How to choose meat for barbecue

Soft juicy kebab is associated with spring holidays. It is nice to eat in the summer at the cottage. Shish kebab has long been a hit in many countries around the world. A dish of Caucasian cuisine does not need additional advertising. However, the success of the preparation depends, first of all, on the correct choice of raw materials. Kebab is fried on the basis of pork, beef or lamb. Let's analyze the important aspects.

Freshness is the main criterion

1. It doesn’t matter what kind of meat you make barbecue from, the raw materials must be fresh. Defining this is easy. A quality piece does not have mucus on the surface, it is without blood and foreign fluid.
2. Equally important is the structure of the meat. Dense elastic specimens are suitable for barbecue. Look at the shade of the cut, a good kebab will come out of a bright red piece.
3. The surface must be wet, but not wet. Touch the selected raw material, make sure that it is not sticky. When pressed, a composition suitable for shish kebab will produce clear juice.
4. It is easy to identify a stale product: it is wet, sticky, with cloudy discharge and an unpleasant odor. The aroma of good raw materials will not cause you a negative reaction.
5. Meat that has good freshness is dense. This means that the piece has not been previously frozen / thawed. Otherwise, it will be loose and too wet.
6. Click on the selected instance with your finger. If the resulting fossa is quickly leveled, the piece holds its shape, and you can safely buy it. In cases where freshness is in doubt, the groove will level off slowly.
7. Pay attention to the streaks of fat. If the raw material is not suitable for consumption, the fat usually has a grayish-yellowish tint and a sticky surface. Sometimes it is cloudy with a matte subtext.

Good meat is young

1. The most juicy kebab is obtained from young meat. It needs to be less fried and marinated, in addition, such a product even with the most inexperienced chef will be excellent.
2. Ask the seller about the age of the meat. The older the animal, the darker the color of its meat. This means that the muscles will make the dish rubber.
3. Judge by the shade. Suitable for frying instance is not glossy, but not matte. It has a uniform shade with a natural color palette. Beef is red, lamb is reddish with white stripes, pork is pink.
4. If the color is too dark, the animal is many years old. To make it easier to determine the age category of raw materials, you need to take a thin layer of meat and try to break it. A suitable product will tear easily.

Type of meat - chilled, steamed, frozen

1. Meat that has undergone the freezing procedure is suitable for cooking barbecue only if it has been subjected to the procedure 1 time. Repeated procedure is unacceptable, the composition becomes loose and tasteless. It is not difficult to distinguish such a product: touch it with a fingertip, remove your hand. If a dark circle forms at the point of contact, you can eat meat. When the product is frozen 2 or more times, there will be no stain.
2. Meat is considered paired if about 3-4 hours have passed since the slaughter. Many people believe that such a piece should be preferred. But this statement is erroneous. As a raw material for barbecue, this type of meat is the most inappropriate. After frying, the piece will be rubber, it is extremely difficult to chew. This aspect is due to the fact that after slaughter, the muscles of the animal are not relaxed. The meat must first be aged before frying.
3. Chilled meat is also suitable.His taste is beyond praise. Subject to storage conditions (temperature from 0 to 4 degrees), the kebab will turn out to be tender, juicy and very pleasant to taste. Particular attention is paid to the marinade; vinegar should not be used so as not to spoil the dish.

Important!
If you choose chilled meat, you must distinguish it from frozen. When pressed, transparent juice will stand out from the piece, while a darkish circle will remain on the meat. If the meat is thawed and frozen several times, the raw material will be too wet. Good meat is moderately moist.

The subtleties of choosing lamb meat

1. From time immemorial, the Caucasian people cooked barbecue exclusively on the basis of lamb meat. The most juicy, tender and aromatic dish will be a dish prepared from a lamb up to 60 days old.
2. As a rule, young lambs are sent to slaughter in mid-spring. Therefore, if your meal was not for this period, you won’t get such lamb. In this case, choose raw materials up to a year old.
3. Skewer lamb will turn out to be extremely tasty if it is prepared from pulp taken from the hind legs. Cutting or loin is also ideal. The ribs are fried reluctantly, but if you like to gnaw bones, they will also work. It is important to remember that the lamb shish kebab is eaten immediately, then it becomes tasteless.

The subtleties of choosing pork meat

1. Most people who cook kebabs often prefer pork. First of all, it is important to know that the animal product should not be too fat.
2. To prepare a delicious barbecue, it is recommended to take meat near the neck, which is located on the neck and along the ridge. In this case, the fatty streaks are evenly spaced. In the end, you get a juicy kebab.
3. No less popular in this matter are tenderloin, ribs and loin. If you take meat along the ridge, do not forget to cut fat. Dry kebab is obtained if you take a ham. In this part of the carcass, the minimum percentage of fat.
4. If you bought meat from ham, it is recommended to carefully marinate it, taking more time. Pork is good in that almost all of its parts are suitable for frying on skewers.
5. The question remains only how and how much to pickle each part. Do not buy pork from the back of the animal. In this case, the marinade will not help, the kebab will turn out to be dry and hard.

The subtleties of choosing beef

1. Few people use beef meat for cooking barbecue. In this case, the dish is stiffer than pork. You can devote more time and attention to making the barbecue tasty and juicy. The pickling procedure is recommended in a highly carbonated mineral water.
2. If you decide to cook kebab exactly from beef, it is worth buying fillet or meat from the breast. For the dish, you can also take the back of the leg. Meat is better to choose from the inside. To cook a unique barbecue, it is recommended to purchase a fillet of a young calf.

Meat cutting rules

1. It is recommended to cut the meat into slices of medium size. Small specimens are rather dry. Large pieces of meat, in turn, may not fry inside. Ideally, it is recommended to chop meat into shapes resembling a cone.
2. Do not seriously go into such trifles, the classic pieces of square meat from this will not become less tasty. To determine the size of the future barbecue, try to visually imagine that about 6 pieces should fit on the skewer.

The subtleties of marinade

1. To cook a truly delicious kebab, it is not enough to get the right meat tenderloin. The most important aspects remain the preparations and the correct marinade.
2. The juiciness and taste of meat will depend on the performed manipulation. Also, the dish should be fried and tender. Give preference to the marinade to your taste.Currently, meat can be prepared in different ways.
3. Be sure to use onions, a classic ingredient, without which the dish will not be so tasty. Choose the right dishes for the procedure. It is not recommended to marinate meat in a plastic or aluminum container.
4. If the meat is in a similar dish for a long time, the product begins to absorb harmful compounds. During the preparation of the dish, toxins will not evaporate anywhere. There is a risk of poisoning. It is also not recommended to marinate meat in a wooden container.

In order to cook a delicious and tender kebab, you must responsibly approach the procedure for choosing meat and marinating it. First of all, decide on the type of dish. Do not skimp and get a quality product. Remember, the younger the meat, the tastier the dish.

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