Kibbe is a dish of minced meat with bulgur and spices with many variants, eaten raw or cooked. It is regarded as the national dish of Lebanon and there are as many ways to prepare and serve kibbe as there are to spell it.
It is best known away from the Middle East as a 3- to 6-inch long torpedo-shaped bulgur shell stuffed with a filling based on spiced, minced lamb and fried till brown. Because of their shape, British soldiers in the Middle East during the World War II called them "Syrian torpedoes."
The women of St. George Eastern Orthodox Church in Vicksburg, Miss., hold an annual Lebanese dinner each year which is attended by thousands from Vicksburg and beyond. We love their 1970s cookbook, which John T. Edge dug out from his archives for us, but here are two recipes from their most recent book T' Ai Bien – Uhmm Delicious.
--The Kitchen Sisters
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