Tail fat

Tail fat
Kuyruk yağı (tail fat) in Turkish cuisine
TypeCooking fat
Place of originFertile Crescent[1]
  •   Media: Tail fat

Tail fat is the fat of some breeds of sheep, especially of fat-tailed sheep. It is fat accumulated in baggy deposits in the hind parts of a sheep on both sides of its tail and on the first 3–5 vertebrae of the tail. These hind parts are used to accumulate fat for subsequent use during dry seasons, similar to a camel's humps.[2][3]

The rendered tail fat does not solidify at room temperature and is used in cuisine.[3] Cracklings left after the rendering or frying of kurdyuk may be used as an appetizer.[2][4] When being rendered, kurdyuk emits a strong odour, described as "acidy-poisonous". However, it has a rich flavor when ready to eat. In particular it is used to cook kofta, pilav, and other traditional dishes.[2]

Etymology

It is known under the name kurdyuk in Russian and in Central Asian languages,[4] from the proto-Turkic *kudruk 'tail'.[5][6]

Tail fat is known in Arabic as لية, (leeyeh, leyyah, or layeh), zaaka in Algeria, kuyruk yağı 'tail fat' in Turkish, and دنبه [donbe or dombe] in Iran,[2] אַלְיָה (Alya) in Hebrew, words which may be found in ancient texts as well as in local food culture and in sheep breeds' names.

History

Fat tailed sheep are believed to date back to the 4th millennium BC, the earliest depiction of such sheep can be found in Uruk, 3000BC.[1]

According to food historian Gil Marks, tail fat was the principal cooking fat in Central Asia before the advent of modern international trade.[7] Tail fat was mentioned as a cooking fat in several of the recipes included in the 10th-century Arabic cookbook kitab al-tabikh Abbasid Caliphate author Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, the book referred to it as alya.[8] Historian Nawal Nasrallah states that was considered an indespinsible ingredient in Iraqi cuisine until the 1960s.[9]

According to The Oxford Companion to Food (2007), fat tailed sheep make up 25% of the worlds sheep, and is predominant in North Africa and the Mashriq region, fat-tailed sheep make up 80% of Turkey's sheep.[1]

Use

Tail fat is a core ingredient in Turkish Adana kebabı.[10] Syrian shawarma uses tail fat as an ingredient,[11] as well as some Palestinian and Lebanese dishes.[12][13] Tail fat is a core ingredient of qawarma; spiced lamb meat preserved in tail fat.[14] Muslims in China use tail fat as a pork substitute to comply with Islamic dietary laws.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Davidson, Alan (2014). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. p. 734. ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d Tilsley-Benham, Jill (1986). "Sheep with Two Tails: Sheep's Tail-Fat as Cooking Medium in the Middle East". Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. The Cooking Medium. p. 48.
  3. ^ a b "Курдюк" . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.
  4. ^ a b Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia by Glenn Randall Mack, Asele Surina, p. 111, at Google Books
  5. ^ Starostin, S. A.; Dybo, A. V.; Mudrak, O. A. (2003). An Etymological Dictionary of Altaic Languages. Boston: Bril. ISBN 90-04-13153-1.
  6. ^ "Kuyruk".
  7. ^ Marks, Gil (17 November 2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. HMH. pp. 36, 1670. ISBN 978-0-544-18631-6. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  8. ^ Nasrallah, Nawal (31 December 2007). Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq's Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-474-2305-8. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  9. ^ "The world's oldest-known recipes decoded". BBC. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2026.
  10. ^ "Adana kebab among top 3 tastiest traditional dishes in world". Daily Sabah. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  11. ^ "خروف "أبو ليّة" العربي يغزو بريطانيا" [The Arabian "Abu Liyya" sheep invades Britain]. The New Arab (in Arabic). 18 Feb 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  12. ^ El-Haddad, Laila M.; Schmitt, Maggie (2016). The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey. Just World Books. ISBN 978-1-68257-008-1. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  13. ^ ""لا ترمي شيئا إلا الدماء".. هكذا تتعامل اللبنانية مع أضحية العيد" ["Don't throw anything but blood"... This is how Lebanese women deal with the Eid sacrifice.]. Al Jazeera (in Arabic). 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  14. ^ Al-Qasimi, Nouf (May 28, 2014). "1,001 Arabian bites: Meat preserved in its own fat is special to me". The National. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  15. ^ "How food of China's Muslims is deliciously different". South China Morning Post. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2026.
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