Spiedini di Carne Mista alla Marchigiana sul Fuoco

Ingredients

• 250 g pork shoulder or loin, cut into 3–4 cm cubes
• 250 g lamb, cut into 3–4 cm cubes; marinate in white wine, garlic, and rosemary for 2 hours before skewering
• 200 g chicken liver, trimmed, cut into 2 cm cubes; position at the cooler end of the skewer
• 200 g Marchigiana sausage, cut into 3–4 cm lengths; skin pre-pricked to release fat gradually
• 20 fresh bay leaves, whole; must sit in direct contact with the meat on the skewer
• 10 fresh sage leaves, whole, interspersed with bay
• For the bruschetta del fuoco
• 4 slices pane di casa, thick-cut; rubbed with a halved garlic clove before being placed beneath the grill
• 1 clove garlic, halved, for rubbing the bread
• For basting
• 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil, combined with lemon juice; applied with a rosemary sprig used as a brush
• 30 ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, woody stem used as basting brush
• For the lamb marinade
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 1 clove garlic, bruised
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary

Method

1. 1
   Marinate the lamb cubes in white wine, bruised garlic, and rosemary for 2 hours. Drain and pat dry. Prick the sausage pieces all over with a skewer or fine knife point so that fat is released gradually during cooking rather than bursting the skin.
2. 2
   Prepare a wood fire and allow it to burn down to glowing embers — no open flame. The embers are ready when they glow orange with a fine grey ash on the surface and produce a steady, even radiant heat. This is where the dish lives or dies: direct flame will char every piece on the outside while leaving the interior raw; only moderate-heat embers cook the different meats through at their respective rates.
3. 3
   Thread the long metal skewers, alternating meat types with bay leaves and sage at every interval — bay must sit in direct contact with the adjacent meat, not loosely suspended, so that its oils transfer during cooking. Observe the order: sausage beside liver, so that sausage fat self-bastes the liver as it renders. Leave a small gap between each piece; meat pressed together will steam rather than grill. Chicken liver pieces, being 2 cm cubes and the fastest-cooking, go toward the cooler end of the skewer.
4. 4
   Rub the slices of pane di casa with the cut face of a garlic clove. Place the bread on a rack or held beneath the skewers so that dripping fat from the meat falls directly onto it throughout the cook. The bread accumulates the rendered sausage fat, lamb juices, and bay-perfumed drippings — this is the bruschetta del fuoco, the most prized part of the dish.
5. 5
   Lay the skewers over the embers. Turn every 2–3 minutes without exception — constant rotation prevents any face from charring while the opposite side remains raw. Baste each turn with the olive oil and lemon mixture applied by sweeping the rosemary sprig across the meat. Continue turning for approximately 15–20 minutes total. The skewers are done when the sausage skin is blistered and golden, the pork and lamb show a firm, yielding resistance under light pressure, and the liver is just set — still faintly pink at the centre but with no raw give.
6. 6
   Remove the skewers from the heat. Slide the meat from the skewers at the table. Serve immediately with the bruschetta del fuoco — the fat-soaked bread lifted from beneath the grill — which is offered first, as the most anticipated element.