Nothing is more reminiscent of summer than a nice barbecue of delicious kebabs. You can't go wrong when you smell the aroma of the ingredients that are cooked on the grill and that stimulate your mouth water. The best thing is that you can choose to cook beef, chicken, pork or lamb; but even if you decide to eliminate meat altogether, kebabs are simple to prepare and cook. Read on to learn how!
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Preparation
Step 1. Choose a kebab recipe or use your favorite ingredients
Meat is usually served with vegetables, but you can also use fish, fruit or other ingredients. Choose the one you like best, there is no "wrong" recipe. Many prepare kebabs with chicken, beef, pork, sausage, lamb and fish; for vegetables, onions, mushrooms, green or red peppers, courgettes and tomatoes are excellent. Fruit fans love pineapple, peaches or apples.
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While any combination of the above ingredients is fine, some dishes have recipes to follow. Traditional kebabs use lamb as the main meat. Here are some examples of typical preparations:
- Kofta Kebab: lamb flavored with many spices.
- Chelow Kabab: boneless lamb served with rice and saffron.
- Sheekh Kebab: minced lamb meat, topped with coriander and mint and prepared in the tandoor (typical Indian oven).
Grill Kabobs Step 2 Step 2. If using a recipe that contains meat, consider marinating it
While it's not essential, it's worth doing. Soaking the meat before grilling gives it more flavor, combining the flavors of the sauce with those of the meat. The meat is usually placed in an airtight container (even a sealable plastic bag) with oil and an acidic ingredient (such as lemon juice). You can add aromatic herbs to enrich the preparation.
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Here are some tips for making a teriyaki marinade suitable for beef, chicken, and more:
- Olive oil
- Soy sauce
- Lemon juice
- Garlic
- pepper
- Worcestershire sauce
Grill Kabobs Step 3 Step 3. Dip the wooden skewers in a bowl of water
Usually two types of skewers are used, those in metal and those in wood / bamboo. The former are resistant and last longer, the latter cost less and are more comfortable. If you decide for wood / bamboo ones, let them soak for at least 30 minutes before cooking. By doing so they will be moist and will not burn.
Grill Kabobs Step 4 Step 4. Cut the ingredients into small pieces
Place them on a cutting board and with a sharp knife prepare bites of 2.5 cm on each side. Obviously with some foods you will not be able to prepare cubes (for example peppers), so prepare some squares. The most important thing to remember is that everything must be the same size to cook at the same pace.
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If you are using meat that you have not marinated, you can decide at this point to flavor it with a mix of spices to create a more aromatic outer layer. To proceed, coat the meat with plenty of spices. Here are some examples to inspire you:
- Paprika
- salt
- Onion powder
- Garlic and powder
- black pepper
- thyme
- Origan
Grill Kabobs Step 5 Step 5. Thread the ingredients onto the skewers to their full length
Now that all the foods are ready, it's time to prepare the skewers! Use the pointed part to pierce the meat and vegetables and then slide them to the other end. Arrange the ingredients as you like, usually alternating pieces of meat with vegetables or fruit to create a contrast of flavors. For vegetarian kebabs, this is not a problem. The time has come to use the barbecue!
Leave some space between one ingredient and the other to allow even cooking
Part 2 of 2: Cooking
Grill Kabobs Step 6 Step 1. Heat the grill over medium heat
If you want a delicious external "crust" on your kebabs, it is important that the grill is hot. If you are using a gas barbecue, there is no problem: set the burner to medium level, close the grill and wait for it to heat up. For charcoal barbecues, it is a bit more laborious: you have to light the charcoal and let it burn freely until you get the embers that give off an orange glow. It will take 30 minutes or more.
Usually, 30 blocks of charcoal should be used for half a kilo of meat
Grill Kabobs Step 7 Step 2. Place the kebabs on the grill
If it's hot enough, you should immediately hear the sizzle. When arranging the skewers on the grill, space them out to ensure even cooking.
To prevent kebabs from sticking, brush the grill with olive oil immediately before setting the food down. Use a barbecue brush and don't try to do this with kitchen paper or similar tools
Grill Kabobs Step 8 Step 3. Turn the skewers to cook all sides
Make sure that all the kebab comes into contact with the grill, this way you are sure that the cooking is perfect and allow the meat (if you cook it) to develop a crispy crust. As a general rule, most kebabs are ready in 10-15 minutes, i.e. 2.5-3.5 minutes for each of the 4 sides.
If you cook vegetarian skewers, you don't have to worry about the meat being cooked, so turn them however you like to evenly brown the fruit and vegetables
Grill Kabobs Step 9 Step 4. Check the meat
Remove a skewer and cut a piece of meat to verify that it is fully cooked: no trace of pink parts, clear juices and ease of cutting. If the meat is still very pink or you find it difficult to cut it, you need to cook it a little longer.
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If you want more information on cooking times you can search online:
- the finger test for cooking steaks;
- cooking times for chicken meat;
- how to recognize undercooked foods.
Grill Kabobs Step 10 Step 5. Remove the kebabs from the grill when they are cooked
Place them on a clean plate or tray. Do not use containers in which you have stored raw meat. Germs that are present on uncooked meat can contaminate other foods causing severe food poisoning.
Grill Kabobs Step 11 Step 6. Serve the kebabs alone or with side dishes
Well done! Your kebabs are ready to eat straight from the skewer or you can take them out first. Most are excellent eaten alone, but you can prepare side dishes to enrich the dish.
- If you want to follow traditional recipes, you can make rice and / or Arabic bread. Kebabs are presented in endless regional combinations. For example, the chelow kebab, traditionally, is served with rice mixed with raw egg yolk.
- You can use the grilled ingredients for another preparation. For example, the Turkish doner kebab is served with pita bread and salad as if it were a sandwich.
Advice
- If you use wooden skewers, especially if they are rounded, use two for each kebab. This will make them more stable and easier to turn on the grill.
- If you want more flavor, try marinating the ingredients for about 30 minutes before cooking them. Among the most used sauces for this purpose we find teriyaki, sweet and sour sauce, honey and mustard or lemon and garlic. You can buy ready-made marinades or search online for new recipes. It is also advisable to wet the skewers with the sauce to give more body to the flavor.
- If you are preparing other dishes that require different cooking times, prepare skewers of meat only and others of vegetables only. For example, if you have to cook meat and tomatoes (the first needs at least 10 minutes on the grill while the second only 2 or 3), stick them on different skewers and put them on the barbecue at different times.
