- 4 Levels
- Season 1
- Episode 57
4 Levels of Kebabs: Amateur to Food Scientist
Read More: 29 Skewers and Kebabs for Your Next Cookout
Released on 12/03/2020
[lively music]
I'm Emily and I'm a level one chef.
I'm Rinku, and I'm a level two chef.
My name is Ayesha Nurdjaja.
I'm the executive chef of Shuka restaurant,
and I've been cooking professionally for 15 years.
[lively music]
This kebab recipe is like a suburban barbecue on a stick.
Like 1990s suburban dad kind of kebab.
These salmon kebabs are one of my favorite recipes
because they're pretty
and they get done very, very quickly today.
Today we'll be making lamb kofta kebab,
which is one of my favorites.
I've come across this kebab in many places
during my travels, like Morocco or Israel.
We also have a version of it at my restaurant,
Shuka right now.
[upbeat musical notes]
So I'm going to start by cubing the salmon
to get them ready for the marinade.
All right, so I have some sirloin steak here,
which I'm going to cube for my kebabs.
I'm just going to go for like slightly bigger
than bite-sized pieces.
Working with fish inherently in a preparation like this
needs precision.
Fish is very delicate.
Is this one too big?
I'm going to say it's fine.
I love lamb.
I think it lends perfectly with the seasonings
of many different array of spices.
Here's my cubed sirloin steak.
So now we'll make a marinade for the salmon kebabs.
It's a fairly simple marinade.
So I add yogurt; mace, which is actually the skin
of nutmeg; nutmeg; saffron.
I'm adding in a little bit of salt, the ginger,
and the almonds.
So we're going to start with the Baharat spice
for our lamb.
What you want to get is a spice grinder or a coffee grinder.
And a lot of people say to have two at home,
but I only had one.
What's a little coffee with a little spice in it?
Only better.
And we're going to throw in some clove, coriander, cumin.
Cardamom is definitely one of my favorites,
and some black pepper, cinnamon sticks.
For this recipe you're definitely looking for
a very pulverized spice mix.
And I'm just going to slice this jalapeno.
And I'm just going to toss these jalapenos in here.
So you blend this for about three to four minutes.
In our mixing goal, we're going to start with a paprika,
and I'm going to add about two spoons of the Baharat spice,
and then we're going to whisk this all together.
I'm going to go like five dashes of Worcestershire.
That was five.
It's hard to tell that was like two and a half each.
So we're going to peel some garlic now.
We're going to just take the skin of the garlic off.
And some soy sauce. [singing]
On the large grate we're going to grate some onions.
Now hopefully I won't cry to ruin my mascara,
but it's a possibility, or legitimately cry.
Is that okay, if I stop here?
You want to make sure that the consistency is smooth.
Yeah, I like the consistency.
Italian dressing to coat, perfect.
In this bowl I have my grated onion
and we're going to start with some garlic.
I love using the Microplane for garlic because it ensures
not to get those really big chunks of garlic in your kebabs.
In fact, I liked this marinade so much
I like eating it by itself.
Next we have our parsley and I love herbs.
What I like to do is boil it up and chop it.
In this kebab I like a lot of robust flavors
and I find that the stems really encapsulate
what parsley taste like.
And I'm just going to give this a stir
with my big wooden spoon.
So now we have our lamb.
So I'm going to take my hands
and just break up this beautiful lamb.
I'm going to add in the onion with the onion juice.
We're going to add the parsley and lemon zest.
It brings a little bit of acidity,
but definitely a bright, fresh flavor.
Okay, we have that in there.
Two healthy spoons of a Baharat spice.
And I love olive oil so I'm going to give it
a good drizzle of this.
You want to coat the salmon evenly.
The one ingredient that I haven't put in yet,
which is probably one of the most important is our salt.
Okay, we're going to take this,
wrap it in Saran Wrap and refrigerate it for 24 hours.
This is all set to go.
I'm just gonna let it marinade for about half an hour
while I get everything else ready to go.
I'll put this in the refrigerator now
for one or two hours.
The next thing I'm going to do is get these things ready
to put on my kebab.
So I have peppers, onion, mushrooms,
and some things to make them taste good.
So here's my salmon, it's marinated for two hours.
See how nicely the color has steepened?
