Turkish · soup

Beyran Çorbası (Garlic and Lamb Shank Breakfast Soup)

Beyran Çorbası (Garlic and Lamb Shank Breakfast Soup) reads citrus 7.1, sourness 6.3 and fruity 5.6 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Turkish soup, about 3 hr 36 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Citrus 7.1 · Sourness 6.3 · Fruity 5.6 · Allium 5.0 · Richness 3.9 · Salinity 3.6 · Umami 2.8 · Heat 2.3 · Warm Spice 1.6 · Floral 1.4 · Earthy 1.3 · Bitterness 1.2 · Sweetness 1.1 · Herbaceous 0.6

What's in it (12)

Time & effort: about 3 hr 36 min (3 hr 34 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 16.2 kcal, 0.3 g protein, 0 g fat, 3.6 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

  1. Put the shanks in a deep pot with the cold water, the halved onion and the bay leaves. Bring slowly to a bare simmer and skim the grey foam off carefully for the first 10 minutes — beyran broth must be clear, because it is poured boiling over a raw garlic paste and any murk shows.
  2. Simmer very gently, barely a bubble breaking, for 3 hours, until the meat pulls away from the bone in threads. Top up with hot water if the level drops below the meat. Lift out the shanks, discard the onion and bay, and strain the broth. You want about 2 litres of clear stock.
  3. Pull the meat off the bones while it is warm and shred it along the grain into long threads. Do not chop it — the texture of beyran is threads of lamb suspended in broth.
  4. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then simmer it in 500 ml of the strained broth for 12 minutes until just tender but still with a little bite. Keep it in its broth.
  5. Bring the rest of the broth back to a hard boil and hold it there. Beyran is assembled in the bowl, not the pot: everything after this point happens per serving, and the broth must be at a rolling boil when it hits the bowl.
  6. Melt the tail fat in a small pan over medium-high heat, add the crushed garlic and cook 40 seconds only, until it smells sweet but has taken no colour. Stir in the pepper paste and the Maraş flakes and cook 30 seconds more until the fat runs red.
  7. Divide the shredded lamb and the rice between four deep bowls, spoon over the red garlic fat, season with the salt and black pepper, then ladle the boiling broth over the top so it sizzles. Serve immediately with lemon wedges to squeeze in at the table.
  8. Substitutions: other short-grain rice can stand in for the baldo rice; unsalted butter can stand in for the rendered lamb tail fat.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.