Abbacchio a Scottadito Romano al Carbone

Ingredients

• 12 Abbacchio rib chops, milk-fed lamb under 40 days old, cut as single rib chops, 1.5 cm thick
• as needed Fine sea salt, applied to both sides immediately before grilling
• 4 sprigs Fresh rosemary, used as a brush; not chopped
• 30 ml Olive oil, applied via rosemary-sprig brush
• 2 Lemon, cut into wedges, for squeezing immediately off the grill

Method

1. 1
   Prepare a charcoal grill and bring it to maximum heat. Hold the palm 15 cm above the grate: if it can be held there no longer than 2 seconds, the temperature is correct. A gas grill is not an acceptable substitute; the fat char and smoke produced by charcoal are inseparable from the dish.
2. 2
   Season both sides of each chop with sea salt at the moment they are to go on the grill — not before. Draw the rosemary sprig through the olive oil and brush both surfaces of the chops. No marinade is used at any stage; acid applied to meat this thin prevents proper charring and begins cooking the flesh before heat is applied.
3. 3
   Lay the chops on the screaming-hot grate. This is where the dish lives or dies: cook exactly 2 minutes per side, no more. The fat edge must blister and char, the exterior must colour deeply, and the interior must remain pink at the bone. Any further cooking produces a grey, dry chop that has lost the milk-sweetness that defines abbacchio. Remove from the grill the moment the second side shows a deep char and the bone-end is hot to the touch.
4. 4
   Squeeze lemon over the chops immediately as they leave the grill. Serve at once — picked up by the bone, eaten standing if necessary. Scottadito tolerates no waiting; the name records the obligation.