How to make delicious shish kebab. How to marinate juicy kebab yourself? Pork kebab in kiwi marinade

Shish kebab takes pride of place in the cookbook of most families; it has long been recognized as the most popular dish of Caucasian cuisine. However, to this day, not everyone knows how to make pork kebab according to all the rules, soft and juicy. After all, a lot depends on the mixture in which the meat is kept before frying.

Soft and juicy pork kebab: marinade recipes and cooking basics

To get a really tasty pork kebab, we will study marinade recipes with kefir, mineral water, mayonnaise, beer, kiwi, etc.

Classic marinade for pork skewers

table vinegar (concentration 6-9%) - 60 ml.
onions - 0.7 kg.
pork neck - 1.5-1.6 kg.
coarse salt - 15 gr.
olive/sunflower oil - 30 ml.

1. Before marinating the meat for barbecue, you need to make pieces of pork of the same size. Rinse the neck, dry with towels and wait 15 minutes until the moisture evaporates. Then chop into pieces of 5-7 cm.

2. Remove the husks from the bulbs and chop into rings. If desired, increase the amount of onion to get a really juicy kebab.

3. Prepare a pan in which to marinate. Place the prepared pieces into it, alternating them with chopped onions. Pour vinegar and oil on top, mix well with your hands.

4. Cover the dish with a lid and refrigerate for 1 hour (preferably more). Then remove the meat and leave at room temperature for another 5 hours. Before cooking, season the meat with pepper and salt and stir.

5. While frying, thread pieces of neck onto a skewer, alternating with onion rings. It is advisable to fry on the grill, pouring the marinade in which it was infused over the meat.

Now you know how to make really tasty pork kebab so that it turns out soft and juicy.

Pork shish kebab on kefir

pork neck - 1.6 kg.
onions - 700-750 gr.
high-fat kefir (homemade if possible) - 0.7 l.
spices - to your taste

It is better to make shish kebab with kefir from high quality pork, use a fresh neck. The recipe is quite simple, follow the instructions.

1. Rinse the meat and dry it with towels so that the moisture evaporates. Chop into pieces of the same size and place in an enamel container for marinating.

2. Chop the onions into rings, add to the meat and knead by hand. Spices can be added at this stage, as well as salt to suit your taste. Pour the ingredients with fermented milk drink.

4. Frying is carried out according to the usual pattern. While cooking on the grill, it is a good idea to spray the pieces of meat with the marinade in which it was kept. The kebab is served with vegetables or a side dish.

Using this recipe, preparing a Caucasian dish is quite simple, as well as making pork shish kebab using classical technology. In any case, it will turn out soft and juicy.

Pork shish kebab with mineral water

pork tenderloin (preferably neck) - 3 kg.
highly carbonated mineral water - in fact
onion - 1.3-1.4 kg.
salt - half a handful
black pepper, parika, coriander - to your taste

Mineral water pork shashlik is also considered a “classic of the genre.” The recipe is so simple that it can be implemented by a person who is preparing the dish for the first time.

1. Similar to all previous cases, you need to wash and prepare the neck, then chop it into pieces about 6-7 cm in size. Transfer the pork to a saucepan or plastic bowl, add the onion cut into rings.

2. Add the amount of salt indicated in the recipe, and also season with spices to taste. Now start mixing the meat by hand, squeezing it thoroughly. The onion should release juice.

3. Pour in mineral water so that it rises about 3 cm above the contents of the container. Cover the dishes and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

4. When the specified period comes to an end, you can fry the meat. We string it onto skewers or place it on a wire rack, alternating with the onion. During frying, sprinkle with mineral water from a bottle.

Another simple recipe for making pork kebab. When using mineral water, it turns out soft and juicy if you do everything correctly and do not shorten the marinating period.

Pork beer shashlik

onion - 0.6-0.7 kg.
light beer - 0.6 l.
pork (breast/neck) - 1.6 kg.

1. After washing, the meat must be chopped into equal pieces so that it is convenient for you to thread it onto skewers or place it on a wire rack. Grind the onion with a meat grinder/blender or chop it into rings and add to the pork.

2. Season with spices to your taste, do not add salt. Cover the dish and let stand at room temperature for about an hour. Next, pour in the beer, first let it sit in the kitchen for 3 hours, then put it in the cold overnight.

3. Before frying, prepare the grill, salt the pork, string it, alternating with onions. Don’t forget to pour the marinade and beer into a separate bottle to baste the kebab during the grilling process.

