The secret of amazing kebab

This is already a tradition, or even an unbreakable law: spring-summer is the time for barbecue. Some people love skewered meat so much that winter doesn’t stop them. However, putting the meat on a skewer and placing it on the fire is not the only action, and not the most important one. A lot depends on how you marinate it. Will it be juicy and rich, or dry and long-lasting?

Marinades for barbecue

Chinese marinade

To prepare you will need:

• soy sauce 300 ml;
• milk 400 ml;
• honey 100 g;
• lime leaves (half), mint;
• pepper 2 tsp. (Sichuanese).

Preparation:

1. First, mix the milk and sauce.
2. Add honey, mint and lime to them (if there are no leaves, you can replace them with a tablespoon of lime or lemon juice). Stir.
3. Now add the pepper and mix again.

The marinade is ready. It goes perfectly with beef, fish, and chicken. Makes the meat taste spicy and slightly sweet. Marinating time is at least two hours.

The amount of marinade in the recipe is calculated for three kilograms of meat.

For lamb

To prepare the marinade you will need:

• a couple of cloves of garlic;
• a bunch of dill greens;
• bunch of parsley;
• half a lemon;
• mustard 2 tbsp;
• salt, spices to taste;
• soy sauce 2 tbsp;
• sunflower oil 2 tbsp;
• cilantro 1 bunch.

Preparation:

1. Cilantro, parsley, garlic are finely ground or cut. Place in a deep bowl.
2. Then spices, salt, and sauce are added to them. Mix everything.
3. Squeeze the lemon and pour the juice into a bowl with the chopped greens.
4. Add mustard and vegetable oil to the rest and mix.

The marinade is ready. The marinating time for meat is an hour or more. According to the recipe, the amount of meat is seven hundred to eight hundred grams.

BBQ

To prepare you will need:

• Worcestershire sauce (sauce, sold in any department store) 2 tbsp;
• honey 6 tbsp;
• small head of garlic;
• one onion;
• two large tomatoes, or thick tomato puree 200 g;
• vegetable oil 2 tbsp;
• dry wine 125 ml;
• mustard tsp;
• vinegar 4 tbsp;
• salt, spices to taste;
• meat for barbecue kebab one and a half kg;
• black pepper.

Preparation:

1. Prepare a deep container.
2. Finely chop half a head of garlic, add two tablespoons of honey, a tablespoon of vegetable oil, Worcestershire sauce, salt, spices, mix.
3. The meat is cut into pieces and placed in the prepared marinade for eight to twelve hours.
4. Then the barbecue sauce is prepared. The onion is finely chopped and sautéed.
5. Add vinegar, grated tomato or puree to the onion, add a little water and bring to a boil.
6. In the boiled sauce, add four spoons of honey, three spoons of Worcestershire sauce, dry wine, half a head of garlic (pre-grind or press) and cook, stirring, for ten minutes over medium heat.

The sauce is ready. Now all that remains is to prepare the marinated meat and you can serve it on the table.

Japanese marinade

To prepare you will need:

• soy sauce 300 ml;
• a bunch of cilantro;
• two limes;
• ginger 70 g;
• olive oil 50 ml;
• chili pepper 1 pc.

Preparation:

1. Pepper and cilantro are coarsely chopped. Soy sauce is added to them. Mix.
2. Grate the ginger (finely) and add to the marinade. Mix.
3. Add olive oil, lime juice, stir.

The marinade is ready. The serving is for three kilograms of meat. The marinade time is at least two hours.

What kind of meat do you need for barbecue?

