Skewer facts for kids
A skewer is a thin stick, usually made of metal or wood. People use skewers to hold pieces of food together, especially when cooking. Sometimes, the word "skewer" can also mean the whole dish served on the stick, like "chicken skewers." Skewers are often used for grilling or roasting meat and fish.
The word "brochette" comes from French and also means skewer. When you see "en brochette" on a menu, it means the food is served on a skewer. This is common for grilled meats or seafood. Many popular dishes around the world, like kebabs, use skewers.
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Types of Skewers
Metal skewers are usually made of stainless steel. They have a pointy tip on one end to easily push through food. The other end often has a handle to help you take the food off.
Wooden skewers are often made from bamboo or other strong woods like birch or beech. If you're using wooden skewers for grilling, it's a good idea to soak them in water first. This stops them from burning over the fire. A rotisserie or spit is like a very large skewer that turns meat slowly while it cooks.
Skewers Through History
People have been using skewers for a very long time! Scientists found a burnt stick at a 300,000-year-old site in Germany. They think it was used to cook meat over a fire.
Ancient people called the Minoans, who lived over 3,700 years ago, used stone "fire dogs." These stones had special dents that might have held skewers. The ancient Greek writer Homer also wrote about meat being roasted on spits in his famous story, the Iliad.
A small skewer in ancient Greece was called an obeliskos. People used them to roast small birds like thrushes. There are also stories about medieval soldiers in the Middle East who cooked meat on their swords, which acted like skewers.
One of the most famous foods cooked on a skewer is the shish kebab. The word "shish" comes from an old Turkish word for skewer. It was first written down about 900 years ago!
Foods on Skewers
Many delicious dishes from around the world are cooked on skewers.
Kebab Dishes
Many types of kebab are cooked on skewers. Kebabs are popular meat dishes from the Middle East and other Muslim countries. Some examples include:
- Turkish shish kebab
- Iranian jujeh kabab
- Chinese chuan
- Southeast Asian satay
It's good to know that not all kebabs are on skewers. For example, chapli kebab is a flat patty. But sometimes, people in English-speaking countries might call any food on a skewer a "kebab."
Other Skewered Foods
Besides kebabs, many other foods are prepared using skewers:
- American dishes like city chicken and corn dog
- Brazilian churrasco (grilled meat)
- Peruvian anticucho (marinated meat)
- Italian arrosticini (small pieces of lamb)
- Greek souvlaki (small pieces of meat)
- Japanese kushiyaki (grilled skewers) and kushikatsu (fried skewers)
- Korean jeok and kkochi
- Nepali sekuwa
- Portuguese espetada
- Vietnamese nem nướng and chạo tôm
- Chinese shaokao
Small sticks or toothpicks are often used for appetizers. The Spanish pincho is named after these small skewers. Tiny, fancy skewers made of glass, metal, or wood are used as "cocktail sticks" to decorate drinks.
Many snacks are also sold "on a stick" at fairs and markets. These include candy apples, bananacue, ginanggang, elote, and tanghulu.
Images for kids
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Chenjeh kebab in Iran
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Seafood skewers sold in South Korea: mun-kkochi (giant octopus), sora-kkochi (horned turban), and jju-kkochi (webfoot octopus).
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Khebab from Algeria
See also
In Spanish: Pincho (utensilio) para niños
