Kabob-umentary

I love making kabobs. They are so easy to make, and people love 'em. I had a little bit of trouble with my chicken kabobs, which I won't post here until I've perfected them. However, the pork and beef variety did very well and got rave reviews from the family. I made simple beef kabobs with vegetables, and I made chipotle pork kabobs, done both satay style and regular style. Wood skewers are best in these instances because the meat adheres to the wood. If you use metal skewers, be prepared for the meat to slide off.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. beef kabob meet. Round and chuck are good for this
  
• 1 lb. Pork loin or chop. Doesn't matter.
  
• 1 can chipotle chiles in adobo
  
• 1 yellow onion
  
• 1 red bell pepper
  
• 1 green bell pepper
  
• Wooden skewers
  
• Salt and pepper

Soak skewers in water overnight. This will help prevent the skewers from burning on the grill.

BEEF: Cut the meat in the 1 inch thick cubes. Cut the peppers and onion into 2 inch thick curved wedges. When you skewer the food, start with an onion curve, then a beef cube, then another onion curve going the opposite way. Kind of nice way to keep that meat locked in there, as well as make for a cool looking kabob. When you have skewered all of the beef and veggies, season the kabobs with salt and pepper. And that's it. Nothing fancy.

PORK:You have two options for ways to skewer your meat (dear god, the jokes are endless). Option the first: cut the pork into 3/4 inch cubes and skewer them down the middle. Option the second: cut a thin slice of the meat from the longest axis of the meat, maybe about a quarter of an inch thick. Then thread strip of meat onto the skewer much as you would a worm on a hook.

Take two of the chipotle chiles out of the can. Cut a slit down the side of them, open them up and scrape out the seeds. Discard the seeds. Now, mince up the chiles really really fine. Add a couple of table spoons of the adobo sauce and mix well. You now have your marinade. Simple as that.

Brush the chipotle marinade on the pork kabobs before putting the them on the grill.

GRILL:Heat up your charcoal grill as normal. I happen to have a large grill, so I put the coals under one half and let the other half be free for warming purposes. Heat the grates and lubricate them. See my entry about burger grilling for this procedure.

Set the beef kabobs directly over the coals. After a few minutes turn one over to see how done it is. This will vary depending on the meat and the heat. When they are nice and done on one side, flip them over for an equal amount of time. The veggies should start to chart on the edges by this time. Remove the beef kabobs off the direct heat and let them finish cooking over indirect heat. This will also let the onions and pepper soften up.

For the pork kabobs, just put them directly over the coals and cook them 'till done on one side. Then flip and do the other. Simple as that.

I served my kabobs with chipotle mashed sweet potatoes and wild rice.