Published: 12-Aug-2013 (03:57); Viewed: 2845; Difficulty: 3 out of 10
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This dish is also known as a shashlik or shish-kebab and it is very popular within Caucasus. The main idea of this dish is to cook slightly marinates meat cubes on the skew on the hot charcoal grill. It is much better to use skews without any mesh or grille to cook meat only on the heat from the charcoal without any extra heat from the grille. It is possible to use any type of meat for this cooking, but in this recipe we will use high quality beef. If you planning to do a barbecue at home, consider this beef kebab as an alternative to standard burgers or sausages and you will not be disappointed.
step-by-step instructions
Ingredients for four large portions.
Rib-eye beef cut, properly matured. 2 kg. This beef cut is most suitable for beef shish-kebab, because it have very good balance between meat and fat content and also this cut is very tender.
Onion, 1 kg.
Salt, 2 tsp.
Spices
Black pepper, 1 tsp
Coriander, 2 tsp
Chilli flakes, ½ tsp
Herbes de Provence, 2 tsp
Garlic granules, 1 tsp
Finely slice onion and add all spices and salt.
Hardly press onion and mix it with spices. During this procedure it is necessary to press out as much onion juice as possible.
Cut meat into a 4-5 cm cubes. Do not remove any fat.
Mix meat cubes with pressed onion and marinate at room temperature for about 1 hour, or overnight in the fridge. Before cooking, it is better to warm up the meat to the room temperature.
Put meat on the metal skewers. Remove onion as carefully as possible.
Preheat wooden charcoal to very high temperature. They should be red-hod. Use hand fan to remove any traces of ashes from charcoal just before coking. Place skewers with meat on the grill. The most optimal distance between meat and charcoal should be about 10-15 cm. Turn skewers often, to avoid burning of bottom side of the meat. Cook until meat will be medium cooked.
Serve with fresh salads, tomatoes and some sauces. You can see on the picture tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and pomegranate molasses, these sauces are in perfect compliment to the beef kebab.
tips and tricks
This recipe of beef shashlik required to use tender, beef with reasonable amount of fat. Most suitable cuts are rib-eye and hanger steak. All other cuts are either too tough and require plenty of tenderizing procedures, or too lean, and some exra fat should be used to improve this meat.
The list of spices used in this recipe is almost classical, but you can modify it to your personal preferences.
It is possible to use only onion juice instead of pressed onion.
It is important to remove all onion, because onion will burn very quickly.
This is a beef, and most optimal doneness is medium, which can be achieved ad 55-56 ° C inside the meat chunks. Use meat thermometer to be sure.
Consume these beef shish kebab immediately, when it is hot.