Khorovats

Armenia's fire-grilled pork or lamb, marinated in nothing but onion, salt and pepper, with aubergine and pepper charred alongside

Origin: Yerevan & Armenia

From the journey of Onion.

The Armenian argument about barbecue is not about the meat but about what may be done to it beforehand, and the orthodox position is: almost nothing. A proper khorovats marinade is sliced onion, salt, and black pepper, worked into the meat with the hands and left overnight. No acid, no oil, no yoghurt, no wine. The onion is doing the work, drawing moisture out and giving it back seasoned, and Armenians who add vinegar or lemon are told, at some length, that they are making shashlik instead. That austerity is the dish's identity, and it is why the onion rather than the meat is the ingredient this entry hangs on. A khorovats without the onion is grilled meat; with it, the surface takes on a sweetness under the char that nothing else supplies. The word means grilled, and it covers the vegetables as much as the meat. Whole aubergines, peppers, and tomatoes go onto the same fire until their skins blacken and blister; they are then peeled while hot, chopped together with garlic and herbs, and served as a smoky salad alongside. In much of Armenia that vegetable dish is itself called khorovats, and a table will carry both. It is cooked outdoors, over vine cuttings or fruitwood, by men, at length, and with a good deal of commentary from everyone not holding the skewer. Grilling season runs from the first warm weekend to the last, the meat comes off the shamphoor onto flatbread so the bread catches the juices, and the whole thing is less a recipe than a fixed way of spending a Sunday.

Ingredients

Meat

1.5 kg pork neck or lamb shoulder, in 5cm cubes

Marinade

4 large onions, thickly sliced
2.5 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Vegetables

3 aubergines
4 long sweet peppers
4 tomatoes

Vegetable salad

3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley and coriander, chopped
2 tbsp sunflower oil

To serve

6 sheets lavash, to serve
1 extra onion, sliced into rings and rinsed, to serve

Method

Put the meat in a large bowl with the sliced onion, salt, and pepper, and work it with your hands for a full two minutes, squeezing the onion as you go so it releases its juice into the meat.
Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least six hours. Add nothing else: no acid, no oil, no wine.
Build a fire of fruitwood or vine cuttings and let it burn down to glowing embers with no flame. Grilling over flame chars the outside before the middle is warm.
Shake the onion off the meat and thread the cubes onto flat skewers, pressed close but not crushed together.
Put the whole aubergines, peppers, and tomatoes on the grill first, turning until the skins are blackened and blistered all over.
Set the charred vegetables in a covered bowl to steam for ten minutes, which loosens the skins.
Grill the meat skewers over the embers, turning every couple of minutes, for twelve to eighteen minutes depending on the cut. Pork neck wants to be just cooked through; lamb can stop a little pinker.
Peel the vegetables while still warm, chop them roughly together, and mix with the garlic, herbs, oil, and salt to taste.
Lay a sheet of lavash on the platter and slide the meat off the skewers onto it, so the bread takes up the juices.
Cover with a second sheet of lavash and let it rest for five minutes before serving with the vegetable salad and the raw onion rings.

Notes

The marinade really is onion, salt, and pepper, and the temptation to add lemon, vinegar, or oil should be resisted, since that produces shashlik rather than khorovats. Work the onion hard with your hands rather than merely mixing it, because the juice is the marinade. Embers, not flames: a fire still showing flame is not ready. Pork neck is the most common cut in Armenia and is forgiving; lamb shoulder is the older choice. Rinsing the raw onion rings for serving takes the harshness off them without cooking them. If you have no fire, a very hot grill pan will work for the meat, but the vegetables need real flame to be worth doing.

The Gastrographer

Name: Khorovats
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Yerevan & Armenia
Ingredients: 1.5 kg pork neck or lamb shoulder, in 5cm cubes; 4 large onions, thickly sliced; 2.5 tsp coarse salt; 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 3 aubergines; 4 long sweet peppers; 4 tomatoes; 3 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley and coriander, chopped; 2 tbsp sunflower oil; 6 sheets lavash, to serve; 1 extra onion, sliced into rings and rinsed, to serve

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control