Karsi Khorovats: Armenian Grilled Lamb Skewers

The moment fat hits the coals, the smell of lamb changes

Lay a flat skewer over charcoal under a coat of white ash, and the lamb fat bubbles lightly, then a single drop falls onto the embers. A short wisp of smoke, not enough to make a flame. When that smoke traces the edges of the meat and overtakes the smell of onion and dried herbs, kitchen work turns into Armenian khorovats.

Karsi khorovats (Ղարսի խորոված, Gharsi / Karsi khorovats) is an Armenian meat dish in which thickly cut lamb and lamb fat are threaded alternately on skewers and grilled over a charcoal grill called a mangal. The name means "Kars-style grilled meat." An old recipe survives in which the meat is cut larger and rounder than in ordinary khorovats, rested with onion, herbs, a little acid, and cognac, and grilled with fat between the pieces.

What is hard is not the lamb itself but the tail fat of fat-tailed sheep. Filling that gap with beef fat alone makes the beef smell strong, so choose fatty lamb shoulder and tuck in only a small amount of beef fat for the shortfall. In a home with no charcoal, a broiler and an oven are combined. What to protect is the thickness of the meat, the layers of fat, not marinating too long, and an internal temperature of 63°C with a 3-minute rest.

Even among skewered meats of the Caucasus and beyond, the hand is different from Turkish cağ kebabı, in which thin meat is shaved off as it turns, and Georgian shashlik, in which cubed meat is grilled. Karsi khorovats grills pieces about 4 cm thick whole, and catches even the juices from the pulled-off meat in lavash.

The story of karsi khorovats: lamb, embers, and a wrap on the street corner

Khorovats appears on the table in Armenia on days when guests are invited. At the Lori table described by Smithsonian Magazine, no grill grate is put on the mangal; long skewers are laid directly across the coals. The grilled meat is moved onto lavash and shared from a big platter with onions, roasted vegetables, cheese, and compote. Preparing enough meat and inviting guests is the signal of a celebration, and there are recorded examples of mangals being carried out into the street on days of political celebration. At the khorovats festival held in Aghtala, not only pork, beef, and lamb but also fish and vegetables were lined up over the same embers.

Among the many kinds of khorovats, karsi is one with a name attached to the way of grilling and cutting. In a formulation of Armenian cooking collected in the 1955 cookbook of the peoples of the Soviet Union, fatty lamb is cut 4 cm thick and rested in the refrigerator for 6–7 hours with onion, cognac or vodka, a little acid, dried dill, mint, and coriander. For grilling it is threaded alternately with sheep's tail fat and turned over the heat of the mangal. It is a use of herbs in which they are not piled on heavily but left thin between the fat and the smoke.

Meanwhile, in present-day Yerevan, saying Ղարս, that is "Gars," can refer to a street-corner snack of meat cooked on a rotating spit and wrapped in small bread or lavash. The Armenian newspaper Aravot reported in 2003 that small karsi khorovats shops lined Tigran Mets Avenue, grilling fatty pork on rotating spits and wrapping it, which commuters and market customers ate in a short time. The old lamb-skewer formulation and the street-corner wrap look a little different under the same name. This article takes the lamb version of the old cookbook as its base and borrows the easy-going quality of the modern wrap only when eating.

What to protect in a home kitchen is not removing the fat completely, the 4 cm thickness, a short refrigerated marinade, and dry heat close to a mangal's. Tail fat from fat-tailed sheep is normally something you cannot find. Rather than searching for it and missing dinner, it is more realistic to add a little beef fat to fatty lamb shoulder. Without grapevine embers or fresh lavash, if you have an outdoor charcoal grill or a broiler you can keep the cut of the meat and how the heat reaches it.

Ingredients: four large lamb skewers

When looking at the butcher's counter, it helps to ask for "a block of lamb shoulder loin, around 800 g." The thin slices sold for Mongolian-style grilling do not suit this dish as a substitute. Stacked in layers, onion gets between them and the layers shift while grilling. If there is no block, choose lamb steaks at least 3 cm thick, and if bone-in, ask the butcher to remove the bone. Tell them before they trim the fat that you want to keep a little of the white fat.

Shopping: spend on aroma and temperature, not on the meat

Look for lamb, onion, and lemon at a neighborhood grocery or butcher. What is worth seeking out at specialty shops or online is allspice, which gives the outline of the marinade; sumac, the onion's sourness that catches the fat; and a thermometer for measuring the center of thick meat. Flat metal skewers keep large meat from spinning on the skewer and make it easier to decide which face to grill, compared with round ones. If you have none, thread two thick metal skewers in parallel.

Allspice is not a powder mixing clove, cinnamon, and black pepper; it is a spice made by grinding the berries of a single plant. It is an aroma found in the old karsi formulation, so use just 1 g for 800 g of meat. It is not an ingredient that gets more authentic the more you add.

Sumac is used not in the meat marinade but on the sliced onion. Its role is less the red color than a dry sourness different from lemon. When you wrap fatty lamb in lavash, it lightens the aftertaste.

