Wet Burgers

Yes, this is a real thing. I am doubting a place that has these exists in Chicago, but I can hope for the best. On my most recent trip to Istanbul I finally tried Kizilkayalar's Wet Burger. Near Taksim Square there are a few of these strung together and they're open late - drunk food to the max. It's by far one of the best drunk foods I've ever had. it's basically a lamb slider that's dipped in spicy tomato sauce and then put into a steam box waiting for you to pick it up. Each one costs less than $1. My plan was to go in and have two, and I ended up having five or six they were so good (and cheap).

http://istanbuleats.com/2009/12/istanbu ... et-burger/

Does any place serve these in Chicago? The first person to bring this to the US would probably get pretty rich...

I think you may not even be able to get them in Istanbul anymore.

http://istanbuleats.com/2013/02/istanbu ... rnational/

turkob wrote:I think you may not even be able to get them in Istanbul anymore.

http://istanbuleats.com/2013/02/istanbu ... rnational/

Well, as of April I was able to get them Kizilkayalar (and company) is at the other end of Istiklal that they're talking about.




There are still some burger places open near the Tunel side of it though. I snapped this one:



But yeah, Turkish wet burgers are so damn good. I hope some exist here and if not, an entrepreneur reading this forum please, please, please ...get some here pronto

That looks incredible. I'm definitely making this at home in the next week or so.

I tried them a few times back in June during my stay in Istanbul. Mike G and I spoke about it on his Airwaves Full of Bacon podcast. Soggy, but good.





-Dan

dansch wrote:I tried them a few times back in June during my stay in Istanbul. Mike G and I spoke about it on his Airwaves Full of Bacon podcast. Soggy, but good.

-Dan

Good stuff. Too bad you didn't get to try Kizilkayalar. They are tops there for wet burgers. I wish someone would have some street food with wet burgers here (also some Dondurma). Good report though. Turkey is an awesome country with some great food. Sounds like you saw a lot

By the way, the food you're talking about is Çiğ köfte (I suck at writing pronunciation online but it's essentially pronounced Chee Kuhf teh). That's actually raw meat, similar in a way to kibbe nayyeh (Arabic). You should also tell Mike G that a normal "c" in Turkish is actually pronounced kind of as a J (not to be confused with the C with the squiggle under it which is pronounced as Ch). So the "Lahmacun" in Pide ve Lahmacun is actually pronounced more like "Lah ma zhoon"...that zh is kind of a j sound. I suck at pronunciation online again, but should be noted I believe Turquoise in Roscoe Village actually converts it to a "j" on the menu to not confuse people (i.e. Mujver instead of Mucver)

I have a few questions for people who've actually tried these:

- Is there any char on the burgers, or are they just steamed or braised?
- When people say the tomato garlic sauce is spicy, what sort of spicy is it? A hard Habenero/Ghost pepper spiciness or more of a savory Allepo pepper type spiciness? Or is it just really flavorful vs. being a hot spiciness?
- They seem to be universally described as being orange, I'm assuming that's because of the sauce, does anyone have an idea of what spice may be causing that? (i.e. Mace, Tumeric, etc.).

Thanks!

Attrill wrote:I have a few questions for people who've actually tried these:

- Is there any char on the burgers, or are they just steamed or braised?
- When people say the tomato garlic sauce is spicy, what sort of spicy is it? A hard Habenero/Ghost pepper spiciness or more of a savory Allepo pepper type spiciness? Or is it just really flavorful vs. being a hot spiciness?
- They seem to be universally described as being orange, I'm assuming that's because of the sauce, does anyone have an idea of what spice may be causing that? (i.e. Mace, Tumeric, etc.).

Thanks!

1) From what I remember, there is a char on the actual meat before it's put to steam, bun and all. The actual meat patty is definitely contained within the bun though.

2) More savory Allepo pepper that is slightly spicy. Allepo pepper, or really known as Kirmizi Biber/Pul Biber over there, is actually extremely common - like ketchup at some places is here on tables you will find it there. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the sauce at all.

This stuff is awesome anyway, the stuff from Turkey. You can pretty much slather it on any meat and it makes it taste real good. Pretty sure you can find it at a middle eastern grocer in town (i.e. the one in Andersonville. I didn't see it at a few of them in Albany Park). There's also Istanbul Bazaar in Mt. Prospect and I have seen a big bag of it there for sale. I have a ton left from a trip to Turkey two years ago. The stuff is so good..

http://rosas-yummy-yums.blogspot.com/20 ... lakes.html

3) Probably a secret but I'm guessing Kirmizi Biber (see above), tomato, garlic. Maybe a tiny bit of oregano and sumac or something?


I forgot Anthony Bourdain had these in his Istanbul episode. Skip to 10:40 for the start of some street food. He shows these things a little after for a little bit. BTW, ate at the Durumzade place in April shown in this episode. Amazing. By far the best kebabs I've ever had. Total hole in the wall between a tourist part of town and a half bad neighborhood. The main guy there at the time cut me off after I tried to order by third double order of lamb. "Kuzu Yok!"

Attrill wrote:- Is there any char on the burgers, or are they just steamed or braised?

I tried them at four different stands (all close to each other) and didn't detect any char flavor on any of them. Texturally, it's all mush (but not in a bad way).

