Kabobs are a terrific way to share meat. They’re fun to eat, everyone likes them and you can make them on the grill, over the fire, or in the toaster oven. You can use excellent cuts of meat, or you can use less tender cuts that have been marinated or otherwise tenderized. Bear kabobs with sweet fruits and veggies are a sure winner.
Tenderizing Methods
A terrific way to make cheap meat more tender is to use a sous vide cooker. You seal your meat in a vacuum bag or a ziploc bag without air and submerge it in water. The sous vide cooker keeps the water at a constant temperature for as long as you want. Cooking a chunk of rump meat at 130 degrees for six hours results in a very tender chunk of meat. Sear it and serve it and it’s delicious.
Another way to tenderize is to use a marinade. There are lots of marinades at the grocery store, and all work well. Make your own with an acid, an oil, and salt. Fruit juices are good acids. Be aware that fresh pineapple juice has an enzyme that breaks meat down and could leave your meat mushy instead of tender; canned juice won’t do that.
Lastly, a brine is a fine way to tenderize your meat for kabobs and it can complement the flavors of the other items on the kabobs.
Non-Meat Additions
A good kabob has delicious meat surrounded by juicy fruits and veggies. You should be able to slide a chunk of meat and fruit into your mouth at once and have a burst of flavor.
Make sure to cut the meat and other pieces so they aren’t too big. Huge chunks of pineapple look great, but they aren’t easy to eat.
Try these fruits and veggies between chunks of meat on your kabobs:
- Pineapples
- Apples
- Onions
- Garlic
- Baby tomatoes
- Zucchini
- Summer squash
- Sweet potatoes
- Pumpkin
- Cantalope
- Mushrooms
- Strawberries
- Potatoes
- Radishes
Cooking Kabobs
Use medium-high heat to get a quick sear on your kabobs. Remember to make sure that your bear meat reaches 160 degrees to eliminate the chances of trichinosis — another benefit of using the sous vide cooker is that the meat can already be hot when you start grilling.
You can grill the kabobs, or put them on roasting sticks over the fire. If outdoor cooking isn’t an option, you can put them on a lightly greased cookie sheet under the broiler. In the oven, pay attention to the height of the rack so that the meat doesn’t get burned before it’s reached the proper temperature. Rotate the kabobs every few minutes to get a good sear on all sides. You can even use a toaster oven on the broil setting.
If you use bamboo skewers, remember to soak them for about 30 minutes in warm water. This will help keep them from burning while cooking.
Lastly, use some of your marinade or a tasty sweet bbq sauce or this sweet and sour sauce to baste your food while they’re cooking. A sweet, carmelized sauce is a terrific way to top off your kabobs.