Peppered Beef Skewers with Onion-Horseradish

These peppered beef skewers prove how much flavor you can squeeze from a tight ingredient list. Thinly sliced beef bathes for at least an hour in pressed garlic, soy sauce, and a generous tablespoon of cracked black pepper. That quick marinade seasons all the way through while still letting the meat’s char do the talking on the grill.

The secret move is how you skewer. Weaving slender skewers through the meat strips keeps them flat, maximizing surface contact with the hot coals and producing crust on both sides in under four minutes. The onion-horseradish marmalade pulls the whole dish sideways in the best way. Red onions cooked down with brown sugar, red wine vinegar, and white wine turn jammy, and a last-minute spoonful of prepared horseradish gives the sauce its sinus-clearing kick against the fatty beef.

Pro Tips

• Slice the beef against the grain and across a slight bias for thin, tender strips that weave onto skewers cleanly.
• Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes before threading. Dry skewers scorch on the coals.
• Build a solid bed of hot coals. Indirect heat will steam the beef rather than sear it.
• Make the marmalade ahead. It tastes better after resting an hour so the vinegar and horseradish settle in.

Variations

• Swap beef for pork tenderloin or chicken thighs with the same marinade and cook time.
• Add a sprinkle of smoked paprika to the beef seasoning for a smokier char.
• Use grainy mustard in place of horseradish for a milder but equally bright marmalade.