On Mother's Day this year, the Korean side of my family got together for a Korean-style barbecue. Korean barbecue is some of the greatest food that will grace your taste buds. I'm grateful to have a husband with an adventurous palate. He's a real champ when it comes to the crazy stuff my family eats! As we sat outside and waited for our food to be grilled, one of my mom's friends showed up. Let's call her "Susie," shall we? Susie enjoys cooking, so she brought some shish kebabs for us to slap on the grill with the rest of our food. Her kebab concept was good: Chicken, red onion, and fresh pineapple marinated in a curry concoction. By the time Susie's kebabs were done being grilled, I was too full. So I grabbed a small piece of my husband's chicken. I wanted to be nice and at least tell her how good her kebabs were. I bit down on that piece of chicken and instantly spit it out. One chomp, and it was flying out of my mouth! I was immediately grateful that she wasn't sitting at the table when this happened. The chicken was feathery and started to disintegrate as soon as I bit down on it. It honestly was the worst piece of chicken I've ever had. I watched later as my Aunt had the exact reaction I did when she took a bite of Susie's chicken! I laughed a lot!
I thought about Susie's kebabs for the next 24 hours. It was like a nightmare I couldn't stop obsessing over. And suddenly, I knew exactly what Susie's mistakes were. She made 2 major mistakes. So I'll share with you my secrets to perfectly cooked shish kebabs.
1. Do not marinate your meat too long.
Marinating is a wonderful way to flavor and tenderize meat. But you must never marinate meat for too long. Chicken and fish especially do not need to be marinated for more than a few hours. I am willing to bet money that Susie marinated her kebabs over-night and for most of the day of our barbecue. When acid (for example: vinegar, lime, or lemon juice) comes in contact with meat, the meat begins to break down... in return, the meat becomes more tender. If meat sits in the acid for too long, the muscle fibers are destroyed. That's why Susie's chicken was like saw dust. She had let the chicken cozy up to fresh pineapple for well over 12 hours. Pineapple is very acidic. That poor chicken didn't stand a chance.
2. Rainbow kebabs are nearly impossible to cook.
When most of us think of kebabs, we think of skewers laced with beautiful patterns, right? We probably think of a shish kebab kind of like this: a piece of red bell pepper next to a piece of zucchini next to a piece of onion next to a mushroom next to a piece of chicken and so on. Isn't that a pretty picture? But let me ask you some questions: How good of a cook are you? I mean, what makes you believe that you can magically alter the molecular structure of multiple vegetables and some meat so that when they are all stabbed and placed on a grill, they will all cook evenly and be done at the same time? Does that make any sense at all? Of course not! So let me offer a radical way of grilling kebabs: Skewer only one kind of food on a stick. Chicken should be grilled with chicken. Beef should be grilled with beef. Zucchini should be grilled with zucchini. Bell peppers should be grilled with bell peppers. Now, I know what you're thinking: "But, Mandi, that won't be very pretty!" I understand your concern. Believe me, I'm a sucker for beautiful food. But would you rather have every fruit, vegetable, and piece of meat grilled to perfection? Or would you rather grill them all together and risk biting into a raw piece of chicken because you were concerned that you were going to burn an onion? If it's the beautiful array of colors your heart desires when you grill kebabs, then when you are finished grilling every skewer, empty them into a sassy serving dish. Not only do you have a cute vessel for all of the food, but you will be happy to see the pretty colors together at last!
So, friends, Summer is practically here (if you live here in Texas, it IS here!). We'll all be taking advantage of our grills. Grilling shish kebabs can be a ton fun with endless possibilities for marinades and different combinations of fruits, vegetables, and meats. But whatever you do, follow my 2 rules for perfect kebabs: Do not over marinate them. And be real with yourself: a pretty kebab is nice, but a perfectly cooked kebab is nicer! Food segregation is a great thing when it comes to kebabs. Stab your food... it's fun! But don't murder it!
