İskender Kebab

Bursa, Turkey — created by İskender Kül (İskender Efendi) in 1867; still served at the original Kebapçı İskender restaurant

Invented in Bursa in 1867 by İskender Efendi, this dish builds döner kebab slices (lamb or beef) on a foundation of pide bread cubes, saturated in hot tomato sauce, then anointed tableside with browned butter poured sizzling from a ladle and finished with cold yogurt on the side. The drama of the tableside butter pour — which must sizzle audibly when it hits the tomato-soaked pide — is an integral part of the service experience. The original İskender establishment in Bursa has maintained the recipe without alteration for 150 years and holds trademark rights over the name within Turkey. The layering order is structural: pide base, döner slices, tomato sauce, butter — the yogurt is always separate, never integrated, so each bite can be calibrated.

Served as a complete main course; ayran alongside cuts through the richness of butter and lamb fat; a simple tomato-cucumber salad provides acid counterpoint; the dish requires no additional seasoning at table