Regarding belonging meat, then there are so many people and so many opinions. Some people prefer lamb, some prefer chicken, some prefer meat on the bone, and some prefer only fillet. However, there are rules that everyone must follow when choosing meat for barbecue:

• So when buying meat, you must make sure that it is fresh. Of course, stale and frozen meat will make kebab, but you are unlikely to be pleased with its taste, no matter how you marinate it.
• Make sure that the meat belongs to a young animal. This can be determined by its color. The older the individual, the darker its meat will be.
• Buy only chilled meat. Frozen can easily give you a surprise in the form of staleness, as well as pumping the meat with water, that is, extra kilos. It is easy to check for re-freezing of meat. Press it a little and if water comes out of it, it means it is frozen.

How to grill kebab

After you have chosen the meat and marinated it, you should prepare a place for the “ritual”, that is, for frying the kebab.

The first thing you need is a grill, there are many different criteria, but with the wealth of the modern market, you will always find exactly what you need. The most demanding craftsmen often cook it themselves. However, remember your childhood, a couple of bricks, here you have a barbecue!!! And the taste of the kebab didn’t get any worse.

The place is ready, you need to pick up a weapon - a skewer! The best type is considered to be flat and wide. The meat is perfectly fixed on it and almost does not spin as it pleases during cooking. There are no secrets in how to skewer meat on it. As it turned out, so it will fit! But there is one subtlety: it is pierced across the fibers, and not along.

Now, one more thing for a delicious kebab - distribute the meat correctly on the skewer. It should not fit tightly against each other, creating the appearance of sausage. But they shouldn’t be a kilometer apart from each other. It is necessary to find a middle ground. The pieces should be freely distributed, but not open the steel skewers.

Now inspect the threaded skewer for any dangling pieces. If there are any, get rid of them. They will be of no use; they will burn anyway and ruin the taste of the meat.

Never fry meat with vegetables. Their cooking times vary and nothing good will come of it. If you like grilled vegetables, it's better to just fry them separately.

Everything is clear with skewers and meat, but what is better to fry on? Firewood, coals? And here is what is more convenient for you and what is easier to handle. All that matters is that the right heat is achieved. This moment comes when the coals have burned out and become a little covered in ash.

Now, after all the simple but necessary preparations, you can start grilling shish kebab. The meat should be located above the coals at least twenty centimeters, but not higher. During the process, fat will be rendered from the meat, which will burn when it gets on the coals. You can deal with this with water. But it is best to use rock salt. Just sprinkle a little of it on the burning coals. There will be no steam or ash flying up onto the meat from the salt.

The kebab is fried for twenty to forty minutes. When cut, the meat should release a little juice, but not blood!! The liquid should be light, not pink. Otherwise, the kebab is either raw or overcooked.

What do you eat shish kebab with?

Perhaps, once upon a time, there was a rule about what exactly you should eat meat cooked on charcoal with. However, in the modern world  side dish Everyone chooses a barbecue according to their own taste. After all, the choice in this area is very large. Let's consider several side dish options:

• The most common are fresh vegetables and herbs. There is nothing fancy in this presentation, but as practice shows, vegetables and meat go well together.
• Grilled vegetables. Everything is simple here. They are prepared in the same way as meat, but in much less time. Ten to fifteen minutes is enough.
• Of course, it is necessary for meat sauce. Which one exactly? The choice is yours. Perhaps you have some special preferences in sauce science.
• Meat needs bread. To make it tasty and juicy, place it at the bottom of the container where you will place the kebab.

Drinks for barbecue

All people are divided into drinkers and non-drinkers. Although no, there are also drinkers. Therefore, everyone’s barbecue drinks are different. In fact, few people think about what to take with charcoal-grilled meat so that they can not only drink it, but also enjoy its taste.

When choosing alcohol for barbecue, it is best to give preference to stronger drinks. Barbecue meat often contains a layer of fat and is best washed down with something stronger.

If hot weather is not conducive to the strength of the drink, choose beer. It is best to take the dark one, as it has a more pronounced aroma.

Red wine will be a wonderful addition to lamb, and white wine to other types of meat.

As for juices, tomato is the leader. It can replace sauce or ketchup for you. For those who do not like or do not accept this juice, you can replace it with any other.