hello this is chef john from food wishes calm with bob's kabobs that's right
there once was a man named bob who showed me how to make this kebab
he wasn't the chef the chef's name was Jeff but still he did a great job and
while I'm not able to tell you too much about Bob due to some very strict
non-disclosure agreements I am very excited and very happy to be able to
share this recipe and now the grilling season is upon us this is definitely
something you're gonna want to work into the rotation so with that let's go ahead
and get started by mixing up our spice blend which is going to start with some
ground cumin a little bit of coriander some Aleppo chili flakes a generous
amount of kosher salt as well as of course a little shake of cayenne and
then last but not least Bob secret ingredients a very small pinch of
cinnamon okay if you can taste the cinnamon you put too much but just a
little tiny hint in the background really works well here and then what
we're gonna do after we give this a mix is use our spoon to push off about 1/3
of the mixture to the side and the reason for that is we're gonna use 2/3
to season the meat and then the other third will get sprinkled on the outside
before our kebabs get grilled ok so once we have that separated we'll go ahead
and take a pound of ground meat in my case lamb but you can also use beef or a
combination of both which is very nice and like I said we'll go ahead and
transfer over 2/3 of our spice mix along with 2 tablespoons of very cold fresh
water and that's it once we drizzle that in we'll take one clean hand and we will
mix and match this until it's thoroughly combined
and this is one of the few times when we're mixing ground meat where we don't
really have to worry about overworking it too much
since traditionally once cooked the meats supposed to have a little bit of a
springy texture okay not tough but slightly springy and that's partly the
reason we added some water to this which of course is also gonna add a little bit
of extra juiciness and that's it once that's very thoroughly mixed we'll go
ahead and cover that in plastic and we'll pop that in the fridge for about
an hour or so or until it's nicely chilled ok cold meat is always easier to
handle in shape plus it will give those spices some time to work their magic oh
and while that's happening let's not forget to soak our wooden skewers in
some water so they don't burn up on the grill
and then what we'll do once those are soaked for about an hour and our meat
mixture is nice and cold we will go ahead and pull that out and then take
1/8 of the mixture and we will roll that 2 ounce portion into a nice ball after
wetting our fingers with some of that water we use the soak these skiers
because as you know damp hands make smooth balls and then once we have that
into a nice smooth ball we'll kind of shape it into an oval and then skewer it
making sure we go right through the center and then what we'll do once we
have that squeezed out to about 3 inches or so we will also want to kind of taper
both ends down to a point which is not only gonna help this stay attached to
this gear it's also gonna make it look supercool an enticing okay as you may
have heard me say before it is a proven scientific fact that people love pointy
food and that's it exactly how Bob formed his kabobs and while most people
think of chunks of meat on a skewer when they hear kebab here I'm going to show
you the other style of kebab sometimes referred to as kofta or kofte or Coupe
de the features ground meat and while both versions are great this is the
style that Bob and I prefer but anyway I went ahead and formed the rest to make a
total at which point I do like to wrap them and chill them again although if
you wind you could cook these right away but personally I like these very cold
before I cook them plus it's always easier to have things prepped ahead of
time and while those were chillaxing in the fridge I went ahead mixed up a quick
yogurt sauce which was simply some plain Greek yogurt some very finely crushed
garlic a little bit of freshly chopped parsley as well as some freshly squeezed
lemon juice and then enough fresh cold water to thin this out to the exact
consistency we want and once all that's in there we'll go ahead and give it a
mix and yes this would have been way faster and easier with a whisk but the
spoon was already dirty from scooping in the yogurt and I remember Bob used to
always say the already dirty utensil is always better than the more effective
clean utensil so it took me an extra minute or so but eventually I got that
all stirred together nice and smooth and know I didn't add any salt because our
meats gonna be very well seasoned so we should be ok and we can refrigerate that
until needed and then you remember that third of the seasonings we saved if we
can find it we're gonna go ahead and add a spoon of sumac to this and if he can't
find it don't stress but if he can't add it in as it does add a very interesting
sort of tangy citrus like flavor and then what
we'll do on SATs next is pull our Bob's kebabs out of the fridge and we're gonna
season those all over with the rest of our spice mixture and while you're doing
this if you want to do a little bit of fine tuning with the shaping feel free
oh and I should mention a lot of the kebab recipes will actually have you add
the sumac to the meat mixture but Bob was a big believer of only putting it on
the outside but anyway suit yourself I mean you are after all the Robert
Duvall's of these impaled meatballs but if I'm making somebody call Bob's kebabs
I am gonna kebab like Bob and he thought it was better with this just on the
outside and that's it once these are sad we can go ahead and cook them up which
I'm gonna do by grilling them over some beautiful japanese-style charcoal and
well of course any kind of grill would work these narrow hibachi style grills
are perfect for skewered meat but in any event I'm gonna grill these for about 10
to 12 minutes total turning these about every 3 minutes or so so that hopefully
the entire surface faces the heat and as far as done this goes you could use a
thermometer and cook these to about 135 internal temp but for me when they go
from feeling kind of mushy to feeling kind of firm and springy they're usually
done and like I said these took me about 12 minutes all together and that's it
once I felt those were done both physically and mentally I removed those
to plate and headed back inside where I serve those up on a beautiful platter of
tomatoes cucumbers and red onions did I dress very lightly with some salt and
some olive oil and after arranging those as shown I went ahead and scattered over
some more freshly chopped parsley and yes brushing off some parsley does count
as food styling I also dusted over some more sumac since that is going to be
really good with those vegetables underneath and of course we're also
gonna want some grilled pita bread nearby and then I went ahead and
finished this up by spooning a little bit of that yogurt sauce over the top
which I thought would look nice for the pictures especially garnish with one
last sprinkling of sumac and that's it this beautiful batch of Bob's kebabs is
done and ready to enjoy and for this first one I'm just gonna enjoy it as is
right off the skier and that my friends was just incredible ok I think Bob would
have been very proud just an incredibly flavorful bite of meat perfectly
seasoned inside and out and there's just something about lamb
spice this way that when you combine it with the smokiness from the grill just
elevates this to a whole other level and please stop looking at that parsley on
my thumb and while very delicious plain what you really want to do is nestled
this into some nice warm pita along with some of those nice cool crisp fresh
veggies and of course lots of our garlicky lemony yogurt sauce and if
there's a better thing to eat especially in the middle of grilling season I just
can't think of it right now and as I mentioned earlier well I prefer
this done with lamb it's also really good done with beef or a combination of
half-and-half which by the way Bob was a big fan of he used to say why choose
when you can have both but anyway that's it had a kebab like Bob I only wish he
was around to see this and not in the witness protection program where I'm not
able to get him a message but anyway hopefully somehow he stumbles across
this and if he did I think he'd say the same thing I'm gonna say now which is I
really do hope you give this a try soon so please follow the links below for the
ingredient amounts a principle written recipe and much more info as usual and
as always enjoy
you