How to cut meat for barbecue: advice from professionals and experienced housewives. Cooking barbecue for frying: the subtleties that you did not know

You need to start preparing for a barbecue at least a day in advance. You have to distribute the purchases - after all, you are probably not the only one who will buy meat and alcohol, cut the purchased meat and marinate it. Lean pork, beef tenderloin (however, kebab can turn out harsh from it), as well as fish, turkey, vegetables and such a “banal” product as sausages are ideal for barbecue. Many people buy meat for barbecue in supermarkets on their way to the country, but in this case it does not hurt to check what exactly they put in the package for you - sometimes the meat in the window and in your package can differ in quality by a factor of two. Nevertheless, if you strictly control the quality of the purchased meat, it may turn out that you will become one of the regular customers of the meat department of this supermarket, since you will be completely satisfied with the barbecue purchased there. Coal for the fire and disposable tableware can also be bought along the way. It is necessary to choose low-fat pieces of tenderloin for barbecue, without veins and bones. Some people get a pork neck, but there are usually a lot of complaints about it: it is both tough and fibrous, etc. Therefore, it is better to stop at the tenderloin.

How to cut meat?

You need to cut meat for barbecue into small cubes, cutting off fat and veins. The diameter of each piece is 5-6 cm.

How to marinate?

They marinate the shish kebab so that the meat becomes tender, fragrant and acquires that special taste of primordial human food roasted on an open fire, which is why, in fact, people eat shish kebab - to feel this taste. There are a lot of marinade recipes for him. Some "barbecue" with experience use vinegar, some use red wine. Mandatory components for both types of marinade are spices. A very interesting marinade option is marinade with tea. For lamb marinade with pomegranate juice is very good. Under the marinade, the meat is left for several hours, more often for a day. It depends on the stiffness of the meat: the tougher it is, the longer it should marinate. Press the meat on top. Any sufficiently heavy object placed on top of the meat can act as a press. When you put the kebab in the pan, place another smaller pot filled with water on top of it. Such a pan, which is freely removed from the pan with meat and is quite heavy, is the simplest version of the press.

We take care of gear in advance

With the start of the summer season, barbecue skewers can be purchased at most stores. Also in the household departments of large stores it is possible to purchase various barbecue equipment, and you can also buy those in which you do not need to burn coal - they will be powered by electricity. Do you need it - decide for yourself. In the author's opinion, barbecue is inseparable from the smell of a fire, burning coals, maybe even a few charred pieces. But, as they say, there are no comrades for the taste and color - if you are too lazy to mess around with a fire, an electric "barbecue" will be your salvation. Even on its long evolutionary path, mankind invented special grills for frying meat, on which pieces of meat, fish or poultry can be fried on both sides. At the same time, each guest can order the degree of roasting of the beef steak according to his desire - it can be with blood, or it can be with a completely fried core. These grills are also good because they can be used to cook anything - even crispy chicken wings, even a salmon steak. Since the technology for cooking coals here is the same as for a real barbecue, dishes are obtained with "smoke" and appetizing roasting.

Light lunch before a hearty dinner

While waiting for the barbecue, try to treat your guests with small sandwiches - canapes. They can be prepared from pieces of bread toasted in a toaster, various types of cheese, small pieces of sausage, ham, fish. Decorate them with vegetables, fresh herbs, stick a special skewer for canapes into each one - such skewers are sold in large stores, and serve. This serving option is usually used at buffet tables. In the same store where you bought your barbecue meat, you can choose from a variety of salads to serve. Salads in baskets look very good at a picnic. This is not a cheap product, but your guests will be pleased. And then there will be less dirty dishes left - these baskets can be taken by hand. And remember that the task of this event is not to feed the guests to their fill, but to let them "starve the worm" before the big program.

How to fire up the grill?

For a fire, you can collect branches lying under your feet in abundance and spread them between bricks, then set fire to several pieces of paper and throw them on the branches. When they flare up, you can put a small log on top - so that there are more coals. An easier option is to buy special coal or liquid to light a fire. Bags of coal are sold along most suburban highways, but it's best not to take it to the last minute and stock up on them in advance. Various types of firewood are also sold along the roads.

How to fry?

When you have a sufficient amount of coals in the brazier, string the kebab on skewers, interspersing the pieces with onions from the marinade. It is also very good to fry several vegetables along with meat on the same skewers - tomatoes, onions, red peppers. Thick red wine is ideal for barbecue - for example, Georgian, some varieties of Spanish wines, and, of course, the traditional Russian drink - vodka. There should also be a lot of vegetables and herbs on the table. In order to determine the degree of readiness of the kebab, pierce it with a match - if the juice does not stand out, then the kebab is ready.

