The heritage of Seljuks; “Furun Kebabı” (Kebab in stone oven)
One of the most special dishes of Konya cuisine is Furun Kebab (Kebab in stone oven) and it is known as a heritage from the Seljuks.
In Rumi’s works furun kebab is mentioned as only kebab or kelle kebab and it is a kind of food that has been cooked in Konya’s stone ovens for centuries.
How to cook Furun Kebab and its specialities
According to the season Furun Kebab is only made from mutton or lamb. One day before cooking, the mutton or lamb are taken from butchers and brought into the kebab shop. It is divided into pieces and prepared as kebab and then put into stone oven from the night. The best quality of furun kebab is made from mutton obtained from a male. In a well-organized kebab shop 30 body of meat is processed. From each body part only front arms and ribs are used. The other parts are not used in Kebab. From one sheep nearly 10-15 kg of mutton is obtained for kebab. All the mutton/lamb for kebab is placed in a copper bowl. These big bowls are out into the stone oven at 5 a.m. They are cooked for about 6-7 hours. Without any other ingredients, the mutton or lamb is roasted on its own. After that, it is fried with its own fat. They are only replaced from bottom to top. When it is 9 a.m. the bowl is taken to the upper part of the oven and cooked slowly until the serving time, 11 a.m. If you use 3 kg of mutton/lamb you can obtain 1 kg of furun kebab. Pieces of oak are used in the oven. The kebab is sold in kg. One single portion contains 100 gr of kebab. The kebab is served between pitta bread. An onion is indispensable near the kebab dish. If it is preferred, ayran can be served, too. Kebab is a kind of food that is eaten by hand. Old kebab masters were not willing to give fork and knife to the customers. Because the masters used to believe that the taste of the kebab will be ruined if they use fork and knife. The kebab that is made from fatlings is generally fatty. Foreigners prefer fat-free kebab but the people of Konya prefer middle-fat kebab.
