How do Armenians marinate pork skewers. The secret of cooking Armenian barbecue from juicy pork

Let's start with the brazier, as many do not know that the brazier itself greatly affects how the barbecue is cooked. Trust me, my relatives have been in the restaurant business for over 15 years. What is the peculiarity of the manga?

The first thing that is very important is the depth of the brazier. It is necessary that the depth of the barbecue does not exceed + - 25 cm. Why is this so important? If you have a brazier, which has a depth of, say, 40 cm, the meat in it does not cook correctly, namely for the reason that there the metal pulls all the heat onto itself, and the meat itself, instead of being cooked on coals, dries from the heat the metal itself.

As a result, the meat is not juicy. That is why the first guarantee of a delicious barbecue is the right barbecue.

Now let's talk about no less important, but rather, the most important component of the right barbecue - the meat itself. Firstly, I want to say that any barbecue will be delicious, regardless of whether you take the neck, ribs or chops.

It is important here that the meat itself be good, homemade, farmed. Therefore, try to find a place where you can buy real homemade meat. And ribs, neck or chop - depends on your taste.

It is very important to be able to distinguish homemade meat from what is usually sold in supermarkets. If you decide to conduct an experiment and try to cook barbecue from homemade meat and from a store at the same time, you will notice that homemade meat is cooked more difficult and much longer, and much longer.

Let's say that we have already found and bought good homemade meat for barbecue. Now you need to marinate it. All our Russian neighbors and acquaintances, friends, after they try my barbecue, ask: “How did you marinate the meat, what is it so tasty?”. And everyone thinks that the point is in some special marinade such as soda, various seasonings, mayonnaise.

When they say that shish kebab can be marinated in mayonnaise, it generally kills me. In no case do not add mayonnaise to the barbecue, guys! This is the worst thing you can do to meat!

My answer is surprisingly simple - onion, pepper and salt, sometimes I buy fresh pomegranate and add fresh pomegranate juice to the meat, nothing else.

But let's move on to the marinade process, and then to the barbecue itself.

Let's say I'm going to cook barbecue tomorrow. Then I marinate it in the evening in this way: I cut the meat into pieces, cut the onion, if I bought a pomegranate, I squeezed a little pomegranate juice, pepper (I don’t add salt).

Then I mix everything very carefully, cover with a lid and put in the refrigerator. It is very important - the meat does not need to be crushed, many people put the meat in the refrigerator and press it down with a plate, and put something heavy on top. You don't need to do this.

The next day, 1.5-2 hours before cooking, I open the pot with meat, add salt to taste, mix everything well again and do not put the meat back in the refrigerator. It needs to be at room temperature.

The bottom line is that if the meat is immediately put on the grill from the refrigerator, then its surface begins to burn quickly, and inside the meat does not have time to reach readiness. Therefore, leave the meat in the room for 1.5-2 hours so that it comes to room temperature.

Well, now it's time to cook the meat itself. The most important thing, stringing meat on skewers, is to twist it every minute. Be sure to turn the meat every minute.

You don't need to twist faster, for example, every 20-30 seconds, this is too often and the meat will start to ooze a lot. Optimally - turn it over every minute.

That's all, guys, there is nothing complicated in cooking a real Armenian barbecue, as many people think. Just fry the meat like a man and from the heart, then everything will work out fine for you. And forget about these mayonnaises and various spices of unknown origin!

After all, the kebab itself is prepared from meat, and it is the meat that should be tasty, and not seasonings.

Write your comments, how it turned out, maybe you have some other questions for me. In the future, I will try to record for you a video of cooking Armenian barbecue.

Shashlik in Armenian is a classic of the genre and we are considering it. The barbecue marinating recipe will not claim to be the only true recipe. However, this recipe was shared by one rather old Armenian, who is not a bad person, and a good enough cook. The presented pickling method may be of interest for several of its properties. The marinating process can take about 40 minutes, while in such a marinade the meat can not even stand in the refrigerator for three days, and will not deteriorate. The main thing is not to leave it under the direct sun, and you can be sure of the quality of the product. It is also worth noting that when using such a marinade, the meat is cooked much faster. Cooking time is sometimes reduced by 2 times.

How to cook Armenian marinade
There is no need to use a variety of vinegars, wines or mayonnaises. It will be enough for us to take ordinary unrefined sunflower oil. Of course, it is better to use homemade oil.

Spices can be used any to taste, but it is worth considering some nuances. Pepper can only be used black, you can add allspice for flavor. The use of coriander is highly recommended. All this must be used only coarse grinding, so that there are no large pieces, but there is also no powder.

We take an enameled pan, pour about 200 grams of oil on the bottom of it, and throw in all the seasonings. We used some suneli hops for spice, as well as a small amount of dry cilantro and tarragon. We throw salt depending on the amount of marinated meat. Now the marinade must be left for a while to soak.

Now we need a bow. It will need to be used quite a lot. Half a kilogram of onion for one and a half kilograms of meat. You can do more, but you can't do less. There is one more subtlety here: the onion must be peeled, but the tails and spouts should be left in place. It is best to use a medium-sized onion.

