I love barbecue and it looks like it’s going to be another cracking hot weekend – we’re all stocked up on charcoal briquettes, firelighters and tinfoil in drooling anticipation. If there’s something I really miss about Georgia it’s the roadside barbecues. there’s nothing quite like a bbq pork sandwich with slaw, a corncob with butter, an RC Cola and a fresh peach on a scorching hot, humid day. Perfection.
Living as we do in a crowded city with a tiny back garden, I can’t possibly hope to replicate that, but I do my best with a tiny kettle grill. What I’m yearning for is one of these, from Neatorama’s Top 10 BBQ Grills:
Kamado’s Ceramic Barbecue Grill is probably the most artistic and beautiful BBQ grill we’ve ever seen (and yes, it’s from California).
The hand-made Kamado grill was invented by Richard Johnson, an American pilot who came across a ceramic rice cooker in Japan in the 1960s. He claimed that this method of cooking makes for better flavors of smoked, broiled or baked food.
Today, you can order a Kamado grill in various tile colors (so it’ll match your decor, of course!), using various fuels such as wood, charcoal, gas, or electricity.
Oooh, want. Our garden’s too tiny for a sculpture so a sculptural BBQ would be just the thing, and it’s very pretty. I dread to enquire about the price though, that does not look cheap.
Despite limited facilities and lack of access to decent cuts of barbecue meat I do my best, and I do make my own sauce, not bottled. Bottled sauce is full of flavourings and preservatives, and besides, here in NL you’re just paying a premium for US ‘authenticity’. I refuse to pay 5 euro for something I can make myself with just a small abergine…
I don’t know why everyone doesn’t make their own, it’s just a case of dollops of this and that till it tastes right. My base recipe is:
I small can tomato puree
1 puree can water
1 puree can red wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 puree can brown sugar or honey
1-3 crushed garlic cloves to taste
put in a smallish saucepan and cooked, stirring, over a low heat till it starts to simmer and turn dark. Added bit by bit while cooking (depending on whether I want it sweet, sour, mustardy, oriental, vinegary or hot) are any or all of the following by the half teaspoon at a time:
cumin
ground coriander
crushed Szechuan pepper
crushed star anise
crushed fresh or dried chillis (very sparingly ie the size of your small fingernail – it develops)
sweet soy
honey mustard or strong grain mustard (beer mustard is good)
molasses or golden syrup or stroop
dry sherry or madeira
pineapple juice or any fruit juice you have lying around – replace half the vinegar with it
Balsamic vinegar
Worcestershire sauce
Anything really, even horseradish or wasabi or nam pla: it all depends on what you’ve got on the condiments shelf. I plan to trackdown some pomegranate syrup and try that next; it’s a very malleable recipe, just keep tasting it till it suits you. The thing to remember is that the sweeter you make it the more likely it is to scorch. Marinade the meat in the cooled sauce somewhere cold for at least a couple of hours if you’re one of those organised people – brush it with sauce before cooking if not. Keep basting while grilling either way.
I also stumbled upon an excellent pasta salad recipe while cooking last week: cook a package of fusilli pasta till al dente, and drain throughly. Toss with a tablespoon of oilive oil to stop it sticking while cooling. Meanwhile make a salad dressing from of 2 cups of good mayonnaise, 1/2 cup milk, cream or creme fraiche ( I used milk) the juice and shredded rind of a lemon, a teapoon of salt, several generous grinds of pepper, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 3 crushed cloves of garlic and a big handful of basil leaves torn small. The dressing will be pale brown with mysterious green bits in, but it doesn’t matter, it tastes fantastic.
Chop a bell pepper and 3 or four spring onions ( scallions or bosuien) into smallish dice and mix into the dressing; pour all over the warm pasta in a large bowl and give it a good stir to coat. Set aside somewhere cool till ready to eat, then add some more shredded basil, salt and pepper to taste, and slivers of parmesan. Yum.
I’m a bit bored with pork chops and chicken (the ribs here are skinny) so this weekend I’m going to get a breast of lamb for the grill and have it with Greek salad and Turkish bread from the corner bakery. So what I could use is a good marinade for lamb. Any recipe suggestions?
