Anticuchos

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 beef heart
• 1 cup of vinegar
• 1/2 cup of ground panca pepper
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tea spoon of ground cumin seeds
• 2 tea spoons of salt
• 1 tea spoon of pepper
• 2 spoons of dry minced parsley, coriander or mixed herbs
• 1 cup of vegetable cooking oil

PREPARATION OF THE HEART:

Using a sharp knife, clean the heart from any fat, skin, arteries and hardenings, leaving only the clean muscle.

Chop the heart in squares from 1 to 2 inches, 1/2 inch thick and put the pieces in a bowl.

Using a mixer, blend the vinegar, panca pepper, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin into a fluid paste.

Pour this paste on the bowl with the heart and the crashed parley/coriander too. Mix well and let the heart marinate for at least half an hour. You can leave this mix to marinate in the fridge for a few hours or over night too.

AT THE GRILL:

Remove some of the marination from the bottom of the bowl and dilute it in cooking oil. You will use this mix to baste the anticuchos on the grill.

Submerge some bamboo skewers in salted water for a while. This is to avoid them to burn on the grill.

Make sure the grill is very hot because anticuchos should be cooked very fast at a very high temperature.

Pierce 3 or 4 pieces of heart on the skewers so that they can be laid flat on the grill.

Place your anticuchos on the grill, baste and turn them around to cook from the other side. It should not take more than 2 minutes per side to be ready as anticuchos are better in medium or medium-well term. They will become hard if overcooked.

Be generous with the basting. There will be same flames coming from the grill while basting, that is all normal.

Serve 3 or 4 skewers per portion and accompany with grilled potato, corn and chilli.

Anticuchos should be eaten hot and quickly while they are still juicy, they will turn cold and dry if you wait too long.

TIP: It will be easier (and more fun too!!) if you get some of your friends and family around you in the grill in a sort of “production and distribution line”… in such way everyone will get their anticuchos fresher… and a chaotic Latino party spirit will be generated… 😉