Grilled Potato and Salo Skewers

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Grilled potatoes with salo call for just a handful of ingredients, the main two being potatoes and salo. Try to pick potatoes of roughly the same size—they'll cook evenly, and they look more appetizing and attractive on the skewer. Scrub the potatoes thoroughly with a brush to remove all the dirt, then rinse the tubers under clean running water and pat them dry with paper towels.

2. Step 2:

   

   Cut the potatoes into rounds about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick.

3. Step 3:

   

   Which salo should you choose? It's entirely up to your taste—any kind works: salt-cured, smoked, with or without streaks of meat, and so on. You can trim off the rind or leave it on, as you like. I used lightly smoked salo without meat streaks and left the rind on (it crisped up nicely as it cooked). Cut the salo into slices a bit thinner than the potatoes—about 1/4 inch (0.5 cm). (Salo is Slavic salt-cured pork fatback; thick-cut bacon or pork belly makes a good substitute.)

4. Step 4:

   

   Make the marinade: pour the vegetable oil into a small container. Peel the garlic, press it through a garlic press, and add it to the oil.

5. Step 5:

   

   Add salt to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp of fine salt) and some allspice or ground red pepper.

6. Step 6:

   

   You can also add your favorite spices and seasonings to the marinade. I added a little frozen herbes de Provence. Mix everything well.

7. Step 7:

   

   Next, marinate the potatoes. You can do this in a deep bowl or in a plastic bag. I find a bag more convenient—the marinade coats every round evenly with no effort. Put the potatoes in the bag, spoon the marinade over the top, tie the bag, and toss the contents to coat. Set aside about 1 tsp of marinade for later. Marinate the rounds for about 5 minutes.

8. Step 8:

   

   Now thread the potatoes and salo onto skewers. Make the first and last piece on each skewer a slice of salo—that way the potatoes at the ends soak up the fat as they cook and won't dry out. Alternate potato and salo all the way down the skewer.

9. Step 9:

   

   Light the grill. Once the flames have burned down to embers, you can get to the fun part—grilling the potato skewers.

10. Step 10:

    

    Set the skewers on the grill and cook for about 30–40 minutes. The time depends on a lot of factors: how hot your coals are, what variety of potato you're using, and how often you turn the skewers.

11. Step 11:

    

    Grill until the potatoes are done. Once a golden, appetizing crust forms, check for doneness—a toothpick works well for this. My potato skewers took 30 minutes.

12. Step 12:

    

    Brush the finished potatoes and salo with the reserved fragrant marinade using a silicone brush.

13. Step 13:

    

    Finally, sprinkle the skewers with chopped fresh herbs. Ready to serve!