Why Your Kebabs Just Aren't Grilling The Way You Want

During grilling season, kebabs are one of the most fun dishes to put together. You don't need any special skill to make them, and you can stack your sticks with whatever looks good at the grocery store, be it steak, chicken, tofu, or shrimp. Food on a stick is not entirely foolproof, however. If you find that your kebabs just aren't grilling the way you want, make sure you're pairing similar ingredient textures. Dense pieces of beef will cook slower than a chunk of zucchini, for example, so you can end up with overcooked veggies and undercooked meat.

You don't need to be a food scientist to figure out the density of each ingredient in order to make perfect kebabs, just try to group things together that cook at around the same speed. Also, be sure to cut all of your ingredients into the same size, leave space between each piece on the stick, and if there's anything really dense you can always do a little precooking before finishing on the grill.

When grilling over an open flame it can be difficult to control the heat. One way to avoid uneven cooking of your kebabs is to learn how to use the vents on your grill. But even if you know how to use your grill properly, it's important to match ingredients that will cook at the same speed while you're assembling the kebabs. Tofu, for example, will cook faster than pork, and cherry tomatoes will be ready before chunks of beef. Find textures that are similar in density and moisture content and skewer them together.

To ensure even cooking it is also a good practice to make sure all of your kebab ingredients are cut to about the same size and shape. When prepping the meat for kebabs try to cut it into about 1½-inch pieces, which will give you enough mass to get some good charring on all sides without burning or losing too much moisture. While visually it's nice to have a variety of ingredients on every kebab skewer, it's actually a lot easier to cook everything properly if you put the same foods together. A whole skewer of bacon-wrapped shrimp will cook in five minutes, for instance. Plus, different proteins need to reach different internal cooking temperatures for food safety reasons, so it just makes sense.

Once you've matched your kebab ingredients based on cooking times, make sure to leave a little bit of space between each piece. You don't need to leave big gaps between pieces, just enough space so that you can see in between. This allows heat to circulate better so that everything cooks evenly. As a bonus, you'll get more char around each piece of food, which will give you some extra flavor.

Finally, if you're using any foods that are really dense and take a while to cook, like potatoes, carrots, turnips, or other root veggies, precook the pieces before placing them on the skewers. You can either soften them up in a little bit of boiling water, or pop them in the microwave for a few minutes. That way those slow-cooking bits will be done when the rest of the ingredients are ready. Follow these tips and you won't have to serve uneven kebabs ever again.