Serves: 4
Total Calories: 488

1 pound ground lamb
1 pound ground beef round or sirloin
2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon baking soda s
1 onion, large, peeled
pita bread or Lavash

1. Place the lamb, beef, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and the baking soda in a large bowl and stir to blend. Transfer the mixture to a large heavy saucepan. Set the saucepan over very low heat and knead the mixture with your hands until it’s warmed through and very smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2. Cut the onion into 1-inch chunks, then grate it through the next-to-smallest holes of a four-sided hand grater or process it in a food processor you should have about 1 cup grated onion. Add the onion to the meat mixture in the saucepan and knead again, this time off the heat, until the onion is thoroughly mixed in, another 5 minutes.

3. To test the mixture for seasoning, sauté a small amount of it in a nonstick skillet until cooked through, then taste, adding salt or pepper to the remaining mixture as necessary.

4. Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions. Lightly wet your hands with cold water, then, starting about 1 inch from the tip of a skewer, mold each portion around the skewer to form a flattish sausage 11 to 12 inches long and 1 inch wide. Using the fore- and middle fingers of one hand in scissors fashion, make a series of shallow ridges the length of the sausage, perpendicular to the skewer. Place each kebab as it is made on the prepared baking sheet, then cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

5. If desired, set up the grill for grateless grilling. Preheat the grill to high.

6. When ready to cook, if not using the grateless method, generously oil the grate. Arrange the kebabs on the grill as described in the grateless method, or arrange directly on the hot oiled grate. Grill, turning with tongs, until nicely browned and cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes in all.

7. Use a lavash to protect your hand as you slide each kubideh off its skewer onto a plate. Serve accompanied by lavash.

Makes 8 kubideh serves 8 as an appetizer, 4 as an entrée

Nutritional Facts:

Serves: 4
Total Calories: 488
Calories from Fat: 176

More Recipes from the The Barbecue Bible Cookbook:
Avocado, Sprout and Salsa Burger
Bacon and Smoked-Cheese Burger
Beef Sates With Coriander / Sate' Age
Bosnian Three-Meat Patties / Cevapcici
Bulgarian Burgers / Kufteh
Cheeseburger
Cracked Wheat and Lamb Kebabs / Semit Kebab
Flying Fox Sates / Sate' Kalong
Four-Pepper Chicken Kebabs / Kafta
Gentle Al Kebabs With Fire-Charred Eggplant And Yogurt
Lamb In Lavash / Lyulya Kebab
Lamb Sate With Tamarind Sauce / Sate' Buntel
Lamb and Eggplant Kebabs / Sedzeli Kebab
Lamb and Pistachio Kebabs
Oasis Kebabs / Kofta
Persian Lamb and Beef Kebabs / Kubideh
Pomegranate Molasses / Narshrab
Pork and Pomegranate Sausages / Kupati
Romania Pork and Lamb Sausage / Mititei
Samba Dogs
Samba Sausages / Choricou
Shallot Kebabs With Pomegranate Molasses / Sogar Kebab
Slipper Burgers / Chapli Kebab
Spiced Lamb and Beef Kebabs / Lula Kebab
Spicy Chorizos
Tamarind Water
The Great American Hamburger
The Original Karim's Seekh Kebab