Small, tightly wound bundles of milk-lamb offal — liver, lung, and kidney — seasoned with parsley and wild fennel, encased in peritoneum and bound with lengths of small intestine, then grilled over hardwood coals until the casing chars and crisps. A pastoral street food and festival staple of Puglia's Murgia plateau and Salento plain, known by at least twenty dialect names across eight southern Italian regions.
Gnummareddi trace to the latifondo system of southern Italy, when sharecroppers and farmhands on large estates received only the offal of slaughtered sheep while landowners took the prime cuts. Workers seasoned the viscera with parsley and wild fennel and wrapped them in the animal's own intestines to hold the bundle together during grilling. Puglia's sheep-herding tradition runs deep, and offal cookery became an integral part of masseria life across the Murgia and Salento. The 11 November San Martino festival and Easter — when the spring lamb slaughter supplies fresh offal — are its two peak occasions.
The charred intestine casing snaps under the teeth, releasing a burst of savoury fat; the offal inside is firm, iron-rich, and distinctly gamey, threaded with herbal brightness from the parsley and a gentle anise warmth from the wild fennel.
Over charcoal at approximately 200–250 °C, the outer surface of the intestine casing undergoes rapid Maillard browning, producing the characteristic charred crackling, while its collagen — roughly 25–30% of casing dry weight — partially converts to gelatin on the inner face, creating a moisture-retaining barrier. Organ meats (liver, kidney, lung) are high in myoglobin and haeme iron; they reach optimal texture between 70 and 75 °C — beyond 80 °C the proteins over-contract and toughen. Small fat pockets between the offal pieces render and self-baste the interior throughout grilling. The anethole in wild fennel and the volatile phenylpropanoids in parsley volatilise under heat, layering and deepening the aromatic profile.
Variations
1. Braised in tomato (Locorotondo style): simmered with garlic, oil, and bay leaf in tomato sauce for 4–5 hours — a completely different, unctuous texture. 2. Baked with potatoes (Ostuni style): roasted in the oven with sliced potatoes that absorb the rendering fat. 3. Marretti: the larger Ostuni version, roughly double the size, loosely wound and often finished with an outer wrap of pancetta.
On the Palate
Where Gnummareddi sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 40 min
- 110 min
Thoroughly wash lamb liver, kidney, and lung under cold running water; rub with coarse salt and lemon juice for 2 minutes, rinse, and pat completely dry.
- 25 min
Cut offal into 2–3 cm pieces; toss with salt, black pepper, finely chopped parsley, and wild fennel fronds until evenly coated.
- 35 min
Lay a sheet of caul fat flat on the work surface; arrange a portion of seasoned offal along one edge and roll into a tight cylinder about 5 cm in diameter.
- 45 min
Starting at one end, wind a length of cleaned small intestine tightly around the cylinder in an overlapping spiral, tucking the final end securely beneath the last coil.
Watch outWind the intestine casing tight in an overlapping spiral, tucking the end under the last coil — a loose wrap unravels and falls open on the grill.
- 520 min
Brush assembled rolls with extra virgin olive oil and rest for 20 minutes at room temperature to allow the flavours to meld.
- 615 min
Place rolls on a grill over medium-hot charcoal (add a few bay leaves to the coals for fragrance); grill 12–15 minutes, turning every 3–4 minutes, until the casing is evenly charred and the interior registers 72–75 °C.
Watch outGrill 12 to 15 minutes to an even char, turning every few minutes, until the center hits 72 to 75 degrees — past 80 the offal over-contracts and toughens.
- 73 min
Remove from heat, rest 3 minutes, and serve immediately on a wooden board or tucked inside a bread roll.
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