BASIC SHISH KEBABS FOR THE BEGINNER
by
Gordon Hubbell, Ph.B.
Most grillers experience at least one “Kabob” fail or at least a partial one or a disappointment with the dish. When you stop to think about it, we’ve got a fairly complex little dinner to cook up here and because there are many elements and many ways to cook them, we amplify our chances of getting it wrong or at least not optimal because of that variety.
With just a little planning and thinking, though, this meat and veggie classic can be a whole lot tastier and even become a creative base from which to spring forward to greater things! Here’s an approach that gives you more control and more potential for great grub.
THE RUB: (No, not the powdery stuff, the problem) is that pretty much everything you might stick on a skewer for your kabob will cook at different speeds. If you put a big chunk of steak, a slice of onion, and a cherry tomato on a skewer together and cook them for the same period of time at the same heat, each one will present a risky outcome.
THE SOLUTION: Grill each component by itself to its best and highest flavor goodness, then do the “combining”, returning the finished product only briefly to the grill for a purpose I’ll discuss later.
BIG BENEFITS: For one, you’ll never get mush meat and raw veggies or mush veggies and raw meat. Two, you can customize the components and let your diners pick what they’d like on their skewer. Finally, you don’t need to soak the skewers or worry about conflagrations of the wood variety.
THE COMPONENTS:
MEAT
You can “kabob” just about anything you can grill and even ultimately put different meats on the same skewer. For best results shoot for the more tender chunks. I’ve put my faves in parenthesis but there’s room for plenty of others. If it is a cut you can typically grill (not have to braise or stew in order to chew it) you’re golden.
Beef (well marbled sirloin)
Lamb (deboned chops)
Pork (loin chunk or thick bacon)
Chicken (boneless thigh)
Fish (peeled jumbo shrimp or monkfish)
Sausage (kielbasa, sliced)
Other (Spam – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it)
VEGETABLES
If it will stick on the skewer even after cooking to a level that will be pleasing to the taste buds and the sense of esthetics without falling off it’s fair game for a kabob. Some root veggies may not have sufficient “sticktoativity” – potatoes, for instance are more likely to split than hang on – consider them as sides for your ultimate product. My faves again:
Onion (slice layers to match the size of other stuff – I think purple ones are best)
Tomato (large, cherry)
Mushroom (button or sliced Portobello)
Asparagus
Zucchini or banana squash (thick slice)
Peppers (chunks of sweet green or whole smaller ones)
MARINADE
You can poke around the web and find lots and lots of great marinade recipes or you may have a favorite of your own from years of experience, but don’t forget there are some pretty tasty ones just sitting on the shelf at the store sold as “ready to go. Some of these you may not have thought of include spicy oil-based salad dressings like Italian (not the “lite” kind). I often make a very basic marinade for beef that’s just equal parts of dry red wine and olive oil, with plenty of chopped garlic.
Whatever you choose, follow the label directions for timing (if it is a bottled marinade) or if you’re using salad dressing, allow at least three or four hours to get the taste and tenderizing effects. There’s another use, too and we’ll get to that at the end.
Marinade is most important for the meat, but will have some impact on the veggies, too. If you don’t use an oily marinade on them, at least spray the veggie bits with olive or canola oil.
RUB (as in the dusty powdery stuff this time)
Again, you may have a favorite. For beef mine is McCormick’s Montreal Steak Rub. For pork and chicken be careful not to use stuff that will overpower the meat’s flavor. For kabobs, rubs are best applied to the target just before cooking because some ingredients in them can cause unintended problems (sugary rub can burn and turn dark, salty rub can dry things out). Sprinkling on the rub at the very end, just as the stuff is getting “done” has the benefit of maximizing the rub’s flavor input and avoiding unintended consequences of its ingredients.
THE METHOD
Implements needed: long, wide tongs; cutting board; sharp knife; skewers, brush for late marinade, small shaker of rub or salt/pepper combo.
Kabobs are a
grilled dish so that means firing up you outdoor cooking device that does the best job of supplying heat to the bottom of the groceries. For best results you’ll usually need two heat zones – one searing hot, the other medium.
Grilling meats whole (not in chunks) keeps them juicier and easier to adjust to the desired level of doneness and texture. Chopped up stuff gets overdone in a hurry. If you’re using a chunk of steak, for instance cook it just short of where you want it (130 for medium-rare, e.g.). See my article on basic steak cooking in this section for more info. Steak chunks come out best when cooked at searing heat levels but if you want well done, go slower and use the medium side of the fire to avoid charring.
Chicken, fish bits, and a lot of other meat that must not be any shade of “rare” does better on the medium side of the fire. Use care and judgment, but shoot for meat that’s not leathery or desiccated in the process of the cook.
The veggies have their own best cooking spot, too. It doesn’t take long, but a cherry tomato that’s been pierced a couple of times with a toothpick will grill up fabulously on the searing side of the grill. The piercing avoids the “explosion” and lets you still taste plenty of tomato goodness. Thick onion slices with a little oil on them do well on “sear” also. Mushrooms, squash slices and other bits may cook more thoroughly on medium but if you’ve got hot grids you can put grill marks on them with a brief trip to the searing side.
Notice something? All of this stuff, both veggie and meat, does best at different temps and takes different amounts of time! Whoa, Nellie! If you slam it all on a skewer and try to cook it all at one time it just won’t work as well. It gets worse if you try turning over skewered kabobs – they fight back by falling apart, falling off, or twisting.
FINISHING UP
Once you’ve got all the bits and pieces done to your liking, transfer them to a suitable dish to hold for for carving and assembly. I like to use a big flat cake pan that I can get the tongs in and out of easily.
Carve the meat into chunks the size you want. Similarly, size the veggie bits to suit your “eye” and then, using the tongs, slide them onto the skewer, on the cutting board – as few or as many as space permits and in whatever combinations please your diners (you can do individual kabobs easily).
Last: Return the assembled kabob to the searing hot side and brush it quickly with more marinade (don’t use the marinade you soaked the meat in to avoid contamination – use fresh) then sprinkle it with a light dust of rub. Don’t bother trying to turn it. Serve!
GOAL
A kebob that has each and every piece cooked to perfection, not compromise. It’s a little more work but the labor and difficulty is worth it and it doesn’t take great skill to do it – just some care and a little practice! Don’t be surprised if some of your diners tell you that yours are the best.
THE BEST PART
This isn’t a recipe. It’s an “approach” and you can play with it and fine-tune it (like all of my “Basic” series things) adding your touches and favorites as you go. This just gets you started toward a good kebob, the rest is all up to you!
Hub
