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Marinating Mixture for Any Lamb Grill
For 2 pounds lamb: 4 WHOLE PEPPERS, I-2 ONIONS, CHOPPED POUNDED 4 TABLESPOONS LEMON 4 TABLESPOONS OLIVE OIL JUICE OR VINEGAR, OR SOUR WINE I SMALL GARLIC CLOVE, MINCED I TEASPOON SALT Lay strips of meat in a bowl, add all ingredients except salt and stir until everything is well mixed and meat coated with vinegar and oil. Let stand 3-6 hours, turning meat over several times to season evenly. Add salt the last 1/2 hour. Drain meat but leave seasonings clinging to it. Thread on skewers and grill over hot coals. The liquid that collected in bottom of the bowl may be heated for a sauce.
Perhaps it is more practical to cut the lamb into chunks or cubes. In fact, skewered cut-up lamb is often called shashlik, but it is more likely to be called cabob by American campers, the name we've picked up from Turkish and Armenian restaurants.
A plain Mediterranean-style lamb marinade of oil, acid, allium and crushed pepper, written for campers cooking over coals. The proportions are generous enough for two pounds of meat cut either into strips or into cubes.
- Reading the ingredient listThe quantities are set in two columns and run together in this printing. They resolve as: 4 whole peppers, pounded; 1-2 onions, chopped; 4 tablespoons lemon juice, vinegar or sour wine; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 1 small garlic clove, minced; 1 teaspoon salt.
- Whole peppersProbably black peppercorns, pounded coarse rather than ground fine. Four is a modest amount for two pounds of lamb; a scant teaspoon of coarsely cracked pepper is nearer modern taste.
- Sour wineAn old kitchen catch-all for wine that has begun to turn acetic. A dry white or a light red with a splash of white wine vinegar gives the same effect.
- Salt at the endThe recipe deliberately holds the salt until the last half hour. The usual explanation is that salt in the marinade from the start draws moisture out of the surface of the meat, while salt added late seasons it without that effect.
- Marinating timeThe recipe says only to let the meat stand three to six hours; refrigerate it rather than leaving the bowl out. Prolonged soaking in lemon or vinegar will eventually leave the outer layer of the lamb dry and chalky.
- The collected liquidIf you use it as a sauce it must be brought to a full boil for at least a minute, not merely warmed. It has been in contact with raw meat for hours.
- Cut and skewerCubes of about 1 1/4 inches from leg or shoulder cook more evenly than the strips mentioned first. Thread them with a little space between pieces so the sides brown rather than steam.
- The fireHot coals means the bed has burned down to grey-ashed embers you can hold a hand over for two or three seconds. Cubes take roughly 8-10 minutes total, turned once or twice, for pink centres.
- YieldTwo pounds of boneless lamb serves four generously with rice or bread.