Marinades for shish kebab: how to properly marinate meat and how to choose the best flavor
Kyiv • UNN
Choose the best marinades for pork, chicken, and beef based on expert advice. This article features recipes using mineral water, yogurt, wine, and beer.
May is the traditional barbecue season, when Ukrainians head outdoors and experiment with flavors: from classic pork to tender chicken or juicy beef. A properly selected marinade is the key to the perfect shashlik. UNN explains how to properly marinate meat and choose the best flavor
How to properly marinate shashlik: basic rules
It is worth starting with the choice of recipe and the product you want to cook. Popular options include chicken, pork, lamb, and beef.
As a rule, the marinade consists of a mixture of spices, vegetable oil, and an acid (for example, lemon juice). For chicken, half an hour of marinating is enough to gain additional flavor nuances; for pork, beef, and lamb — at least 2-3 hours.
Shashlik marinade with onions and mineral water
This particular type of marinade is a universal option. It softens the meat and promotes the formation of an appetizing golden crust. This is the optimal solution for marinating pork shashlik in mineral water. For it, you will need:
- 1 kg of onions;
- 70 g of sugar;
- 150 ml of vegetable oil;
- 150 ml of table vinegar;
- 1.5 liters of sparkling mineral water;
- 3 bay leaves, salt, and pepper.
The classic onion marinade is prepared as follows: add sugar, pepper, salt, bay leaf, and vinegar to the cut meat; immediately pour in the mineral water and vegetable oil, stirring after each step.
Shashlik marinade with mayonnaise
Pork shashlik in mayonnaise with onions is perhaps the most accessible and simplest in terms of marinating. It turns out very tender, while spices and ground pepper add a piquant note.
Rinse the meat under running cold water, dry with paper towels, and cut into medium-sized pieces. If the pieces are too large, the shashlik will be difficult to cook through, as mayonnaise burns very quickly on coals. If the pieces are too small, the finished meat will be dry.
In a deep container, mix mayonnaise, ground peppers, and a little salt. Stir until the salt dissolves. Peel the onions and cut them into rings. Then mash them with your hands so the onions release juice. Put the onions and meat into a deep bowl or pot. Add the mayonnaise marinade and mix thoroughly again.
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Chicken shashlik marinade: easy and quick recipes
A marinade for chicken shashlik should be more delicate to preserve the tenderness of the meat. One of the best options is based on natural yogurt, which gently softens the fibers and makes the chicken juicy. Add some spices and citrus zest — and you get a light, aromatic shashlik that doesn't require long marinating and always turns out well.
Yogurt-based chicken meat marinade
Salt and pepper the fillet pieces, add smoked paprika for a rich aroma. Grate lemon zest and squeeze a little juice from it, then add thick unsweetened yogurt. Mix and leave to marinate.
Raspberry-based chicken meat marinade
Raspberries in a marinade will make the taste of the meat very unusual; moreover, they provide the very acid needed for the tenderness of the shashlik. Use fresh or frozen. First, mash them well with your hands, then add to the meat, salt it, pepper it, and pour in a little oil. Optionally, add a sprig of rosemary. Stir the pieces every 5 minutes so that each one is soaked in raspberry juice.
Beef marinade. For beef, as with other types of meat, there are several ways to marinate shashlik.
Classic onion marinade. You will need 500-800 g of onions, salt, pepper, and spices to taste. Cut the onion into rings, add to the meat, season with salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly.
Mineral water marinade. Add 500 g of chopped onions, a few cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp of oil, salt, pepper, and spices to the beef. Pour 500 ml of mineral water over everything. You can also add a little sparkling water to other marinades to speed up their effect.
Beef shashlik in wine and beer marinade. Combine the beef with chopped onions (400 g) and 3-4 cloves of garlic, spices (khmeli-suneli), salt, and garlic, pour in 300 ml of dry red wine and mix thoroughly. For extra aroma, you can use fresh or dried rosemary.
Malt saturates the meat with an original flavor and makes it tender. Cut the meat into pieces, salt to taste, and pour in a little oil. Then pour in the beer so that it completely covers the meat again. Add crushed garlic cloves for a richer aroma, a few bay leaves, and grain mustard. Salt and mix everything thoroughly. During frying, the alcohol from the beer will evaporate, while the rich taste of malt and rye bread will remain.
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