The onion must be cut lengthwise. We cut small onions into four parts, larger onions can be cut into six parts. One small onion must be finely chopped enough, add a little salt and carefully transfer. Place all the onions in the marinade and mix well.

How to cook Armenian kebab
Now you can start meat. In such a marinade, even beef turns out good, but it is better to take the neck. The meat must be cut into sufficiently large pieces, in which case it will turn out quite juicy. If you use lamb, then the pieces can be made smaller. We throw the meat into the marinade, mix thoroughly and even press down a little. If you plan to fry it not in the near future, then it is better to pepper it on top and cover it with oil to the top.

It is necessary to string meat with onions in turn on skewers. In this case, the onion must be strung immediately in quarters, piercing from the inner layer outward. In this case, during cooking, the nose and tail will burn, and you will have a real tasty baked onion.

Now let's reveal the secret why this is faster. The thing is that vegetable oil, during burnout and rendering, warms up a piece of meat from the inside, while preventing it from drying out. The only caveat: a lot of fat will drip from such a barbecue, so you will need to carefully monitor the fire.

Of course, the most important thing in barbecue is meat! The choice of meat is a whole science, I will share my secrets. I cook pork kebab (if you don’t like pork or it’s not allowed for religious reasons, you can take other desired meat), I usually buy meat in the market, it’s better from a seller I know (I don’t advise taking it in stores - it often comes across with water, not only they fool around for money, so the meat instead of frying begins to be cooked from the inside).

Meat on the market usually lies without a refrigerator, this is a guarantee of freshness (otherwise it would stink), the meat should be soft, when pressed with a finger, the hole should quickly tighten, it is better to give preference to the pork neck (loin will also work well), you should not be afraid of white loose fat (such fat accumulates), it is better to choose lighter meat (it is younger), do not hesitate to smell it, twist it in your hands. On average, for 3 eaters you need about 2 kilos of meat (namely, meat and not marinated shish kebab).

So let's start cooking! We cut the meat into small cubes (the size of a child’s fist or a large chicken egg), remove various veins or films, we don’t need them!

The next most important ingredient is the well-known onion! it is better not to take red or white onions (it has been experimented many times, it behaves ambiguously), ordinary onions are better! we cut the onion in any order (rings, semicols, cubes, chop - AS YOU WANT). The main rule of onions should be 1 to 1 to the weight of the meat! 2 kilos of meat - 2 kilos of onions! we pour the onion into a deep container (pan, basin), and we crush what there are relics, squeeze our hands (we need juice).

We add our chopped meat to the onion and squeeze again, knead the meat and onion like dough!

pepper with finely ground black pepper (preferably from a mini mill), do not spare the pepper.

Next, we need one glass of mineral water, choose the water to your taste, just do not take water like aqua minerale or bon aqua, you need real mineral natural water! Essentuki, Borjomi, Narzan are well suited from popular brands. (well, if you are Armenian then of course BJNI).

knead everything well, cover with a plate of a smaller diameter pan or basin, put oppression on top (a stone from salting or a jar of water). leave for 12 hours (at night), you can do with 2 hours, you can stretch for a day. if time is short, leave at room temperature, if 12 hours are left, then in the refrigerator.

SALT!!! There are some fundamentals here! Some argue that you need to salt raw meat, because this way it is better salted inside. others argue that you need to salt the finished meat, because the salt in the marinade negatively affects the softness of the meat ... I have an alternative, I salt the marinade, 10-15 minutes BEFORE BAKING!!! 2-3 teaspoons per serving.

a little about the coals, the coals should be well occupied, be hot, but it’s too early to cook, you need to wait a pause - the coals should “gray”, a little ash white pollen will appear, now is the time !!!

we put the meat on skewers (do not leave pieces of onion or plant vegetables on the meat - all this will burn and the meat will be bitter). Fry should be only on the other side, no need to fry the meat in a circle! if the choice fell on pork, then on good coals, the pork cooks quickly, well browned on the one hand, good on the other, 10-15 minutes back and forth and it's ready !!! do not dry the meat!!! there should be juice in it, but not red, light yellow (like vegetable oil). remove the meat and sprinkle with chopped herbs (to your taste)

For fans of Caucasian cuisine, we offer recipes for cooking real Armenian shish kebab. It is absolutely easy to implement them, and the result will exceed all your expectations.

How to make pork barbecue in Armenian style?

Ingredients:

• pork (neck) - 1.8-2.1 kg;
• onions - 450 g;
• refined - 55 ml;
• coriander peas - 10 g;
• dried basil - 1 tbsp. spoon;

Cooking

Shashlik in Armenian style is necessarily prepared from pork. In this case, we will take the pork neck, which we traditionally marinate. To do this, we clean and cut the onions into rings, and grind the peas of black pepper and coriander in a mortar until fine crumbs. Washed and cut into slices a little larger than a matchbox, put the meat in an enameled or glass bowl, add onion, refined oil, chopped coriander and black pepper, add dried basil and salt and knead everything well with your hands so that the onions and meat begin to give juice. We put the dish with meat on the shelf of the refrigerator and let it marinate for seven hours. It is better to leave the pork in the marinade overnight, but about an hour and a half or two before frying it is necessary to keep it at room conditions.

