Traditionally, shashlik is prepared from pork orlamb, but nowadays it is also prepared from fish, poultry and even vegetables. Shashlik is considered to be the first dish that was cooked by man. Even our distant ancestors cooked their food on coals and fires. Centuries later, soldiers and hunters fried meat on musket ramrods. At the same time, the birthplace of the "correct" shashlik is considered to be the countries of the East, namely Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, the Caucasus states, etc. Translated from the Crimean Tatar language, "shish" is "spit". Hence, "shashlik" is "something cooked on a spit". In different countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, America, Thailand, Brazil, etc.) there are different names for meat on a spit - kebab, satay, mtsvadi, barbecue, shuraska... At the same time, this dish remains very popular and loved all over the world. So, how to cook shashlik? What should the marinade be? What to serve the finished dish with? We reveal all the secrets.
How to cook shish kebab correctly: basic rules
Preparation for cooking shish kebab
Choosing firewood for barbecue Many peopleneglect this issue, although firewood plays a huge role in giving a certain taste to meat. So, linden, birch, oak and any fruit trees (cherry, apple, pear, etc.) are ideal. In no case should coniferous trees be used for laying in the barbecue. Firewood from coniferous species will irreparably spoil the taste of meat. Choosing the right meat Regardless of the meat you prefer, be it pork, lamb, beef or chicken, the most important thing is the fat content of the product. It should not be represented by lard, but should be in the form of veins. The next mandatory quality of meat is tenderness. It is no secret that meat itself is muscles. The less the animal's muscle has worked, the more valuable the meat (tenderloin is so highly valued because it is meat from the back of the carcass. This muscle has never been cut in the animal's entire life. Never buy pre-cut tenderloin! It should be whole, oblong and 30-40 cm long. If you are going to make lamb shashlik, pay attention to the age of the animal. Ideally - up to 9 months. You should know that the meat of an old ram has a disgusting smell. Therefore, a mistake here is unlikely. To cook chicken on the grill, use either the breast in the traditional way or the legs using a barbecue grate.
Choosing the right marinade
There are a huge number of marinades for meat fermentation.quantity. When choosing a marinade, do not forget that with its help you can adjust the quality of the meat (if it is dry, you can use a marinade with butter). The marinade itself is a mixture of vinegar (wine, beer, natural juices, etc.) with spices and salt. Sometimes vegetable oil is added to the marinade. Very often, meat is soaked in kefir, carbonated mineral water, soy sauce. Future shashlik is soaked for an hour, sometimes overnight. After soaking, the meat becomes softer, juicier, more tender, regardless of the method of its preparation (on the grill, on the grill, in the oven). The recipes for the best marinades are presented below:
- Classic marinade: vinegar, sunflower oil, seasoning for shish kebab, mustard.
- Fermented marinade: kefir (yogurt without additives), salt, seasonings (black pepper, cloves, garlic, cardamom, hops-suneli).
- Marinade from soy sauce: soy sauce, garlic.
- Acute marinade: kefir (yogurt without additives), cayenne (or any other) pepper, lemon juice.
- Marinade from lemon juice: sunflower or olive oil, lemon zest, oregano, lemon juice, fresh mint. The acid of lemon juice (or vinegar) remarkably softens even very hard meat (beef).
- Marinade in Russian: kvass (as the basis of marinade), onion, salt, seasoning for shish kebab. You can add honey.
Rules for marinating kebabs
- In no event can you marinate a shish kebab in aluminum cookware. This will give the dish an unpleasant metallic taste. Use ceramic, glass or plastic dishes.
- Kvassitsya meat, especially left for a long time, should be in the fridge.
- The time of the leaven depends on the amount of meat and the size of the pieces.
- Make a few punctures in pieces of fermented product, so that it is better and faster saturated with leaven.
- If you have purchased very hard meat, then addin a marinade cut into small pieces of kiwi, pineapple or papaya. These exotic fruits have a wonderful property to soften the protein. Remember that the ferment time should not exceed 2 hours.
- For the correct leaven of fresh fish and seafood use acid (lemon or vinegar). The process of leaven itself should not last longer than 45 minutes.
- Do not add a lot of "sour" products (wine, vinegar, kefir). Their excessive amount can make meat stiffer, and cooked shish kebab will also be sour.
Here is an example of a classic, correct marinade for pork shashlik. You will need:
- 1 cup of vinegar;
- 1 glass of water;
- 4 things. onions;
- 1 teaspoon of salt;
- 1 bay leaf;
- 0.5 teaspoons of sugar;
- seasonings (ground black pepper, peppercorns) - to taste.
