British standards on entertaining others. High or low?
Discussion
Chicken is cheap. You could feed an army with ten pounds. A bottle of tandoori spice mix, tikka mix, a few wooden skewers costing as much as match sticks, and you have an alternative to "burgers and hot dogs" which seems to be the british norm.
A few even cheaper delicious strips of home made honey and mustard glazed pork belly, fatty size down till crisp, plus supermarket ready made BBQ skewers and rustic bread, butter, and cheap frozen BBQd corn on the cob soaked in melted salted butter with pepper and garlic... Again, something students can afford.
No, I did not have a s
tty cheap burgers and sausages BBQ today, but am speaking to girls who have. No wonder some people (ones I spoke to) are not keen on the British BBQ.
I'm not bringing lamb, various cuts of steak and marinaded fillet cuts into my mild rant, nor exotic and sometimes expensive luxury sausages and things some others might not buy.
But if you are one of those Brits who can't invite round a group of people without serving cheap burgers and hot dogs, have you ever not considered an equally cheap cut of meat with a bit more bang insofar as flavour goes?
Why can't the British see beyond those cheap burgers and hot dogs?
- I like cheap st, burgers and hot dogs included.
- I don't tend to buy it but have nothing against it...
... But equally don't understand why the English simply don't see beyond those burgers and dogs.
What about wraps. Marinades skewers. Home made burgers with inexpensive beef. Veg on the BBQ.
Sorry chaps. The British wevil serving brigade can try to hide amongst the inevitable avoidance of my point, which is simply... Cheap burgers and hot dogs are the norm here. Ask any hot food van for anything different (I don't bother, as I do enjoy cheap burgers, mostly) and you'll find of course no one professionally offers an alternative at the side of the road.
I give myself 3/10 for the rant.
I swore once
I do have a point
Alternatives are just as easy to prepare.
Not limited to food, do you offer your guests habitual tripe through lack of imagination, or habit.
No one that has ever posted in the food forum need reply. I, like you, serve up variety to please all tastes, on any budget.
A few even cheaper delicious strips of home made honey and mustard glazed pork belly, fatty size down till crisp, plus supermarket ready made BBQ skewers and rustic bread, butter, and cheap frozen BBQd corn on the cob soaked in melted salted butter with pepper and garlic... Again, something students can afford.
No, I did not have a s
tty cheap burgers and sausages BBQ today, but am speaking to girls who have. No wonder some people (ones I spoke to) are not keen on the British BBQ.I'm not bringing lamb, various cuts of steak and marinaded fillet cuts into my mild rant, nor exotic and sometimes expensive luxury sausages and things some others might not buy.
But if you are one of those Brits who can't invite round a group of people without serving cheap burgers and hot dogs, have you ever not considered an equally cheap cut of meat with a bit more bang insofar as flavour goes?
Why can't the British see beyond those cheap burgers and hot dogs?
- I like cheap s
t, burgers and hot dogs included. - I don't tend to buy it but have nothing against it...
... But equally don't understand why the English simply don't see beyond those burgers and dogs.
What about wraps. Marinades skewers. Home made burgers with inexpensive beef. Veg on the BBQ.
Sorry chaps. The British wevil serving brigade can try to hide amongst the inevitable avoidance of my point, which is simply... Cheap burgers and hot dogs are the norm here. Ask any hot food van for anything different (I don't bother, as I do enjoy cheap burgers, mostly) and you'll find of course no one professionally offers an alternative at the side of the road.
I give myself 3/10 for the rant.
I swore once
I do have a point
Alternatives are just as easy to prepare.
Not limited to food, do you offer your guests habitual tripe through lack of imagination, or habit.
No one that has ever posted in the food forum need reply. I, like you, serve up variety to please all tastes, on any budget.
Nurse get me my medication.........and a very large spoon.....
As a kid, I have memories of endless family friends serving sausages in buns, or a burger if you like, here in the UK.
No harm done. Happy days etc. What seven year old doesnt like pork sausage?
But abroad, one isnt limited to so few options when at a social event.
I dont EVER remember having a hamburger or plain pork sausage hot dog with no alternative at a BBQ abroad (of hundreds of BBQs).
There is always a wealth of creativity and flavour explosions on offer. Stuff even the poor (who boil old leather shoes on weekdays to eat) can afford.
I am not saying lamb, fillet steak, carefully made up individual expensive fish parcels, etc should be available instead of sausages and burgers...
But I do
when someone in the UK claps someone else on the back, saying the meat was superb having consumed nothing but ready made sausages and frozen burgers all night.
I'll attend. I'll enjoy. I'll pinch yours if you arent looking.
But when you hear the brits slagging off the lack of variety in their own BBQ culture...
We are not all guilty. But too many of us are.
If the beer is going to speak, leave that to me.
Or send them to the PH food forum, for some proper inspiration.
If anyone disagrees with me, I invite you to our annual dinner whereupon we can discuss the matter over a jam sandwich and a glass of orange squash.
No harm done. Happy days etc. What seven year old doesnt like pork sausage?
But abroad, one isnt limited to so few options when at a social event.
I dont EVER remember having a hamburger or plain pork sausage hot dog with no alternative at a BBQ abroad (of hundreds of BBQs).
There is always a wealth of creativity and flavour explosions on offer. Stuff even the poor (who boil old leather shoes on weekdays to eat) can afford.
