Growing up in Southlake, north of Dallas, Zain Shafi ate Pakistani cuisine cooked by his family who had immigrated to Texas in the 1980s from the Lahore region. As Muslims, they followed the edicts of Halal food preparation, which prohibits the consumption of pork.

“I never had Texas barbecue growing up,” says Shafi, “It was all Pakistani barbecue.”

Indeed, Pakistani cuisine has a diverse and delicious tradition of direct-heat grilling in the form of kebabs, which consist of ground meat (lamb, goat, beef) that is combined with spices and other ingredients, skewered, and then cooked over open coals.

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The process of making kebabs is similar to the Texas barbecue tradition of making sausage. They are both techniques for preserving meat and making proteins go further by adding spices and fillers. In Texas barbecue, the meat is........

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