Unsecure chicken perches

[Rhapsody]

I'll be honest, when I go to other people's barbeques I always eat before I go... cheap nasty burgers sausages and chicken bits, all flavourless and nasty with ne'er a vegetable in sight

 

This weekend I'm trying Butterflied Leg of Pork- cooking it through in the oven today then marinading it and re-cooking on the grill on Saturday, I'll let you guys know how it turns out and if I've killed anyone I love cooking outdoors on the grill (partly because my kitchen is so horrible) one of my favourite side dishes is Polenta Sandwiches-

 

Polenta Sandwiches

 

1 Pkt ready cooked polenta

1 jar pesto

fresh Parmesan

spray oil

 

Cut polenta onto finger-thickness slices, make sandwiches by spreading one slice with pesto and a few Parmesan shavings, press sandwich together, spray with oil and grill until both sides brown, turn carefully or put in a grill frame.

 

I could go on and on- last year we ate alot of mini aubergines, scored like a corkscrew, spread with Chipotle paste then grilled on kebab skewers

 

Anyone got any creative barbeque recipes?

[Daphne]

Looking forward to reading this thread! Whats chipotle?

 

I can't contribute much of my own except to say I make my own burgers from good quality local minced beef (I fry the onions and garlic for a while so sweet and then mix into beef with a bit of Lea&Perrins and seasoning,into the fridge to firm up before cooking), or porky burgers which might have no L&P but more green herbs in them or Moroccan-spicy type flavours (eg dried coriander/cumin/pimenton type things). We sometimes do thinly sliced pork tenderloin as well, coated in oil/garlic/chilli and whatever else we fancy.

 

I adore simple barbied sweetcorn (on the cob obviously!), or perhaps fish. I think our outdoor cooking tends to be straightforward (I'm not keen on thick things - often with bones - that need cooking through to be safe because they are often dry on the outside) but accompanied by some nice salads and decent bread or boiled new potatoes.

[Cinnamon]

Barbie sweetcorn is a big hit here too - it goes all buttery & yummy,so no need for extra fats.

We also love Halloumi on the BBQ in various ways,either on a kebab with veggies,or lamb cubes,or just as it is in slices

My daughter is a vegetarian,& she likes a big flat mushroom barbecued,topped with Halloumi or Houmus & in a burger .

[majorbloodnock]

Lots of empathy coming from this corner, I'll admit. Why anyone thinks poor quality food will taste better cooked on a barbecue than any other method is beyond me.

 

I think the major problem with a lot of barbecues is that people are focussing on the cooking method, not what the food needs, and that's where I've found most success in my experiments. Some food, like satays and fairly thin kebabs, will work best cooked quickly over a high heat. Some food, like chicken legs and thick sausages, needs a lower heat and a longer cooking time. Some, like baby back ribs, works best wrapped up in foil and allowed to cook slowly over a cool spot on the barbecue. Trouble is that so many people just wait until the barbecue's hot (probably too hot), slap some meat on it, keep cooking until the inside is done (meaning the outside is cremated), then pass off the carbon crusting as "authentic barbecue taste".

 

It's something I can't understand. Hardly anyone baking a cake will try using an oven going full chat at 240degC, so the theory of varying the heat to match what you're cooking is pretty well known, so why ignore it just because the grill's moved out to your garden? Blimey, I'm starting to sound like a grumpy old man....

[kinsk]

I am another one who always has something to eat first, I have most definitely been to more bad bbq's where the food is virtually indedible than I have good bbq's.

 

Love the sound of the pork, hope it turned out a sucess. Have done butterflied leg of lamb on the BBQ a few times, marinaded in lemon, garlic, anchovies and whatever herbs are lurking around. Lovely served with a bulgur wheat salad with peppers, onions, cucumber etc. and a bit of feta cheese.

 

One of our favourites is scallops wrapped in pancetta. I put them in a bowl first with some lime and lemon juice, a bit of olive oil and a splash of white wine, crush up some coriander stalks and put them in too. Leave in the fridge for an hour of so and then wrap with pancetta, skewer and BBQ.

 

Asparagus wrapped in pancetta is another good one, and sweet potatoes are good done on a bbq.

 

I am not a great fan of burgers on a bbq, sausages are fab though, but they have to be decent ones.

 

Spatchcocked chicken works well.

 

I did a big platter of griddled fennel, aubergine, peppers and spring onions a bit of lemon juice and some feta cheese to go with our BBQ last night.

[Rhapsody]

Its clear I'm not alone on this one then- excellent!

The pork was fantastic, like ribs without the bones, we just sliced it, next time I will bake it in apple juice as it was a bit dry, I used Paul Newman's Sticky Ribs marinade, very nice.

I also found some wild garlic on my travels this week (I'm going back to dig some up and plant) and I stuffed the cavities of gutted mackerel with this and they were really good. Finally I threaded raw King prawns and cubes of chorizo onto skewers and marinated in lime and coriander, they cooked in an instant and were a big hit.

BTW if you havent tried grilling discs of Butternut Squash yet you are missing out!!!!!

