Skewering: appearance or balance?

I'm watching an old BBQ U episode and Steven has just filled a skewer with shrimp that're all oriented the same way, and he specifically points this out.

On the other hand I go for balance when I skewer things that aren't symmetrical. So that means that when it comes to shrimp I alternate the heads and tails from side to side, because they're going to be over direct heat anyway and in theory will all be cooked evenly.

So which type of skewerer(?) are you? Of course, this isn't a right-or-wrong question...whatever works for you is all that matters!

I don't worry about symmetry. I just get the food on the skewers.

I also do not mix my foods on my skewers. If I am serving shrimp, bell peppers and pineapple, all the shrimp goes on some skewers, bell peppers on other skewers, and the pineapple chunks on their own skewers. I just find that even if I cut food into the same size chunks, they don't get done at the same times.

i seem to be more of an appearance kind of guy.
I also mix the various foods on the skewers/firewire.
All the various colors just look better.
It still cooks the same (to me).

I'm like smokey.
I like my meat med-rare, & my onions & peppers caramolized.
When serving you get served 2-3 small skewers.

I've never really thought about that... But when I do skewers, I always grill the meat and veggies on separate skewers. That way I can get the doneness that I want on each. When I skewer shrimp though, I always skewer them the way SR does them....all in one direction. My high "C" personality (from the DISC test) prefers them in one direction. Otherwise, it drives me crazy. Yes, I'm that guy who notices the crooked picture frame on the wall. The way I figure it is that shrimp are not that thick enough to really matter which way you skewer them...I would think they would get pretty much the same doneness throughout.... I wouldn't really think there would be a noticable difference, but I could be wrong.

While I like pretty arrangements I am all about the food tasting it's best. If I can also get it looking good, so much the better.

With that in mind, I will often split the meats and veggies onto separate skewers like Dyal mentioned. This way they can be cooked with the ideal amount of time or heat for each. Sometimes I will parboil things like potatoes or carrots so they will cook up in the same time as the other items. In this case I go for the pretty arrangement since I've dealt with the cooking issues.

Jim

I'm in the head-tail camp. THis is generally because i'm using a narrower skewer (1/4 inch). Also, unless they're U10s (which i'll cook without a skewer), i keep them pretty close together. I saw somewhere that this helps prevent overcooking.

Also, I'm in the meat and veg get their owm skewer camp.