Master, a ten — with onion!

Method

1. Wash the meat well, pat it dry and cut it into roughly 3×3 cm pieces. Mince it together with the peppers and garlic. If you are mincing at home, use a medium plate — meat ground too fine gives a kebap that falls apart on the grill.
2. Work the minced meat by hand for 15–20 minutes, adding the seasonings a little at a time. This is not a step to rush: the long kneading draws out the proteins, and that alone holds the kebap together without a single egg or breadcrumb.
3. Cover the mixture and rest it in the fridge for several hours, ideally overnight. Resting lets the salt work through the meat and the flavour even out.
4. Shape the kebapi with wet hands, about 8–10 cm long and as thick as your thumb. Wet hands stop the meat sticking.
5. Rub the charcoal grill with bacon fat or oil and let it get properly hot. Grill the kebapi for 4–7 minutes, or about 10 minutes on an electric grill. Turn them only twice — every extra turn dries them out.
6. Serve at once with finely chopped raw onion and bukovska salt. For anyone who eats hot, grill a few chillies alongside. Rather than bread, they are best with lepinja (somun) flatbread.