Tea and dessert

A burning fire always looks extremely romantic, and even men, who are usually far from any romance, try to speak a little more quietly. Children, mesmerized by the soft reflections of the flames, can get too close to the fire or even stick their finger into it, so one of the adults should keep an eye on them all the time. Usually the shish kebab lasts until night - some lovers of summer evenings even boil water for tea in a samovar on coals. Such tea has a special taste - it smells slightly of smoke, like from exquisite Japanese and Vietnamese "smoked" varieties. Keep in mind: "heavy" cream cakes and pastries do not go well with this tea, especially since guests will already be full. And besides, if it was hot during the day, a hearty cake simply "won't work": perhaps the children will eat a couple of pieces, but that's all. For tea in the country, it is better to buy dry cookies, mini-cakes, bagels - they will look especially good with a samovar, etc.

How to entertain guests?

Usually, emotional conversations and the first toasts are followed by a desire to dance, "frolic", arrange some kind of noisy fuss. You can also play various games that adults also enjoy playing - "forfeits", "ringlet", "american". You can also play trickle.

Games for adults

"Changing Movements"

The player's task is to guess the person who changes the movements. All participants stand in a circle, and one of them moves away so that he cannot see other players. When this person leaves, the rest choose a leader who will change the movements. The guesser approaches, everyone starts stomping or clapping, and the leader imperceptibly changes movements. Looking at him, others do the same. The newcomer tries to guess the leader.

"Fantas"

A classic game that our grandmothers still remember. There are two central players in the game - the leader and the leader. Players collect forfeits - any small items - one from each, then put them in an opaque bag. A phantom can be a ring, a housekeeper, lipstick, a tiny calculator - in a word, anything. The driver makes a funny wish - for example, he offers to sing a song, dance, portray some animal. Then the presenter, who, according to the rules of the game, should not see who exactly is giving and what forfeit, takes out a forfeit from the bag. The player whose phantom was taken by the leader performs the task of the leader. Bon appetit and delicious barbecue!

My pork. You can cut off large fragments of fat. We cut into pieces.

Don't grind, but don't make huge chunks either.

Transfer the chopped meat to a bowl or saucepan.

Wash and clean onions.

There must be a lot of onions! Remember the proverb about butter, which will not spoil the porridge? So here too! You can't ruin a barbecue with onions!

Cut half of the onion into small cubes, the other half into half rings or rings.

Add the chopped onion to the meat and mix well. You need to do this with your hands and with force so that the onion gives all its juice to the marinade. That is why it is believed that cooking barbecue is a man's job.

Now add spices. They can be whatever you like. Black pepper, red pepper, ground coriander, paprika, bay leaf, etc. On sale there are ready-made mixes for cooking barbecue. In such mixtures, the spices are well chosen and, as a rule, the packaging indicates in what quantities they need to be added to the meat. You can also add fresh mint, oregano, sage.

So, add spices and mix thoroughly again. Spices should completely cover each piece of meat.

All! Pickled. Yes Yes! No salt! We will salt the meat immediately before frying. Leave the meat to marinate for 2-3 hours. Or you can put it in the fridge overnight.

Now it's time to fry our pork neck skewers! If the meat was marinated in the cold, take it out at least an hour in advance so that it comes to room temperature.

Now salt the meat, mix well and string the pickled pieces of pork on skewers. I advise you to shake the pieces of onion from the meat if possible.

Grill pork skewers on hot coals.

Don't forget to turn the skewers from time to time so that the meat cooks evenly.

If the coals burn, then knock down the flame by spraying the coals themselves with water, but not the barbecue. Checking the readiness of the barbecue is very simple! Cut a piece and if you see a clear juice flowing out, the meat is ready!

We eat pork neck shish kebab hot! Vegetable salads, tomato sauce, mustard are ideal for meat.

Bon appetit!

Marinating barbecue is a whole art, the most important dish at a picnic depends on creativity and intuition. We have collected the best recipes for you. To choose the recipe you need, think about the tastes of your friends, about the taste characteristics of the finished meat - and you will decide how to marinate the meat for barbecue.

Some of the most common questions about cooking meat for barbecue

1. How to properly cut meat for pork barbecue?

It is advisable to cut into medium or large pieces. The length of the piece is from 5 to 9 cm. The width-thickness is 3-6 cm. If the pieces are too small, the meat will cook faster, but the kebab will be drier.

