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Beach Grill · Skewered Sardines

Espetos de Sardinas

Espetos de Sardinas — street food from Andalucía, Spain
Photo: Daniel Sancho from Málaga, Spain / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

They're grilled planted in the sand at an angle around an open driftwood fire, often literally in an old wooden boat repurposed as the fire pit.

Espetos are whole sardines threaded onto long cane or bamboo skewers, planted at an angle around a driftwood fire, and cooked until the skin blisters. Málaga's beach chiringuitos (beach bars) grill them right in front of customers, sand and all.

Why it's made this way: Fishermen along Málaga's coast grilled the day's sardine catch dockside over open fires, and beach bars later turned that practical cookout into the region's signature summer street food.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.