

The state dessert, kuchen, may just have to start sharing the culinary limelight with a state favorite, chislic, as an official food of South Dakota. Legislatures from Hutchinson County attracted over 30 co-sponsors of a bill to designate chislic as the official nosh, or snack, of South Dakota.
If you’ve been around these parts a while you know what chislic is. If you’re new to the area, I’m sure you’ve been teased about your ignorance of this meat treat as locals taunt you to try it as an appetizer at a local bar or restaurant. Of course, there’s nothing scary or bizarre about chislic. If you like beef, you’ll love it.
First, a bit of history about chislic. I was surprised to learn that it originated as lamb. And I was even more surprised to learn that many of the places that serve it, and are famous for it, still use lamb, or mutton. The concept of cooking small cubes of meat is a carry over from shish kabobs. In fact, here’s Wikipedia’s explanation that seems on the up and up.
The word chislic is arguably derived from the Turkic word of shashlik or shashlyk, which is cubed meat or liver grilled on a skewer with tomatoes, peppers, and onions. The origin of the word shashlyk is rooted in shish kebab, the Turkish and Arabic words for skewered meats. According to some sources, chislic was possibly introduced into the United States by John Hoellwarth, who immigrated from Crimea to Hutchinson County, South Dakota in the 1870s.
South Dakota Magazine includes a great story about the epicenter of chislic; Freeman, SD. They talk of South Dakota’s most authentic and best tasting chislic inside the Chislic Circle, which is comprised of bars and restaurants within a 30-mile radius of Freeman. The chislic in this area is typically prepared and served on skewers. Festivals and competitions take place to see who can eat the most sticks of meat. Common cooking methods include grilling, frying, or broiling. Most places in Aberdeen don’t serve it on a stick, probably because it is deep-fried, and is of the beef variety.
One reason I don’t deep-fry a lot of food at home is because it can be less than healthy if the oil isn’t at the right temp, and it’s just too messy. Dealing with the oil afterwards is the worst. So I set out to make chislic quickly, without the vat of grease, and it actually worked. My method is still mighty dangerous, so precautions should be taken just as if you were deep-frying this dish.
I did a little experimenting to see if marinating the meat was absolutely necessary. Turns out, for the cuts of sirloin I bought, it was. I cooked one batch with just salt and it was too tough. I settled on the recipe here recalling the flavor of the chislic from places I most recently had it.
For the absolute best results, start two days ahead.
Ingredients
Marinating
Make sure all large chunks of fat are trimmed from the sirloin. Marbling of fat is okay and preferred. Combine all the other ingredients in a zip-top bag and squish everything together into a paste. Add one tablespoon of grape seed oil as well. Grape seed oil smokes less at high temps and it is said to splatter less. Add the beef and keep squishing to coat all pieces. Place in the refrigerator for two days, if you can wait that long. If you must, one overnight will probably be okay.
Cooking