Dostol Kebap: 76 Year-old Odemiş Kebab

Reportedly, Turkey has now over 300 kinds of meatball dishes, all thanks to the fact that every town has added their own color to their recipes. Of course, the statistics don’t cover just the ones made with minced meat. Rather, they also include different recipes prepared with bulgur, lentils and even sea food.

The most popular meatball dishes of Izmir, on the other hand, are Izmir meatballs, which prominently features tomato as well as potato as a sidekick, in addition to Tire meatballs (pronounced as tee-re) and Ödemiş meatballs.

Tire meatballs stand out with their simple recipe which consists of only meat and salt, while the yeasty base of Ödemiş meatballs features semolina instead of conventional ingredients which are pieces of bread of bread crumbs.

Dostol Kebap, which opened in 1940, has been one of the restaurants that I prefer to go to eat Ödemiş meatballs. The secret of Ödemiş meatballs, also colloquially referred to as “oily meatballs” (tr. yağlı köfte), lies in those few minutes when the meatballs meet the butter after they are grilled; which is similar to Tire meatballs.

At Dostol Kebap, the meat for the meatballs is prepared by mixing fatty parts of beef ribs and legs. Some onion, spices and a bit of semolina are added into this mixture, and then it is left to rest for one day in order to get the right texture. After the meatballs are grilled with oak charcoal for about 10 minutes, they get fried for an additional few minutes in a copper pan with some butter and paprika, a sweetish type of pepper. And to put the finishing touches, these piping-hot meatballs land on pieces of bread, which is lightly soaked with the same buttery sauce and then drizzled with the mouth-watering lamb-milk yoghurt sourced from the same village. This lamb-milk yoghurt, which can also be ordered separately, is a great reason by itself for a visit to the restaurant.

In addition to Dostol Kebap, Hurşit is my other favorite venue where you can eat Ödemiş meatballs. As the grill is a bit smaller at this restaurant, which has been run by the same family for four generations, the service is a bit limited. You have to go there until evening hours before the restaurant runs out of meatballs.

It is impossible to refer to a specific preferable meal time to go for Ödemiş meatballs as you may understand it from the crowd that starts lining before these two restaurant early in the morning. On Saturday, the crowd may even double thanks to the town bazaar set up that day. I recommend you, my dear fellows, to go to the town in the very early morning for this reason, and then go to the Village of Birgi after having your meatballs feast to spare some of your time to visit the Çakırağa Mansion, which has been defying the effects of time since 1761 with its colorful mural paintings.

Bon appetite and enjoy the taste of life…