Two of the Mediterranean world’s Arabic-speaking stalwarts, Egypt and Lebanon, find themselves in a stiff competition over which makes the best burger – that burger being either a Cairo-born stuffed-pita street food named hawawshi or a Beirut-born meat sandwich named arayes. It’s easy to predict the loyalties in each of these countries and food cultures, while any effort at an objective taste test seems likely to end in a delicious draw.

I first tasted hawashi not on the streets of Cairo, which can be chaotic enough without hunting down some specific food, but at a Coptic Christian annual festival in suburban Maryland. It actually was love at first bite, since any connections to the all-American hamburger were buried by the special spices added to the meat. At first, I did not believe my taste buds, however, since all this goodness comes not from grilling or frying a patty that’s destinated for a bun but BAKING raw ground beef (and sometimes lamb) inside a pita pocket. Think: the world’s best meatloaf in pastry. It seemed the result would get too greasy for words, but somehow it does not. The fat from the meat merely helps the pita, whether homemade as dough or storebought as baked bread, take on flavor and spectacular crispness. I think I’ll be converting to Coptic Christianity any day now.

I have wanted to visit Beirut since forever, but the one time I came closest (with a $24 student ship ticket from Istanbul in the mid-1970s), the trip got postponed long enough that Lebanon’s tragic civil war began. The “what ifs” of that are too numerous to mention. Within months, I was editing and headlining stories about the war on a newspaper’s copy desk, rather than tasting glorious foods in one of the cities of my dreams. Maybe someday, you know? I have, all the same, tasted arayes in Lebanese restaurants and bakeries in the United States.

With room for endless variations, it seems the biggest difference from Egyptian hawashi is the bread. Instead of stuffing the VERY seasoned beef inside pita, Lebanese cooks position their also-raw meat between two pieces of thin flatbread. The grill, griddle or oven awaits. The flatbread gets flavorful and crispy as the meat cooks, as it does with hawashi.

If you ask an Egyptian about hawawshi’s origins, you might get different stories – imagine that. It does seem that a Cairo butcher named Hawawsh or Hawawshi or Hawawshy (as in the food receipt pictured here) came up with a tasty, thoroughly Egyptianized spin on a hamburger, using special seasoning pressed into the ground meat and pita instead of a lackluster American bun. Truth is, the bread is only similar to pita, being called aish baladi in Egypt, Before long, the butcher’s namesake had spread all over Egypt and then different parts of the Middle East, often taking on a different name just to keep everyone hungry but confused.

EGYPTIAN HAWAWSHI

It’s hard to imagine anyone who loves a good hamburger now and again not loving hawashi. Or, for that matter, Lebanese arayes. As with any regional signature dish throughout the Mediterranean world, there are as many recipes for hawawshi as there are cooks making hawawshi. Here’s mine, incorporating all the authentic touches I’ve been able to gather.

1 pound ground beef (or a mixture of beef and lamb)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons dehydrated minced onion

2 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ½ teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

¾ teaspoon cardamom

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

6 small loaves pita, cut in half to form pockets

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients except for pita pockets. Using your hands, stuff each pita pocket with the ground meat mixture, being careful not to tear the pita. Set on a tray in the oven and bake until the ground meat is cooked through, 15-20 minutes. Serve hot. If desired, prepare a dipping sauce of mayonnaise and storebought Middle Eastern shish tawook marinade. Serves about 10.