Lacquered Satay

Another keeper from the "Polynesian" period of American grilling, satay secured its roots in this country gradually as grillers gained the courage to serve the marinated meat on a stick with a spicy peanut dipping sauce. We add a second sauce in this case, giving you a choice of one or both, and also boost the flavor of the chicken and pork strips with a strange-smelling marinade that produces a scrumptious, lacquered crust.

 

MAKES ABOUT 2½ DOZEN KEBOBS

 

PEANUT SAUCE

2	tablespoons peanut oil
½	large onion, minced
2	plump garlic cloves, minced
	14- to 15-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
1	cup peanut butter
3	tablespoons Asian fish sauce
3	tablespoons packed brown sugar
1	tablespoon tamarind concentrate
1½	teaspoons curry powder
	2-inch cinnamon stick
2	bay leaves
	Zest and juice of ½ lemon
	Zest and juice of ½ lime

FIRE-AND-ICE SAUCE

1	cup plain yogurt
1	fresh jalapeño, minced
⅓	cup minced fresh cilantro
⅓	cup minced fresh mint

LACQUER MARINADE

6	tablespoons sugar
¼	cup Asian fish sauce
2	tablespoons peanut oil
	Juice of 1 lime
1	teaspoon curry powder
1	pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into ½-inch-thick strips
1	pound pork loin, sliced into ½-inch-thick strips
	Soaked bamboo skewers

Prepare the peanut sauce, first warming the oil over medium-low heat in a large, heavy saucepan. Cook the onions and garlic until very soft, about 10 minutes, lowering the heat further if any edges begin to brown. Stir in the rest of the peanut sauce ingredients and raise the temperature to medium. Simmer the sauce for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally at first and more often as it thickens. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves. For a smoother sauce, purée in a blender before serving. (The peanut sauce can be made several days ahead and kept covered and refrigerated. Reheat or bring back to room temperature before serving. Add a little water if the sauce is too stiff for dunking.)

Prepare the fire-and-ice sauce, combining the ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Prepare the marinade, first spooning the sugar and fish sauce into a small, heavy saucepan and stirring together. Melt the sugar over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, and continue cooking for a few minutes until the mixture forms a thick, bubbling syrup. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately stir in the oil, lime juice (watch out for the steam), and curry powder. While you allow the marinade to cool for a few minutes, place the chicken and pork strips in separate plastic bags or shallow dishes. Spoon equal amounts of the thick caramelized marinade over the chicken and pork, rub it thoroughly over all the strips, and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes.

Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to medium (4 to 5 seconds with the hand test). While the grill preheats, drain the chicken and pork strips and thread each strip onto a skewer.

Grill the skewered strips uncovered over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, turning at least once. If grilling covered, cook for the same amount of time, turning once midway.

Serve the satay hot off the grill with the peanut and yogurt sauces. Leftovers of either sauce are great with grilled shrimp or as a dip for carrot and celery sticks.

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Championship Satay

Almost every diner at the original Trader Vic's in Oakland, California, wanted to sample the "Javanese Sate." It sounded and looked exotic at the time, even though it was just marinated meat grilled on a skewer and served without a sauce, peanut or otherwise. The popularity of the dish inspired the restaurant to begin bottling its "sate spice," a proprietary blend of dry seasonings that flavored the marinade.

No records exist of how many grillers used the spice blend in homemade satays, but the basic dish became a staple of outdoor cooking over the following decade. When the mother of all grilling contests rolled around in 1959, satay went on parade. Kaiser Aluminum sponsored the annual national cookoff, awarding the winner $10,000 and the title of "America's Cookout Champion of the Year." Open to men only, the competition attracted thousands of recipe entries, eventually weeded down to twenty-five top choices. Kaiser flew the lucky finalists to Hawaii with their wives, all expenses paid, to grill their specialties for celebrity judges.

Helen Evans Brown and her husband, Philip, documented the first two years of the contest in The Cookout Book (Ward Ritchie Press, 1961), providing each recipe of the fifty finalists. Four satay-style preparations made the cut, easily claiming more places than any other dish with foreign roots. The Singapore Satays featured beef, the others pork, and two came with a peanut sauce.

The Browns, experts on grilling, praised the food and the inventive cooks behind it. "No conformists here! Like their recipes, the men themselves had distinction. All were individualists—some really characters, but charming ones—and all were equipped with brains. But this figures, as professional men, executives, and intellectuals have often turned to one of the arts for a creative outlet. Now many have discovered The Art of Cookery."

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