KO EN ES PT FR Italian Main course⏱ 70 minEdit history

Arrosticini (Abruzzo Mutton Skewers)

Name: Arrosticini (Abruzzo Mutton Skewers)
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1.2 kg lamb or mutton (shoulder or leg, with some fat); 50 wooden skewers (about 20cm); to taste coarse salt; 8 slices country bread; 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; 1 charcoal and a long, narrow grill (10-15cm wide)

Mutton skewers from Abruzzo: 1cm cubes of mutton threaded on thin wooden sticks, laid across a long, narrow, trough-shaped grill and seasoned with nothing but salt. The grill gathers its heat under the meat and leaves both ends of each skewer outside it, so the sticks do not burn and you eat them straight from the hand.

Ingredients

4servings

Skewers
lamb or mutton (shoulder or leg, with some fat) · traditionally castrated ram or young ewe1.2 kg
wooden skewers (about 20cm)50
coarse salt to taste
To serve
country bread8 slices
extra-virgin olive oil4 tbsp
Equipment
charcoal and a long, narrow grill (10-15cm wide) · or two rows of bricks to hold the coals in a narrow strip1

Steps

Cut the meat into even 1cm cubes. Cut the fat separately into small pieces.
⏲ 30 min
Thread each skewer with lean cubes and pieces of fat between them, along the middle 10cm or so, leaving both ends bare. Each skewer holds 20-30g.
⏲ 30 min
Light the charcoal and wait until it is covered in white ash. Spread it in a narrow, even strip the width of the grill.
⏲ 30 min
Lay the skewers side by side across the grill, the meat over the coals and both ends outside it.
⏲ 1 min
Salt them as they cook and turn them all at once every 2-3 minutes. Take them off when the outside has coloured and before the inside dries. 6-8 minutes in all.
⏲ 7 min
Meanwhile toast the bread at the edge of the coals and brush it with oil. Eat the skewers hot, straight from the hand.
⏲ 2 min

Variations

Machine-cut, uniform skewers. Only 1cm cubes, and now the commonest kind. Hand-cut ones vary in size and have fat between the pieces.
Liver (arrosticini di fegato). In the Pescara valley, pieces of lamb's liver alternate with fat.
Onion, pepper or bay. A piece is sometimes threaded between the meat.
Other meats. Pork, beef and chicken versions are sold, but by tradition it is mutton only.

Tips

Cut evenly. The same size cooks in the same time.
Keep the fat. The pieces of fat between the lean keep the meat soft.
Salt is the only seasoning. Add it while they cook.
Do not cook them long. Once the inside dries, they are spoilt.
Do not substitute a pan or an oven. Italian Wikipedia says that way you cannot keep the meat soft while browning its surface.

More detail and the reasons why (2)

Why the skewers need no soaking. Grilling says to soak bamboo skewers for thirty minutes so they do not burn, and yakitori, satay and souvlaki say the same. Arrosticini solve the problem with the shape of the grill. According to Italian Wikipedia, the long, narrow, trough-shaped brazier (the fornacella) concentrates a high temperature under the part of the skewer that holds the meat and leaves both ends at room temperature, so the skewers do not burn and neither the eater's hand nor mouth is scorched.
Why one narrow strip of heat is enough. The same guide says to build a hot zone and a cool zone, but that thin food, 1.5cm or less, starts and finishes on the hot side. A 1cm cube is thin food, so there is no need for a cool zone. Salt alone fits that guide too: with no sugar on the surface, a fierce fire can colour it freely.