Attrill wrote:- When people say the tomato garlic sauce is spicy, what sort of spicy is it? A hard Habenero/Ghost pepper spiciness or more of a savory Allepo pepper type spiciness? Or is it just really flavorful vs. being a hot spiciness?

Flavorful, not spicy. I wouldn't even say Aleppo pepper. And to be honest, not really popping with flavor. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed them, but I felt like it was more of a thin tomato sauce with a bit of garlic and maybe some cinnamon or mace (something in that warm spice family)

As an aside, only one of the places I went to offered pickles, and I thought they were a tremendous addition. So, if you find yourself ordering (or trying to make) islak hamburgers, and someone offers you pickles - say yes.

-Dan

Thanks so much guys! That's really helpful.

I'm going to go for a 1/2 lamb 1/2 beef burger next week and I'll let you know what I come up with. At this point it will certain be an interpretation and not reproduction on my part. My wife is going to be in Istanbul in August for a conference and I'm asking her to do some more research for me.

Attrill wrote:My wife is going to be in Istanbul in August for a conference and I'm asking her to do some more research for me.

Given how long they sit in a steam box, an 11 hour flight home might not do much damage...

-Dan

Attrill wrote:Thanks so much guys! That's really helpful.

I'm going to go for a 1/2 lamb 1/2 beef burger next week and I'll let you know what I come up with. At this point it will certain be an interpretation and not reproduction on my part. My wife is going to be in Istanbul in August for a conference and I'm asking her to do some more research for me.

Just a thought - maybe your wife would enjoy a tour guided by the Istanbul Eats/Culinary Backstreets folks. I have taken three tours of Shanghai street food with their partners in Shanghai at UnTours. This permitted me to cover more ground and feel more secure than if I had explored alone. If your wife is the intrepid sort, she might also make use of the new App from the Istanbul Eats/Culinary Backstreets folks.

dansch wrote:

Attrill wrote:My wife is going to be in Istanbul in August for a conference and I'm asking her to do some more research for me.

Given how long they sit in a steam box, an 11 hour flight home might not do much damage...

-Dan

Aye. And to address one component of the original post, I'd posit that at least texturally, a Cheeseburger In a Can or a Ricobene's breaded steak sandwich (as served) may get somewhat close.

Josephine wrote:

Attrill wrote:Thanks so much guys! That's really helpful.

I'm going to go for a 1/2 lamb 1/2 beef burger next week and I'll let you know what I come up with. At this point it will certain be an interpretation and not reproduction on my part. My wife is going to be in Istanbul in August for a conference and I'm asking her to do some more research for me.

Just a thought - maybe your wife would enjoy a tour guided by the Istanbul Eats/Culinary Backstreets folks. I have taken three tours of Shanghai street food with their partners in Shanghai at UnTours. This permitted me to cover more ground and feel more secure than if I had explored alone. If your wife is the intrepid sort, she might also make use of the new App from the Istanbul Eats/Culinary Backstreets folks.

I did this when I was in Istanbul last in March/April. I did one of them in the local market between the Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar. Had some good Kokorec, which is lamb intenstine sandwich down a narrow alleyway in a non descript place with no signs that looked like a storage locker





First time I went to Istanbul, I took a cooking class from a place near the Blue Mosque called Cooking A La Turka. Really good. We made a five course meal and then got to eat it. It doubles as a restaurant too and some of the people there go the food we made. The woman who owns it trained at Le Cordon Bleu Paris and was very good. I have all the recipes still including a killer recipe for mucver (zuchini fritters).





I hope by the time your wife goes there Attrill, some things have boiled over. My friends own a cafe there but they recently closed it and are moving back to the US because of some things that are happening. The prime minister has a lot of power and people are beginning to blame foreigners for some things, western education, etc. Messed up.

So the "Lahmacun" in Pide ve Lahmacun is actually pronounced more like "Lah ma zhoon"...that zh is kind of a j sound. I suck at pronunciation online again, but should be noted I believe Turquoise in Roscoe Village actually converts it to a "j" on the menu to not confuse people

The Armenians, who claim to have invented the dish (and I believe them), pronounce it Lahmbajun with not quite a hard j sound. In other places I have heard it pronounced Lahim Beajin

On another note, I can't help but think these "wet" burgers are basically like White Castle's made with lamb.

d4v3 wrote:

So the "Lahmacun" in Pide ve Lahmacun is actually pronounced more like "Lah ma zhoon"...that zh is kind of a j sound. I suck at pronunciation online again, but should be noted I believe Turquoise in Roscoe Village actually converts it to a "j" on the menu to not confuse people

The Armenians, who claim to have invented the dish (and I believe them), pronounce it Lahmbajun with not quite a hard j sound. In other places I have heard it pronounced Lahim Beajin

Yep, I wouldn't doubt it either. There's so much trade going on back then without as much documentation that you never know what came from where. The Italians borrowed pasta from the Chinese and "pizza" probably from somewhere in the middle east.

On another note, I can't help but think these "wet" burgers are basically like White Castle's made with lamb.

Well, they look similar but they're different. I hate White Castle, but these wet burgers are awesome. One of the main differences is in the fact that the ones in Turkey are dipped into a tomato based sauce and it permeates through the whole thing.