I really anticipate comments in the style of “Yes, you are our Captain Obvious! You are telling what we ourselves know without you! ”, But, nevertheless, I can’t ignore this topic.
And all because they argued the other day with a friend - what to marinate the kebab, He rolled out a lot of marinade recipes - with kiwi, pomegranate or tomato juice and so on ...
And I somehow remembered trips to the resort of the South as a child and the resort barbecue. Most often, the meat that was strung on skewers was not seen by visitors to cafes and restaurants. And, judging by what the waiters brought, this meat belonged to a category against which the defenders of poor animals would not object - that is, it died by its own death ...
Absolutely indestructible shashlik was served in "wigwams" in Jurmala. I will not say exactly to which station this cafe belonged - it could be reached on the road from the beach, it was located in a very pleasant pine-tree place... And there was a decent line to it.
But the meat is ugly. Almost Europe, though.
The same inedible and non-gnawed barbecue was served in one of the restaurants in Samarkand (a decent restaurant, the waiter there was in a white shirt and a tie, everything is as expected, but I will not say the name, thirty almost years since then passed!). On skewers, large pieces of bacon were interspersed with tiny pieces of meat, and it was impossible to gnaw this meat.
But in Bukhara, in an open cafe in the park, the barbecue was... mmmm! Delight! Parents did not want to take him for a long time, because there was just the meat that was visible - blue-purple, eerie. But they ordered (there is something I wanted!). And they ate everything. Then, all week, while we were in the city, we went to dine in this cafe - the cooks there were good at manti, pilaf, and shashlik, although the meat, you know, was from the category of "chopped together with the booth."
Delicious and soft kebab was in a cafe on Lake Ritsa.
And now I remember the situation, the smells... And I have to say: there was no correct marinade there! Well, as "correct" as we see it now.
The meat was marinated with a lot of onions, of course, with salt, black pepper, and just a huge amount of vinegar.
I know that now many will begin to object, they say - why vinegar, daragoy? What kind of vinegar? Only onions and spices and everything will be fine! And vinegar in the marinade leads to the fact that the meat becomes dry and tough - swam, we know!
By the way, I was not too lazy to check it out.
And here's what I found out: vinegar in the marinade spoils tender meat, really good. We are already used to good meat, by the way. Well, as good - relatively good, soft, at least. Of course, fattening with compound feed does not make meat better, but you can chew it without much difficulty.
But if you try and get a "chopped with a booth" - that is, a sinewy piece, well lived and worked, then vinegar works wonders - softens everything. Vinegar works more powerful than enzymes of kiwi, pineapple or papaya (yes, when they are added to the marinade, it is not acid that works, but enzymes that break down proteins).
Unfortunately, I am not a chemist and I cannot explain this paradox, but just to be sure, I warn you about the conclusion: it is worth using vinegar during cooking. But only if the bull-record holder went for meat, having died at a venerable age (now there are masters who, for his young calf they will sell, they will disguise everything, high Chinese technologies, there they will not only glue the piece, but also paint it) But the soft - no need to disfigure them, it is already well.