In France, the kebab continues to reinvent itself

In France, her brooch also turns heads. Far from the banks of the Rhine, the kebab invites itself to the land of the traditional baguette, to the table of gourmets and gourmets. Even better, it has become over the years, and after more and more captures, one of the most popular dishes with the French, sometimes praised, sometimes criticized, when it is not politicized. If traditional kebab lovers enjoy going Ozlem In Paris, playing with minimal ingredients, as the Turks do, with a plump sandwich and a seasoned spit, others have recently given free rein to their adventure. Witness Noé Lazare, whose small shop gemNestled in the XVIII^e Paris district, always full. With an eye especially on his Berlin colleagues, the jack-of-all-trades reveals his spirit as a chef with the restaurant’s original recipes.

Because more than assembly work, the kebab is an art in its own right here, drawing on this plural, cosmopolitan heritage that contributes to its popularity: unlike Germany, with its strong Turkish community presence, “Rather, the Gyros, along with the Greeks, brought this tradition back to France, notably setting up Saint-Michel in Paris. Hence the expression: eat a GreekShe is explaining. But, in Berlin, I was fascinated by the recipe for the famous ‘Mustafa’ or ‘Riyam Gemuse Kebab’, for example, using slightly marinated red cabbage, pide bread which is a traditional Turkish bread, never used before. All in France at this sandwich. It is a little crispy bread with sesame seeds. Everything is very rich, generous, colorful, with different textures. »

A new recipe every month

Neither Turkish nor Greek, the young chef was particularly inspired by what was happening in Berlin’s street food to create a kebab that chose vegetables, from zucchini to tomatoes and mild chicken. Very tender, or turkey, which is cheaper. Here, we free ourselves from convention, Noé Lazare invigorating his sandwiches with Japanese curry, plantains, red beans or even melted cheddar. “We often think that kebabs are junk food, two or three ingredients taken out of the freezer. Each month, I offer a new recipe inspired by another culture. One of my favorite variations is our Moroccan version, with semolina bread, coriander sauce and cumin, candied lemon and carrot garnish with green olives. »

This desire to have fun in the kitchen, to reinvent the kebab, has also been found, for several years, in the three pioneers of this genre: the trio created by Marie Carcassonne from the world of the hotel industry, Hugo Desnoirs, the butcher star, and Frédéric Peneau, the restaurant owner formerly associated with the distinguished table. Chateaubriand And dry In Paris. Together, they founded the famous store in 2013 gate In Paris, a small revolution in the capital. “I had very vivid memories of tasting Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, this slightly smoky flavor of wood-fired meat, very simple sauces. Faced with the rise of hamburger restaurants in France, I said to myself, this is crazy: no one has pioneered a more elaborate approach to the kebab.Frederic Peneau remembers. But beware, there is a false simplicity associated with this dish: it is quite the opposite! For our part, we make our bread, our spit, our skewers, all our homemade sauces every morning. »

The very essence of this knowledge: a good spit, which is as much about the quality of the meat as it is about the cooking, to get fried sides, caramelized meat. So that it does not dry out, it must be pruned at the right time, regularly. If Frédéric Peneau likes to dream up new kebabs now, including one inspired by a mackerel sandwich with fish he ate in Turkey, he also serves a so-called traditional kebab in his restaurant: homemade bread, moulin des moines bios with flour, homemade harissa . , white mint sauce with a form of tzatziki. From the traditional triptych – tomato onion salad – to the reimagined kebab, the dish’s culinary success has been confirmed in the four corners of France, political scientist Jérôme Fourquet, author France Before Our Eyes (2021), Sketch out a new map.

A crisis-proof sandwich

The reason why sandwiches are so popular is because they are particularly resilient to crises. the reason There is very little room service and the skewers are often prepared artfully in small stalls adorned with frozen vegetables. “Obviously, like burgers, kebabs are taking off, He deciphered. But most institutions remain firmly entrenched in popular diets. Especially since there are no big kebab chains in France, so this is another specialty. As an economic activity, it allows people to set up their own and create an activity. »

Hence the increasingly wide area of ​​its establishment, while from the pandemic, other businesses have not closed to close shop. “That’s why it can also be a sign of the poor health of local economic and social structures, as Nicholas Mathieu says in his book ‘After Them, Their Children.’He said more. In the collective imagination, the quality of the kebabs in a place is for some a sign of a significant immigrant presence and the impoverishment of a suspect neighborhood or city. On the far right, there is even talk of the kebabization of certain neighborhoods. However, we sometimes read that the French eat more pizza than the Italians, it didn’t bother anyone. No one is politically offended by the massive success of sushi or Chinese cuisine.”he quips.

The instrumentalized, spitting dish didn’t end up getting people talking in the political arena. And plenty, to make lovers of good and cheap food salivate. in its house gate, despite the wave of inflation, many planned openings, from Strasbourg to Dijon, via Marseille. A small company that clearly does not know the crisis.