Due to the title of my blog, a discussion of Spiedies, the ubiquitous chicken skewer of the Greater Binghamton area is long overdue. I won't get into the full discussion just now, but for the time being I will give you a little review of a related Spiedie product.
Lupo's Spiedies of Endicott has been peddling (at P-Chops) a line of pre-marinated chicken items in various flavors and forms. There are traditional breast hunks, whole breasts (what I bought, pictured above), and chicken "burger" patties. The burger patties scare me the most because Spiedies are primarily a boneless/skinless breast item, which means lots of left over skin and other odd bits and ends. I wonder what that all gets ground up into...
I got the breasts, as they were out of traditional Spiedie chunks when I finally decided to give the Lupo's product a whirl. The breasts look a little strange, as if Freddy Krueger got at them. There are a myriad of fine slices across the surface of the chicken for what I assume is the purpose of better marinade absorption. I don't think this is necessary for a product that is going to be swimming around in marinade for days anyhow, but thats just me. In fact, that is why I held off for so long in buying these. I don't really trust anything that has been swimming raw in marinade for an indeterminate amount of time. The only reason I bought the product is because I felt the my mission in proselytizing about Upstate food obligated me to share with you an opinion on another one of the regions culinary institutions (for better or for worse).
Here are the breasts on the grill.
Are these as good as a Spiedie pulled off the stick into a piece of fresh Italian bread on a summer day at the State Fair? Oh god no, but was the chicken awful? No. It suffered from many of the faults of a pre-marinated product. It was a little salty, the chicken's texture was affected, and it tasted just a little too strong of the Spiedie marinade. If you need a Spiedie fix, or just have never tried one, go ahead and buy one of these packages. Don't make your decision about the lauded kebab based only on this experience, however. Keep an eye out at summer fairs, concerts, events, etc... for a real Spiedie stand (or just drive to Binghamton) and then form your opinions.
do you ever buy the spiedie marinade? it's pretty awesome
ReplyDeleteI gotta 2nd phairhead - marinade + chicken boobs? The cat scratches across the raw meat do look odd. And it looks white instead of chicken pink-raw.
ReplyDeleteI might buy the marinade one of these days. I had a friend who raved about spiedies, and said she'd make them for me, and then moved back to ThemiddleofNowheresville. Bummer.