Saturday, May 8, 2010

Soylent Green

I just spent half an hour, looking at photos of people eating at barbecues.

I cook a pretty mean barbecue.

Look, a barbecue has to have a few things:

1. Easy-to-cook, easy-to-eat food like sausages, burgers, small meat cuts, teriyaki, satay, etc.

2. The special. Some people barbecue a whole goat. SOme, go for seafood, like crabs or prawn or oysters, mussels, etc.

3. The usual stuff - wings, meat, breasts, etc.

Some people go to barbecues and they do not want to work too hard at eating things, so grilled sausages, burgers, etc are good.

Some, don't mind the extra work, so we have the rest.

Marinating is a must, for me.

My marinating recipe is simple:

Garlic, onion, shallots, ginger, chilli powder, curry powder, a bit of fresh tumeric root and Lea & Perrins - blended. Add honey and rosemary for chicken. Pepper, basil, oregano for some of the meat.

A trick to soften meat without meat tenderiser is jackfruit leaves. You slow-boil the meat with the leaves for an hour or so, if that's your inclination. Half-boiled meat, marinated, then grilled, is tender, but loses out on the juiciness and taste.

I prefer lumping everything together for an overnight soak.

Man. I miss my barbecues.