meat sticks

These are called patichki, or patychky....but growing up, we just called them meat sticks.

Cut up a quantity or pork and veal into 1 and a quarter inch cubes (more or less)....you can use any cut of meat you like....I usually get inexpensive roasts and cut them up.
Chop up a hand-full of garlic and mix it in with the meat. Add a bottle of beer, or if you want to get fancy, you can use sherry. Let the mixture marinate in the fridge overnight.
Meanwhile, you have to get the right sticks....these are wooden skewers that are about 6 inches long.....those really long skinny ones won't do. I get mine at Czehowski's on the Queensway.
Next day......skewer the meat such that you cover as much of the sticks as you can. Alternate pork and veal....or often I use all pork, which is really just as good.
Roll the meat sticks in a bowl filled with lightly beaten eggs, then roll them in a mixture of breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.
Brown them in a skillet in vegetable oil until they have good colour.
Lay out a few sticks of celery on the bottom of a roasting pan.
Stack the meat sticks such that the celery keeps them off the bottom of the pan.
Roast for about 45 minutes in a 350 or 375 oven.

Enjoy hot, with a cold beer.

When I eat these, I think of holidays as a child, when my mother would make huge pans of them, along with cabbage rolls and hundreds of perogi. It doesn't get any better.