Shish kebab is a meat product that is perceived by many as the main dish or as a snack. Many feasts cannot do without it, as pieces of meat cooked on smoke conquer the hearts of millions of gourmets from around the world.
In order for such a dish to be truly delicious, you need to be able to cook it correctly. In the cuisines of different peoples of the world there are a large number of their varieties, however, as practice shows, the Caucasian shish kebab was and remains the most delicious.
How to cook kebab? What subtleties does this process have? Which sauce is ideal for meat cooked in smoke? About all this - further.
How to choose meat
Any proper kebab is made from meat. To do this, you can choose its different types: chicken, pork, lamb, beef and any others. Any novice culinary specialist must remember that the key to a tasty and juicy kebab is the right meat, and not by grade, but by quality.
The first thing you should pay attention to is the freshness of the main ingredient. Ideally, the meat will be chilled rather than frozen. Choosing it in the market, you should pay attention to those pieces that will have transparent juice and a bright color. The aroma of fresh meat should also be pleasant, subtle.
For cooking on smoke, it is advisable to choose the meat of a young animal - it is from it that you can cook the softest barbecue. Pinkish slices should be selected from pork, and red ones from lamb and beef (it is possible with layers of white), because this color indicates the best quality of the main ingredient.
Features of cooking lamb dishes
How to cook a juicy mutton kebab? It is for the proper preparation of this type of meat that certain cookery skills of the cook are needed.
First of all, you need to pay attention to the quality of meat. For the preparation of barbecue should choose milk lambs under the age of one year. Ideal parts of the carcass for creating such a meat snack would be a loin, tenderloin or back of the leg.
Another feature of lamb shish kebab is that it must be eaten immediately after cooking. Otherwise, the meat will become hard and chew poorly.
Lamb marinade recipe
How to cook lamb skewers? In order to make it very tasty and juicy, it is not enough to choose excellent meat - you will still need to choose the right marinade, the components of which perfectly nourish each piece. Consider one of the options.
To prepare the marinade for a kilogram of lamb, you should take a copious amount of a mixture of peppers (or separately black ground), as well as salt. From spices, you should make a mixture and carefully rub each piece of meat with it. After that, the main ingredient should be folded into a dish for pickling and cut into 4 large heads of onions. On top of all the ingredients should be sprinkled with 150 ml of wine (it is best to take dry), as well as vegetable oil to taste. All the combined components must be mixed well and left for ten minutes. In the event that the meat of an old animal is used to make barbecue, it should be pickled for 3-4 hours.
After the meat is marinated, it can be cooked on the grill or in the electric skewer.
Features of the preparation of pork skewers
A huge number of lovers of this hot meat dish prefer the option, which is prepared from pork meat. According to many gourmets, it’s pork shish kebab that turns out to be especially tender. What is his secret? Of course, in the right meat.
How to choose pork kebab meat? First of all, you need to remember that it must be fatty - only in this way the prepared meat will be really tender. In addition to the fattest parts, you can also use pork tenderloin, ribs or loin, however, as many cooks advise, a neck should be preferred.
The selected meat should be young - it is easy to understand by its color: pink-red is considered the right color.
In order to make the dish more savory, onions should be used in the marinade, which gives it additional juiciness.
Pork marinade recipe
How to pickle meat? For a kilogram of quality meat, cut into small pieces, put three chopped into thin slices of lemon. To prepare the sauce for such a barbecue, you should combine in one dish a couple of teaspoons of coriander, one red ground pepper, half a spoon of ground ginger, as well as two tablespoons of dried basil, salt and black pepper. To these ingredients, add crushed bay leaves, as well as five tablespoons of olive oil. All components need to be mixed well with meat, cover tightly and leave to marinate in this form for the whole night.
In this recipe for a delicious barbecue, it is recommended to cook meat on an open fire for no more than 10 minutes, turning each skewer regularly.
Georgian pickle
This simple type of marinade was invented in a country where dishes cooked on an open fire are made according to the most piquant recipes - in Georgia. How to cook kebab according to a traditional Georgian recipe? To do this, take a copious amount of onions (6 g per 600 g of pork meat), cut into rings and add a copious amount of ground pepper mixture to it. After that, it is necessary to add meat, cut into small cubes, into the onion, stir well again, and cover with a film or a lid, put in a cold place for 5-6 hours.
After the meat is ready, it must be strung on a skewer, alternating with pickled onions, as well as with sliced tomatoes and fry until cooked. Serve the finished dish preferably with herbs - in the Georgian national cuisine for this purpose cilantro is used.
