The skink is a species that looks somewhat scary but its meat is very delicious. Many food enthusiasts even claim that skink meat is tastier, chewier, and sweeter than chicken meat. If you don’t know what dishes can be made with skink or how to prepare it, let’s head to the kitchen and try these 3 ways to make grilled skink.
1. Grilled skink
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Preparation time
20 minutes
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Difficulty level
Easy
Ingredients for Grilled Skink Serves 2
Skink 12 pieces Dipping sauce a little (green chili salt/yellow chili salt/garlic chili fish sauce/… as desired)
How to prepare skink
After catching the skink, you can prepare it by following these steps:
Step 1: Use a pestle to strike the head of the skink, then use scissors to cut a straight line from the mouth to the anus and remove all the internal organs.
Inside the skink’s belly, near the hind legs, there will be 2 small fat blocks that you shouldn’t discard. This fat will be very delicious and fragrant when grilled.
Step 2: Cut off the 4 legs and the tip of the tail (you can also cut off the head).
Step 3: Thus, you have basically prepared the skink. Alternatively, you can scale the skink or remove the skin entirely (the skink’s skin is very easy to peel off, just like frog skin).
Step 4: Rinse it thoroughly, and then it’s ready to be cooked.
How to prepare Grilled Skink
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Grilling skink
Tip: For this grilled skink dish, you may not need to gut or scale the skink beforehand; you can grill it directly. After the skink is cooked, you will peel off the skin and the meat to eat.However, if you want it to be cleaner, it’s best to prepare the skink before cooking.
Once the skink is cleaned, place it on the charcoal grill to cook slowly. Make sure to turn it frequently so that the skink meat cooks evenly.
Since the skink is quite small, you only need to grill it for 10 – 15 minutes, until you smell the aroma and the outer skin of the skink is slightly charred.
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Enjoy
The grilled lizard will smell very fragrant, and this aroma will make you want to enjoy it right away.
When eating, you should peel off the burnt skin to eat the white meat inside. The meat of the lizard is not only fragrant but also has a naturally sweet taste, chewier and tastier than chicken. Additionally, the bones of the lizard after grilling are also very crispy, and you can chew on the bones as well.
This dish can be dipped in many delicious dipping sauces such as lime chili salt, red chili salt, garlic chili fish sauce,…
2. Grilled Lizard with Chili Salt
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Preparation
25 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Grilled Lizard with Chili Salt Serves 4
Lizard 1 kg Common spices A little (salt/ sugar/ fish sauce/ monosodium glutamate) Chili powder 1/2 tablespoon
Ingredient Image
How to Prepare Grilled Lizard Snake with Salt and Chili
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Marinate the Lizard Snake
After cleaning the lizard snake, cutting off the legs, removing the head, taking out the internal organs, and scaling it thoroughly, place it in a bowl and marinate with the seasoning formula including: 1 tablespoon of salt, 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of MSG.
Add 1/2 tablespoon of chili powder to enhance the aroma of the lizard snake meat. Depending on your spice tolerance, you can adjust the amount of chili powder. You can also substitute with chopped chili if chili powder is not available.
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Grill the Lizard Snake
Prepare a charcoal grill in advance. Once the charcoal is glowing, place the lizard snake on the grill and cook slowly until golden and fragrant, then remove it. The grilling time for the lizard snake will be about 10 – 15 minutes.
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Final Product
Grilled lizard snake with salt and chili, marinated with the above seasonings, will have a pleasantly salty taste. When eating, you can eat the whole snake without needing to remove the bones. This dish can be enjoyed on its own or served with some fresh vegetables and cucumber for added flavor.
3. Grilled Skink with Betel Leaves
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Preparation Time
50 minutes
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Difficulty Level
Easy
Ingredients for Grilled Skink with Betel Leaves Serves 4
Skink 15 pieces Betel leaves A few Garlic 5 cloves Shallots 5 bulbs Cooking oil 1 tablespoon Common spices A little (sugar/ MSG/ seasoning powder/ ground pepper) Banana leaves A few
Ingredient Images
How to Make Grilled Skink with Betel Leaves
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Prepare the Ingredients
Peel and finely chop the garlic and shallots. Wash the betel leaves and let them dry.
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Preparing the lizard snake
You will clean the lizard snake, removing the internal organs, legs, head, tail, and peeling off the skin, keeping only the body of the lizard snake.
You proceed to finely chop the lizard snake, then marinate it with 1/2 tablespoon of ground pepper, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, 1/2 tablespoon of seasoning powder, 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, and minced garlic and onions.
You mix and knead for about 3 – 5 minutes to make the lizard snake meat more chewy, then let it marinate for 20 minutes to absorb the flavors.
Tip: If you like it spicy, you can chop 1 – 2 chili peppers along with the lizard snake.
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Wrapping with betel leaves
After marinating the meat, you will wrap it in betel leaves. Accordingly, you will turn the green side of the leaf outward, place a little meat on the back of the leaf, then carefully pinch both ends and roll it up.
You roll an additional thin layer of banana leaves around the betel leaf wrap and secure it with a skewer.
Tip: Wrapping an additional layer of banana leaves outside will help your betel leaf wrap remain fragrant when grilled, without the betel leaves getting burnt.
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Grilling lizard wrapped in lizard leaves
First, prepare a charcoal grill. When the charcoal is glowing red, place the grilling rack on top and slowly grill the lizard leaf rolls.
When you see the lizard leaf rolls on the outside charred, with oil dripping inside and emitting a fragrant aroma, take them down and place them on a plate.
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Final product
The grilled lizard wrapped in lizard leaves will have a very enticing aroma. Because it is wrapped in banana leaves on the outside, the lizard leaf rolls inside do not get burnt but remain soft and fragrant.
When eating, you can dip it in green chili salt, enjoy it with fresh vegetables, or eat it plain; all are delicious. Since the lizard meat has been marinated with spices, it is also very tasty.
Grilled skink is the most delicious and simplest way to prepare skink that you can easily do. If you can buy some good skink, you should try this cooking method.
