Etli Ekmek

A specialty of Konya and central Anatolia, where long oven beds favored extended flatbreads and the local Mevlevi (Sufi) culinary tradition emphasized communal sharing (it is also a staple served at weddings and ceremonies) — the meter-long bread is meant to be torn at the table among diners. Documented in Konya regional cookbooks since the early 20th century but rooted in older tandır flatbread traditions across the Anatolian steppe.

Konya specialty — long oven beds in central Anatolia favored extended flatbreads, and the local Mevlevi Sufi tradition built the meter-long shared loaf into the meal. The dry sibling of lahmacun: less biber salçası, less tomato, so the meat browns rather than steaming. Pooled fat softens the dough, so cooks pull excess fat from the lamb before mincing.

A long, narrow flatbread — sometimes a meter end to end — topped with a thin smear of seasoned ground beef, tomato and pepper, then fired in a tandır oven so the dough crisps and the meat browns in one fast pass. Cut into hand-length pieces and eaten with ayran. Lengthier than lahmacun, drier in topping, and never rolled. If the meat layer is thick, the dough won't crisp.

Etli ekmek is the dry sibling of lahmacun — the meat is mixed with less liquid (no biber salçası, less tomato), so it browns rather than steaming. Konya cooks traditionally use beef — often a fattier cut like rib, sometimes mixed with lamb — and trim away pooling fat before mincing because the long bread surface has nowhere for grease to drain — pooled fat softens the dough. The bread is meant to be eaten torn, not rolled, which is why hand-length cuts work where lahmacun rounds wouldn't.