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It’s winter now as I’m writing this but it won’t be cold forever. Soon, we’ll be back on the grill. Some diehards are still on the grill, even in the snow. If you’re like me, kebabs are a favorite for quick grilling. But, while using bamboo skewers works fine sometimes, you can’t use them on the grill for very long unless you want the ends to be ashes. Yes, you can soak them, but this doesn’t buy you much time. What you need are metal skewers. But, not all metal skewers are created equally. Here, I’ll explain what to look for when you are buying metal skewers for kebabs.
1. Do Not Buy Cheap Metal Skewers
Let’s just get this out of the way. There is no point in buying the cheapest metal skewers you can find. They may be made out of questionable materials and they won’t last. One set of skewers made of heavy duty stainless steel should be all you need for decades. Buy them once and be done with it.
2. Choose a Flat Blade Shape Skewer, Not a Round One
Perfectly round skewers seem attractive because they’re, well, perfectly round. And, cubes of meat and other ingredients like onto them easily. But, your kebab ingredients, especially vegetables, will tend to slide back and forth on the skewer. And, when you turn them, the ingredients won’t turn with the skewer! In other words, the skewer will turn, but the food will not. No good.
For kebabs with unground meat and vegetables, choose a skewer that is 1/4 inch wide with a flat blade shape and a sufficient thickness to prevent bending. This will grab onto the food and keep it secure and when you flip the skewer, the food will flip too.
3. Large “Sword” Skewers
Large “Sword” Skewers are need for Koftas or Seekh Kebabs or anything that uses ground meat. Smaller diameter skewers will not hold onto these and they may fall apart. Sword skewers are also good for very large pieces of meat which require more surface area to grab onto them and keep them secure, as well as for the skewer to be strong enough to hold them without bending and for you to grab onto for handling. Large sword skewers will be 1/2 inch in diameter (1.5 cm) and around 2 feet in length.
4. Flexible Skewers
Flexible skewers are a modern invention. Instead of a rigid piece of metal, they are flexible cables with a point on one end. You can thread food onto them just like with a regular skewer but then bend around the pointed end and hook it through a loop to make a circle. The food tends to be very secure and these round “kebabs” are easy to handle. You can pick up the entire circle and flip it over. Pretty cool. You can also bend them into different shapes, as convenient. If you have a small, round grill, these might be the perfect solution for you!
