Cevapcici Recipe: Serbian Grilled Beef and Lamb Sausages

Step-by-step recipe

1. Cevapcici are very similar to my beloved Bulgarian kebapche, but they are made a little differently. The main differences are the types of meat and the spices. The Bulgarian version uses cumin and almost always has pork in the mince. For the mince we bought equal pieces of beef and lamb, both from the round, and added a little beef fat because the meat was lean. If you have more meat than listed, scale all the other ingredients up proportionally.
   
2. Set up a meat grinder with a fine plate. Grind all the meat and fat into mince. If you notice large bits, transfer the mince to a blender and blitz it to make the particles smaller. We use red onion: peel it and chop it very finely with a knife. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Add salt, a generous amount of black pepper and sweet paprika; smoked paprika is ideal if you have it. If you like, add ground chili or finely chop a fresh hot pepper.
   
3. Knead the cevapcici mince very thoroughly. Aim for an even texture with all the additions and spices spread through evenly. Good mince hardly sticks to your hands or the bowl. Next comes an important step: you need to add water. Usually people use whatever mineral water is at hand or plain boiled water from a cooled kettle. You need 40-50 ml of water.
   
4. Knead the mince thoroughly so the water is absorbed. The water helps the kebab meat mature, and the finished sausages won't fall apart while cooking. Roll the mince into a ball, put it in a bowl and cover it with cling film. Put the bowl in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Better still, leave the meat in the cold overnight or for a full day; the result will be much better.
   
5. The sausages cook quite quickly. The classic way is a grill with glowing charcoal. In the Balkans a grill pan or even an ordinary frying pan is acceptable, and restaurants and home cooks often use an electric grill. Bulgarian kebapche, for example, are successfully cooked on a “skara”, an electric grill. With wet hands, roll kebabs 2.5-3 cm thick and 5-6 cm long and lay them out on a plate. By the way, if the mince is soft enough, you can pipe out portions using a piping bag with a nozzle of a suitable diameter.
   
6. Heat whatever grill you have. It's worth greasing the grate or the bottom of the pan with a little fat. Once the grill is properly hot, lay the sausages on it. Sear them on all sides for 1.5-2 mins each to form a crust. It will keep all the juices inside the kebabs.
   
7. Once the crust has formed, you can toss the cevapcici around with a spatula, like fried potatoes. Cook the kebabs until done and nicely browned. On a charcoal grill the kebabs cook faster and burn more easily, so keep an eye on them. Turn the sausages with grill tongs or an ordinary fork. If you are using a grill pan, don't let liquid collect in it.
   
8. Get a large plate ready for serving. The usual accompaniment is bread: a wheat flatbread, thick lavash or pita. The pita can be a thin round bread or the Arabic kind with a pocket. If the flatbread is cold, warm it on the grill alongside the meat. The bread or lavash is slit open and the cooked cevapcici are tucked inside. A small bowl of ajvar, a roasted pepper sauce, goes on the plate, along with herbs, chili peppers and vegetables.
   
9. A special ingredient for serving is lightly pickled onion rings. They are quick to make: you need sumac, wine vinegar and a little salt and sugar. I like to pickle sweet red onion; it tastes best, and after pickling it loses its sharp flavor and smell. Cheese is often served with the meat, too.