Grill Maestro

This weekend we had some friends over and decided that we’d make some shish-kabobs. Shish-kabobs are always a fan favorite because everyone loves meat and everyone loves food on a stick (just go to a Renaissance festival or two to see what I mean), so shish-kabobs are always a fun time.

For the vegetables we stocked up on our visit to the local farmer’s market on some zucchini, squash, red and green peppers, and some onions. For the meat we just picked up some chicken breast and beef from the local grocery store. For the chicken marinade we went with a simple italian dressing and the beef got a soak in a tasty bbq chicken marinade recipe I’m a huge fan of.

So, on with the tips:

1. Soak the wooden/bamboo skewers (or go non-stick metal) - By soaking them, you increase the amount of time before the things char or burn up.
2. Put stiff vegetables on the ends - Think of them like bookends so your food doesn’t fall up while you’re cooking. This is only important when the meat is raw because it’ll tend to flop around, once it’s cooked it’ll remain rigid in place while it’s the vegetables that start flopping around.
3. Marinade meats beforehand - Marinade the meat individually, don’t skewer everything and then put it in a marinade. It gives everything a distinct flavor and retains the sweetness of whatever vegetables you’re using.
4. Cook 5 minutes each side - Be careful not to overcook your kabobs or they’ll end up like charred little skewers and everything will taste terrible. With chicken and beef, your real concern is whether the chicken is fully cooked.
5. Avoid mixing foods with vastly different cooking times - While we didn’t have this concern, I would avoid putting things on the skewer with vastly different cooking times. Pairing chicken with shrimp on one skewer would be difficult because the shrimp cooks so much faster than the chicken that you’d either be risking food poisoning or a dried up little shrimp.
6. Use tongs - Don’t try to pick up the skewers with your fingers unless you want them burned.

Enjoy the kabobs!