That's your saffron in action.
Okay, so we have our lamb here.
Here we have an ice cream scooper.
You might say she's gone mad.
But the reason why we do this in the restaurant
is to ensure that each piece is equally portioned.
So I am going to cut my peppers down to size.
I actually zest and add in the juice of an orange.
And I did not want the acid in the marinade
because it would over marinade the salmon.
Red onion, I'm going to just chop off the top
and give it a peel, get the skin off.
You want to press the meat against the side of the bowl
to ensure that you're getting the proper portion.
Next thing we have some mushrooms
and I'm just going to cut these in half.
The juice and zest is in.
I'm giving this a good stir.
And the last thing I'm going to do is just chop
my lemon in half because I'm going to use the juice
to make everything delicious.
I'm going to do a little bit of olive oil.
This is my Italian seasoning, that I'm just going
to shake on.
No measurements here just you know, making it happen.
Pepper and some salt.
I'm ready to skewer.
I've been soaking these skewers for a couple of hours
so that when they are cooking,
they do not stick to the fish.
Honestly, you can skew them any way you like.
I'm going to spread a little bit of olive oil on the sheet
tray just to ensure that the lamb doesn't stick.
And I'm actually going to put a little bit on my hands.
Okay, so we're gonna take our lamb
and we're going to roll it into a ball.
As we roll it into a ball,
we're going to start to shift from rolling
into round circles to rolling up and down.
And you want it to look like a little football.
Okay, so we're going to take our skewer
and basically place it in the middle,
and then continue to do the shaping.
At this point you're going to do round and round
and you're going to have our kebab.
So I'm just going to stick these guys like this.
And I just kinda like feel out the organization, try to get,
you know, like a good amount of meat on each stick.
You want like two sticks to be a meal.
I'm adding three pieces to eat skewer.
I think that makes it a comfortable serving size.
As we're rolling the kebab,
we're going to get into that football shape
and you could just insert the skewer from the bottom.
And there you go.
Important thing is making sure that you get it
kind of down the middle so that nothing falls off
in the process.
The last one gets an extra.
All right, skewers assembled, time to grill.
Okay, so it's grilling time.
We have our grill here and I'm going to take a little bit
of olive oil and with a brush.
I like to brush the grill.
This way I know that I'm not putting so much olive oil
to smoke out the joint.
I'm gonna start with just a few of these
and then I will slowly get all of them done.
And then bing, bang, boom we'll have a bunch
of skewers to eat.
I prefer cooking these in the oven
because the heat is more uniform and gentle
than an open grill.
I'll be baking them for about seven minutes at 350 degrees.
And season our kebabs.
When you season high, you're able to cover a lot of ground.
So I want to take our tongs.
I want to lift our kebabs by the meat
and place them on a grill.
So it should be eight to 10 minutes altogether,
on each side, probably like a minute or two.
This is a point where you have to exercise
a little patience.
What you want to do right now is caramelized the meat
and let it cook so you get those nice,
beautiful grill marks.
So here are the kebabs.
They have been cooking in the oven.
What I have here is a mixture of olive oil
and chopped mint leaves.
The brightness of the mint will harmonize very well
with the notes of orange and ginger.
Yeah, there we go.
Pretty much a master maneuver.
I'm going to use a spoon, and why is that?
I really want to be gentle with these
cause I love them so much,
and we're just gonna roll them over.
There you go, wow.
So now that these are brushed with olive oil and mint,
I'm putting them back in the oven to broil.
Can't remember what I'm looking for
to know these are done. [laughing]
I mean, it's steak, so any level of doneness
is technically correct.
So now that our kebab have rolled around,
got grill marks and are cooked perfectly,
we're gonna take them off and put them on a sheet tray
with parchment paper to rest.
So these are done.
We're going to let them rest while we start
on our tzatziki.
And here are my salmon kebabs.
So now we'll make the sauce.
The first thing that we are doing is I'm mixing in
orange juice.
Now my yogurt goes in.
For my kebabs I am making a sauce, a garlic aioli,
if you will.
I love texture when I'm eating.
And what I love to use is kohlrabi.
I'm going to cut the top.
And what you want to do is just cut down the sides
of the kohlrabi.
And you're really looking to expose the white meat
on the inside.
