Traditional at any Portuguese feast, Carne Espeto, is one of my most treasured culinary connections to my culture. As I went over briefly in my post, “The Holy Ghost Feast at Espirito Santo Church…” it is a long-standing and continued tradition that the men in my family gather raw meat and roast it over an open pit of coals at my church’s feast each year. I love this dish so much that I decided to come up with my own recipe.
As seen in my recipe for Grilled Montreal Steak, I normally like to give a salt rub time to work it’s way into meat, but in keeping with the method used at the feast, this will be a quick rub method. As a result, what you get is a very salty meat… although still not as salty as what you get at the actual feast. This works for me though as it’s an added bonus to be able to control the flavor a bit more. Using just 5 simple ingredients, anyone can bring home Holy Ghost Skewered Meat.
Recipe for Holy Ghost Skewered Meat (Carne Espeto):
(Serves 5-6)
3 lbs of beef, cubed
1 Cup Kosher salt
1 Tbls. dry crushed red pepper
2 Tbls garlic powder
1 Tbls. ground black pepper
Directions:
Skewer beef, set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, mix salt, red pepper, garlic and cracked black pepper together. Sprinkle liberally on each piece of meat. Roast meat over charcoal. Attend the grill frequently and turn every 5 minutes or so. Once you have a good sear on the meat, move to a cooler area of the grill. Once done to your liking, remove from grill and let rest about 10 minutes.