Caucasian Skewered Lamb

Shashlyk is the wonderful skewered grilled lamb made throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia. Its name comes from the word shashka, “sword,” since shashlyk was once the fare of mountain tribesmen who roasted meat on their swords over open fires. The aroma of roasting lamb is one hard to resist: in Solzhenitsyn’s Cancer Ward, when Oleg is finally released from the hospital, he is given an allowance of 5 rubles a day. But once tempted by the irresistible odor of shashlyk grilling on a curbsi