2. How long to marinate pork skewers?

Pork barbecue meat can be marinated from several hours to a day. If time is short, then use recipe number 1, and choose especially soft and tender meat.

3. When to salt the meat on the barbecue?

The opinions of experts are divided. Some recommend salt already at the marinating stage, and the rest say that salt should be added only before the direct frying of the kebab.

Our opinion: if the pieces of meat on the barbecue are small, then you can salt before frying. However, if the pieces for the barbecue are classic (large), then it is worth salting when marinating. Important: the taste of marinated shish kebab should be slightly unsalted - with prolonged pickling, the taste of salt will increase.

Recipe 1. Soft and juicy barbecue.

• Meat - 3 kg (for 6-8 people)
• Onion - 0.7 kg
• mayonnaise - 100 g
• pepper
• spices (for pork)

My meat. We cut the meat into pieces of 6-8 cm long and 5-6 cm thick (the larger the pieces, the juicier the barbecue).

Cut half of the onion into large rings. The remaining onion is rubbed on a fine grater or chopped with a blender (into gruel).

Salt the chopped meat, pepper, sprinkle with spices. Place in a marinating container. We flavor each layer of meat with onion gruel, and also lay a word from onion rings. Lubricate with mayonnaise.

The meat should be marinated in the refrigerator. Marinating time for barbecue meat about a day.

Onion gruel is the main the secret of this barbecue recipe- the meat comes out very soft and juicy.

Recipe number 2. Acetic

• 2 kg pork neck
• 1 kg onion
• 1.5 liters of water
• 3 art. l. vinegar
• 2 tbsp. l. salt
• 2 tbsp. l. Sahara
• ground black pepper (you can mix “4 peppers”)

We wash and cut the meat. Onion cut into thick rings. We put meat (pepper) and onions in layers in a pan alternately. Pour marinade: water, salt, vinegar, sugar. We put in the refrigerator for the night.

In nature, we put meat mixed with onions on skewers and fry on medium hot coals until cooked. At the end, sprinkle with red sweet or semi-sweet wine.

Recipe number 3. Muscat-lemon skewers.

• Meat - 2 kg
• Onion - 0.7 kg
• Lemon - 1 pc.
• grated nutmeg
• salt pepper
• water - about 0.5 liters (the amount to cover the meat)

We cut the meat. Cut the onion into rings of 0.5 cm. Cut the lemon into slices, and squeeze 1.4 into the water and throw this part of the lemon tighter.

Put the meat in a marinating container, shift the meat with onion and lemon. Fill with water so that the water covers the meat.

Recipe number 4. Shashlik in white wine.

• pork-2 kg.
• bulb onions—5-7 pcs.
• ground black pepper-1 tsp
• salt- taste
• dry white wine-1 glass

Meat from the kidney part of the back or hind leg (you can take the meat of young pork or lamb) cut into equal pieces of medium size, put in a bowl, salt, add ground black pepper and mix well.

Cut the onion into rings and, adding dry white wine, mix again, crushing the meat. Cover the dish with a lid and put in a cool place for 4 hours. String pieces of meat on skewers and fry over hot coals without a flame, turning them all the time. Determine the degree of readiness with the help of an incision (the main thing is not to overdry).

Recipe number 5. The barbecue is spicy.

• Meat - 3 kg
• Red wine - 1 tbsp
• onion - 0.7 kg
• greens (dill, parsley) - 5-6 branches.

To get tender, juicy meat, you need to marinate the meat in red wine (dry, semi-dry), add onion rings, spices (to your taste), chopped herbs and marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Half an hour before stringing the kebab on a skewer, add 50 grams of vodka to the dishes with meat. Vodka will loosen the meat, and the frying time will be reduced and, as a result, tender, juicy and without sticking. But wood is also important. They should be very dry and slightly hollow inside (eg acacia, apricot).

If you make a barbecue (steak) without marinade, only with spices, then the meat must be rubbed with spices, do not salt (salt is hard meat), and pour a little sunflower oil and refrigerate overnight. Salt when hot.

