Anticuchos: Peruvian Grilled Skewers
Skewers marinated in ají panca, vinegar and cumin, browned over high heat and brushed with their own marinade. The classic version uses beef heart — lean, deep in flavour and anything but soft; it is the meat of the street stands in Lima. Twelve hours of marinade do nearly all the work. With beef fillet or chicken they come out just as well and are available anywhere.
Ingredients
- 1 kg trimmed beef heart (or 1 kg beef fillet, or chicken breast)
- 4 tbsp ají panca paste (or 2 tbsp sweet paprika and 1 tbsp chilli flakes)
- 100 ml red wine vinegar
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 3 tbsp oil
- Salt and pepper
- Boiled potatoes and corn, to serve
- Wooden skewers, soaked
Method
- 1
If using heart: strip off the fat, the white membranes and the sinew. What remains is red, lean and even. Cut into three-centimetre cubes.
- 2
Blend the ají panca with the vinegar, garlic, cumin, oregano, oil, salt and pepper.
- 3
Mix the meat with the marinade and refrigerate for 12 hours, ideally overnight. The vinegar tenderises and the ají penetrates; with two hours it is a different dish.
- 4
Take the meat out 30 minutes before grilling and keep the leftover marinade: it is for basting.
- 5
Thread the cubes loosely, leaving air between them. Packed tight they steam instead of browning.
- 6
Grill over high heat, 2 minutes a side and no more. Heart is lean: cooked through, it turns rubbery.
- 7
Baste with the reserved marinade each time you turn them.
- 8
Serve at once with boiled potatoes and corn. They are eaten with the hand, off the stick.