Cabri Rôti — Spit-Roasted Corsican Kid

Cabri rôti — roasted suckling kid — is the central ritual dish of the Corsican Easter and spring festival calendar. A milk-fed Capra hircus kid (caprinu), slaughtered at four to six weeks and weighing 4–6kg, is rubbed inside and out with sea-mineral-salt, garlic, nepita, rosemary, and Corsican olive-oil, then mounted on a spit and turned slowly over an open wood fire for two and a half to three hours. The wood is invariably from the maquis — arbutus, cistus, or chestnut — giving the roasting environment a botanical aromatic that the kid's exterior fat absorbs during the long, slow rotation. The ritual dimension of cabri rôti cannot be separated from the food itself: it is Easter Sunday's centrepiece across the Corsican interior, prepared outdoors, always over open fire, always whole, always carved at the table rather than in the kitchen. The goat herding tradition that makes this possible — Corsican kids suckled on maquis-pastured goats — is inseparable from the brocciu production calendar (both are tied to the same animal's lactation cycle).

Corsica — island-wide Easter and spring festival preparation; upland pastoral communities most associated.

Milk-fat golden exterior; maquis wood aromatic absorbed into surface fat; clean, sweet kid flesh; nepita herb imprint; celebratory and complete.

Milk-fed only — a kid that has begun grazing has a different fat composition and flavour profile; the milk-fat is what produces the characteristic golden, lacquered exterior. Slow rotation over declining-heat fire: begin hot, reduce heat over two hours. Maquis wood only — conventional charcoal gives a neutral result; maquis aromatises the exterior fat.

Capra hircus — Corsican milk-fed kid; 4–6 weeks old, 4–6kg; maquis-pastured Corsican goat breeds.