The arrosticini: the Abruzzese tradition

Arrosticini are skewers of sheep meat, typical of Abruzzo. They are indeed linked to the pastoral tradition of Abruzzo and the consumption of sheep meat. It seems that the exact place of origin is the area of the Piana del Voltigno, in the provinces of Pescara and L’Aquila. The legend tells that they were invented in the 1930s by two shepherds who had the intuition to cut the meat of old sheep, which was difficult to eat, into small pieces and skewered them on wooden sticks made from vingh, a plant that grows along the banks of the Pescara River.
What are the variations?
Today, arrosticini are not consumed exclusively in Abruzzo, but also in other areas of Italy.There are two types of arrosticino:

Handmade production, through which the meat is cut with a knife, resulting in irregular pieces of varying sizes. Additionally, they are interspersed with some pieces of fat, which make the skewer more succulent and fragrant.
Mass production, through which cubes of meat of about 1 cm are cut with a machine and inserted onto a wooden skewer of a maximum of 20 cm.

In recent years, liver arrosticini have also been gaining popularity, prepared in the same way as those made with meat, but with the variation of alternating pieces of liver.

How are they prepared?
Arrosticini are cooked over charcoal, using a long, channel-shaped grill, which is referred to as “fornacella,” “furnacella,” “rustillire,” or “la canala” depending on the local dialect. Today, electric grills are also available on the market, but the results, in terms of flavor, are completely different from those achieved with charcoal cooking. For the skewer to be cooked to perfection, it is essential that the fire temperature is just right. Of course, depending on personal preferences, it is possible to cook the arrosticini more or less and season them to taste.

Alessia Giannino