4. Cooking time varies from 20 to 30 minutes. When pierced, the pieces should release clear juice, this indicates the dish is ready.

5. In the question regarding how to make shish kebab, you must follow the rule. If blood comes out of the pork after a puncture, it is better to remove the kebab from the coals and keep it in a closed pan. It will “reach”, then the meat will turn out soft and juicy.

Pork kebab in kiwi marinade

onion - 500-600 gr.
pork belly - 1.2 kg.
kiwi - 2 pcs.

The marinade for pork and kiwi shish kebab is very tender, which provides the meat with juiciness and special flavor notes. We recommend using brisket or neck.

1. Rinse the meat, dry it, chop it into pieces about 6 cm in size. Salt it, but not too much, otherwise the kebab will turn out dry. Sprinkle with ground pepper and mix with your hands.

2. Prepare the onion by chopping it into rings or chopping it in a blender. Add to the pork, stir again until the juice comes out of the onions.

3. Peel the kiwi, grate on a coarse grater and add to the total mass. After combining all the components, cover the dish and leave for 1 hour.

4. When everything is ready, you can start frying. Prepare the coals in advance, place pieces of meat on skewers or use a grill. Fry for about half an hour, basting with the marinade mixture.

Spicy kebab in tomato marinade from Stalik Khankishiev

Many people call this recipe nothing less than the best marinade for pork kebab! This is not surprising, because the meat preparation technology from Stalik Khankishiev has won universal recognition a long time ago.

Ingredients:

honey - 40 gr.
pork neck - 1.3 kg.
onion - 900 gr.
olive oil - 30 ml.
large tomatoes - 3 pcs.
soy sauce - in fact
chili pepper (optional) - 1 pc.
garlic cloves - 4 pcs.
paprika - 15 gr.
corn starch - 2 pinches

So, before making pork kebab, we prepare the components according to the list. To ensure that the meat ends up soft and juicy, it is cooked in a tomato marinade.

1. Tackle the tomatoes first. They need to be washed, then grated and the juice drained. You won't need the peel and pulp. Mix the juice with olive oil, starch, honey, paprika, soy sauce. Lightly salt.

2. Chop the meat into 7-8 cm pieces and place in the prepared marinade. Cover the container with a lid and wait a couple of hours. During this time, chop the chili pepper, combine it with garlic gruel and chopped onion.

3. When the pork is marinated, place it on skewers or place it on a wire rack, sprinkle with a spicy mixture of garlic, onion, and pepper. Start frying.

4. When the first fragrant crust appears on the surface of the pieces, pour the remaining marinade over the meat. Keep a close eye on the kebab because this recipe tends to burn it.

How to marinate pork kebab with vinegar

pork neck - 2 kg.
vinegar essence - 10 ml.
onion - 2 pcs.

Before you make a barbecue, you should stock up on your favorite spices. The pork dish will turn out soft and juicy if you add a small amount of sunflower oil to the marinade.

1. Buy fresh meat, it is important that it is not frozen. Rinse the product and chop into pieces of the optimal size. Next, cut the onion into cubes. Place the prepared ingredients into a deep container.

2. Make the marinade. Mix the essence with 150 ml. purified water. Pour the solution into the meat and add your favorite spices. Stir everything well. Cooking barbecue is quite an exciting activity. The pork dish will be very tasty at home.

3. If necessary, salt the meat immediately before frying. The pork should sit in the finished marinade for at least 2 hours. After this, feel free to go into nature and you can start grilling shish kebab.

Pork skewers in soy sauce

lemon - 1 pc.
onions - 5 pcs.
pork neck - 3 kg.
soy sauce - 60 ml.

Shish kebab in soy sauce takes on amazing flavor notes. The pork recipe is quite simple.

1. Start preparing the meat. Chop it into small pieces and place in a deep cup. Chop the onion into half rings. Mash the vegetable to release the juice, transfer to the pork. Stir the ingredients.

2. It’s easy to understand how to properly marinate pork kebab by following simple rules. Now you need to squeeze the juice from the lemon into a common container, add your favorite spices and soy sauce. Stir the ingredients and begin squeezing the pieces of meat so that they are saturated with the marinade.

3. Place the meat in the refrigerator for 4 hours. The contents of the container must be stirred regularly. If necessary, add salt half an hour before cooking the kebab. After the allotted time, you can start frying the meat.