 

Off to clean the grill (and everywhere else, it was a bit of a heavy weekend)

More soon from The Woman Who Barbeques.....

[Lavenders_Blue]

I think I will show this thread to my OH in the hope that it will encourage him to TURN THE HEAT DOWN!

 

He is one of the 'whack the heat up to max and bung it on til it's cremated' squad. Of course, I know nothing being a mere woman - despite the fact that I cook every other meal at home and have a fair idea of how temperature control works!

 

Having said that, it doesn't affect me personally too much as I'm vegetarian so tend to go for things like thick slices of BBQ'd halloumi, corn on the cob, marinated tofu slices and aubergine steaks. I don't usually go for veggie sausages and burgers if I can help it as some can be a bit cardboardy and they don't taste any different to when they are oven cooked anyway.

 

I always take things in foil parcels to other people's BBQs as I reserve a meat free zone on our barbie at home, but wouldn't expect other people to do the same. Usually things that just need warming through such as falafel that can be popped into a bun with salad.

 

Will definitely try the butternut squash slices - sounds delish!

[theherd123]

BBQ pineapple is great!

 

Rings or huge chunky slices - marinate in rum, brown sugar and a little all spice before placing them to cook.

[sunshinesupernova]

I love barbecued food.... the smell... the smokey taste .....mmmmm. Just takes a while to get the heat right so stuff doesnt burn as you say.

 

Nothing worse than semi raw meat

[majorbloodnock]

I love barbecued food.... the smell... the smokey taste .....mmmmm. Just takes a while to get the heat right so stuff doesnt burn as you say.

 

Nothing worse than semi raw meat

 

Nah. Semi raw I can live with. Cremated I can't. Blindingly obvious, though, that a "traditionally" barbecued sausage will manage to disgust the both of us at the same time.

 

I must admit I don't tend to do baked spuds with barbecues any more. I've switched to putting small spuds (new, mid or old; doesn't matter to me) on skewers, brushing them with olive oil and cooking fairly slowly around the sides of the barbecue. They're easier to handle, easier to divvy out and, depending on how long you cook them, can still develop a good texture to the skin.

 

If I'm cooking corn on the cob, I leave the leaves on and soak the lot for a few hours in water. Then, when they go on the barbecue, the water stops the leaves burning until the corn is cooked.

[Daphne]

I must try the butternut squash - never heard of that before. The pineapple sounds great too.

 

Another easy pud is to wrap whole bananas in foil over the dying embers and then serve the squishy results with a bit of rum and cream/Greek yog.

[Rhapsody]

I agree with MBN re spuds, I will pre-cook meat (ribs, etc) but I now refuse to cook anything indoors to go with- the whole point is to be cooking outside with the assembled company after all!

I fought a rearguard action against a gas grill until my old terracotta Burmese one blew up rather spectacularly- then FIL bought me a gas barbeque as a generous gesture so I've had to learn to love it. For anyone else who reluctantly cooks on gas here's a trick- make Smoke Bombs!

 

Smoke Bombs for gas grills

 

Get a large handful of woodchips and dampen. Place in a large square of tinfoil, double thickness. Add woody herbs such as rosemary, bay, etc, gather up like a bag twist the top and make some holes around the top. Place under grills, directly on burners, light grill as normal and the smoke will permeate the barbeque as the food cooks, partic good if like me you tend to cook mostly with the lid down.

[majorbloodnock]

... I now refuse to cook anything indoors to go with- the whole point is to be cooking outside with the assembled company after all!....

Me too, with one exception; couscous. I'll add the chicken stock to the couscous in the kitchen, although once it's done I will mix in chunks of veggies (courgette, sweet peppers, mushrooms, onions etc.) that I have cooked on the barbecue.

 

Oh, and since this is a thread about barbecue experiments, I'll just add that one of my failures was some mutton chops. I left on just a bit too much fat, which rendered profusely onto the flames and blazed quite merrily of its own accord. This, of course, increased the heat, thereby rendering the remaining fat even more efficiently, so fuelling the vicious circle. Boy, was I glad I'd taken the precaution of a fire extinguisher and fire blanket, and wasn't I relieved to find out that they do in fact work.

 

Ho, hum....

[C&T]

 

Reminds me of a BBQ we did at a local flower show. A local company lent us a big gas BBQ - to promote their product I guess. We cooked lots and lots and lots of cheapish burgers and sausages, and all the fat dripped through into the trays beneath.

 

Unfortunately, the fat then caught fire, and melted the BBQ... Fortunately it still worked - just - after we managed to evacuate the area and put the flames out... Don't think the company that lent it to us was too please mind you!

 

Some would say the moral of the story tis to keep an eye on the drip trays, and keep them emptied. Personally, I say don't cook cheap sausages or burgers!

 

I love whole fish on a BBQ - trout, sardines etc. Well marinated and/or stuffed. They don't take too long, and taste different (and I think better) to doing under a grill or whatever.

[chickencam]

We have been invited to a post Christening BBQ on Sunday, the friend called round tonight and was telling us about how cheaply he had managed to buy all the buns, sausages and burgers. We are pretty sure that there is a prior engagement that we haven't thought of yet

[Lewis]

As a half veggie - only eat chicken + fish - we don't really BBQ a lot.