Recipe number 6. Barbecue with pomegranate juice

• pork-2.5 kg.
• dry red wine-1/2 cup
• pomegranate juice-1/2 cup
• bulb onions—8 pcs.
• lemon-1 PC.
• hops-suneli-1 tsp
• black pepper- taste
• olive oil-3 tbsp
• salt- taste

Cut the pork (neck) into a pan into large (5 by 5 cm) cubes. Cut the onion into rings and mash the meat with onion, black pepper, salt and hop-suneli seasoning with your hands. Mix wine, lemon juice, pomegranate juice and pour into the meat, mix gently without pressing, and then carefully add olive oil. Keep overnight in a cool place. Cook on the grill for 10-15 minutes, periodically turning the skewers around its axis and watering with marinade.

Delicious meat and good weather!

The second part of pork barbecue tips from the chef of a Moscow restaurant "Argo" by Igor Mamatov.

We have already figured out how to choose meat. It was

In the third part there will be tips on how

How to cut meat for pork skewers

Here the most interesting begins, many subtleties I did not even know.

Along or across

- Meat for barbecue should be cut across the fibers. If you cut it along the fibers, then when you eat, these fibers will be like threads, and you will chew them for a long time. And if you cut across, then there will be a completely different taste, and the meat will be more than 2 times softer.

This is especially important when cutting a piece of neck!

Slicing form

I didn't know this!!!

It is best to cut the pieces not into cubes familiar to all of us, but into slices 1-1.5 cm thick across the fibers. The meat marinates better and is fried faster and more evenly. If cut into the usual cubes, then the marinade will penetrate only into the outer layers. And when frying, the outer layer will already dry out, and the inside of the meat will still be raw. Although it seems to many that large pieces will be juicier.

About how to string these pieces on skewers a little later.

The size of a piece of meat for barbecued pork

The optimal piece size is 60 gr.

It is clear that every time you will not take the scales with you. Just cut it once, cock it and then try to repeat these dimensions all your life.

If the piece is smaller, then it will fry quickly, but there is a danger that you will overdry the kebab, if the piece is larger, then it will already be cooked on the outside, but inside it will be raw.

Marinades for pork

The secret to the perfect marinade

- If you bought the right meat, then you only need onions. Sliced, mashed and mixed with meat. You don't even need salt. We salt the meat already on the skewer, before sending it to the grill.

In fact, all marinades from time immemorial were invented in order to hide or correct the shortcomings of meat: either smell, or stiffness.

If you want to hide the smell of pork, then add spices to the onion. Which? Those that you like, there are no comrades for the taste and color here.

If the barbecue meat is hard and dry

- If the meat is tough, then you can add kiwi to the onion.

As for mineral, more precisely, soda water, it is known that soda makes meat softer - so you can use it.

If your meat is dry, then you can add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Marinating pork in vinegar, wine, kefir

- If the meat lies for a long time in an acidic environment, and this is vinegar, and wine, and kefir or any fermented milk products, then it will become tough.

The acidic environment makes the meat tough.

Therefore, if you want to make the meat soft, then sprinkle it just before sending it to the grill with wine or diluted vinegar, let it lie down for a few minutes so that the liquid dries up and send it to fry.

Continuation on how to properly fry our pork skewers so that our labors in the third part do not disappear:

There is an opinion that only men are capable of making a good barbecue. But it is not so. Gender is completely irrelevant here. In order for such a dish to turn out to be truly tasty, it is necessary to correctly perform each stage of the process of its preparation. Particular attention should be paid to how to cut meat on a barbecue. In this matter, there are many points that you should know about before you get to work.

The process of cooking barbecue includes several mandatory steps:

• choice of main components;
• grinding products (cutting);
• preparing them for work (pickling);
• putting blanks on skewers;
• direct frying.

Each of them is important in its own way and requires appropriate attention. However, some believe, for example, that it is absolutely not important how to cut meat for barbecue. However, this process has its own subtleties.

Not every cut off piece is suitable for barbecue. True professionals pay special attention to the shape of the workpiece. Ideally, if the pieces are cut into cones. This will make it easier to put them on the skewer and will contribute to a good frying in the future. But before deciding how to cut meat for barbecue, you need to prepare all the necessary tools for this. Usually in such cases it is required:

1. Sharp knife. It is desirable if it has a wide, even blade without any notches. Tools with a corrugated blade will not work for this.
2. Wooden cutting board with a special groove for collecting liquid. After all, when cutting meat, juice will definitely stand out from it. It is undesirable that it accumulates on the surface. If this is not available, then you can take an ordinary wooden board. In any case, it must first be doused with cold running water. So it will absorb less meat juice.