Shish kebab with pork mayonnaise

mayonnaise - 0.4 kg.
mustard - 90 gr.
pork loin - 2 kg.

When thinking about how to make shish kebab, consider all the recipes presented. The Caucasian pork dish turns out soft and juicy thanks to mayonnaise and other auxiliary ingredients.

1. Chop the meat into pieces and place in a cup. Chop the onion and crush it with your hands to release the juice. Mix the ingredients. Add mayonnaise and necessary spices to a common cup. Mix everything thoroughly again.

2. In the process of properly marinating pork kebab, you need to let the meat stand in the sauce for about 7 hours. It's better to put it in the refrigerator overnight. Salt should be added half an hour before cooking.

Technology for preparing pork shish kebab on the grill

1. You need to learn how to thread pieces onto skewers. Before preparing the kebab, know that the pieces of pork should not be placed too tightly, otherwise they will not cook on the grill.

2. Place them evenly and at short distances. The meat should not hang in separate places. If the pork was marinated with onions, remove them from each piece. Otherwise, the vegetable will burn on the fire, leaving an unpleasant aftertaste.

3. With some knowledge, it is not difficult to understand how to make delicious pork kebab. Using additional components, the meat is soft and juicy.

4. If vegetable oils were not used in the marinade, it is recommended to lubricate each piece with it before frying. This move will allow the meat to cook thoroughly and not burn. You can buy coal in ready-made packs.

5. Keep in mind that the coals should burn well, but not completely melt away. You need to feel intense heat, but without flame. Always have a water bottle ready. This will help extinguish the flames if necessary. Turn skewers regularly.

6. When the meat is browned, make a small cut with a knife. If the flesh is juicy and white, the dish is ready. Place the kebab in a deep bowl and cover with a lid. Leave the meat for a few minutes, the pork will be soft and juicy. Serve with baked vegetables.

Choosing pork for barbecue

If you don’t know which part of the pork is best to make shish kebab from, it’s worth checking out the tips.

1. The taste and juiciness of the final dish directly depend on the chosen pork. The marinade also plays an important role. The ideal part for barbecue is pork neck or loin. Always choose fresh, unfrozen meat.

2. When purchasing a product, pay attention to the appearance. Since making pork kebab is essentially simple, you should choose pale pink meat with thin veins. As a result, the dish will be soft and juicy.

3. Avoid red meat, it's old. The kebab will turn out tough, no matter how you prepare it in advance. Also, do not buy a product that is too fatty. The fat will burn on the coals, and the meat will acquire a not very pleasant aroma.

4. Fresh meat releases a small amount of blood when pressed. The area where you pressed should disappear quickly. If this does not happen, it means the pork has been frozen and defrosted. Also, high-quality meat has virtually no odor. The aroma is rather neutral.

Pork shashlik is prepared quite simply. The key points remain the right choice of meat and high-quality marinade. The frying process does not require any special skills. Check out the how-to tips and start practicing. Good luck!

Shish kebab is considered a traditional dish of the Turkic peoples, but in prehistoric times representatives of all nations of the world cooked meat on a spit. Today it is fried not only from traditional lamb, but also pork, chicken, veal, fish, vegetables and much more. The main rule is that the meat is juicy, and how to achieve this will be discussed in this article.

Pork shish kebab

Juicy pork kebab can be obtained using vinegar, wine, tomato juice, kefir, and mineral water as the main components of the marinade. But for those who want to get a special dish with a bright original taste, we can recommend using pomegranate juice.

1 cup size;
a couple of onions;
a bunch of basil and parsley;
spices - salt, black pepper, cloves and paprika.

Since you have decided to use such an unusual component of the marinade as pomegranate juice, it is better to squeeze it out of ripe pomegranates yourself, but under no circumstances buy ready-made juice in the store. The result can be very disappointing.
Pieces of pork must first be sprinkled with salt, pepper, cloves, paprika and mixed, and then begin to be placed in a saucepan in layers, each layered with onion rings and chopped herbs.
Pour the juice over everything and put it in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
Every hour the contents of the saucepan must be stirred, and at the end of the 4th hour, place pressure and leave the meat until the morning. It will turn out very tender and spicy, will fry quickly and attract with its subtle pomegranate flavor.

Chicken kebab

Of course, poultry meat is primarily attractive because it cooks very quickly, but there is always a danger of getting a rather dry or completely dry dish. To avoid this, you need to choose the most preferred marinade, but how to do this when there are a great many of them? Very simple. Chicken really “loves” the combination of honey and soy sauce, so that’s what we’ll use.

