Bursa's most famous dish — sliced döner over toasted pide, drowned in tomato sauce and bubbling brown butter.
İskender Kebab was invented in 1867 in Bursa by İskender Efendi, who developed the vertical rotating-spit method of cooking marinated lamb on a tall döner. To serve it, he laid the thinly sliced meat over cubes of toasted Turkish bread (pide), drowned it in a hot tomato-pepper sauce, doused the whole construction in foaming hot brown butter at the table, and served it with a dollop of strained yogurt and a few grilled green peppers and tomatoes on the side. The combination of crisp bread soaked in tomato, fatty lamb, nutty browned butter, and cool tangy yogurt is impossibly satisfying. Bursa locals still go to the original İskender restaurant near Heykel square — and argue endlessly about how authentic any version elsewhere is.
Serves 4
Mix yogurt, olive oil, red pepper paste, cumin, oregano, Aleppo pepper, salt, pepper, onion juice, and garlic. Add sliced lamb and turn to coat. Marinate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a wide skillet. Toss the pide cubes to coat and toast over medium heat for 6 minutes, turning, until golden and crisp on all sides. Set aside.
In a saucepan, warm 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the red pepper paste and tomato paste; cook 1 minute. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, Aleppo pepper, and a pinch of salt. Simmer 10 minutes until thick and glossy. Adjust seasoning.
Heat a wide skillet or grill pan over high heat. Cook the marinated lamb in batches in a single layer, 2 minutes per side, until charred at the edges and cooked through. Rest the lamb briefly.
On the same pan, char the long green chilies and halved tomatoes for 4 minutes until blistered and soft.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and cook until it foams and the milk solids turn deep golden brown with a nutty fragrance — about 4 minutes. Pull off heat immediately.
On wide warm plates, lay a generous bed of toasted pide cubes. Arrange the sliced lamb in overlapping ribbons on top.
Ladle hot tomato sauce generously over the meat. Spoon a fat dollop of strained yogurt to one side. Place grilled chilies and tomatoes on the plate. Bring the saucepan of hot brown butter to the table.
At the table, drizzle the foaming brown butter directly over each plate — it will sizzle into the tomato sauce. Garnish with dried mint, Aleppo pepper, and parsley. Eat immediately.
The brown butter MUST be poured at the table — that sizzle is the dish.
Slice the lamb as thin as possible; thicker pieces won't crisp the way döner-style meat should.
Use real Turkish red pepper paste — supermarket harissa or sambal is not a substitute.
İskender with veal: a milder version popular in Istanbul.
Bursa-style strictly: served on top of pide cubes; Ankara-style is served beside.
Chicken iskender: with marinated thigh meat for a lighter, less expensive variation.
Components keep separately 2 days: meat 2 days refrigerated, sauce 4 days, bread is best the day toasted. Reheat meat in tomato sauce, freshly toast bread, fresh-brown the butter — assembly fresh.
İskender Efendi invented this dish in 1867 in Bursa, then-capital of the Ottoman silk-trading economy. His son Mehmet trademarked the name in 1969. The original İskender restaurant still operates in Bursa's old town, run by the fifth generation of the same family.
Yes — beef sirloin sliced thin is acceptable but the lamb fat is part of what makes iskender great. Use lamb if you can.
Thick pita or even a torn baguette works for the toasted-cube base. The pide-bread version is the most traditional.
Per serving (540g / 19.0 oz) · 4 servings total
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