Now we string the slices of meat on a skewer and fry on the grill until cooked, periodically pouring them with the juice from the marinade.

Authentic Armenian kebab - carbonade recipe

Ingredients:

• pork (carbonade) - 1.8-2.1 kg;
• dried parsley - 1 teaspoon;
• dried dill - 1 teaspoon;
• black peppercorns - 15 g;
• dried thyme - 2/3 tsp;
• dried basil - 1.5-2 tbsp. spoons;
• coarse salt - 20 g or to taste.

Cooking

This recipe for Armenian barbecue involves the use of pork chop for its preparation. First, rinse the meat, dry it and cut into portioned slices about two centimeters thick. Now, in a separate bowl, mix dried basil, thyme, dill and parsley, add also freshly ground black pepper grains and mix. We rub the pieces of pork with salt and a spicy dry mixture, put them in a suitable bowl and leave for two hours at room conditions.

We fry the marinated pieces of pork chop on the grill. For the first five minutes, we maintain a strong heat under the meat, turning the grate regularly so that the meat does not burn, but acquires a fried crust, which will help preserve all the juices inside the piece. Then we reduce the intensity of the heat and bring the pork to readiness, trying to warm it evenly on both sides, continuing to regularly turn the grate over for this.

Shashlik must be served with Armenian sauce, the recipe of which we offer below.

Armenian barbecue sauce

Ingredients:

Cooking

Dilute tomato paste with water and heat to a boil. Add cloves, pepper, salt, sugar and boil, stirring for five minutes. Now we grind through a grater or chop the onion and garlic cloves in a blender, chop the herbs, add everything to the sauce and mix.

There is an indisputable truth: in order for a dish to be tasty, it must be prepared with love. To be honest, barbecue in Armenia is even indecent to call a dish. And its preparation is a whole ritual, I have already talked a little about this.

So. The above does not apply to the Armenian barbecue. Or rather, it is too little. Because Armenian khorovats ( our barbecue name ) - it is also the proud spirit of our ancient impregnable mountains, the crystal clearness of ice springs, a piece of delicious Armenian sun. And the coals on which khorovats is cooked are the warmth of a kind Armenian heart… Such is the obligatory lyrical digression.

And now - in essence

You can cook barbecue in the oven, on the grill, but let's imagine a different situation: a picnic in nature with good friends!

So, the first thing to do is to buy meat. It can be pork, lamb, poultry meat. Now we will talk about pork khorovats.

The main and necessary condition: meat must be fresh. The ideal condition is also acquired from a home farm. But which part to take - ribs, chop or neck - this is already a matter of taste. I personally prefer tenderloin - we buy it. For a company of 7-8 people, 3 kg is enough.

What else is needed:

A bottle of mineral water;

A kilogram of onion;

Ground black pepper, you can and other spices - to taste. Notice I haven't mentioned salt yet!

Attention! All this we need to prepare the marinade. You can take anything with you to nature - ketchups, mayonnaises and more. But in no case do not add them to the marinade! It will no longer be khorovats, but something hmm ... tolerant.

And one more important condition (I'm getting ahead of myself): be sure to take pita bread, and of course - vegetables. I will tactfully keep silent about the rest.

We are preparing the marinade (in Armenian it is called basturma)!

This procedure is performed in the evening the day before the picnic.

1. After washing the meat, cut it into medium pieces and transfer to a saucepan.
2. Thinly cut the onion and send after the meat.
3. Then we add spices - I deliberately do not focus your attention on quantity - this is a matter of taste.
4. You can also add a little pomegranate juice - but do not overdo it!

Then pour mineral water(a glass or one and a half) and put the pan in the refrigerator, not forgetting to cover with a lid.

The very next day, an hour and a half before cooking, the pan with the marinade must be opened, add salt to taste and no longer sent to the refrigerator. Meat should be at room temperature when frying.

That, in fact, is all.

Cooking process

I hope you didn't forget to take firewood with you. Of course, dry branches collected on the spot will also work, but stocked firewood is still better.

Thread meat onto skewers. We leave all that remains of the marinade in the pan - this will still come in handy for us.

Now we make a fire. I understand that you are already salivating from the smell, but the main thing in this matter is patience! After making a fire, you must wait until the fire has completely subsided. When the firebrands begin to smolder, the skewers can be put on fire.

Attention! Have a bottle of drinking water handy. When grease begins to drip onto the embers, they may flare up again. In this case, you need to quickly raise the skewers and drop a little water on the firebrands (but do not overdo it, otherwise the fire will go out).

The cooking process itself is extremely simple: pork khorovats, or rather, skewers with barbecue, must be turned over all the time (this is my firm secret!), In order to prevent the meat from burning. After 20-25 minutes your khorovats is ready!

With the help of pita bread, pour the meat into a convenient container - and to the table! I do it a little differently: the finished khorovats is returned back to the same saucepan, directly on the remains of the marinade. So delicious!

Bon appetit! And don't forget: the first toast is for the master!