Syrian
Aleppo Kebab: Aleppo-pepper grilled.
Aleppo Kebab
Juicy lamb skewers with a sweet and tangy glaze of sour cherries and pomegranate molasses
View page →Syria is where Levantine cooking was codified. Aleppo, the great culinary capital, gave the world its signature pepper (the Aleppo pepper, sun-dried and sweetly mild) and kibbeh halab (the city's pride — football-shaped semolina shells stuffed with spiced meat). Damascus's Old City pastry shops still pull halawa filo by hand for baklawa, layered with pistachios from the hills near Aleppo and soaked in rosewater syrup. The Syrian table is built on muhammara (the red-pepper-walnut-pomegranate dip, an Aleppo invention), sheikh el mahshi (cored zucchini stuffed with meat and yogurt-sumac sauce — 'king of stuffed dishes'), shanklish (dry-aged spiced cheese balls rolled in herbs and za'atar), and the Levantine canon of mezze, kebab, and rice. The Christian Wadi al-Nasara villages add lentil-and-grain dishes that go back to the Crusades. Despite the war, Syrian cooking continues in Damascus, Aleppo, and across a diaspora from Istanbul to Berlin to Detroit.
The Palate
Start Here
Lamb-and-Aleppo-pepper ground-meat kebabs grilled over charcoal, served with pomegranate molasses and tomato. The city's signature.
Why start here · The Aleppo pepper is the difference — sweet, fruity, deep red. Once you taste Aleppo kebab with the right pepper, plain chili powder feels lazy.
Football-shaped semolina shells stuffed with spiced ground meat + pine nuts, deep-fried. Aleppo's most-distinctive kibbeh variant.
Why start here · Kibbeh Halab is the showpiece — the rugby-ball shape requires craft, and the semolina shell gives a more delicate crunch than bulgur kibbeh.
The Pantry
See all 89 ingredients›
Sauces & Condiments
Other
Three Regions
Three regional kitchens — Aleppo (muhammara, kibbeh nayyeh, basterma, ballourieh), Damascus (fattet makdous, shakriyeh, halawet el jibn, booza), and the Mediterranean coast (sayadieh, kibbet samak, yalanji). Tap a region to see its table.
Fattet Hummus is the Damascene fatteh — chickpeas layered with crisp pita, tahini-yogurt, and browned butter-pine-nut.
Aleppo Kebab is the Aleppo signature — finely minced lamb with pistachio and Aleppo pepper, grilled on skewers.
Yalanji — the meatless stuffed vegetables of the Levantine coast, grape leaves and marrow filled with rice, tomato and herbs.
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
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Kindred Kitchens
Cuisines built on the same signature ingredients