We're going to leave the kohlrabi here
while we peel our--
[Emily And Ayesha] Garlic.
I'm going to squeeze my roasted garlic out of
it's garlicky shell.
You just want the soft bits, not the hard bits.
Beautiful, all right, look, now it's a garlic flower.
And the beauty of tzatziki for me
is that garlicky yogurt cooling sensation that it has
when paired with meats, fish, or even vegetables.
I'm adding in the pomegranate seeds.
And the next thing I'm going to do is just toss
everything else in, you know?
So I'm just going to squeeze my mayo in there.
A little splash of Worcestershire, some fresh ground pepper,
cayenne, and a pinch of salt.
For the dill, I'm actually going to take off the stems
on the bottom.
Now this chop doesn't have to be perfect.
So you're looking for a rough chop.
It seems like this has been my tool of choice today,
and we're going to grate this kohlrabi
on the fine grater.
I'm going to lay it on its side
and just continue to grate it.
So the final thing that the sauce gets
is some tempered spices.
So let's make sure this is nice and hot.
I'm grating in some fresh ginger.
These are black Nigella seeds.
And now lastly, I'm adding in red pepper flakes.
What we're left with is this nice crunchy texture
of the vegetable.
So I'm going to take our yogurt and we're going to add
the kohlrabi to the yogurt.
And then with our Microplane we're going to start
with the garlic.
We're going to use the zest of the whole lemon.
I'm going to add our dill.
And lastly.
Cut my lemon open and squeeze it.
I don't know if that's right or wrong,
but it is squeezing the lemon out.
And I think by the looks of this
we're definitely going to need the other side.
Some exercise while you're cooking.
Okay, we're going to give this a really generous drizzle
of olive oil and of course season with salt.
So all good, now I'm adding in this oil.
We're going to mix this together.
I think it looks pretty.
Let's taste.
Delicious.
Delicious.
I don't know if you heard it, but there's that nice crunch.
You're getting lemon and garlic and dill.
This is our tzatziki.
This is my roasted garlic aioli.
And here are my salmon kebabs, these are all done.
We have our beautiful kebabs.
We're going to give our kebabs a little bit of makeup.
We're going to give them a little drizzle of olive oil
and a good squeeze of lemon juice
to bring them back to life.
I'm going to take the tzatziki and plate this
right down the center of the plate.
And then we're going to layer our kebabs on.
Just top these with some additional lemons,
little more pomegranate seeds for color,
and some more mint leaves.
I just tear the mint and they're kind of like
the uneven texture.
Just spooning my sauce into my little cup.
So we're going to add a little bit of shatta
to this dish and what this is a really spicy pepper sauce.
I'm gonna use this sparingly because we don't want
anybody to say that it was too spicy.
And then our crispy shallots.
I'm going to finish with a little bit of fresh herbs,
some of the dill to bring out the flavor of the tzatziki.
And I can't help myself but finish every kebab plate
with parsley because it's an essential part of it.
We're going to go back again with a little bit
of lemon and olive oil, and we're just going to give this
a little dressing of sumac at the end.
And these are my kebabs.
So these are my salmon kebabs.
Here are my lamb kofta kebabs.
[lively music]
So now's the fun part, I get to taste it.
Uh-hm, I think I snorted, it's really good.
This is so good.
Really delicious.
The spices of the Baharat and the lamb,
It's like the 4th of July of flavors, it's like boom boom.
It's like this great for any kind of weeknight dinner.
What's nice about it is the saffron makes it festive.
So it's also great for company.
These kebabs are great for like a backyard barbecue
with friends.
Nothing fancy here, but tasty, you know?
I mean, it's like, what more can you ask for
other than this?
I'm sure I'll find out from the other levels.
Kebabs have their origin in the Middle East,
but it's no surprise that something so delicious
spread to so many other cuisines around the globe.
Although usually made with seasoned meat,
kebabs have evolved to include a variety of ingredients.
Let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.
Emily used top sirloin, which is a moderately tender cut
from the gluteus medius muscle of beef.
This is a good choice because it has enough connective
tissue to keep it shape and not fall apart
when Emily cubed, skewered and roasted it.
Yeah meat, you're doing it.
Rinku made salmon kebabs.