How to cook kebab in an electric skewer
In the event that it is not possible to light a live bonfire and cook kebabs on an open fire, you can use the electric skewer, which is sold in household appliances stores. This way you can cook any meat. The advantage of this method is the speed of cooking, which is especially helpful, for example, during a feast. For cooking meat in electric skewers, as a rule, marinades are especially demanded, which quickly nibble pieces of meat. Consider one of them.
For 1200 g of pork meat (for this purpose it is advisable to use a tenderloin), you should take a couple of onion heads and cut them into rings. To them you need to add 100 g of mayonnaise, as well as salt and spices to taste (you can use the ready-made package, which is easy to find in the store). The listed ingredients need to be thoroughly mixed and add the meat cut into small pieces into them.
In such a marinade, meat can be marinated for an hour or all night - in any case, the result will be a delicate and aromatic dish. After it is ready for roasting, each piece should be strung on a skewer, alternating with onion rings, and sent to the electric skewer. The dish will be ready in just 15 minutes.
Features of cooking beef skewers
Not many beginning cooks know how to cook beef skewers. Some generally prefer not to encounter this type of meat, as practice shows that it turns out to be quite tough on the way out. The main secret to cooking beef skewers is a longer time for pickling.
As for the choice of meat, for a kebab of this kind, it is best to give preference to fillet, brisket or back leg. All other pieces will most likely be unusable.
Many culinary experts also recommend choosing meat for young calves for beef kebab - it will turn out to be the most tender.
Beef marinade recipe
The right pickle is the key to success. So how to pickle meat? To do this, it should be cut into small pieces, placed in a large bowl and sprinkled with a mixture of salt and pepper. Next, three onions should be placed in the dishes, cut into rings. In a separate bowl, you need to dilute a couple of tablespoons of vinegar essence and 500 ml of water, and then pour the meat with the resulting liquid. You should also add a tablespoon of sunflower oil, mix thoroughly and leave overnight, after having covered with a lid.
Using such a delicious kebab recipe, you can get a spicy hot meat dish that will have a slightly sour taste.
Kebab Garlic Sauce
Many lovers of this meat dish prefer to use ready-made products that are offered on store shelves as kebab sauce: ketchup, adjika, mustard, mayonnaise and others. However, only true gourmets prepare it on their own, picking ingredients manually and experimenting. How to make kebab sauce? The original option may be white garlic, which will make the taste of meat more piquant.
To prepare it, take three cloves of garlic and pass them through a crush. To them you need to add chopped herbs, three teaspoons of soy sauce and a glass of sour cream. All ingredients should be salted and pepper to taste, then carefully grind to a state of uniformity of mass.
It is advisable to let such a sauce brew before serving for about half an hour - so its taste will become more vivid. It should also be remembered that it is desirable to use it immediately, since the shelf life of such a sauce is small - about 8-10 hours. This fact is due to the fact that it is created on the basis of a perishable dairy product.
Barbecue Mustard Sauce
Another interesting version of the sauce, which is suitable for barbecue made from pork or lamb. In order to make it, you need to combine in one dish a pair of hard-boiled chicken yolks, 1.5 teaspoons of mustard, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and 10 ml of soy sauce. All ingredients must be ground until smooth. After that, to the listed ingredients, add black ground pepper to taste, a pinch of sugar and 180 ml of sour cream (it is best to take one that does not acidify). All components should be carefully frayed and tightly closed with a lid, put in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
To prepare such an original sauce, you can take any mustard - many chefs recommend using French (with grains). Ready-made mustard sauce has a very delicate texture and a particularly pleasant taste, which can surprise all guests and their households.
How to fry kebab
Properly selected meat and a suitable marinade are, of course, the key to a delicious dish. However, if a novice cook does not know how to cook barbecue on the grill, he can simply dry the meat and thereby spoil it. So what are the secrets of roasting meat over an open fire?
First of all, you should pay attention to the density of meat pieces on skewers - they should not be too close to each other. After the meat is strung, it is necessary to place it over the coals, which before this should already have substantially burned out. Professional kebabs recommend starting the process of cooking meat on a higher fire and keeping its intensity until the pieces become rosy. After this happens, the heat should be reduced by watering the coals with pre-prepared water, and continue cooking in low heat and mostly smoke.
How to determine the readiness of meat? Very simple: when cut, it gives off clear juice.