Raw Meatballs

While at our picnic on Saturday I noticed that the family next to us was making a dish called çiğ köfte. It is basically a raw meatball. Hamburger meat is mixed with bulgur and lots of spices and shaped into long meatballs. It is served raw on a piece of lettuce. I have tasted these meatballs, and they are spicy! You can't tell that you are eating raw meat, because all you can taste is hot! I was very American and asked the people if I could take their picture. They gave us two meatballs to eat, but I don't think they were done enough. By done I mean mixed for long enough. According to my handy dandy Turkish cookbook the meat mixture should sit for an hour and then be kneaded by hand for 20 minutes. The stuff we were given still had recognizable pieces of bulgur in it. After they knead it they squeeze it in the palm of their hands making finger marks on the meatballs. That kinda grosses me out! Between the sitting, kneading, and extra hot spices, the meat is supposed to be safe enough to eat.



Up close and personal with a raw meatball.



Brian pretending to take a bite from the meatball. Our Turkish friends told him not to eat it since it hadn't finished "cooking".