How to Make Beef Sates

METHOD: Direct grilling

ADVANCE PREPARATION: 30 minutes for marinating the satés

Let the Turks have their shish kebab, the French, their brochettes. I raise my skewer to saté. This tiny kebab is the meat-on-a-stick of choice throughout Southeast Asia, and its explosive flavor and diminutive single-bite size make it a perfect hors d’oeuvre for a cookout. Satés are fun to eat—in part because they’re so small (it takes a lot of them to fill you up) and in part because the flavorings are so varied and intense. Here’s a beef saté seasoned with an explosive mixture of lemongrass, garlic, chiles, and Asian fish sauce and sprinkled with cilantro and chopped toasted peanuts.