What you will need for 2 kg of meat:

soy sauce 150 ml;
2 cloves of garlic;
in the amount of 1 tbsp. l.;
salt and any spices you like.

To make the kebab soft and juicy, you need to choose a marinade that softens the meat, but does not kill its taste. Vinegar will never produce juicy kebab because it makes the meat tough, rubber-like. You should not use mayonnaise and ketchup, especially store-bought ones, but homemade adjika is quite suitable. Better yet, increase the concentration of tomatoes in it and you will get an excellent marinade sauce.

What you will need:

fresh ;
garlic or onion;
parsley and other greens;
salt, spices.

Stages of preparing delicious juicy shish kebab:

Beat the tomatoes in a blender or grind through a meat grinder.
Sprinkle the meat with salt and spices and mix.
Add onion rings or cloves of garlic to the tomato, depending on your own taste preferences, and pour it over the meat.
Place in the refrigerator, and after a few hours you can fry.

These are the recipes for delicious marinades that ensure the juiciness of the meat. You can try dividing the meat into portions and using a different marinade for each, and then compare. Have a nice spring holiday!

The long-awaited spring has arrived - it's time for picnics and trips to nature. This means that wonderful kebabs await us all! The best way to make the most delicious shashlik - this is to choose an excellent marinade option for your favorite pork, beef kebab, lamb , birds and fish.

Meat, poultry or fish should be fresh, not frozen, and not very fatty, then the kebab will turn out wonderful.

Meat preparation thing is meat it is necessary to remove excess fat and films. The meat should be cut across the grain into medium cubes, approximately 3 by 3 cm or 5 by 5 cm. Sometimes they marinate and prepare even larger pieces. Wash the chicken (or other poultry), dry and cut into pieces. Also cut the prepared fish fillet into medium-sized pieces.

Do I need to salt the kebab? at the time of marinating, it’s up to you: you can add salt, but it’s better not to do this, since salt will draw a lot of juices out of the meat, which will lead to a decrease in the juiciness of the finished kebab. Fish kebab , on the contrary, you can add salt right away. Salt will “hold” the pieces of fish together and they will not fall apart during cooking.

How long to marinate meat, you decide. It depends on the type of meat, the size of the pieces and your personal taste preferences. You can marinate from 30 minutes to a day. The marinating time also depends on how young the meat is. The younger the meat, the less you can marinate . It is not recommended to use frozen meat for cooking barbecue.

For the marinade you can use onions and various spices, olive or other vegetable oil, fermented milk products, kvass, mineral water, beer, wine, strong alcoholic drinks, fruit and berry juices, as well as spicy herbs, mayonnaise, soy sauce, mustard.

Cooking shish kebab consists of removing it from the marinade, stringing it on skewers and frying over hot coals or in the oven . Cooking time depends on the type of meat, the size of the kebab pieces and your personal preferences. You can check the readiness of the kebab by cutting a piece of meat or fish: if you are satisfied with the degree of cooking, then the kebab is ready, if not, then you should still hold it over the coals for a while.

5 marinade options for barbecue

Now let's look at several types of marinades for barbecue. The proportions are given based on the preparation of marinade for 2-2.5 kg of product (meat, fish, poultry).

Orange marinade for poultry kebab

Ingredients:

Oranges – 4 pcs.,
Honey – 4 tbsp. spoons,
Olive oil – 4 tbsp. spoons,
Garlic – 2 cloves or more to taste,
Turmeric – from 1 teaspoon,
Red hot pepper – from 0.5 teaspoon,
Red bell pepper – 1 teaspoon,
Salt.

Preparation:
Grind the zest of 1 orange. Squeeze juice from all oranges. Peel the garlic and grate it. Combine orange zest, orange juice, honey (you can melt it if necessary), olive oil, chopped garlic. Add turmeric, red hot and sweet pepper, and salt to this mixture to your taste.

Mix everything thoroughly. The marinade is ready. Place the chicken carcass cut into pieces into it, mix well so that every piece of chicken is in the marinade. It is not necessary to marinate chicken meat for a long time. If you are short on time, you can marinate in a cool place for about 30 minutes. 2-3 hours is enough for the chicken to marinate perfectly.

