I scream, you scream, we all scream for… arrosticini

Summer was filled with barbecues and the occasional sagra. Some of them, quite frankly, aren’t worth going to. But the absolute best summer food to be had in Abruzzo, and Luigi’s all-time favorite, are arrosticini.

Arrosticini are basically mutton on a wooden skewer, but don’t think of the traditional shish-kabob with big hunks of meat. The pieces of meat are actually very small so the arrosticini are narrow and tasty.

I guess it’s not too surprising that a mutton dish is one of the most famous regional specialties considering that Abruzzo has always been home to shepherds. Traditionally they were handmade by manually cutting the meat and threading it on the skewers interspersed with a bit of fat. Now they are made commercially and can be bought at any butcher shop in the area.

You can also buy an arrosticini form. You put the meat and skewers in then run a knife through the slits to make your arrosticini. This one does 225 arrosticini at a time and is rather expensive, but I have seen smaller ones.

Personally, I would never make them myself because it’s just too easy to buy them.

Arrosticini are best cooked quickly over hot coals, turning them once to cook the second side, then once again for a mere 30 seconds on the first side. Since they are so narrow, there are special arrosticini barbecue grills that are found everywhere here.

We love arrosticini so much that we often dig the grill out and cook them on the balcony. Why wait for a picnic? We’ve even been known to take the legs off of the grill, stick it in the fireplace and cook them there.

Luigi, of course, has to help his papa. As you can see, the grill is narrow and made so that the wooden skewers are not set over the hot coals.

The best way to eat them is sprinkled with salt, hot off the grill.

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