The time it takes to marinate the kebab depends on the quality of the meat itself, the marinade used and the chef's taste preferences. It can vary from 15 minutes to 2 days.
How to marinate pork properly
It is better to buy pork for shish kebab or barbecue from farmers. Such meat, as a rule, is of higher quality and fresher than on store shelves. Fillets sold in supermarkets, to ensure longer storage, often undergo additional processing, therefore they contain fewer nutrients.
It is best to marinate meat according to the classic recipe in lemon juice and spices. A mixture of Georgian spices works well, they are very aromatic and fragrant.
The meat is washed under cool running water and dried with paper towels. Then cut into small pieces 2-3 cm thick.
Sprinkle each piece with salt and a mixture of Georgian spices. Place the seasoned meat in a heap in a saucepan and sprinkle with lemon juice. The container is placed in a refrigerator or a cool place for at least 4 hours. To make the meat softer and more juicy, it is advisable to leave it to marinate overnight.
If you need to marinate the kebab quickly, you can prepare a marinade based on mineral water. Pork chopped into small pieces is sprinkled with seasonings, onions chopped into half rings are added and everything is poured with ice mineral water. After half an hour, the meat can be strung on skewers and fried.
Lamb shashlik
It is customary to cook a real shish kebab from lamb. Fresh lamb is considered especially good.
A well-washed tenderloin is cleaned of films, excess fat and cut into pieces no more than 2 cm thick. Cut onions into half rings, sprinkle with coarse salt and add to the meat. Knead black peppercorns with a knife. Sprinkle the meat with pepper and other spices. Use coriander, thyme, basil, cumin, and red bell peppers for this. The kebab is well mixed with seasonings and finely chopped garlic.
Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and pomegranate sauce. The sauce can be replaced with quality pomegranate juice. The juice of half a lemon is squeezed into the meat and left in a cool place for 4-12 hours.
The fastest lamb recipe is in a wine marinade. For this, the chopped pulp of a young lamb is poured with white wine. After 15 minutes, the meat can be cooked.
How to pickle chicken
Recently, they began to use chicken meat for barbecue or barbecue quite often. An excellent marinade for chicken is dairy products - yogurt or kefir. In the Caucasus, the national sour cream yogurt is often used as a marinade.
For cooking, take chicken thighs or legs. Fresh basil is pounded in a mortar with garlic or finely chopped. Yogurt or half a liter of kefir is mixed with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and chopped herbs, garlic and seasonings are added.
The chicken is mixed with the marinade and left in the refrigerator for a day. The marinated meat is cleaned of excess sauce and cooked over coals for 25 minutes.
The tenderloin is marinated in tomato juice for the longest time. The meat is left in this marinade for 2 days.
The time it takes to marinate meat largely depends on the quality of the raw materials used. Old, tough and stringy fillets take longer to marinate and apply harder vinegar-based marinades. If young fresh meat is used for cooking, it is not recommended to use vinegar. It kills protein and the real taste of kebab is lost.