To prepare the right shashlik it is important notnot only the meat (its type, quality), but also the marinade itself. There are a huge number of recipes for fermentation (from kefir, wine, mayonnaise, etc.). Among this multitude, you will definitely find the recipe that will suit you in every way. Here is one of the simplest and most popular marinade recipes: peel the onion, cut it into rings or half rings. Mix the pre-prepared meat (i.e. cut into pieces) with the onion and seasonings. Then dissolve salt and sugar in water in a separate bowl, add vinegar. Pour the resulting solution over the meat. Let it ferment for at least 2 hours.
Classic pork shish kebab recipe
You will need for 1 serving:
- 500 g of the pork neck;
- 1 PC. onions;
- 100 g (half cup) of mayonnaise;
- seasonings (salt, ground black pepper) - to taste.
Rinse the meat with cool water.Cut the pork into medium-sized pieces. Evenly salt and pepper each piece. Cut the onion into half rings (or rings). Place the meat and onion in a bowl (pot). Add mayonnaise and mix well (it is better to do this by hand). Put the fermented meat in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours (the longer, the softer). Carbonated mineral water is perfect for express fermentation (keep the meat in the refrigerator for only 2 hours). Put the marinated meat on skewers in 6 pieces. Fry the pork for about 25 minutes on the grill (the coals in the grill should be burning without a flame). Immediately sprinkle the fat dripping from the pieces of meat with water (you can use beer diluted with vinegar). As soon as a golden crust has formed, the shashlik is ready!
Recipe for chicken shish kebab marinated in mayonnaise
This shashlik turns out very tender, tasty andjuicy. To cook it properly, you can take any part of the chicken (most often, breast, thighs, drumsticks are used). Since drumsticks, thighs and wings are inconvenient to put on a skewer, it is better to use a grill. If you put onions on the grill with the chicken, the meat will not burn. You will need:
- 2 kg of chicken (in this recipe we use shins);
- 150 ml of high-calorie mayonnaise;
- 7 pcs. onions;
- seasonings (salt and black ground pepper).
Rinse the chicken with cool water.Place the drumsticks in a dish (saucepan, bowl). Add seasonings to taste (salt and pepper). Mix well so that the salt and pepper are evenly distributed. Leave the meat for 30 minutes at room temperature. Add mayonnaise to the marinated chicken. Mix with your hands. Peel the onion, cut it into rings and add to the marinade. Mix everything well again. For those who like it spicy, you can add adjika to the mayonnaise instead of onion. On the grill, such shashlik is cooked for an average of 20 minutes (until a crust forms).
The recipes of lamb shish kebab
You will need:
- 1 kg of mutton;
- 3-4 pcs. onions;
- 4-5 tbsp. spoons of acetic or citric acid;
- 1 tsp black ground pepper;
- 1 teaspoon coriander (optional);
- 1 tsp salts;
- a small bunch of parsley.
This option is considered classic forcooking lamb shashlik. The best parts for marinating are either the back of the lamb or the flesh of the hind leg. Wash and cut the meat into pieces (approximately 3x3x2 cm), put it in a dish (ceramic, enamel, etc., but not aluminum), in which you will ferment the lamb. Add salt, ground black pepper (or red). Peel and cut the onion into rings. Add it to the dish with the meat. Put the parsley in the pan. If you like coriander (cilantro seeds), then add it to the marinade. Pour acid (vinegar/citric) on top and mix thoroughly. Put a press (any weight) on the container with the fermented meat. Put the pan in the refrigerator for 6 hours. If you marinated such a quantity of lamb that does not fit in the refrigerator (for example, a bucket), then put it in any cool place. The correct process of grilling is exactly the same as when cooking pork. It is customary to serve the finished lamb shashlik with onions, chopped into rings, and chopped green onions. It is better to sprinkle the garnish with lemon juice before serving. If there is no grill in the conditions in which you are cooking, then you can use a regular frying pan with hot fat on it to fry the shashlik. The dish will turn out tasty and juicy, but, of course, it will not be a real shashlik. Shashlik from any kind of meat, and especially from lamb, should be served and eaten hot, from the oven.
