Shashlik

Shashlik (Russian Шашлык, from the turktatarischen Šašlyk or Šašlik, rare shashlik ) is the name for a grilled or fried, usually marinated meat skewers.

Dissemination

Shashlik is a traditional snack in Turkic-speaking countries, in Russia, the Caucasus and parts of South-Eastern Europe (including Serbia and Hungary), where they are offered at stands. Many of the widely used throughout Russia kebab recipes are originally from the Caucasus.

Shashlik is known in numerous variants in Western Europe, where the term is often commonly used as a synonym for spit. So there is also Shashlik recipes with fish and seafood or just vegetables.

In the Rhineland, but also in southern Germany, a special variant of kebab at food stalls is popular: The skewers of pork, bacon, onions and sweet peppers are not grilled, but, simmered gently in a sauce, which also includes onions and paprika on for hours until the meat is very soft. The resulting, rather thin-bodied, spicy and reddish- brown sauce is there ordered fries also Currywurst or French.

Preparation

The skewers are made from region to region in numerous variations of mutton or lamb, beef and pork, often supplemented by other ingredients such as vegetables, such as onion, peppers and tomato, or even slices of bacon, kidney, liver, small sausages etc., which are alternately plugged with the meat on the skewers.

For the preparation of shashlik meat is first cut into smaller cubes and marinated for hours or days, which gives it the special flavor and makes it more tender. After mating with the other ingredients in a simple wooden skewers and recently roast over an open fire or hot embers kebab is mostly consumed directly from the spit, without sauce or other spices. The usual side dish is bread, in some countries, rice or vegetable raw food, in Russia and boiled potatoes.

Shish kebab on the charcoal grill

Shish kebab, served with ketchup and salad