Summer outdoor recreation is often associated with a cheerful company, the smoke of a campfire and, of course, barbecue on skewers or a wire rack. Today in stores you can buy everything for its quick preparation - coal, chopped and soaked meat, liquid for ignition … However, true connoisseurs know how to make shish kebab juicy and tasty with their own hands, without using semi-finished products.
The correct choice of raw materials, firewood, dishes, barbecue and a good marinade will help make the shish kebab juicy and tasty for real! With simple tips, you can make a great treat for family and friends, even if it's your first time.
- An excellent raw material is fresh pork of a uniform pink hue, with little fat (neck, loin, brisket). The meat for the kebab should be dry and slightly shiny, not steamed, but chilled (not frozen!).
- For frying meat, it is recommended to use dry firewood from birch, oak, linden, fruit trees. Do not use coniferous wood containing resins, boards and other sawn timber.
- To make the kebab juicy and tasty, while the meat is fried from all sides, it is advisable to use traditional barbecue and skewers.
- Cookware made of aluminum or plastic for marinating meat will spoil the taste of the product and release substances hazardous to health, so use only glass, enamel or earthenware containers!
- You can quickly cook a delicious shish kebab in extreme heat, so preheat the skewers for 5-7 minutes before frying. You can pre-grease them with vegetable oil.
- Cut the meat into flat portions, each of which should be equal to about two matchboxes, placed one on top of the other. String the meat wedges on the skewers very tightly, you can put lard between them for juiciness.
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Hold the kebab over an even layer of hot coals at a distance of 10-15 cm, constantly turning over the skewers, find out the degree of readiness with a puncture with a knife. In the process of cooking, you can pour the kebab with beer, water with lemon juice, marinade. Let it rest for about three to five minutes before use.
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Barbecue marinades
Marinating meat helps to make the kebab juicy and tasty. It is advisable to keep the raw materials in the marinade in the refrigerator for up to a day! If you can't stand time at all, soak the meat for at least 2.5-3 hours.
Gourmets know that table vinegar hardens meat and spoils its appearance and taste. There are several proven recipes to recommend that replace this ingredient with other foods.
For 1 kg of meat you will need 200 ml of kefir. Mix the meat portions with chopped onion rings (200 g), garlic (50 g), pepper and salt to taste, fill with fermented milk product.
For 2.5 kg of meat, you will need 1 liter of light beer. Put layers of onion (4-5 heads) and pieces of meat in a bowl, add salt and black pepper to taste. Place 1-2 bay leaves. Pour the raw material with a mixture of beer, wine vinegar (a couple of teaspoons) and olive oil (a couple of tablespoons).
For 1 kg of meat, you will need 1 large lemon. Blanch it in boiling water for 3 minutes, roll it lightly on the table, pressing with your palm, and squeeze out all the juice. Toss with two chopped onions, chopped with dried basil, marjoram and dill (to your taste), three bay leaves, a dozen sweet peas and 1.5 teaspoons of salt. Sprinkle the marinade over the meat.
For 2 kg of meat, 4 tablespoons of olive oil is enough. Add to it a pinch of black and red pepper, 5 g of salt, a couple of teaspoons of dried basil and two large onions cut into rings. Mix everything with meat.
0.5 liters of mineral water with gas, for example, "Borjomi", is enough for 1 kg of meat. Cut 0.5 kg of onion into half rings, remember until juice appears, salt to taste and mix with meat. Add, also to taste, coriander, lavrushka and a little cumin. Fill everything with mineral water.
Useful tip: to cook a particularly soft kebab, you can only salt the meat before stringing it on skewers.
