Kick off the summer with grilled kebabs
The technique of charring meat, poultry and fish on skewers is believed to have been invented by medieval Persian soldiers, who used their swords as skewers to suspend the meats over fires started in the war fields.
Memorial Day weekend signals the unofficial start of grilling season, so grab those skewers and find some new ways to create popular kebabs for the family.
“There is no limitation to what you can do with a grill, and it allows you to use your imagination,” said Shari Sarawi, a native of Iran who owns Baci Cafe & Wine Bar in Healdsburg.
A rich cuisine descended from the food of the great Persian dynasties, Iran’s cooking makes abundant use of butter and oil as well as ingredients that are high in acid, and it’s traditional to serve skewers of grilled tomatoes alongside the grilled meats. Kebabs have become a beloved national dish.
“We have a lot of acid in our food,” Sarabi said. “For us, it’s the lemon juice, the dried lime, the verjus (unripe grape juice), and the tomatoes.”
The word kebab has roots in the Persian word kabap, meaning to “fry” or by extension, to “burn.”
“Cooking kebabs means there is an open fire, and you cook the meat over it with some kind of apparatus,” Sarabi said. “The meat skewers are designed to transfer the heat to the middle of the meat.”
Sarabi owns all kinds of metal skewers that are custom made for ease of grilling. Many them have a twist at the top, which stops the heat from going to the handle.
“Every region in Iran has different kebabs,” he said of his native land. “And there’s some level of skewering or grilling in every culture - the Italians, the Argentinians and all of Asia.”
At his Italian restaurant in Healdsburg, the chef does a lot of his grilling in the pizza oven, but at home, he uses a Weber gas grill.
“The key to grilling is high heat,” he said. “You want mesquite or fruit wood that intensifies and maintains the heat. With a gas grill, make sure the grates are very, very hot.”
Unlike most Americans, the Iranians never allow their marinated kebabs to touch the grates.
“You want them suspended in the air, but not touching,” said Sarabi, who uses an angle iron (long piece of steel or iron bent at a right angle) at the front and the back of his grill to slightly elevate the skewers. A couple of bricks would also do the job.
In Iran, the meats for kebabs are always marinated, and the marinades for chicken, beef and lamb kebabs vary only slightly. One of the tricks, however, is to apply the marinade over a period of time.
According to Sarabi, you should add the salt and pepper first, wait about 10 minutes, then add the acid (lemon or lime), and wait again. Add the spice, such as saffron or the lemony sumac, then let the meat sit some more, and add the olive oil last.
“You need to add each ingredient gradually, to layer the distinctive flavors,” he said. “That adds the depth.”
While grilling the meat, Sarabi generally keeps the lid down on his gas grill, but he constantly brushes the kebabs with extra marinade, to keep them moist and give them a bit of color.
The Persian method for making rice also requires a bit of technique. It involves a multi-step process of soaking, parboiling, rinsing, and steaming the Basmati rice. The key ingredient is butter, which creates the crisp and delicious “tahdig” crust at the bottom of the pan.
“To tell you the truth, people just want to eat the rice,” Sarabi said of the light, flaky end result. In Iran, the rice and kebab accompaniments are often served first, immediately followed by the kebabs. A skewer is placed directly on the rice, and the kebab is held steady with some Persian naan flatbread as the skewer is pulled out.
When he’s entertaining at home, Sarabi likes to serve the kebab dishes family-style, with different platters of meat, vegetables, rice and a raita (yogurt and cucumber) dip passed around the table.
“When you serve the kebabs, put a piece of bread underneath,” he said. “All the juices from the meat marry with the bread and the tomatoes and the garlic dip.”
As a side dish, Sarabi often grills fresh corn in season, cooling it off with salt water, then tossing it in a bowl with butter, Aleppo pepper, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
Sarabi, who grew up in Tehran, got interested in cooking after his father got a job managing Abali, a ski resort that opened in 1953 near the Alborz Mountains of Iran.
During his childhood, he often cooked with his grandmother, testing his culinary skill with simple dishes like clay pot stews or grilled corn.
“There were always a lot of people gathering around food,” he said. “We show affection by giving food.”
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