Kibbeh bil Sanieh

This is kibbeh made for a crowd. Fine bulgur and lean meat are pounded together into a dough and pressed in a layer across the bottom of a tray. The filling goes in the middle: mince fried down with onion, walnuts in Aleppo, pine nuts in Damascus. A second layer covers it, a knife scores diamonds across the top, clarified butter runs into the cuts, and the tray goes into the oven.

Why the top is scored

The scoring is not decoration. Heat travels into the dough through those cuts, and the tray comes out without splitting. The same lines become the cutting guide at the table, so the tray is shared out without being broken up. The top should be dark brown; the bottom layer stays soft.

How it differs from fried kibbeh

The kibbeh you meet beside the mezze is torpedo-shaped, formed by hand and deep fried. The tray version is baked and served as a slice rather than a piece. The texture parts ways too: the fried shell is crisp, the baked one is softer, and the fat spreads through the tray instead of sealing a crust. Same dough, different dish.

Where you will meet it

On a household table, and at the lunchtime places that cook from a pot. It runs out in the afternoon. Plain yoghurt or a green salad comes alongside, because the tray itself is heavy. It is also eaten cold the next day, and in Aleppo people will tell you that is a separate pleasure.