Herb marinade for fish skewers

5 best ways to make barbecue

Ingredients:

Cilantro – 1 bunch,
Rosemary – 1-2 sprigs,
Dill – 0.5 bunch,
Thyme – 2-3 sprigs,
Onions – 1 pc.,
Lemon – 0.5 pcs.,
Olive oil (rice or other to taste),
Salt.

Preparation:
Rinse the herbs in running water and dry. Grind the prepared herbs. Squeeze juice from lemon. Grind the onion and squeeze out the juice. Combine chopped herbs with onion juice and lemon juice, oil and salt. Mix everything well. The marinade is ready. Lay out the prepared pieces of fish so that all the pieces are covered with marinade, and leave for 0.5–1 hour in a cool place.

You can exclude onion juice and (or) lemon juice from this marinade, and replace the herbs indicated in the recipe with those that you prefer.

Other marinade recipes

Bread kvass marinade for pork shish kebab

5 best ways to make barbecue

Ingredients:

Bread kvass (natural) – 500 ml,
Honey – 50 g,
Ginger (root) – 2-4 cm,
Onions – 1000 g,
Freshly ground black pepper.

Preparation:
Peel the onion, chop and mash with your hands to release the juice. Ginger grind on a grater. Combine prepared meat with chopped onion, ginger, black pepper and honey. Mix well and pour kvass . Place the marinated meat in a cool place for 2-5 hours. For this marinade, kvass can be used in a one-to-one mixture with water.

Red wine marinade for beef skewers

Ingredients:

Dry red wine – 500 ml,
Lemon juice or wine vinegar – 100 ml,
Onions – 300-500 g,
Garlic – 2-5 cloves,
Bay leaf – 3 pcs.,
Caraway,
Black pepper,
Salt.

Preparation:
Peel the onion, chop into rings or half rings and mash with your hands.

Meat roasted over a fire is something special. At home, in the oven or even on a convection oven, you will never be able to cook such aromatic, toasted kebab as on the coals of a fire lit on the bank of a river in the nearest forest. And to make the meat soft and tender, marinades have been invented.

Marinade is a mixture of seasonings, vegetable oils and natural products containing acids. Meat kept in marinade acquires a soft texture and aroma due to the ingredients of the marinade. For pork, beef and lamb, marinades are made rich, while marinades for poultry and fish should be more delicate and tender. The tougher the meat, the longer you need to keep it in the marinade. It is not recommended to put salt in marinades, since a hypertonic solution will simply “suck” all the juice out of the meat, and the kebab will turn out dry. For the same reason, you should not make the marinade too “sour”.

Amateur cooks often experiment with marinades, sometimes adding the most unexpected and even exotic ingredients to them, making the marinades sweet, hot, sour or spicy. Ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, kiwi, mayonnaise, cognac, coffee, mustard, sparkling mineral water, yogurt, various spices, pomegranate juice, onion, garlic - all this can become the ingredients of your marinade. But there should not be too much marinade. Since the meat will release its juice during the marinating process, the amount of liquid will increase further - this must be kept in mind.

Do not use aluminum cookware to marinate meat. Usually the meat is marinated in a large enamel pan and even in a bucket if a large company gathers for barbecue. But if you don’t have such utensils at hand, you can get by with an ordinary plastic bag, just a whole one.

The duration of marinating depends on several factors: the toughness of the meat, the time you have up to hour “X”, and also on the availability of the necessary products in the refrigerator. If time is running out, choose a recipe for a more “vigorous” marinade, and if you add onions to it, do not cut it into rings, as usual, but grate it. The meat should be kept in this marinade for literally 2-3 hours, otherwise it will taste bitter.

The fish should not be kept in the marinade for a long time - 45 minutes is enough. Poultry does not require lengthy preparation either. You can start frying chicken shish kebab within half an hour after placing the meat in the marinade.

If you cut the meat into large pieces, it will take longer to marinate. You need to cut the meat across the grain so that the pieces do not “shrink” during cooking.

Dishes with meat should be placed in a cool place, preferably in the refrigerator.

Recipes for marinades for barbecue

Traditional marinade consists of vinegar, chopped onion rings, black pepper and salt. This is the kind of marinade that is usually used for store-bought kebabs that no one likes. The disadvantages of this mixture are that the vinegar must be measured with pinpoint precision, and the holding time should not be delayed, otherwise the meat will acquire an unpleasant aftertaste, although, of course, it smells wonderful during the cooking process. But true kebab connoisseurs reject vinegar and never add it to marinades. The same, by the way, applies to mayonnaise.

