Small cutlets of milk-fed lamb grilled over the embers of burning vine cuttings, a signature of La Rioja. The thin chops come from the rib of a suckling lamb and are cooked fast and hot, seasoned with nothing but coarse salt. The fuel is the sarmiento: the pruned shoots of the grapevine, which burn quickly to a brief, fierce ember. They are eaten with the fingers, often with bread and a glass of Rioja.
The dish is a direct byproduct of the vineyard. Pruning the vines after the autumn harvest leaves heaps of dry shoots in the fields, and Riojan growers found these brief, hot embers ideal for searing quick-cooking foods. It became a fixture of harvest gatherings and town festivals; the asadores of towns such as Haro and Tirgo are known for it, and Logroño's grape-harvest festival holds an Exaltacion de la Chuletilla al Sarmiento, a public grilling contest revived in 2009.
Each chop is barely a few bites: a sliver of pale, tender meat on a slim bone, the fat crisped and lightly charred at the edges from the fast fire. The flesh is sweet and milky, faintly smoky from the vine embers, with the coarse salt cracking between the teeth. Eaten hot and with the hands, the bones gnawed clean; the meat should be just past pink, never dry.
Vine cuttings are thin and dry, so they flare and collapse to ember fast, throwing intense radiant heat for only a few minutes rather than the steady, long burn of hardwood charcoal. That short, fierce window is exactly suited to thin chops: the surface hits searing temperatures and browns by the Maillard reaction before the small amount of meat can overcook, and dripping fat flares against the coals to lay down a light smoke. The grill is set close to the embers and the chops are turned once; coarse salt, added at the fire, draws just enough surface moisture to crisp the fat.
Variations
Many cooks splash a little Rioja wine over the chops just before serving. Where vine cuttings are unavailable, oak or holm-oak embers are used, though purists insist the vine smoke is essential. In neighboring Aragon and Navarre similar chuletillas are grilled, and a related Basque style cooks larger txuleta (beef rib) over wood embers; goat kid (cabrito) is grilled the same way in parts of the region.
On the Palate
Where Chuletillas de Cordero al Sarmiento sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Burn the vine cuttings down to glowing embers with no flame, then sear the thin chops fast and turn them once — the whole method is a brief, fierce blast that browns the surface before the little chops overcook.
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
7 steps · 15 min
- 115 min
Bring 12 milk-lamb rib chops to room temperature and pat them dry; leave them unseasoned for now.
- 215 min
Build a fire with a generous bundle of dried vine cuttings and let it burn down to a bed of glowing embers with no open flame.
Watch outWait until the cuttings have fallen to a bed of red-glowing coals with no open flame — that short, intense window is what you're cooking on.
- 35 min
Set the clean grill grate close above the embers to heat through.
- 42 min
Lay the chops on the hot grate in a single layer and sprinkle with coarse salt.
- 53 min
Grill 2 to 3 minutes until the underside is browned and the fat begins to crisp, the dripping fat flaring lightly against the coals.
Watch outThe first side is ready when it's browned and the fat starts to crisp, the dripping fat flaring lightly against the coals; that flare is the flavour, not a warning.
- 63 min
Turn once, salt the second side, and grill another 2 to 3 minutes until just past pink.
Watch outAfter the flip give it another 2–3 minutes to just past pink; press a chop — it should feel springy, not firm.
- 72 min
Optionally sprinkle with a little Rioja wine, then pile onto a warm plate and serve at once, eaten with the fingers and bread.
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