Shish kebab recipe
Beef is very rarely used forshashlik, as it is usually quite tough. Following this recipe, you can cook juicy and tender beef shashlik. You need to marinate this meat for at least a day, but the result is worth it. You will need:
- 3 kg of beef;
- 1 kg of onions;
- 300 g of wine (preferably white dry);
- 150 g of acetic acid;
- 1 lemon;
- 1 packet of black pepper peas;
- 1 packet of bay leaf;
- salt - to taste;
- red ground pepper.
We wash and cut the beef into pieces4-5 cm. Put in layers on the bottom of the dish in which you will marinate, first black peppercorns, then bay leaf. Peel and cut onions into rings. Put them in a layer in the dish too. Now evenly spread the chopped meat (in 1 layer). Add seasonings to taste (salt and pepper). Alternate a layer of onion and a layer of beef until the meat is gone. Add salt and pepper. The top and last layer are bay leaf and chopped onion. Pour in acetic acid. Close the lid on top and put under the press. Marinate for 24 hours. After this time, drain the marinade and pour in lemon juice and white wine for 4 hours. The cooking process on the grill is identical to the preparation of pork shashlik.
How to cook shish kebab at home?
Cooking shashlik in a frying pan. Ingredients:
- 500 g of pork meat;
- 1 teaspoon of paprika;
- 1 lemon or tomato;
- 1 bay leaf;
- 4 tbsp. spoons of olive oil;
- spices (cinnamon, red pepper, ground ginger, nutmeg) - a pinch;
- salt and ground black pepper - to taste;
- sunflower oil.
Rinse the meat under cool running water,Cut off the films, cut the pork into pieces. Transfer the meat cubes to a saucepan. Prepare the marinade as follows: add a pinch of each of the spices, crushed bay leaf and traditional spices (salt and pepper). Pour olive oil over it all and mix thoroughly. The prepared mixture will give our dish a unique and unrivaled taste. Pour the resulting marinade over the pork pieces. Mix well with your hands, cover with a lid and leave for half an hour to ferment the meat. Cut the lemon into slices. Thread the meat cubes onto skewers (no more than 2 cubes on each). You can put a lemon wedge on the skewer between the pork pieces. Heat a frying pan over the fire, pour a small amount of vegetable oil into it. Place the pork in the frying pan and fry it on all sides (turning the skewers) until golden brown. Of course, such shashlik does not have the corresponding taste qualities (for example, the smell of smoke). But thanks to the unusual marinade, the taste of this shashlik will be extraordinary.
Cooking shish kebab in the oven
To do this you will need:
- 1 kg of pork;
- 2 pcs. onions;
- 100 g of mayonnaise;
- seasonings (salt, ground black pepper, peppercorns, bay leaf) - to taste;
- sunflower oil (for lubricating the grate);
- sparkling mineral water or white dry wine.
Cut the washed pork into cubes.Prepare the marinade from the ingredients listed, but you can use any other you like. Ferment the meat for 2 hours, and then string it on skewers. To cook shashlik in the oven, you need a baking sheet and a grate. The baking sheet is needed so that the fat and juice from the meat drip onto it (there will be no burning in the apartment). Accordingly, place the baking sheet under the grate. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, and grease the grate with sunflower oil. After that, put the pork shashlik on the grate so that the meat on the skewers does not touch each other. Put the shashlik in the oven for frying. Every 7 minutes, open the oven and turn the shashlik over to the other side. To make the cooked meat juicy, lightly sprinkle it with wine and sparkling mineral water. The total cooking time for shashlik in this way is on average 40 minutes. It is better to serve the prepared dish with fresh vegetables.
We cook the beef shish kebab in the multivark
Products required for preparation:
- 1 kg of veal;
- 2 pcs. kiwi;
- 2 pcs. Bulgarian pepper;
- 4 things. onions;
- seasonings (salt, black pepper, ground coriander) - to taste.
It was not without reason that we chose beef for this recipe.Kiwi has a wonderful property of retaining the juice from the meat inside, so even veal will be soft, tender and juicy. At the same time, the shashlik itself is lean. Peel the kiwi and peel the onion (only 2 onions). Grind them in a blender until smooth. Cut the bell pepper into half rings. Peel the remaining 2 onions and cut them into rings. Rinse the beef and cut into cubes. Rub the seasonings into the veal pieces. Add the mixture prepared in the blender to the meat, chopped onion and bell pepper. Mix everything thoroughly and leave in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. After the specified time, put the marinated veal together with the marinade in the multicooker. Select the "Bake" mode. In 45 minutes, the ruddy and juicy shashlik according to the original recipe is ready. May your enthusiasm and bon appetit never run out! May your shashlik be just right and your guests well-fed!