Abruzzo's shepherd kebabs: tiny dice of mutton on thin sticks, grilled by the dozen over a narrow charcoal trough called a fornacella and seasoned only with salt. Eaten straight from a terracotta jug-shaped holder, twenty at a sitting is considered a modest start.
Also known as: arrosticini abruzzesi, rustelle, arrustelle, spiedini di pecora
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 700 g mutton or lamb shoulder
- 100 g firm fat from the same shoulder
- Fine sea salt
- 35 thin bamboo skewers, about 25 cm
- 8 slices rustic bread
- 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
How to make it
- 1
Dice meat and fat into scant 1 cm cubes; precision here is the recipe.
- 2
Thread about ten cubes tightly per stick, slipping in a cube of fat every third or fourth piece.
- 3
Rig a narrow trough of blazing coals (two rows of bricks work) so the meat line sits over heat while the bare stick ends hang out.
- 4
Cook 1-2 minutes per side, salting after the first turn; they are done almost as soon as they brown.
- 5
Brush the bread with olive oil, toast it at the fire's edge, and serve the sticks by the fistful.
Pro tip: Keep the dice at one centimeter, resisting every instinct to cut kebab-sized chunks: arrosticini live on their fat-to-surface ratio, and at proper size each cube browns through in the time the fat needs to melt.
