Bulgarian Pork Kebab with Cheese

Bulgarians are great masters and inventors when it comes to cooking meat, and their kebab-making skill has always been top class. It is their national food, right after stuffed peppers and priest’s yahniya, in my opinion.

You can always make mince from whatever meat is at hand, but it won’t give you a Bulgarian-style kebab. For that you have to put in a little effort.

The pork should be somewhat fatty, ideally shoulder with a little fat. If necessary, add a bit of ground pork fat to the mince so the sausages come out soft and juicy.

Grind the pork twice through a meat grinder with a fine plate. Or even three times!

Grate the hard cheese on a fine grater or chop it any way you can.

Chop the parsley leaves very finely, preferably with a blender. By the way, you can add other aromatic herbs too: cilantro, basil, dill.

Crush the garlic with salt in a mortar.

Separate the egg white from the yolk. Only the white goes into this meat dish.

In a bowl, combine the ground pork, egg white, grated cheese, herbs and garlic. Add pepper, ground cumin on the tip of a knife and 2-3 pinches of crushed dried savory. Savory is the main spice of Balkan cuisine; Bulgarians call it “chubritsa”. It goes exceptionally well with any meat and makes the dish very aromatic.

Knead the mince very thoroughly. Work it slowly and carefully until it becomes smooth and elastic. It helps to add a little boiled water and knead once more. Sometimes dry white wine is added instead of water.

Strictly speaking, the mince is ready for frying. But it is better to let it rest in the fridge to mature. We usually make the mince in the evening for the next morning.

With wet hands, shape sausages as long as the width of your palm and as thick as a small sausage, or slightly thinner.

From here you have options.

If you have a grill in the yard, or you are getting ready for a picnic, put the pork kebabs on the grill rack and cook over hot coals until done. Usually 12-15 minutes, turning them over.

At home we used to cook on an electric grill, a technique we picked up from the Bulgarians. Recently we bought a square grill pan with a heavy, ridged bottom. It fries wonderfully, so that’s what we did.

Put the pan on the stove and heat it until drops of water hiss and evaporate almost instantly. Lay the pork kebabs on it. Place them diagonally to the ridges on the bottom, purely for looks.

Fry on all four sides in turn, 4 minutes each. That is quite enough! Turn the pork kebabs with a fork if you have no special tongs.

Put the finished kebabs on a plate and serve with spicy tomato sauce or adjika. A couple of times I have seen finished kebabs drizzled with soy sauce, which is a bit unusual for the East, but tasty, that’s true.

I don’t know whether kebabs need a side dish… Well, maybe just some fresh herbs and sliced vegetables: tomato, cucumber, pepper. And preferably fresh white bread, such as flatbread, lavash or kesra. And a glass of wine.