İskender Kebap

İskender kebap is döner meat over cubed flatbread with tomato sauce, butter and yoghurt. It comes from Bursa in north-west Turkey, and it is the dish that turns döner from street food into something you sit down for.

What it actually is

Thin slices of döner meat — lamb is central to the traditional Bursa version, but beef and mixed-meat versions exist — are laid over cubes of pide flatbread. Here the pide is flat bread cut into small pieces, not the boat-shaped filled pide dish. Over that goes a hot tomato sauce, and then melted butter, usually poured at the table so guests hear it hit the plate. A spoonful of thick yoghurt sits on the side, with a grilled tomato and green pepper.

The bread underneath is the whole point. It soaks up the butter, the sauce and the juices from the meat, and by the end of the plate it is the best part.

The İskender Efendi tradition in Bursa dates to 1867, in the late 19th century. The İskenderoğlu family holds registered trademarks on the name, such as İSKENDER and İSKENDER KEBABI; many restaurants serve the dish as Bursa kebabı or under other names.

How it's served

• On a plate, with a knife and fork — not in bread, not in the hand.
• With the butter poured at the table, which is part of the theatre.
• With yoghurt on the side, to cut the richness.

Writing it on a menu

• Name the meat — lamb, beef or mixed — and say whether it is halal.
• Mention that the butter is poured at the table if you do it that way; it is a reason to choose the dish.
• Think hard before offering it for delivery: the bread softens and the butter congeals. It can still work if the sauce and butter are packed separately, but it is at its best dine-in.
• Note the gluten and dairy — both are unavoidable here.

Wheat and milk are listed because of the pide, butter and yoghurt; ready-made sauces or marinades used for the döner should be checked for other allergens.

Nutrition values are per 100 g of the complete plate (bread, meat, sauce, butter and yoghurt).