It gets it's pinkish color from a pigment
called astaxanthin, which when heated evokes some flavors
found in fruits.
Salmon is a medium flake fish, so it'll hold up
well in a kebab.
Ayesha made kofta, a minced meat, highly seasoned kebab
with ground lamb as the star of the show.
Ground lamb is usually made from tougher,
but flavorful working muscles of the animal,
like the shoulder, flank, neck,
and sometimes leg.
By grinding these cuts, connective tissue and sinew
is disrupted and becomes more tender
by this mechanical process.
[drums beating]
Emily marinaded her sirloin cubes in soy sauce,
store-bought Italian dressing, and Worcestershire sauce
for 30 minutes or so.
[singing]
Which means it will impart some flavor,
but won't tenderize her meat much.
Rinku marinated her salmon in a combination of yogurt,
almonds, ginger, nutmeg, salt and saffron,
which she blended together until smooth.
Yeah, I like the consistency.
Saffron is the most expensive spice per ounce
in the world.
It's harvested from the stigma or tube
of special Crocus flowers.
It takes approximately 70,000 Crocus flowers
to produce five pounds of stigmas,
which are then dehydrated yielding
only one pound of saffron.
It's all done by hand because the stigmas are so delicate
and must be harvested precisely when the flower
starts to bloom.
All of this adds to the expense.
That's your saffron in action.
Saffron imparts a golden yellow color, distinct flavor,
and certainly elevated Rinku's kebab.
Ayesha combined her ground lamb with a dry mixture
that included warming spices.
She also grated raw onions and some garlic to this mixture.
Raw onions have an intense pungent flavor from compounds
inside the cells that have a sulfur containing
amino acid, cysteine.
Hold on, sorry.
Rose, I'm crying again.
Why is this happening to me?
Once cut, a series of enzymatic reactions happen
and lachrymatory factor synthase is formed.
This chemical is volatile and reaches the eyes and the nose
where it reacts with nerves and breaks down
into hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, and sulfuric acid.
These chemicals affect the lachyrmal glands in our eyes,
making us tear up and cry.
Grating increases the surface area,
so more of these chemicals are released
as compared to dicing or slicing with a sharp knife,
which is why our level three chef was crying.
These aren't sad tears though.
These same chemicals form other compounds that add
so much flavor to her ground lamb and spice mixture
for a perfectly level three kebab.
[drums beating]
Emily used thin wooden skewers that she didn't soak.
Wood is flammable and might catch fire,
which is not only dangerous, but might burn your kebabs too,
especially because Emily is grilling beef,
which may need a slightly longer time on the grill
than other meats or fish.
Can't remember what I'm looking for
to know these are done.
Rinku soaked her skewers in water prior to roasting
her salmon kebabs in the oven.
By soaking the skewers they're less likely to catch fire
because it takes a lot of energy to vaporize water
and dry the skewers.
Good job, me.
Asyeha formed her seasoned ground lamb into an elongated
oval shape and placed her skewer through the meat.
The metal skewer is a good choice because it won't ignite.
The other advantage is that it conducted heat very well.
So it assisted in cooking the internal portion of the kebab.
Wood won't conduct heat well,
and won't cook the internal portion of the kebab.
This is another level three tip
that's definitely worth sharing.
[drums beating]
Emily grilled her kebabs which imparts some charred
and roasted flavors that make kebabs special.
The goal with grilling kebabs is to get them as close
to the heat as possible so that they cook quickly
and don't have any time to produce black smoke
that can overpower the flavors.
Rinku roasted her kebabs in a pan in a moderate oven.
This is a good technique for salmon as it has less
connective tissue than land animals like beef and lamb.
So it cooked more quickly and may fall apart
if it's a roasted on a slotted grill.
Ayesha chilled her kebabs before grilling
so that the fat is solid and less likely to render quickly
during the cooking process,
which may have caused an over smokey kitchen situation
when grilling at high heat indoors.
She grilled on a cast iron pan which got very hot
and gave a crispy texture to the outside of her kebab
While the metal skewer helps cook the inside of her kebab.
Kebabs are so versatile and tasty and you can make them
with so many delicious variations.
Next time you're ready to skewer meat, fish or vegetables,
we hope you'll use some tips from our three ingenious chefs.
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