Kebab (Shish Kebab)

Variations

• "A yoghurt marinade tenderises the meat" is half right. What marinades do settles two things: the thing that gets inside is salt, and acid stops one to three millimetres in. Fried chicken makes the same correction about buttermilk — "buttermilk with no salt in it does almost nothing." Sauerbraten marinates for four days and says plainly that what tenderises it is the three hours of gentle moist heat afterwards. So the ingredient you cannot leave out of this marinade is not the yoghurt, it is the salt.
• There is still a reason it is yoghurt. That guide treats it separately: mild acid, calcium and milk protein together act far more gently than vinegar, and the thickness keeps it clinging to the surface. And its lactose and protein feed the Maillard reaction. What sugar does states the principle — "a little sugar rubbed on meat browns faster because it supplies Maillard with more to work with" — so a yoghurt-marinated skewer chars in the time a bare one is still pale. It is also why this one can sit overnight without the surface suffering. Do not put a vinegar marinade on the same timetable.
• Grating the onion has nothing to do with tenderising enzymes. The enzymes that genuinely cut protein are in pineapple, kiwi, pear and fig, and onion is not among them. What grated onion certainly adds is juice — water, sugar, and a liquid for the salt to travel in. It works like the yoghurt, not like an enzyme.
• Doner kebab: Vertical-rotisserie meat shaved thin and wrapped in bread, street-food style.
• Adana kebab: Spiced minced meat molded onto skewers and grilled — a spicy kebab.
• Chicken/lamb/beef: Use whichever meat you like.
• Vegetarian: Halloumi, mushrooms, and vegetables.

Tips

• A yogurt marinade tenderizes the meat and carries the spices — the longer, the better.
• Grill hot and fast to char the outside while keeping the inside juicy.
• Grating the onion into the marinade boosts the tenderizing.
• Soak wooden skewers so they don't burn.
• A sprinkle of sumac and lemon adds a tangy lift that cuts the richness.
• Scrape the excess yoghurt off before it goes on the fire. The marinade guide's one rule without exception is to pat the surface dry before it meets heat, and browning is why: while water is present the surface cannot go above 100°C, and nothing browns at 100°C. A skewer that goes on dripping steams itself grey. Leave the thin film that is left — that is what chars.
• "Hot and fast" depends on the thickness. Grilling puts food under 1.5cm on the hot side start to finish, and thick food up to near its target on the cool side, taking its colour on the hot side at the end: "do it the other way round and the outside burns before the middle is done." A 3cm shish cube is the second case. A doner shaving and adana's thin layer of mince are the first, which is where the confusion comes from — one name, two thicknesses.
• The skewer is a tool, not a presentation. The same guide gives it two jobs: it forces pieces to be cut alike so they finish alike, and it lets you turn everything at once. Thread two side by side and the pieces cannot spin as you turn them. Bamboo goes in water for thirty minutes.
• Sumac and lemon go on off the heat. Acid added at the end is acid you can still taste (balancing flavour).