I am not saying lamb, fillet steak, carefully made up individual expensive fish parcels, etc should be available instead of sausages and burgers...
But I do
when someone in the UK claps someone else on the back, saying the meat was superb having consumed nothing but ready made sausages and frozen burgers all night.I'll attend. I'll enjoy. I'll pinch yours if you arent looking.
But when you hear the brits slagging off the lack of variety in their own BBQ culture...
We are not all guilty. But too many of us are.
If the beer is going to speak, leave that to me.
Or send them to the PH food forum, for some proper inspiration.
If anyone disagrees with me, I invite you to our annual dinner whereupon we can discuss the matter over a jam sandwich and a glass of orange squash.
HOGEPH said:
But surely people don't go to a bbq to eat?
Drink and get sunburnt is the norm.
This. The BBQ is just a focal point. And people like the basics... sausages, burgers, maybe a chicken leg. Simple yet tasty. The smell of the BBQ is also a primal thing, which should not be sullied by ingredients which cause "exotic" aromas! We like the smell of charred cheap meat. Drink and get sunburnt is the norm.
Burgers and sausages (usually cremated) is the very British BBQ.. They are expected. Other food items are not. That's not to say that a bit of chicken breast or whatever is not acceptable, simply that it is not acceptable to not have the burnt burgers and singed sausages....
I've gone to rather "posh" BBQ events, where sausages were still served - oh, they had poncy flavours, but still...
I've gone to rather "posh" BBQ events, where sausages were still served - oh, they had poncy flavours, but still...
Mobile Chicane said:
I'm frankly amazed at the extent to which Brits will relish charred and cremated food in the name of 'BBQ'. Maybe it's their experiences in the War or something.
Thanks to PH, I have been educated about indirect cooking. I'm amazed how few of my compatriots have even heard of it.
I think most of the problem is that bbqing is entrusted to the man of the house, who cooks twice a year on a fire he struggled to light.Thanks to PH, I have been educated about indirect cooking. I'm amazed how few of my compatriots have even heard of it.
HOGEPH said:
But surely people don't go to a bbq to eat?
One needs to tell swimbo this, in order to be allowed to go, though!Mobile Chicane said:
I'm frankly amazed at the extent to which Brits will relish charred and cremated food in the name of 'BBQ'. Maybe it's their experiences in the War or something.
Thanks to PH, I have been educated about indirect cooking. I'm amazed how few of my compatriots have even heard of it.
Mmmm yes. Nail, head.Thanks to PH, I have been educated about indirect cooking. I'm amazed how few of my compatriots have even heard of it.
Nothing wrong with pulverised pig ghoulies served in stretchy foreskins in a bun, nor frozen slaps of horseburger also in a bun, but whats wrong with a bit of indirect 'big meat' cooking away from the flame on the side? Its not seen enough, once last year in my (limited (because I have no friends) social circle).
g3org3y said:
Mobsta, you need to get yourself some Greek friends so you can have a proper bbq.
So long as they dont go all roman-greek on me when I bend over to pick up the meat I'll probably drop, then yes, I need to find some.Bill said:
I think most of the problem is that bbqing is entrusted to the man of the house, who cooks twice a year on a fire he struggled to light.
Im on my fifth BBQ in three days.Show me the cave, man!
calibrax said:
And remember, British 'Barbecue' = American 'grilling'.
Proper BBQ American style is a whole different ball game, involving whole chickens, joints of meat, wood smoking, indirect cooking, etc.
Many of them I could learn from. Probably a fair bit. The rest we dont hear about, as they never find the real world, rolling about their gas BBQ's like bowling balls in a cyclone knocking over cans of budweiser and wailing like banshees. Actually thats just me when I visit.Proper BBQ American style is a whole different ball game, involving whole chickens, joints of meat, wood smoking, indirect cooking, etc.
Tonight. Slabs of duck, lamb and veg, with spiced wings and tandoori chump slices.
Its only the kids who like sausage and nothing else.
It has to be cheap sausage, from bookers, or they wont eat it...
Then again, it may just be me. OH knocked up a "superb" coleslaw, but I said preferred the supermarket uber value coleslaw (she did ask) and have been whipped to near-death for admitting as much, with her cat o' nine tails, which is actually a cat o' 28 tails, as that is how many days I will be punished for my honesty.
What next?
"Too lazy to make a proper BBQ, so made a trap and the BBQ slammed shut on a bunch of wild life pecking at bird seed and squirrel food, they were all in there when I pulled out the string-trigger, help yourself, most of the hair is burnt off so it should be OK. Water, or orange squash btw?"
The medieval britons ate better than us, around the fire. On average. I suspect. If you counted up a random 100 BBQing men in the UK.
There is more flavour in a boiled and flame grilled sweaty boot, than a bland piece of 'value' battery hen chicken. Perhaps thats why the money sailed to india, stupidly to conquer, instead of just trading criminals for spices which I would have done.
I think it stems from the fact that sadly a lot of Brits are content to eat stty food, so bbq is just code for 'eating stty food outside, except also cremated'.
You wouldn't invite people over for dinner and then serve them fish fingers and frozen veg, but the equivalent is the norm as long as it's outside
tty food, so bbq is just code for 'eating stty food outside, except also cremated'.You wouldn't invite people over for dinner and then serve them fish fingers and frozen veg, but the equivalent is the norm as long as it's outside
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