Lemon marinade connoisseurs will not find it offensive and is excellent for pork. All you need to do is add lemon juice of one or two lemons to the marinade instead of vinegar. The remaining ingredients are classic - onions, vegetable (preferably olive) oil, black pepper and peppercorns, bay leaf. As for the proportions, for two kilograms of pork, 2-3 onions, four tablespoons of oil and spices to taste will be enough.

Coffee marinade does not involve adding acids to meat at all. For the same two kilograms of pork with spices, 4 tbsp. spoons of olive oil and chopped onions (4 pieces) will need 1 liter of hot, but not boiling coffee. This coffee is poured over the meat, and then left to cool first at room temperature, and then marinated in the refrigerator. The meat should be kept in this marinade for six hours. Your guests will never guess what gave the kebabs such tenderness and flavor.

Kefir marinade Recently it has become very popular among those who like to eat aromatic shashlik in the lap of nature. To prepare it, for two kg of pork, you usually take a liter of low-fat kefir, spices and seasonings to taste, and four not too small onions. Onions can be cut into rings or into cubes, then mixed with meat and seasonings, and pour kefir over the resulting mixture. The dish with meat should be shaken thoroughly and refrigerated for 4 hours. Kefir marinade is good for both chicken kebab and beef, just not too tough. A marinade based on yogurt is prepared in a similar way, but not sweet with fruit additives, but regular fermented milk.

Mineral water marinade it becomes even easier. For it, take one and a half liters of well-carbonated mineral water, herbs, spices, a little salt and 3 onions. Even the oldest beef, after 4 hours spent in this marinade, turns into the most tender fillet. But be careful, do not add medicinal table types of mineral water to the marinade: they have a unique taste and smell that they will not hesitate to impart to your kebab.

Pomegranate marinade love in the east. To prepare it, take two glasses of pomegranate juice, several bunches of greens (cilantro, mint, basil), more ground pepper and one large onion per kilogram of meat. The meat is kept in this marinade for at least 10 hours, or better yet a day, but, of course, in the refrigerator. This marinade is almost ideal for lamb and pork.

Wine marinade gives the meat a delicate aroma and makes it softer. However, not everyone likes the taste of wine. However, for those who want to try marinating meat in wine, it is recommended that for the same two kilograms of beef or pork, take a liter of dry red wine, three medium-sized onions, more black pepper and basil, or fresh. If you use white wine, your marinade will also work for turkey.

There are hundreds of marinade recipes for barbecue. Soy sauce, honey, kvass, beer, tomato juice, mustard, balsamic and apple cider vinegar and anything else are added to marinades. But now that the algorithm for preparing the marinade is clear, you can experiment with any ingredients, creating your own, unique and best marinade.

Meat…

When choosing meat, remember that not every cut is suitable for barbecue: the meat must be soft (otherwise the barbecue will not be chewable), moderately fatty (so that it retains its juiciness when cooked) and high quality (otherwise the barbecue will simply be tasteless). So, from our beef, only fillet is suitable for barbecue, pork kebab is traditionally prepared from the neck or ham, tender poultry chicken can be used for barbecue almost entirely, but the most suitable part of lamb for barbecue is the tenderloin.

But there are several ways to turn less suitable cuts into kebab - for example, by preparing minced meat from tougher meat, we will make a wonderful lula kebab, and the fat mesh, which is sold in the markets, will allow us to make kebab from meat that is lean in itself , such as veal. Let's not forget about offal - here the choice is truly extensive and varied - as well as about less trivial types of meat, such as duck, game and so on.

Marinade

Marinating is one of the most important stages in preparing barbecue, although some believe that good meat does not need any marinade. The reason for this belief dates back to the past, when the main task of the marinade was to soften tough meat, which could at least be chewed only after being kept in vinegar or other acidic medium. We really don’t need vinegar - but as a way to give the product the taste and aroma of herbs and spices, marinating is useful even in the case of excellent quality meat.

