Chicken & Turkey Köfte with IPA
Turkish Style Chicken & Turkey Köfte with IPA
Before there were meat grinders, Turkish cooks would finely chop meat into tiny cubes and use their hands (or a mortar and pestle), to massage and mash meat with spices, herbs, and rice, or another starch (bulgur wheat | lentil | bread crumbs), making a sticky meat paste. Then they’d form the meat into long cigar-shaped cylinders, placing them onto a skewer
Lamb (Turkish Lamb Köfte with Stout) is the most common type of köfte, but that isn’t to say that other meats can’t be used to make this Middle Eastern dish. When substituting poultry, blending equal parts ground chicken and turkey helps keep the kebabs moist and flavorful. If possible, ask your butcher to grind you chicken and turkey thigh meat, as it is richer in flavor and has a higher fat content, to guarantee a delicious result. Herbs are added to accentuate the herbal flavors in an APA | IPA | DIPA, that is infused into the poultry meat. This cooking with beer trick adds more moisture to the meat, helps flavor it, like a marinade, all as the alcohol helps tenderize the ground meat.
In my research, köfte is different than Classic Meatballs or a Greek Homemade Gyro Meat, yet uses a unique culinary technique, that helped me formulate the later recipe. Not just grinding the meat, but mixing it with salt, helps break down some of the muscle further, making the protein sticky or in food science-speak, denaturing the protein, so that the meat binds together. This meat glue also gives the final köfte texture, making it different than an American-style meatloaf. Similar ingredients, different culinary techniques, and seasonings.
Some recipes use starches, like bread crumbs or bulgur, that act much like a panade when mixed with a liquid. As lamb inherently has more fat than poultry, something else is needed to bind or hold on to the rendered fat, helping make the Chicken & Turkey Köfte with IPA moist and juicy, while still being tender and succulent.
When choosing a beer to cook with, a citrus-forward APA | IPA | DIPA is preferred. This recipe doesn’t reduce the beer, breaking the balance of flavors and resulting in an unpalatable flavoring. There are many reasons why it isn’t a good idea to cook with an IPA or other beer styles with a high IBU (International Bittering Unit) and | or heavily hopped. This refers to all beer styles that have been brewed with a lot of hops in the kettle or after the boil | whirlpool and added during fermentation, also called Dry Hopping. This was an eye-opening Beer Cuisine understanding, learning how to cook with beer versus just adding any beer style to any dish. With the lamb version, I use a stout to add richness, that roast essence, with notes and nods to Turkish coffee. This Köfte recipe benefits from a hoppy brew, that brings just enough of the citrus touch, with some herb perfume, while mitigating the bitterness. Onion and garlic are also added, not just for flavor, but for some sweetness to counteract any potential hop bitterness.
On the herb flavor front, Italian leaf parsley adds a green, bright and floral element, while Homemade Za’atar contains thyme, marjoram, and oregano, rounding out the Middle Eastern spices. These flavors complement the hoppy brew, elevating their complex hop flavor profile found in the beer style.
This Chicken & Turkey Köfte with IPA can be served with many different side dishes, such as Hoppy Tabbouleh, with a side of Beer Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, Middle Eastern Cucumber Salad, Za’atar Roasted Eggplant and used with a Homemade Pita Beer Bread to make a Turkish sandwich or serve with Turkish Lamb Köfte with Stout, to make a Middle Eastern mixed grill, adding some Malt Pickled Red Onions, serving with some delicious garlicky Toum sauce, Tangerine IPA Yogurt Sauce or Pomegranate Rose Stout Yogurt Sauce. Try adding köfte to some mixed greens, grilled vegetables coated in Homemade Za’atar, and drizzled with Tahini Orange Brown Ale Sauce for a Summer meal, keeping the heat outdoors.
Enjoy and remember to Eat Beer!
Serves: 3–4 people, (6 köfte)
Adapted from BeerAdvocate Magazine: Cuisine à la Bière | Mar 2015 | Issue #98
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6 guests | 15 minute |
| Cook Time |
| 6 minute |
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Chicken & Turkey Köfte with IPA uses the Turkish culinary technique to mix ground meat together, making a kebab, infused with delicious flavors, that can be grilled, roasted, or cooking on the stop top.
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- 1/4 cup onion, yellow, peeled and grated
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2 each
garlic, cloves peeled and grated on a Microplane Zester | Grater
- 2 tablespoon parsley, Italian leaf chopped fine
- 2 tablespoon bread crumbs panko or almond flour | meal
- 2 tablespoon IPA such as an herbal or citrusy IPA or DIPA
- 1 teaspoon salt, kosher
- 2 teaspoon Homemade Za'atar recipe HERE
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika, smoked
- 1/2 pound chicken, ground, preferably dark meat (thigh)
- 1/2 pound turkey, ground, preferably dark meat (thigh)
- Start with a medium-sized bowl and a box grater. Peel half of a large onion and grate it on a medium grate into the bowl.
- Then using a microplane grate the garlic into the same bowl. Add the chopped parsley, bread crumbs (or almond meal if you have gluten issues), a hoppy IPA with notes of herbs like oregano, marjoram, basil, bay leaf or parsley, salt, Homemade Za’atar seasoning and paprika. Use a spatula to mix these ingredients well. This will help evenly distribute the flavors throughout the meat.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the ground meat. Add the onion spice mixture and, using a paddle attachment, beat the ingredients together on medium speed for 2–3 minutes. This method is the trick to differentiating köfte from a standard meatball. When mixed thoroughly, the proteins become sticker, allowing the ground meat to stick to itself better and hold onto a skewer more easily.
- Divide the meat mixture into six equal portions. Have a bowl of cold water nearby. Dip your hands in the water; this will help prevent the ground meat from sticking to your hands. Take a portion of the meat and gently mold it into a log shape. Skewer it down the center and place onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil (this disposable layer keeps the sheet tray free of raw meat, leaving a clean surface for the grilled köfte after they’re cooked). Repeat with the remaining meat, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight to marry the flavors.
- Grill: Preheat a gas grill set to medium-high heat for 15 minutes. With charcoal, make a good pile of coals that are red hot and lightly coated with white ash.
- Place the köfte skewers on a clean and lightly oiled grill grate and cook for 3 – 4 minutes aside. The internal temperature should be at least 155°F | 68°C.
- Stove Top:Stove Top: Using a cast iron skillet or sauté pan placed over medium-high heat, add a few tablespoons of oil (olive or vegetable) and lay the köfte in the pan, avoiding overcrowding. Cook for 4 minutes on the first side, flip and cook another 3–4 minutes until the internal temperature reaches at least 155°F | 68°C.
- Serve as a sandwich or a wrap by spreading a teaspoon of Lebanese Garlic Sauce, a good scoop of Hoppy Tabbouleh, a köfte and a few spoonfuls of its accompanying sauce on a warm pita, naan or lavash bread. Add some roasted or fried potato cubes, a sprinkle of thinly sliced red onion, chopped parsley and a few sesame seeds. Serve with hot sauce. Or as a main course, make a mound of Hoppy Tabbouleh on a plate, top it with the köfte, its sauce, slices of red onion and Tangerine IPA Yogurt Sauce or Pomegranate Rose Stout Yogurt Sauce. Garnish with a sprig of mint.
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