 

Tuna steaks are the obvious one for us + done quite a lot.

Chicken and halloumi kebab skewers are really nice too - can have with red pepper too

 

Do like jacket potatoes on the BBQ though, only time we have them with feta cheese.

Will try the squash - what about sweet potatoes?

[Snowy]

We have been invited to a post Christening BBQ on Sunday, the friend called round tonight and was telling us about how cheaply he had managed to buy all the buns, sausages and burgers. We are pretty sure that there is a prior engagement that we haven't thought of yet

 

OH bought us some cheap sausages at the weekend for our BBQ. The dogs enjoyed them

[Rhapsody]

Why aren't people just honest-

"Come on over and have dirt cheap mechanically recovered meat from the Eastern Bloc, prepared by someone who never sets foot inside the kitchen normally (present company excepted), cooked with no temperature control, seasoning, or care."

 

Actually lwescott, the veg is always my favourite bit- sliced or halved aubergines, halved courgettes, peppers, corn, squash, flat mushrooms, sliced sweet potato, asparagus its all fantastic

[majorbloodnock]

Why aren't people just honest-

"Come on over and have dirt cheap mechanically recovered meat from the Eastern Bloc, prepared by someone who never sets foot inside the kitchen normally (present company excepted), cooked with no temperature control, seasoning, or care."

The other question, of course, is why the great armies of guests allow such lies to pass. My guess is that the money saved on the food is usually spent on booze (no better quality than the food, but similarly copious quantities). Once enough of this is consumed, the guests become less fussy about what they eat; after all, if it only takes a dozen or so pints to make a shish kebab become appetising, a few glasses of lambrusco should easily be able to wash down a dodgy banger or two. It's like anaesthetic for the taste buds.

 

My only problem is that I don't like poor quality booze any more than poor quality food, so I'm stymied whichever way you look at it.

[Cinnamon]

We got some mazing Italian herb sausages from the meat counter at Waitrose last weekend - their Chorizo ones are good too

 

I never,never ever eat meat at the our laws house,as they bulk buy it from the market (not a Farmers market,but a nasty one)

[Rhapsody]

Why aren't people just honest-

"Come on over and have dirt cheap mechanically recovered meat from the Eastern Bloc, prepared by someone who never sets foot inside the kitchen normally (present company excepted), cooked with no temperature control, seasoning, or care."

The other question, of course, is why the great armies of guests allow such lies to pass. My guess is that the money saved on the food is usually spent on booze (no better quality than the food, but similarly copious quantities). Once enough of this is consumed, the guests become less fussy about what they eat; after all, if it only takes a dozen or so pints to make a shish kebab become appetising, a few glasses of lambrusco should easily be able to wash down a dodgy banger or two. It's like anaesthetic for the taste buds.

 

My only problem is that I don't like poor quality booze any more than poor quality food, so I'm stymied whichever way you look at it.

 

Maybe they are just trying to be polite

[kinsk]

I agree with MBN re spuds, I will pre-cook meat (ribs, etc) but I now refuse to cook anything indoors to go with- the whole point is to be cooking outside with the assembled company after all!

 

I'm the opposite I don't get the pre-cooking meat bit, even when we've done big butterflied legs of lamb, or joints of chicken I never pre cook, nothing has ever been charcoal on the outside and raw in the middle and noone has ever got posioned.

 

I will however do all the griddled veg, salads etc. in the kitchen but get them all done before people arrive and just serve it all at room temp. All the washing up etc. can be done and out of the way, all the meat gets laid out on foil trays which are then binned so at the end of the night it's just glasses, plates and serving dishes for the dishwaser and everything is done.

[majorbloodnock]

...and here is where I can seen the secret of good barbecuing. People have posted plenty of different takes on how they prepare for a barbecue, but the common theme is that some prior thought and preparation actually does take place.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Guest

[C&T]

Agree with Kinsk!

 

I like salads and things to go with the meat (while a carnivour, I do like some of the green stuff!). But do try to ensure everything can be done in advance, even if left in the fridge till the last minute.

 

I think our BBQ this weekend will include some VERY good quality flavoured sausages from local rare breed pork farm - all pigs reared outdoors YUM. Some excellant ribs from same place. Some good quality chicken "bits" (will depend on what is available), and some whole fish (sardines??) and Halloumi. It will NOT be burnt/raw! Served with Potato salad (proper, with homegrown eggs/chives), tuna pasta salad, green salad, tomatoes and mozzerella with fresh basil, fresh bread and butter - and a vareity of sauces/dressings. Maybe a rice based salad - if I have the time. Followed by a trifle (I know - but got a craving for one!) and a key lime pie. Maybe some cheese - depends if I remember!

 

And the wine will NOT be cheap plonk - I can't stand it! And the many can's of beer that will be required will be multiple varieties, in the large plastic bin filled with water and ice blocks to keep it cold. It will keep the blokes out the kitchen if nothing else, and free up the fridge for my wine!

 

that it won't tip down with rain at the wrong time...

[Daphne]

Sounds great! What time?