From en.wikipedia.org:
[Thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together] [other uses]
[date=April 2016]
A SKEWER is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food
together.[1] The word may sometimes be used as a metonym, to refer to the
entire food item served on a skewer, as in "chicken skewers". Skewers are
used while grilling or roasting meats and fish, and in other culinary
applications.
In English, BROCHETTE is a borrowing of the French word for skewer. In
cookery, _en brochette_ means 'on a skewer', and describes the form of a dish
or the method of cooking and serving pieces of food, especially grilled meat
or seafood, on skewers; for example "lamb cubes en brochette".[2] Skewers are
often used in a variety of kebab dishes.
** Utensil
Metal skewers are typically stainless steel rods with a pointed tip on one end
and a grip of some kind on the other end for ease of removing the food.
Non-metallic skewers are often made from bamboo, as well as hardwoods such as
birch, beech,[3] or other suitable wood. Prior to grilling, wooden skewers
may be soaked in water to avoid burning. A related device is the rotisserie
or spit, a large rod that rotates meat while it cooks.
** History
At the 300,000-year-old Schöningen site in Germany. A stick with a burnt tip
was suggested to have been used to cook meat over a fire,[4] though later
scholars have questioned this interpretation.[5] Excavations of the Minoan
settlement of Akrotiri unearthed stone "fire dogs" used before the 17th
century BCE. In these supports there are pairs of indentations that may have
been used for holding skewers.[6] Homer in _Iliad_ (1.465) mentions pieces of
meat roasted on spits ([grc], [grc-latn]). In Classical Greece, a small spit
or skewer was known as [grc] ([grc-latn]),[7] and Aristophanes mentions such
skewers being used to roast thrushes.[8] The story is often told of medieval
Middle Eastern soldiers - usually Turkish or Persian, depending on the
storyteller – who cooked meat skewered on their swords.[9][10]
One of the most well-known skewered foods around the world is the shish kebab.
The earliest literary evidence for the Turkish word [tk] (shish) as a food
utensil comes from the 11th-century [tr], attributed to Mahmud of Kashgar. He
defines shish as both a skewer and 'tool for arranging noodles' ([tr]), though
he is unique in this regard as all subsequent known historical references to
_shish_ define it as a skewer.[11][12]
** Examples of skewered foods
*** Kebab
[Kebab] A large variety of dishes cooked on skewers are kebabs (meat dishes
prevalent in Middle Eastern cuisine and the Muslim world), or derived from
them. Examples include Turkish _shish kebab_, Iranian _jujeh kabab_, Chinese
_chuan_, and Southeast Asian satay. However, _kebab_ is not synonymous with
"skewered food", and many kebab dishes such as chapli kebab are not cooked on
skewers. On the other hand, English speakers may sometimes use the word
_kebab_ to refer to any food on a skewer.
*** Other
Dishes, other than kebabs, prepared with skewers include American city chicken
and corn dog, Brazilian _churrasco_, indigenous Peruvian _anticucho_,
Indonesian _satay_, Italian _arrosticini_, Greek _souvlaki_, Japanese
_kushiyaki_ and _kushikatsu_, Korean _jeok_ and _kkochi_, Nepali _sekuwa_,
Portuguese _espetada_, Serbian _ražnjići_, Vietnamese _nem nướng_ and _chạo
tôm_, Chinese _shaokao ,_ and Malaysian-Singaporean _Lok-lok_.
Appetizers and hors d'oeuvres may often be skewered together with small sticks
or toothpicks; the Spanish pincho is named after such a skewer.[13] Small,
often decorative, skewers of glass, metal, wood or bamboo known as olive picks
or cocktail sticks are used for garnishes on cocktails and other alcoholic
beverages. Many types of snack food, such as candy apples, bananacue,
_ginanggang_, _elote_, [id], and _tanghulu_, are sold and served "on a stick"
or skewer, especially at outdoor markets, fairs, and sidewalk or roadside
stands around the world.[date=July 2021]
<gallery mode="packed" heights="140px"> File:Chenjeh1.jpg|Chenjeh kebab in
Iran File:Seafood skewers.jpg|Seafood skewers sold in South Korea:
_mun-kkochi_ (giant octopus), _sora-kkochi_ (horned turban), and _jju-kkochi_
(webfoot octopus). File:Skewered food at Shida Night Market in
Taipei.jpg|Fish ball skewers at Shida Night Market in Taipei, Taiwan
File:Brochette de dinde sur une assiette pres de Jijel 1.JPG|Khebab from
Algeria </gallery>
** See also
[Food]
- Barbecue
- Mixed grill
** References
[30em]
** External links
[Kebabs]
Category:Food preparation utensils Category:Eating utensils