Let's assume both a dry marinade - that is, simply spices that are used to season the meat some time before cooking - and a liquid one. In this case, the base may be vegetable oil or a moderately acidic liquid - wine, kefir, onion juice, yogurt. Everyone has their own marinade recipe, proven by the experience of generations, but here are a few common mistakes that should be avoided if you do not plan to spoil the kebab:

Do not overuse acidic environments. The juice of half a lemon or a little wine vinegar may not do any harm and will even give the kebab its flavor, but too much acid will make the meat, albeit soft, but completely tasteless. If you do decide to marinate meat in an acidic environment, do not do it for too long.
When marinating, it is better to under-salt the meat - otherwise it will release too much juice, and the finished kebab will turn out a little dry.
Putting too many different spices is a bad idea. Our task is to reveal and complement the taste of the original product, and not kill it. Plus, even with moderate seasoning, you simply won't recognize all the spices you added to the marinade.
Marinate the kebab for at least several hours. Ideally, overnight (if you haven’t abused acid). Otherwise, the effect of pickling will be so unnoticeable that there is no need to fence the garden. However, the exact time that should be allocated for marinating depends on the original product and the recipe for the marinade itself.
Do not marinate shish kebab in mayonnaise. No matter what they tell you, it is not intended for this.

Time-tested combinations include pork and onions, lamb and cumin with coriander, or rosemary, garlic and black pepper. On this site you will find recipes for other barbecue marinades.

Coals

But now the meat has been selected, marinated, and it’s time to start the fire. Do this in advance, because it is correct to fry shashlik on gray coals, which provide stable, even heat, and for this they need to burn out properly (however, “young” coals are better suited for vegetable shish kebab). Many stores and gas stations now sell barbecue coals - this is a win-win option, especially if you don’t have much experience, time or simply the desire to tinker with the barbecue for a long time. In this case, simply pour lighter fluid (sold there) over the coals, let it soak in, and then light it. If your coals blazed merrily for a couple of minutes and then went out, this does not necessarily mean that you need to start all over again: spray them with fresh air by waving a sheet of cardboard or just something large and flat, and if the sides of some coals immediately turn red, that means , Everything's under control. After a while, when the coals get hotter, you can stir up the contents of the grill.

If you decide to start with firewood, take logs from birch, linden, oak or fruit trees such as cherry or apple. Grapevine wood is great for making barbecue. You should absolutely not fry shish kebab on coniferous wood - these logs will give off acrid resin smoke, which will settle on the kebab, making it harmful to health, and even frankly tasteless. You can flavor the smoke by throwing some dried herbs onto the coals.

One way or another, let the coals burn until they acquire a uniform whitish tint. You can already cook shish kebab on such coals - but make sure that you take enough coals or firewood from the very beginning, otherwise the grill will quickly lose heat and the second and subsequent batches of shish kebab will take so long to cook that they will have time to dry out.

On the grill

Cooking shish kebab correctly is a small trick: meat cooked in the open air, and in good company, is quite difficult to spoil. But it is possible. By following these tips, you will be able to avoid a fiasco and prepare first-class kebab:

Mount the kebab correctly. A lot depends on how you place the meat on the skewer: it is better to place pieces of pork and chicken separately from each other - this way they will cook faster and better inside - and beef and lamb, on the contrary, close to each other to maintain juiciness.
Turn the meat constantly. Most barbecues are made in such a way that each skewer can be placed in four or even eight different positions; you should not skimp on this: by regularly turning the skewers with kebab, you can achieve a uniform golden brown crust on the outside and uniform roasting on the inside.
Keep fire away. If you are cooking fatty meat, the fat will drip onto the coals and immediately ignite, and the flames will happily lick your kebab. In fact, there is nothing fun here: the outside of such meat will be cooked and even burnt, but the inside will remain raw. To prevent this, you can move the coals to the side or carefully, so as not to raise a whirlwind of ash, pour the marinade over the meat and coals. However, from time to time, basting or coating the kebab with marinade is not a bad idea in any case, because this way it will turn out more juicy.
Swap skewers. If some skewers cook faster than others, swap them periodically, or better yet, stir the coals to ensure even heat.
Monitor the readiness of the meat. Having become a little more experienced in cooking shish kebab, you will be able to determine readiness “by eye,” but it’s a good idea to cut one of the pieces to check how ready it is inside. This is especially important when preparing chicken and pork kebabs.
Let the meat rest for a while. Do not remove the meat from the skewer immediately, let it rest for a minute or two - this way less juice will flow out of it.
The right choice of side dishes and drinks is no less important than the actual preparation of barbecue. If with the first everything is simple - fresh or grilled vegetables, fresh bread and a lot of herbs, then among drinks you should pay attention to dry wine or mineral water: beer, which often accompanies barbecue, in most cases does not fit with it at all.