sate kambing — Central Java, Indonesia

Sate kambing, meaning "goat satay," is skewered goat or mutton meat grilled over charcoal, part of the wider Indonesian family of satay. It is also called lamb satay or mutton satay in English, and it is treated as a general term covering several regional recipes rather than one fixed preparation. This page follows the version cooked in Central Java, an island region within Indonesia where the dish is especially popular, alongside neighboring versions found in Jakarta, West Java and East Java, each recorded separately and each keeping its own way of preparing the skewers. To prepare it, goat meat is cut into small cubes, sometimes marinated briefly with a little sweet soy sauce, garlic or shallot, and threaded onto thin bamboo skewers. The skewers are grilled quickly over hot charcoal, often basted with a little oil or sweet soy sauce, until browned on the outside while staying tender inside; the fat naturally present in the meat helps keep the skewers moist. In Central Java, sate kambing is closely linked to the town of Tegal, where sate kambing Tegal is a well-known local specialty, typically served with a simple sauce of sweet soy sauce, shallot and chili, alongside sliced cucumber, tomato and raw shallot. Recipes differ in the size of the meat cubes, the marinade used before grilling, and the exact makeup of the dipping sauce.