Georgian · bread

Kubdari (Svan Hand-Chopped Meat Bread)

Name: Kubdari (Svan Hand-Chopped Meat Bread)
Prep time: 1 h 8 min
Total time: 3 h 38 min
Cuisine: Georgian
Ingredients: all-purpose flour — 500 g; yeast — 7 g; water — 250 g; salt — 8 g; sunflower oil — 28 g; pork shoulder roast — 600 g; onions — 300 g; garlic — 12 g; svanuri marili — 15 g; blue fenugreek — 3 g; dried marigold petals — 5 g; coriander seed — 5 g; ground red pepper — 3 g; unsalted butter — 50 g

Kubdari (Svan Hand-Chopped Meat Bread) reads richness 6.5, umami 5.9 and allium 4.7 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Georgian bread, about 3 hr 38 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.6 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 2.4 / 10
Sour & Bright — 1.9 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 1.4 / 10
Rich & Fat — 6.9 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 5.2 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 6.5 · Umami 5.9 · Allium 4.7 · Salinity 4.1 · Funk & Ferment 3.1 · Sweetness 2.2 · Herbaceous 2.1 · Warm Spice 2.0 · Heat 1.9 · Citrus 1.6 · Nutty 1.5 · Earthy 1.2 · Floral 1.2 · Sourness 1.0 · Fruity 0.8 · Bitterness 0.8

What's in it (14)

all-purpose flour — 500 g
yeast — 7 g
water — 250 g
salt — 8 g
sunflower oil — 28 g
pork shoulder roast — 600 g
onions — 300 g
garlic — 12 g
svanuri marili — 15 g
blue fenugreek — 3 g
dried marigold petals — 5 g
coriander seed — 5 g
ground red pepper — 3 g
unsalted butter — 50 g

Time & effort: about 3 hr 38 min (1 hr 8 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 209.3 kcal, 9.3 g protein, 10.7 g fat, 23.9 g carbs

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

How it's cooked (8 steps)

Mix the flour, yeast, warm water, salt and oil into a soft dough and knead 10 minutes until smooth. Cover and leave to rise 90 minutes.
Chop the meat by hand into 5 mm dice, which takes about 20 minutes with a heavy knife. This is not fussiness. Minced meat gives you a wet paste and the whole character of kubdari is separate pieces of meat sitting in their own fat inside the bread.
Mix the chopped meat with the onion, garlic, svan salt, blue fenugreek, marigold, coriander and red pepper. Blue fenugreek is utskho suneli and is not the same plant as Indian methi; buy it from a Georgian grocer or online, because nothing else smells like it.
Leave the filling 1 hour at cool room temperature so the salt draws the juices out and the spices settle in.
Divide the dough and the filling into four. Flatten a piece of dough into a disc, pile a quarter of the filling in the middle, gather the edges up over it like a purse and pinch them shut.
Turn the parcel seam down and press it out gently with your palms into a round about 22 cm across, working from the middle so the filling spreads evenly and the dough does not tear. Pierce a small steam hole in the centre with your finger.
Bake on a preheated stone or a heavy tray at 250C for 12 to 14 minutes, until spotted brown and the hole is venting steam.
Brush hot with melted butter and eat at once, cut in wedges. In Svaneti this travelled up the mountain in a shepherd's bag and it is still the best road food in the Caucasus.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Turkey Meatballs in Marinara over Spaghetti — Italian-American
Cajun Chicken Pasta Recipe — Cajun/Creole
Rigatoni alla Vodka with Italian Sausage — Italian-American
Crispy Salt and Pepper Chicken — Chinese-American
Pork Chops alla Pizzaiola — Italian-American

Keep reading: what richness, umami, allium mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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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.