BBQ favourites

[Mobile Chicane]

Don said:

dougc said:

Prawns - from raw or simply charring already cooked ones?

From raw. And SHELL ON for more flavour.

I've been known to eat them whole, shell and all. Crunchy.

^^^ These.

If you're anywhere near an Oriental wholesaler, get the huge ones from the freezer section.

Defrost, marinate in lemon juice, zest, sesame oil, grated ginger and a bit of soy then grill until the prawns are pink and the shell blackening on the outside.

My all-time favourite BBQ nosh, closely followed by a boned out leg of lamb in North African spices.

[Harry Flashman]

If you have a kettle charcoal barbecue that can do indirect cooking, and don't mind leaving a joint of meat in for a few hours, this little fella is the Absolute Don. Has to be prepared the night before, really, as it's a fiddle to prepare (but after, you just leave it in the barbecue and get drunk).

Saddle of lamb with honey and moroccan flavours.

Rub outside of lamb with a mox of turmeric, honey and chili. Open out and lay in such mix on a large dish.

Take chicken breasts. Mince in blender with garlic, dried prunes, dried apricots and coriander. Roll mince into two long sausages, which sit nicely in the depressions of the saddle.

Roll saddle up, tie it, stud with cloves and slices of garlic stuffed into tiny cuts on the outside. Baste again in the honey mix, leave chilling in fridge.

4 hours before eating, get charcoal barbecue up to speed. Move coals so that they are sitting on the outsides (my Weber has a grate for this). Put joint in middle - so it is not over direct heat. Throw rosemary twigs or cedarwood on the red hot coals, cover the kettle and open the smoke vent. Every hour, check coals are hot, add some if required. Turn and baste with honey and chili each time.

Take out after 3 hours, dust with a touch of cinnamon, rest covered for 10 minutes. Slice with a sharp knife to show off the stuffing. Serve with couscous, salad and spiced yoghurt.

I guarantee that you'll be a barbecue hero.

Edited by Harry Flashman on Friday 14th May 16:51

[Harry Flashman]

Oh - and chicks will sleep with you because they think that you're a) a good provider and b) creative. Little do they know that once you've snared them, you'll go back to burgers.

On that note, if making homemade burgers, use only minced steak (preferably aged), mix in port and worcestershire sauce, and little chunks of stilton. Prepare night before letting it all bind, cook medium so pink in the middle. Baste with port/balsamic mix when actually cooking. Utterly awesome, easy as hell.

Edited by Harry Flashman on Friday 14th May 16:55

[tenohfive]

Some fantastic ideas there, pity I went shopping prior to seeing a few of them. That Moroccan lamb sounds like something I'll just cook in its own right one day.

The BBQ I've got isn't massive and its a while since I've done a barbie, so I grabbed loads of meat and I was thinking of doing about 4 'courses'...almost meze style:

1. Salad, various breads, home made potato salad and coleslaw...not a course really, more sides. But something for while the foods cooking.
2. Prawn skewers with sweet chilli dip, chicken skewers with onions and peppers, pork skewers likewise (or maybe mixed pork and chicken skewers?)
3. Lamb steaks seasoned with a bit of rosemary
4. Sticky orange and sesame chicken thighs, tandoori chicken drumsticks (currently marinating in the fridge)
5. Various lamb/veal burgers, various sausages

I was thinking that for the chicken skewers I'd coat them in a coriander and lemon paste prior to putting them on the heat. And I was thinking a honey glaze with some ground (or fresh) chilli for the pork skewers. I've got some fresh chilli's, garlic and lime which I was thinking of doing something with for the sausages...pierce the skin and stuff some sort of concoction in there maybe? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Getting hungry just thinking about it...

Any thoughts?

Edited by tenohfive on Friday 14th May 19:29

[miniman]

Neck fillet of lamb. Takes about 10-12 minutes.

[poo at Paul's]

Do a butterfly leg of lamb, dead easy, take out the bone, marinade it in stuff, I did chili, garlic and limes, then do 45 mins in the oven at about 170, then wack it on the BBQ for the last 10-15 mins to colour it up.
It comes off the BBQ really nice, slice it up and it's real juicy. Dead easy and some real bargains about just now, I got one from co op last week that fed 6 of us easily for £8!

[Mobile Chicane]

tenohfive said:

1. Salad, various breads, home made potato salad and coleslaw...not a course really, more sides. But something for while the foods cooking.
2. Prawn skewers with sweet chilli dip, chicken skewers with onions and peppers, pork skewers likewise (or maybe mixed pork and chicken skewers?)
3. Lamb steaks seasoned with a bit of rosemary
4. Sticky orange and sesame chicken thighs, tandoori chicken drumsticks (currently marinating in the fridge)
5. Various lamb/veal burgers, various sausages

Good running order. By the time appetites have been whetted with prawns and lamb, they'll be falling on the chicken like savages.

I'd suggest a disposable barbecue for the prawns and maybe the lamb lest the main barbecue run out of oomph before the chicken and sausage/burger courses are cooked.

Perhaps you could add some slices of pineapple to drizzle in honey with a squeeze of passionfruit over, wrap in foil and cook over the embers. Marshmallows on sticks even?

[tenohfive]

Mobile Chicane said:

I'd suggest a disposable barbecue for the prawns and maybe the lamb lest the main barbecue run out of oomph before the chicken and sausage/burger courses are cooked.

