Turkish “Meatball” Burgers

In the early years of the last century, a pious young man from eastern Tajikistan set off to make haji, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. Mehmet Tezçakin got as far as Istanbul when the First World War broke out. Stranded in the big city, he did what innumerable grill masters have done: He set up a mangal—a grateless grill—and three tables in a storefront no wider than a closet and began selling tiny rectangular ground beef patties called köftesi. (Yes, they’re related et