Meat 4 cm thick cannot be read at the center from the browning on the surface alone. Insert the thermometer from the side into the thickest piece in the middle of the skewer, confirm it has reached 63°C, and then rest it for 3 minutes.

Method: grill the 4 cm meat without hurrying

Karsi khorovats is not a skewer where small cubes are scorched over high heat. You cut the meat large, tuck in fat, and grill it turning faces over the heat of the embers rather than flames. Charcoal is for outdoors only. Do not use charcoal indoors or on an enclosed balcony; choose a broiler or grill pan from the table below.

Recreating it in a home kitchen: charcoal, broiler, grill pan

The flavor of karsi khorovats is not "zero unless it is charcoal." Charcoal adds a smoky aroma, but the thickness of the meat, how the fat is tucked in, the strong heat that dries the surface, and managing the internal temperature can all be kept indoors. At home, before the equipment, decide whether you can handle the meat at its 4 cm thickness.

If a long skewer does not fit in the broiler, do not recut the meat smaller. Keeping the order of meat and fat, move it in a single row to the rack of a metal tray and grill with the fat facing up. Heating with the skewer handle sticking out of the door, or letting a metal skewer touch the burner, is dangerous. If the broiler's manual does not say whether metal skewers may be used, move it to the rack from the start.

With every method, time depends on the starting temperature and thickness of the meat. Measure 63°C at the thickest piece and rest 3 minutes. If you use beef fat instead of lamb fat, keep it no thicker than 8 mm, since large pieces remain unmelted. In a broiler, fat falls into the drip pan, so follow the manual and add water to prevent flare-ups.

Grill over low heat for a long time and water comes out of the onion on the surface, and the smell turns to steamed meat rather than grilled. Conversely, grill directly in flames and only the herbs and fat blacken while the center stays cold. The reason for dividing the embers into two strengths is to make a place for the meat to escape first. If you use charcoal, a place to escape is more useful than something that raises the heat.

Regional differences, how to eat it, and fixing failures

In the old formulation, lamb and tail fat are central, but looking at khorovats as a whole in present-day Armenia, pork is often used. The cook Smithsonian visited also explained that pork is common for everyday, while choosing lamb for competition, grilling it with salt, paprika, black pepper, thyme, and a little lamb fat. The rotating spits sold on street corners under the name karsi include pork examples. We use lamb in this article not to mean "khorovats must be lamb" but to lean toward the old karsi formulation.

When eating, lavash does the work more than knife and fork. Press the meat on the skewer with lavash and pull it off, let it soak up the juices, and wrap it with sumac onions and herbs. Beside it, put grilled eggplant, grilled tomato, cucumber, and white cheese. No sweet sauce is used; the sourness of the onion cuts the fat. To continue with Armenian festive dishes, amich (in Japanese), chicken stuffed with rice and dried fruit, and ghapama (in Japanese), stuffed into pumpkin, offer a contrast. For a plainer pot, it leads to harissa, in which chicken and wheat are beaten continuously.

Frequently asked questions

I'm worried about the gamy smell of lamb

If you submerge the meat in vinegar or alcohol to remove the smell, the surface of the meat turns mealy. If you are bothered by an oxidized smell in the white fat, remove only the old lumps of fat and rest it 6 hours with onion, lemon zest, and dried dill. Not leaving it long at room temperature before grilling, and threading it while cold, keeps the smell of the fat from spreading as well.

Is it not karsi khorovats without sheep tail fat?

It is a characteristic of the old formulation, so it is an ingredient you want to use if you have it. But the places to get it are limited. Choose fatty lamb shoulder and tuck 70 g of beef fat thinly between the meat, and the structure in which fat carries smoke and moisture can be kept. Shoulder with a little beef fat comes closer than making it with lean lamb leg alone.

Can I make it without cognac?

Yes. Switch to 30 ml vodka, or if using no alcohol, combine 25 ml cold water and 5 ml grape vinegar. Because it is added separately from the original 15 ml of grape vinegar, the non-alcoholic version has 20 ml of vinegar in total. Increase beyond that and the surface of the lamb tends to tighten.

Can I marinate the day before and grill the next evening?

This blend contains vinegar and lemon, so 24 hours is too long. If preparing the day before, go only as far as cutting the meat and fat and weighing the dried herbs and spices. Combine the onion, acid, and cognac 6 hours before grilling. Also avoid freezing the marinated meat partway to stop time.

How do I store leftovers?

Move grilled meat into a shallow container within 2 hours and eat it within 3 days in the refrigerator as a guide. To reheat, slice the meat 3 mm thick and cook 2 minutes over medium heat in a skillet with 2 tsp water. When hot throughout, wrap it with lavash, sumac onions, and tomato. For freezing, take 1 month as a guide and wrap flat by portion. USDA gives cooked lamb as 3–4 days in the refrigerator, but for leftovers that have passed through a household's knives and table, finishing in 3 days is easier to manage.

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