Perhaps you could add some slices of pineapple to drizzle in honey with a squeeze of passionfruit over, wrap in foil and cook over the embers. Marshmallows on sticks even?

Sounds like a good call. I'm not a marshmellow fan, but haven't tried them BBQ'd before. The pineapple/passionfruit idea is definately a go-er though.

[Plotloss]

Skirt steak, whole, marinaded in lime amd chilli overnight.

Sliced very very thinly and then threaded onto skewers.

Lush.

[tenohfive]

Plotloss said:

Skirt steak, whole, marinaded in lime amd chilli overnight.

Sliced very very thinly and then threaded onto skewers.

Lush.

I did find myself walking around Sainsburys with a trolley full of chicken, lamb and pork and wondering how I could fit some dead cow into the line up. Found myself settling for burgers as everything I saw and wanted (some lovely looking steaks etc) would have taken too long to cook.

I've never tried beef kebabs though, I'll definately give that one a go next time.

[sleep envy]

Corn on the cob, rubbed in butter with cayenne pepper

wrap in foil, chuck them on the coals and leave for half an hour

easy peasy

[escargot]

Actually, I reckon good quality burgers and sausages smoked using the indirect method are a thing of beauty. Never underestimate the power of doing basic stuff, extremely well.

[tenohfive]

escargot said:

Actually, I reckon good quality burgers and sausages smoked using the indirect method are a thing of beauty. Never underestimate the power of doing basic stuff, extremely well.

I've never tried that before - am quite happy to give that a go with the sausages. I've never smoke cooked anything, though the BBQ has some sort of adjustable vent for doing this. How do you do it?

[otolith]

Good call on neck fillet of lamb - I cut it into chunks, marinate in lemon, garlic, rosemary and olive oil and then skewer with peppers & onions.

Raw prawns, squid, scallops, firm white fish, any or all of, marinated in lime juice, ginger, garlic, chilli, nam pla, lemon grass, coriander, then skewered and briefly cooked.

[escargot]

tenohfive said:

escargot said:

Actually, I reckon good quality burgers and sausages smoked using the indirect method are a thing of beauty. Never underestimate the power of doing basic stuff, extremely well.

I've never tried that before - am quite happy to give that a go with the sausages. I've never smoke cooked anything, though the BBQ has some sort of adjustable vent for doing this. How do you do it?

Really simple.

You need to buy some wood chips (weber do a big bag of hickory chips for about £6 - it'll last you ages).

Put a couple of handfuls in a bowl of water and soak for atleast half an hour (this stops them burning so quickly and therefore they smoke more)

Make a little bowl out of tinfoil roughly 6 inches in diameter and put the drained wood chips in this

Whack the bowl and chips directly on the coal and wait for the smoke to appear.

When smoking, put the food on the grill (on the other side to the coal) and put the lid on with the vent open a little.

Honestly, it's epic.

[tenohfive]

escargot said:

tenohfive said:

escargot said:

Actually, I reckon good quality burgers and sausages smoked using the indirect method are a thing of beauty. Never underestimate the power of doing basic stuff, extremely well.

I've never tried that before - am quite happy to give that a go with the sausages. I've never smoke cooked anything, though the BBQ has some sort of adjustable vent for doing this. How do you do it?

Really simple.

You need to buy some wood chips (weber do a big bag of hickory chips for about £6 - it'll last you ages).

Put a couple of handfuls in a bowl of water and soak for atleast half an hour (this stops them burning so quickly and therefore they smoke more)

Make a little bowl out of tinfoil roughly 6 inches in diameter and put the drained wood chips in this

Whack the bowl and chips directly on the coal and wait for the smoke to appear.

When smoking, put the food on the grill (on the other side to the coal) and put the lid on with the vent open a little.

Honestly, it's epic.

How long does it take? The sausages will be the last thing on.

Edited by tenohfive on Saturday 15th May 14:33

[Stu R]

Can't go wrong with chicken, I normally throw together half a dozen different marinades and do a few trays of chicken breasts, always a winner. Even something boring and unimaginative like nandos works, though I prefer dry rubs.

Poach some bratwursts in beer on the bbq, then finish them on the grill, it's heaven.

Also a big fan of bacon steaks, and home made burgers.

[ruggles]

Tip for the home made Coleslaw.

Use both Mayonaise and Salad cream mixed in. Try it, works a treat.

[escargot]

The smoke lasts for a good hour but the length of cooking time depends on the food. Bare in mind it will essentially act as a really hot oven so saussies take 30 mins max, a spatched chicken - 1h30m etc.

EF alcohol induced dyslexia

Edited by escargot on Saturday 15th May 22:18

[tenohfive]

ruggles said:

Tip for the home made Coleslaw.

Use both Mayonaise and Salad cream mixed in. Try it, works a treat.

OH tried it with mayo and mustard. I'm not keen one coleslaw, but it was good.
And the potato salad she did had spring onions and mint in - that was lovely.

On the meat front, my personal favourite was the pork kebabs - diced up, covered in a glaze of honey, olive oil and ground dry chilli then popped on skewers with red onion and peppers. It was lovely, and I'm going to do some for dinner tomorrow (bought faaaar too much meat.)

The tandoori chicken IMO was just too sweet - it was the same recipe I use when slow cooking it (which comes out lovely) but on the BBQ it was just too much, even for someone with a sweet tooth. I might try it again but add something to take some of the sweetness out of it - maybe turmeric or cumin.