooking features, what to serve with, sauce recipe

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Azerbaijanis, like representatives of other Caucasian peoples, can boast of truly amazing national cuisine, many dishes of which have become popular all over the world. They mainly consist of beef, lamb and poultry meat. It seems that the ability to cook it is especially tasty in the blood of hot southerners. After all, if a chef is from the Caucasus in a cafe, then the authentic aroma and taste of the dishes served are guaranteed.

The main thing, perhaps, is the Azerbaijani kebab, which is not only cooked according to a special technology, but also differs in the way it is served. It is made from lamb meat, primarily due to the fact that the majority of the local population are Muslims, which means that they are excluded from eating pork. For a change, barbecue is also made from beef, poultry, fish, liver, hearts, and a variety of it, known to us as kebab, is made from minced meat.

If you ask for Azerbaijani-style pork kebab at the national cafe, be prepared for a sidelong glance. Although manyRussified aizers do not disdain to prepare such a dish for guests, realizing that this type of meat is very common in our country.

Meat selection

Before you start cooking Azerbaijani barbecue, you need to choose the most suitable meat for this. Traditionally, these are young lambs and lambs, which are slaughtered before they reach six months from birth. Most often they go to slaughter at the age of three to four months. It is quite difficult to buy such meat. To do this, you need to agree with someone in the market, and then you will be slaughtered a lamb or lamb to order. Note that the price will also be much higher. But we assure you, it's worth it.

This is not someone's whim, it happened historically. It's just that such meat is incredibly tender, it has an amazing taste that cannot be compared with ordinary lamb, for example. At the same time, it is much more fatty, but less harmful - there is very little cholesterol, but it is full of protein, minerals and amino acids.

Method of pickling

Another feature of Azerbaijani barbecue is its pickling. It is fundamentally different from the marinades we are used to, in which, for example, a pork neck is soaked. We believe that the more spices and additives, the better. In the original Caucasian recipe, everything is exactly the opposite.

In Azerbaijan, young ram or sheep meat is soaked in mineral water, where s alt, pepper and a little wine vinegar are added. There is very little spice in the marinade so that they do not interrupt the delicate taste.barbecue. Therefore, they put a little bit of parsley, tarragon, cilantro, zira and basil. Herbs should only emphasize the properties of meat. Soaking should also not be too long, literally a couple of hours, and then only for harsh meat. When it is unrealistically tender, it is prepared without prior pickling.

Feed

Azerbaijani kebab is not only cooked in a special way, constantly turning the meat, but also served in a special way. As a rule, the finished meat remains on a skewer, skewer or dogwood branch, on which it was baked. It is lubricated with tail fat before stringing or butter to make the meat even juicier.

Also put on the table pre-marinated according to a special recipe onion, still hot cakes and various sauces with the addition of aromatic herbs.

Azerbaijani barbecue recipe

Usually the most tender meat is not marinated at all. It is cut into long sticks, rubbed with s alt and strung on a skewer, pre-greased. During cooking, the meat is sprinkled with wine vinegar or mineral water. At the same time, the skewer is turned almost without stopping. Such meat is cooked in just five minutes and only on coals - no open fire.

If the meat needs to be made softer, then it is briefly soaked according to the technology described above - mineral water, herbs, s alt, pepper and wine vinegar. Sometimes pomegranate juice is added, but this is already an amateur.

Sauces

Not a single barbecue feast is complete without an abundance of various sauces on the table. Meat is always served traditionalAzerbaijani sauce for barbecue narsharab, which is obtained by thickening pomegranate juice. It is squeezed out and left to evaporate. When a quarter of the juice has left the container into the air, basil, cinnamon, sugar, coriander, bay leaf, and pepper are added to it. It brews, becomes quite thick and tastes sweet and sour.

Georgian tkemali is also always on the table. Made from cherry plum, garlic and herbs, the sauce is ideal for meat and fish dishes. Azerbaijani tomato sauce for barbecue is made from tomatoes, garlic, hot peppers and cilantro. All ingredients are passed through a meat grinder and boiled in a cauldron.

Pickled onion

Cooked according to a special recipe, onions go well with grilled meat and fish.

For pickling, take small onions, which, after cleaning, are kept for two days in cold s alty water (50 grams of s alt per liter of water). Then, cloves, bay leaves, black allspice peas are laid out at the bottom of the jar. And then cut the onion and put it in a container. A turn is placed on top, the whole thing is poured with wine vinegar.

The jar is hermetically sealed and stored in a dark, cool place. In order for the onion to absorb all the necessary flavors, it is desirable that at least a week has passed, and after that it can be served with lamb barbecue in Azerbaijani style.

Lula-kebab

This dish has become a real hit in any barbecue in Russia. Tender lamb meat is ground into minced meat with garlic, cilantro and tail fat. They add therecoriander, cumin, s alt and pepper and beat so that the minced meat becomes uniformly dense. To do this, they beat him on the table so that the meat grabs. Before baking, it is put in the refrigerator for half an hour and only then strung on a skewer, clasping it with meat in the form of sausages without gaps. Fry the formed sausages for literally five minutes, constantly turning over and sprinkling with lemon juice. Lula kebab turns out to be a very tender and spicy dish, it is served on a flat pita bread and sprinkled with plenty of pickled onions, cut into rings. Garnet seeds are used for decoration.

Fish shish kebab

Azerbaijan likes to cook on coals not only meat, but also bake trout, both lake and river, and, of course, the Caspian sturgeon. Moreover, the fish is cooked completely, for this they take not very large tails. Large fish is cut into portions and strung on a skewer. Or cooked on the grill.

The fish is carefully cleaned of bones and marinated for a day in an unusual composition of beaten raw eggs and white bread soaked in milk. Before baking, the carcass is well rubbed with s alt, pepper and a small amount of spices. As you already understood, this is done in order not to interrupt the true taste with herbs.

The fish is cooked in just a couple of minutes, also on coals. In the process, it is sprinkled with wine vinegar or homemade wine.