Arrosticini

By
Bbqaroma
on August 2, 2011

This is a very simple skewer recipe that comes from Abruzzo Italy (central Italy on the east coast). It is very particular to that region and these skewers would have possibly evolved from the Renaissance period when the Ottoman Empire was invading the region from the east. Today you can see similar type of skewers from other countries and you would also call them satay skewers, kabobs or even yakitori. As you can see it is also more the method to cook them which gives it that addictive flavour.

Method

Cut your leg lamb into cubes of approximately 1.5cm and keep the fat in the process but remove any tough bits.
Skewer each bamboo skewer with meat. Get approx 10cm onto the skewer ( say the width of your palm). Try to layer between the meat some fat pieces. You should have roughly 20 to 25 % of the skewer mixed with the lamb fat.
Now prepare your charcoal BBQ. This is what you do on a skewer BBQ which is wide enough to hold the meat only and allow your hands to get next to the skewers and turn each of them. You can use any BBQ if you don't have a skewer BBQ but this is the best if it is grilled directly over charcoal.
For a charcoal skewer BBQ, give the charcoal 20mins to light then spread the hot charcoal along the length of the BBQ. You want to cook slow and encourage smoke to rise from the dripping off the skewers.
Suspend your skewers making sure that the heat will not burn the bamboo and that the meat is directly over the hot charcoal. Try to control any flare up by lifting the skewers at any time.
As it cooks, the layered fat starts to melt and infuse with the surrounding meat as well as hitting the hot ash providing the smoke that hits the meat directly above. This gives it its smoky flavour.
Turn each skewer by hand until all sides are golden brown. It should take no more than 10minutes but sometimes if the charcoal is very hot you can cook in 5 minutes. Like I said, better slow so that the flavour from the dry heat forms on the meats surface.
Now add generously salt when ready. Best to serve piping hot off the grill - you will find that this will sweeten the skewer and the flavour will be amazing.