How to make döner kebab like a Cypriot mom

Pita pockets made using Nefise Kansu’s recipe for sheet-pan döner kebabs, which have amassed popularity on TikTok. The Cypriot mother’s method doesn’t require the traditional kebob shop spit holding a round of the marinated lamb or beef to slice from as it cooks. Food styled by Spencer Richards. (Rachel Vanni/The New York Times)

By KORSHA WILSON

It’s an old tale: A boyfriend visits his girlfriend’s parents’ house for the first time and nerves ensue. But in Michael Wilkes’ case, he arrived in Cyprus to not only a warm reception, but also a traditional Cypriot mezze: yogurty cacik, vibrant green parsley, warm pita, olives picked from a nearby tree.

“It was so fresh and beautiful,” he said.

The spread wasn’t complete. Nefise Kansu, his girlfriend’s mother, was making döner, a kebab of marinated ground lamb or beef. Its origins are disputed, but döner has a long history, stretching as far back as the Ottoman Empire, and now found across the Middle East and beloved around the world. Translated from Turkish as “turning” or “revolving,” döner is roasted on a large rotating skewer, becoming a deep brown, until ordered. The prized crispy outer layer is sliced off, revealing a fresh layer that then crisps until the next order.

Wilkes was most familiar with them from late-night shops in London, where he lives now, and from Manchester, where he grew up. But Kansu’s version looked quite different: For one, obviously, there was no skewer. Instead, she spread a blended mixture of meat and onion onto sheets of parchment paper and rolled them into long cylinders on a well-worn baking sheet.

“I remember thinking, ‘What are we doing here with this brown paste?’” he said.

After the rolls were cooked, broken up and tucked into and topped in a warm pita, Wilkes understood. Kansu’s technique was mimicking the spit’s gentle browning, cooking it while maintaining its moisture. It was a recipe she had made in her own kitchen for 10 years or so and had seen in her community for even longer.

“I loved it,” Wilkes said. “I even sent pictures back home to my family.”

When Wilkes decided to start chronicling his favorite recipes on his TikTok, @MezeMike, he and his girlfriend, Defne, took another trip to Cyprus to document some of Kansu’s older recipes.

She was shy at first, not wanting to be on camera, but eventually got comfortable.

“I was honestly quite surprised that he was so interested, because, here, it’s not so common for men to be involved in cooking at home,” she said through a translator. “But I really liked him and was glad he enjoyed the food.”

Wilkes posted regularly on his account, gaining a dozen, maybe a few dozen views, but it was Kansu’s döner that would prove to be his most popular video, garnering thousands of views in its first hour. The recipe has been viewed more than 8.6 million times on TikTok alone, and prompted many videos of people remaking the recipe.

“I think it’s the uniqueness and novelty of it that made it viral,” he said, adding that it didn’t hurt that it was an easy way of making a restaurant dish at home.

For Kansu, the appeal is much simpler. “Döner,” she said, “is something that’s universally loved.”

The comments haven’t all been positive. Some viewers have said the method doesn’t produce traditional döner, but Wilkes and Kansu have taken it in stride. “It’s all according to people’s taste buds, and we just take the negative comments and turn them into positive ones,” she said.

Wilkes recently proposed to Defne, and, soon, Kansu will go from girlfriend’s mother to mother-in-law. The couple held a traditional Cypriot proposal at the family’s home and have begun planning their wedding in Cyprus.

But the döner that made them all internet-famous won’t be on the menu.

“I don’t want us to be in the kitchen that day,” Kansu said.

Sheet-pan

döner kebab

Döner, a staple street food across the Middle East and beloved the world around, gets a home-friendly remix in this recipe, which cleverly uses scrolls of parchment paper and a hot oven to achieve the hearty browning and thin slices you’d get from carving meat from a vertical spit. This recipe is adapted from Michael Wilkes, who posts on TikTok under the handle MezeMike and learned the technique when cooking with his fiancee’s mother, Nefise Kansu, in Cyprus. The thinness of the meat mixture is key here, so take your time rolling it out between the sheets so the meat crisps evenly while baking. Many hands also make this recipe feel like a party, so invite guests to join in, rolling sheets and helping to break them up after baking.

Recipe from Michael Wilkes and Nefise Kansu

Adapted by Korsha Wilson

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Total time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

2 medium onions, cut into large dice

1/4 cup olive oil

2 pounds ground lamb or 85% to 90% ground beef

Heaping 1/2 cup plain full-fat Greek yogurt, plus 1/2 cup for the sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons smoked paprika

1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (preferably Aleppo pepper), or less to taste

1 tablespoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

1 tablespoon black pepper

Lemon wedges, for squeezing

Pita bread, sliced tomato, lettuce and thinly sliced onions, for serving

Preparation:

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a food processor, blend onions with olive oil until a paste forms. Transfer to a large bowl.

3. To the bowl, add lamb, yogurt, spices, salt and pepper. Using clean hands, mix everything until the mixture is evenly brown with no visible pockets of spices or onions.

4. Place a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment paper on a clean counter or cutting board. Top the sheet with a heaping handful of the mixture and lay another sheet of parchment on top. Using a rolling pin, roll the mixture between the two sheets so it’s about 1/4-inch thick.

5. Working from the longest side, begin rolling parchment onto itself like a cinnamon roll. If some of the mixture spills out the ends, it’s OK — just tuck it back in as best as you can. Place the roll onto a rimmed sheet pan.

6. Repeat the previous two steps with the remaining lamb mixture, laying the rolled parchments next to one another on the sheet pan. (You should have about four rolls.)

7. Bake until the parchment rolls have released their fat onto the sheet pan, about 20 minutes, and remove from oven. Pour any drippings into a small bowl. Return pan to oven and bake for 15 minutes more, until the parchment begins turning a dark brown. Let cool on the pan.

8. Once the rolls are cool enough to handle, carefully unroll them: Hold one side of the parchment and lift slightly so the cooked lamb mixture falls out naturally onto the sheet pan. Repeat with all the rolls. They should naturally break into pieces, but if they don’t, you can use kitchen shears to create strips, about 3 inches long for easier pita building. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the cooked meat.

9. To serve, add the remaining 1/2 cup yogurt to the reserved drippings and stir. Taste and adjust with more salt and pepper if desired.

10. Serve cooked lamb immediately with pita, tomato, lettuce, onions and yogurt sauce. Leftovers can be wrapped and kept refrigerated for a few days.