The Shashlik Master Strikes Again

It’s always a culinary experience when my parents visit. First, there’s the Russian stuff that I’m too weak to say NO to like hunter sausage, red caviar and herring. Then there’s the Shashlik, my father’s specialty and finally, there are the crabs…Old Bay MD crabs to be specific ?Now, my father is just as particular about how he makes his Shashlik as he is about how we eat it.  I say we because he doesn’t really eat it or like it, he just likes to make it and watch us ooh and aah over it. First, there’s the prep which entails procuring, marinating and skewering the lamb just so.  Then there’s the mangal, a charcoal grill made specifically for grilling Shashlik. Meaning skewered meat, shashlik was originally made of lamb and if you ask me, should always be. Nowadays it is also made of pork, beef or chicken depending on local preferences and religious observances. The skewers are either threaded with meat only, or with alternating pieces of meat, fat, and vegetables, such as bell pepper, onion, mushroom and tomato.

In Baku where my dad was born and I grew up, it is almost always made with lamb and eaten dipped into Narsharab, a pomegranate syrup, sauce, or wine, made in Azerbaijan that’s absolutely delicious!

Shashlik making is such a big part of our culture that of the very few items we brought when we immigrated was a mangal that my father used until it eroded. Tonight, we broke in a new one gifted to him by a fellow Azerbaijani and made by “ex cons.”Cool story but can it stand up to the Shashlik Master?  Da! He was satisfied with the results, we thought that it was delicious AND ate it as instructed and notice that little furry creature lurking under the table?  No one was happier than Bianca who got to sample all of the night’s festivities.  The crabs were just OK…

Tomorrow we pop open the red caviar, clean the herring and boil some potatoes.  Next week my diet begins!