Random BBQ tips

In Cooking on 18 May 2012 tagged barbeque, BBQ, burgers, sausages with no comments

• Burgers like flame, whereas sausages don’t. Keep you sausages away from the flame as they’ll quickly release their fat and massively increase the intensity of the flame, and they will burn very quickly and taste dry and unpleasant. Burgers take a lot longer to burn and are usually enhanced by bit of charring. You also want to cook burgers as quick as possible to keep them a bit rare in the centre. So just stick them right over the flame.
• BBQ mushrooms whole skewered through the stem on a metal skewer. This will help them keep their moisture and thus their size and cook evenly. Rub them with a little bit of oil first and sprinkle with salt and pepper as seasoning.
• Chicken breasts taste great with a bit of charring but they often need a bit of something on them to stimulate this. Try a simple paprika, cumin and salt rub. Also, mix in a little oil so they don’t stick.
• I don’t do fish, so don’t ask me how to BBQ it.
• Don’t cook steak on the BBQ unless you have a hotplate that gets really hot. It just won’t cook quickly enough. Unless, that is, you like your steak ‘well done’ in which case you can’t really call it steak, but rather you should refer to it as ‘burnt cow’.
• Cook lamb chops very quickly on a very hot bit of the BBQ – you want them a bit charred on the outside and medium on the inside.
• You can BBQ cheese you know. Indian cheese Paneer is great marinaded in tandoori spices then BBQ’d on a skewer. Serve it on top of salad leaves. Also Haloumi is great BBQ’d too.
• If you’ve got buns, ciabatta or any other bread with yer BBQ, remember to grill that up for a minute or 2 as well for a nice smokey flavour.
• Skewering chicken? Stick some chorizo chunks on there too (cut from the sausage, not the sliced stuff).
• BBQ’s are a ritual as much as a meal, and as such the food should be consumed as it’s cooked, rather than at the end when it’s all cooked. Don’t leave meat around to dry and veg to shrivel. As soon something is cooked, hand it out so that it can be enjoyed in its freshly charred state. Repeat until everyone is full.

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