Beef Kabobs Recipe (Shish Kebabs!)

Why Make This

• Marinating beef in soy, garlic, and ginger results in flavorful, juicy kebabs.
• Double skewers make grilling and turning the kebabs much easier for home cooks.

How is it that two people can remember things so differently?

If you ask my mother she'll say she's only made beef kebabs a couple times in her life.

If you ask me, one of my favorite childhood memories is my mother's kebabs (or kabobs), cooked over the little cast iron hibachi grill my parents had on the back porch.

My most vivid memory of them was the time I was recovering from pneumonia, hadn't eaten anything for 3 weeks, and was allowed for the first time to sip some broth. And sip I did while the rest of the family ate beautiful, smoky, meaty, hearty, beefy kebabs.

It. Was. So. Unfair. I can still smell them now. There was nothing I wanted more in the world at that moment than those kebabs. Sigh.

Funny, the emotional ties we can have with food, isn't it?

Making These Kebabs

I love, really truly love beef kebabs.

Why? They're fun, they're on a stick.

You can make your own, just they way you want them (lots of mushrooms please). If you've marinated the meat properly (several hours or preferably overnight), they're the most juicy wonderful morsels you could possibly eat.

5 Tips for the Best Kebabs

A few tips that will help ensure your kebabs turn out well:

• Marinate the meat, the longer the better.
• Use double skewers to make them easier to turn.
• Use bamboo or wooden skewers so that the inside of the steak pieces stay nice and pink.
• Keep a little space between the items (more space than shown in the photo above, I sort of forgot that part when I did the batch pictured), so that the food grills versus steams.
• Most important, keep an eye on them! Do a finger test for doneness, or if the grill is too hot, tap the meat with the end of your tongs to see how much it is giving. The meat and veggies will continue to cook a little once you've taken them off the grill and they are resting, so keep that in mind.

My Marinade

Key to this kebab recipe is marinating the beef chunks. This marinade is a mix of the following:

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Soy sauce
• Red wine vinegar
• Honey
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Black pepper

Marinate the beef for at least 30 minutes, several hours or overnight is even better.

What to Serve with These Kebabs

If you're making these kebabs for a weeknight dinner, we'd serve them with a simple tossed green salad. If you're putting together a whole spread for a backyard barbecue, go with the classics: potato salad, macaroni salad, or three bean salad.

More Skewered Recipes to Try

• Chicken and Pineapple Kabobs
• Smoky Paprika Shrimp Skewers
• Grilled Tuna Kebabs
• Greek Lemon Chicken Skewers with Tzatziki Sauce
• Grilled Skirt Steak Skewers
• Grilled Veggie Skewers