Chislic: Meat on a Stick, South Dakota-Style

How deep-fried, skewered cubes of lamb became the state's most iconic regional dish

Chislic is typically skewered cubes of lamb or mutton, either deep-fried or grilled, served with garlic salt and saltine crackers. Jeremy Waltner/Waltner Media + Studios

Chislic is the most delicious traditional dish you’ve never heard of ... unless you’re from South Dakota, in which case, it’s the center of your social life. In 2018, the state legislature passed a bill, subsequently signed by the governor, to make chislic the state’s “official nosh.”

Within the southeastern corner of South Dakota lies the Chislic Circle, which has the small town of Freeman as its center, and encompasses the area that falls roughly within a 30-mile radius. Freeman is commonly believed to be the point of origin of the dish in the U.S., and now holds an annual festival in its honor.

The 2019 South Dakota Chislic Festival. Jeremy Waltner/Waltner Media + Studios

What Is Chislic?

A variation on the concept of the shish kebab, this skewered dish is quite specific in its geography, but as with all things, the faithful may be divided over how exactly it should be prepared.

Eaten as either an appetizer or a main dish, chislic is typically skewered cubes of lamb or mutton, either deep-fried or grilled. A typical “stick” is six to eight inches long and includes four to six cubes of meat. Some restaurants might serve the cubes loose on a plate with a toothpick stuck in each, like hors d’oeuvres, but that’s liable to raise the hackles of a purist.

Andrea Baer, a small-business consultant, is a board member for the annual South Dakota Chislic Festival in Freeman. She was born and raised in Freeman and still lives in the house her Danish forebears lived in when they immigrated. She’s a diehard fan of chislic, and her son even raises lamb.

“If I am going out to have chislic, I expect it to come on a skewer,” she said. “Garlic salt, saltine crackers, and that’s it.”

Lamb or mutton?

“It’s about 50-50 around here,” Baer said. While lamb is fattier and more tender, mutton has more flavor, she said. Venison is also an option, as is beef. But as Baer points out, “those are just beef tips.” But people work with what they have or prefer; she notes the appearance of fish-lic and chicken chislic. Over in Sioux Falls, a restaurant called Urban Chislic serves several varieties of meat, with dry rubs and some sauces on the side.

If you leave South Dakota, though, even to places where sheep are raised, no one’s heard of chislic. How did it happen to land right here in the Circle?

From Russia, With Lamb

In the late 1800s, chislic arrived in the United States with a particular group of immigrants: “Germans from Russia.”