Spiedie sandwiches are to me what the cheesesteaks are to Philadelphia natives. This simple dish originated in my hometown of Binghamton, New York, and it doesn't sound like anything special on paper. It's cubes of marinated meat—chicken, pork, beef, or lamb—skewered, char-grilled, and served in a hoagie roll or a slice of fresh Italian bread. The zesty marinade tastes a little like Italian dressing, and when it hits the grill, it caramelizes quickly on the outside and remains super-tender on the inside. It's instant-gratification at its finest.

The first thing I eat when I go home to visit my family is a spiedie, and it's so popular in my region of Upstate New York that we have a festival for it. The Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally has happened every August in Binghamton for 33 years. There, you can sample many different types of spiedies in a highly-smoky environment, see random bands—boy band O-Town performed when I was a kid, and this year it's country star Kellie Pickler—and maybe brave a hot air balloon ride.

Lupo's classic "Endicott-style" Italian marinade. Photo by Alex Lau

The origins of the spiedie are widely disputed, but the name reportedly comes from the Italian word "spiedino," which translates to "skewer" in English. There are four options of meat in the Binghamton area: chicken, pork, beef, and lamb. The classic way to eat it is to take a slice of fresh Italian bread—local Endicott bakery Jim Roma's is a popular pick—and wrap it around the meat on the skewer. It's almost like a potholder so you can pull out all the meat at once and eat immediately. Second-best is a big hoagie roll, filled to the brim with meat and only meat. "You can always tell someone is from out of town because they ask what kind of toppings you put on it," says Sam Lupo, Jr., the co-owner of local spiedie company Lupo's. "No, you just eat it the way it is!"

Lupo's is my personal favorite spiedie in the area. While Lupo doesn't claim that his family created the spiedie, his father and his uncle's version of the "Endicott-style" marinade—aka the suburb of Binghamton where it's said to have originated in the '30s—has remained the same since 1951 when they made it in their local butcher shop. He won't reveal the full recipe of the marinade, but discloses there is "oil, vinegar, and surprisingly moderate spices". (The bottle's label only lists garlic, paprika, cider vinegar, and corn oil, but it has an Italian-seasoning flavor of at least added oregano.)