Kaburga dolması

As tradition built it

Serves 4 to 6. Around 3 hours.

Ingredients

• 1 rack of lamb ribs, whole
• 200 g rice, well rinsed
• 40 g walnuts, chopped
• 40 g dried currants
• 100 g lamb liver, finely diced
• 30 g pine nuts
• To taste black pepper
• To taste allspice
• To taste cinnamon
• To taste coriander
• To taste salt

Method

1. Cut a deep pocket between the rib bones and the outer skin of the rack, taking care not to pierce through.
2. Combine the rice, walnuts, currants, diced lamb liver, pine nuts and the black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, coriander and salt to make the inner pilaf.
3. Pack the pilaf mixture firmly into the pocket, leaving a little room for the rice to expand, and secure the opening.
4. Roast at a high initial heat to bring the filling to temperature, then reduce to medium and cook for around 3 hours, until the meat is fully tender.
5. Serve hot with the extra inner pilaf alongside and a lemony, herb-heavy salad.

Notes

This dish's ownership is genuinely, and honestly, shared rather than singular: a Kurdish-perspective source identifies it as Diyarbakır's Kurdish heritage; the Houshamadyan project's Armenian-sourced documentation for the same city independently describes the same stuffed-rib dish under the name Kabourgha. This chapter treats it as belonging to both, not to whichever community's source was read first.

What a modern chef changes

An indirect, held heat, for a filling that finishes exactly when the meat does.

Rung 2

Method

1. Cook indirectly in a Big Green Egg at a stable, held 150°C dome temperature, rather than a domestic oven's less consistent heat, for closer control over the long, slow cook this dish needs.
2. Use a probe thermometer in the meat itself, pulling the rack once it reaches full tenderness rather than working to a fixed clock time, since rack size varies more than most recipes admit.
3. Rest the finished dish, loosely covered, for 15 minutes before cutting, letting the pilaf filling settle rather than spilling out the moment it is sliced.