Spiedies

[Consigliere5]

"Spiedies, (pronounced "speedies"), are marinated cubes of meat cooked on a skewer. Originally from Italy, this delicacy seems to be found only in the Broome County area of New York State. How and when spiedies came to this area, having never been documented, remains a mystery.

Traditionally, spiedies were made from lamb. Today, however, they are made from lamb, pork, chicken, veal, venison, and beef. The cubes of meat are marinated in a sauce as varied as the types of people that enjoy them."

http://www.spiedies.com/spiedies.htm

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photo:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Markeee/blog/spiedies.jpg

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Spiedie consists of cubes of chicken and pork, but it may also be made from lamb, veal, venison or beef. The meat cubes are marinated overnight or longer (sometimes for as long as two weeks under a controlled environment) in a special spiedie marinade, then grilled carefully on spits over a charcoal pit. The freshly prepared cubes are served on soft Italian bread or a submarine roll, wood skewer and all, then drizzled with fresh marinade. The roll is used as an oven glove to grip the meat while the skewer is removed. Spiedie meat cubes can also be eaten straight off the wooden skewer or can be served in salads, stir fries, and a number of other dishes. The marinade recipe varies, usually involving olive oil, vinegar, and a variety of Italian spices and fresh mint."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiedie

"The original idea for spiedie was brought by Italian Immigrants to the Southern Tier of New York State in the early 1920s. The specific origin of the spiedie is disputed. Two men – Agostino "Augie" Iacovelli and Peter Sharak – are credited with the creation of the spiedie.

Iacovelli from Endicott, New York, began serving spiedie sandwiches in 1939 when he opened, Augie's, his first restaurant. He emigrated from Abruzzo, Italy (Civitella Casanova) at the age of 25 in 1923. His son Guido continued in the spiedie business into the 1990s, owning as many as 26 restaurants at the peak of his career.

Sharak is also supposed to have invented spiedies. Apparently, patrons of Sharkey's Bar and Grill were served lamb straight from the grill on its metal skewer with slices of bread. Sharkey's promotes itself as the birthplace of the sandwich in television commercials across the greater Binghamton area.

Though the issue is disputed, Sharkey's began serving spiedies in 1947, which makes Iacovelli more likely to have invented the dish first.

The term "spiedie" comes from the Italian "spiedo," meaning "spit." Traditionally the early Broome County spiedie was made only from spring lamb, but currently, most commercial restaurants prepare spiedie using chicken or pork. The "chicken category" was added to the Spiedie Fest cook-off in 1987, and quickly became the most popular meat choice. The regional dish in Abruzzo, Italy, most closely resembling spiedie, uses goat meat. Another regional dish from Sicily, "zúzzu,", consists of a gelatinous sausage made from the cartilage of pork and beef meat that is usually served cut into cubes.

Iacovelli's marinade, which he called "Zuzu," originally was made simply from wine vinegar, water, lemon juice, garlic and mint. Italian spices, olive oil and minced onion were added later as regional tastes and the choice of meat began to vary.

One of the restaurants most famous for spiedies today, Lupo's Char-Pit, was established in 1967 by John, Sam, and Bart Lupo, in Endwell, New York.

In 1975, Rob Salamida began bottling spiedie sauce for sale. His company now produces and sells Salamida's State Fair Spiedie Sauce from a 15,000 square foot facility in Johnson City, New York, and states that it has sold over 2 million bottles."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiedie

[Consigliere5]

every August, we have the "Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally"

http://www.spiediefest.com/

"The Spiedie Fest & Balloon Rally is a community festival in Binghamton, New York which features a packed weekend of food, fun, music & entertainment. Everything from concerts & celebrity appearances to the Spiedie Cooking Contest and hot air balloon flights speckle this packed weekend. More than 100,000 people pack Otsiningo Park each year for the premiere event of the summer. Celebrities, food vendors, music acts, crafters, non-profit organizations, and balloon crews from all over the globe participate, making our festival one of the most diverse of its kind."

[Spooky]

Man, that sounds good!

[Consigliere5]

Man, that sounds good!

oh so very good...

[KDot-Yana]

We've been to the Spiedie Fest! That was several years ago though.
My Mr. is from Binghamton and introduced me to them while here in Cleveland.
His relatives send us Spiedie marinade and such things when we run out.

[Eric]

#41:

http://youtu.be/WuXBIyHAxjc

[TinkTanker]

The worst thing about #1 on the list is finding a piece of corn.