Name: The Best Beef Kabobs
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 37 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 lb sirloin tip or top sirloin, cut into 1.25-inch cubes; 1/3 cup olive oil; 3 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 2 tbsp lemon juice, fresh; 1 tbsp Dijon mustard; 5 cloves garlic, minced; 1.5 tsp smoked paprika; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1 tsp black pepper; 1.5 tsp kosher salt; 1 large red onion, cut into 1-inch chunks; 2 bell peppers (red and yellow), cut into 1-inch squares; 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped; 1 lemon lemon wedges, for serving; 8 metal or soaked bamboo skewers

The Best Beef Kabobs

Prep

25m

Cook

12m

Total

37m

Bigly says

Beef kabobs. BEEF KABOBS. We are doing it, we are doing it right, we are doing it the way a guy named Ramón once did it for me at a backyard cookout in a town I will not name because the man deserves his privacy. Ramón doesn't speak much. He grills. He nodded at me. He handed me a skewer. I sat down on a folding chair, I took one bite, and I said out loud to nobody, 'This. This is the kabob.' Ramón just kept grilling. He didn't need my approval. But he had it. He has had it ever since.

Here's the thing most people get catastrophically wrong about beef kabobs. They use the wrong cut. They cube up a SIRLOIN, they cube up a TENDERLOIN, they cube up some sad pre-cubed mystery meat from the foam tray labeled 'kabob meat' which is, by the way, one of the great scams of the modern grocery store. A disgrace. The cut you want is sirloin tip or top sirloin — yes, sirloin, I said sirloin twice, on purpose, because the OTHER sirloin people use is wrong — marinated long enough to season the meat without turning it to mush. Acid is a tool, not a baptism. You marinate a cube of beef for 36 hours in lemon juice, you have invented ceviche, and not a good ceviche, the kind they serve at a hotel pool bar in a city you regret visiting.

And the vegetables. Let me say this loud for the people in the back. STOP putting raw zucchini on a beef skewer. Stop it. They cook at different speeds, they fall off the skewer, they go limp, they ruin the bite. Beef on its own skewer. Vegetables on a SEPARATE skewer. This is how grown adults grill. This is how Ramón does it. This is how we are doing it today. Look it up. Plain and simple.

Ingredients

2 lbsirloin tip or top sirloin, cut into 1.25-inch cubes(even cubes — uneven cubes cook unevenly, that's the whole game)
1/3 cupolive oil
3 tbspsoy sauce
2 tbspWorcestershire sauce
2 tbsplemon juice, fresh
1 tbspDijon mustard
5 clovesgarlic, minced
1.5 tspsmoked paprika
1 tspground cumin
1 tspdried oregano
1 tspblack pepper
1.5 tspkosher salt
1 largered onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
2bell peppers (red and yellow), cut into 1-inch squares
2 tbspfresh parsley, chopped
1 lemonlemon wedges, for serving
8metal or soaked bamboo skewers

Steps

1
Whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire, lemon juice, Dijon, garlic, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
2
Add the beef cubes and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, ideally 4-6. Do not exceed 8 hours or the texture will suffer.
3
If using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for 30 minutes. Metal skewers need no soaking.
4
Remove the beef from the marinade 30 minutes before grilling to take the chill off. Discard the marinade.
5
Thread the beef cubes onto half the skewers, leaving a small gap between cubes for even cooking. Thread the onion and pepper chunks onto the remaining skewers.
6
Preheat a grill to high heat, about 500°F. Oil the grates well.
7
Grill the vegetable skewers first, turning every 2-3 minutes, until charred and just tender, about 8-10 minutes. Move to a serving platter and tent loosely with foil.
8
Grill the beef skewers, turning every 90 seconds to 2 minutes for even charring, until medium-rare to medium, about 6-8 minutes total. The cubes should hit 130-135°F internal.
9
Transfer the beef skewers to the platter with the vegetables. Rest 5 minutes.
10
Shower with chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges, rice or warm pita on the side.

One more thing

That's the kabob. That's the one. Smoky, juicy, charred in all the right places, with peppers that still have a little snap to them and onions that taste like they discovered themselves on the grill. Serve it with rice, serve it with pita, serve it on a paper plate in the backyard while standing up — it does not matter. The kabob is the event. Tell your friends. Or don't. Keep this one for yourself.