Having everything you need in stock, you can safely get to work.

main ingredient

Before deciding how to cut meat for barbecue, it is necessary to take into account which product will be used for this. For example, it is best to choose tenderloin from beef, or the situation is different with pork. Here it is better to use the neck for barbecue. This is the meat located along the ridge. It is necessary to take exactly the part that is located in the neck area. What goes lower along the back, of course, is also suitable. But in this case, you will have to spend extra time to cut off a large amount of fat, which is located nearby. It is better not to take the back part at all. From which there is, the barbecue will turn out dry and not juicy. This must be understood and not made mistakes. Lamb is a completely different story. Here, of all the carcasses, only tenderloin, loin or hind leg are suitable for cooking barbecue. But the popular spatula is better to save for another dish. When the issue with meat is finally resolved, it will be possible to proceed to the next stage.

Pickling Secret

It is known that the use of fresh meat does not guarantee that the barbecue will turn out soft and juicy. Even inexperienced housewives know that the main product must first be subjected to additional processing. This refers to the marinating process. First you need to understand why it is needed. Here it is worth remembering the lessons of chemistry. After all, it is known that meat mainly consists of proteins (elastin, collagen and reticulin). During heat treatment, it partially softens. But best of all, this process goes under the action of acid. In such an environment, the protein gradually becomes loose, which means it will be able to hold the juice and after frying it will turn out soft. In practice, marinades prepared on the basis of:

• kefir;
• guilt;
• mayonnaise;
• vinegar;
• mineral water.

Everyone chooses an option to their taste. But most often they use a method for which it is necessary: ​​for 1.2 kilograms of meat (for example, pork) 8 grams of sugar, 3 onions, salt, 60 grams of vinegar and any spices.

Everything is done very simply:

1. First, rinse the pork and lightly dry it with a napkin to remove excess moisture.
2. Then we cut the meat into barbecue, taking into account the advice of professionals regarding the shape and size of individual pieces.
3. Sprinkle the blanks with spices and leave for 10 minutes so that the meat can be thoroughly soaked with them.
4. Add chopped onion rings, sugar and vinegar, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:2.

In such a marinade, the meat should lie for at least 9 hours. Only after that it will be possible to start frying.

Important details

Experienced housewives know how to properly cut meat for barbecue. Novice cooks who want to master the art of cooking this dish need to pay attention to a few important points:

1. Only sharp instruments should be used. You can correctly divide the meat into pieces with a well-sharpened knife in your hands. With its help, it will be possible to cut off excess fat, films and hard tendons without much difficulty.
2. The blanks must have the optimal size. Any deviations in one direction or another negatively affect the quality of the finished product.
3. Use the same cutting method for all types of meat. The exception is beef. Because of the hard long fibers, it requires an individual approach.
4. Remember that a six-piece kebab is considered ideal. Practice shows that such an amount for this dish is considered optimal.

If all these points are taken into account, then you can not worry about the quality of the finished dish. It remains only to follow all the rules of frying meat on an open fire.

Slicing rules

Each dish has its own subtleties. For kebabs, they mainly relate to the way the main product is cut. The same question always arises here. Very often, novice cooks are interested in how to cut meat for barbecue: along or across. The answer to this question is ambiguous. It would seem that everything is clear here. Separation into pieces must be done taking into account the bite line. Therefore, almost all types of meat intended for barbecue are cut across. Then it is put on a skewer along the fibers. Only in this way can the finished product turn out to be quite juicy and truly soft.

If you do the opposite, then it will be difficult to bite off a whole piece later, since the meat itself will gradually shrink during the frying process. The skewers will be tough and tasteless. Although, using pre-marinating, the meat can be minced in any direction. The exception to this rule is beef. It only needs to be cut across.

Piece size

In order to achieve the desired result in the end, you also need to know what pieces to cut the meat on the barbecue. As practice shows, the size in this matter plays an important role.

Experienced chefs are sure that a piece of 3 to 5 centimeters in size is considered optimal. It will weigh approximately 30 grams. If you make the workpiece smaller, then when cooked on an open fire, it will quickly fry and become dry. Large pieces are also undesirable. In the allotted time, they will not have time to properly fry from the inside and remain raw. If you hold them on fire a little longer, then the surface layers can be very charred. Such a barbecue will not bring pleasure to anyone. In addition, we must try to keep the pieces as even as possible. Thin hanging edges will immediately burn and spoil not only the appearance, but also the taste of the finished product. Also, when grinding a whole piece, it is imperative to cut off the fat. Under the influence of high temperature, it will gradually shrink, releasing fat to the outside. As a result, an additional dense tissue will appear on a piece of meat, which will be difficult to chew.