Big Book of BBQ E-Book

Pippa Cuthbert

• Herausgeber: IMM Lifestyle Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Seitenzahl: 180

Beschreibung

There's no better way to celebrate summer with friends and family than a backyard barbeque. The 130 recipes in this comprehensive guidebook, each accompanied by a succulent color photograph, provide everything you need for a successful feast, from mouthwatering starters to a tempting selection of main courses helpfully divided into meat, fish, veggies, and salads. Special topics include barbequing traditions around the world, griddle-pan techniques, and the grillmaster's essential tool kit.

Leseprobe

Contents

Introduction

Starters

Meat

Fish and seafood

Veggie

Salads and sides

Desserts

Barbecue basics

Index

Introduction

This is a book about grilling, not just about barbecue.

In the American South, barbecue is a noun not a verb. By American definition, barbecue is a tough cut of meat cooked slowly over a wood-fired grill. The meat is basted with a simple vinegar - or sometimes tomato-based sauce. The result is meltingly tender, smoke-infused meat. But, if I can generalize, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And where there’s fire, there are men. And where there are men, there’s competition. In America, whole states, cities, neighbourhoods and families are divided by barbecue. Take North Carolina, for example. Texas generally unites behind beef brisket, South Carolina is devoted to its mustard-based pork, while Kansas City loves its ribs. In North Carolina, however, things aren’t so simple. On the western side of the state (Lexington or Piedmont), barbecue means a hog shoulder basted with a red, tomato-based sauce. Over in the east, on the other hand, they follow the old, North Carolina adage – use every part of the pig except for the squeal – with a little vinegar-based sauce to help it along. Both claim to have the best barbecue, and neither will budge. This debate isn’t new; it is a controversy that has been simmering away for years, but recently there was a major development. In the spring of 2005 a city by-law was passed naming Lexington, with its pork shoulder and tomato-based sauce, the “Barbecue Capital of the World”. Vinegar purists were up in arms. Friendships died, fists were drawn and reporters gathered. I caught the breaking news in my kitchen in Halifax, Nova Scotia as I innocently prepared a marinade for my pork ribs. I was listening to a North America-wide live radio programme, and I could feel the heat right through the radio.

At least the people of North Carolina agree on one thing – the use of the word “barbecue”. Roger Dennis, a North Carolina newspaper columnist and barbecue devotee, set his readers straight when he wrote the following: “Barbecue – for the thousandth time – is a noun. It is not a verb or an adjective. You cook a pig and you get barbecue. You grill steaks and burgers. You do not “barbecue” anything. So shut up about it”.

We’re passionate about cooking anything alfresco. We love the way aromas waft through the garden, calling guests to gather by the flame. We crave the effects of a smoky charcoal, especially when accompanied by a handful of aromatic wood chips. We appreciate the ease and immediacy of a gas grill, and value the versatility of the griddle pan. They all capture the essence of casual dining, regardless of the weather, the season, or the time of the day. We’re girls who are devoted to the grill. With this devotion comes strength and wisdom. We are strong enough to grill with the guys, but wise enough to avoid the competition that shrouds all things “barbecue”.

We’re not certain why competition follows flame. Maybe it’s the primal action of meat to fire. Perhaps it’s the over-sized tools. Regardless of reason, grilling not only tears up towns, it divides friends. When people get together for barbecues in New Zealand, the guys elbow their way to the barbecue with beer and raw steaks in hand, while the women casually toss salads and sip wine in the kitchen. Thousands of kilometres away in Halifax, Nova Scotia, you’ll find exactly the same scenario in their back gardens. But history, as they say, is meant to be broken. Women can grill, men can make salads, and anyone can turn a noun into a verb.

The word barbecue is much older than the dish. The Tainos (a Haitian tribe obliterated by European explorers) used the word barbacoa to describe a framework of sticks used for sleeping on or cooking over. The word was borrowed by the Spanish, and worked its way into the English language as barbecue at the end of the seventeenth century, still referring to a wooden framework. By the early eighteenth century, barbecue was exclusively a device upon which to roast meat; by the end of that century, its meaning was extended to any dish that was cooked upon such a device.

Many say the word derives from the French barbe à queue, literally “beard to tail”, referring to the practice of spit-roasting whole animals.

Regardless of provenance, however, it’s safe to say that the word “barbecue” has had a chequered semantic history. But we’re laid back folks – we don’t care whether we grill, barbecue, or barbecue “barbecue”. What we do care about is taste. Flavour. Fresh ingredients. Global influences. Straightforward methods. Casual gatherings. Friends. Family. And, most of all, the relaxed feeling that only comes from cooking food over fire.

Successful barbecuing

Barbecuing can be a breeze if you follow our simple guidelines. Successful barbecuing calls for thought and planning: remember to think like a scout and BE PREPARED. How often have you sunk your teeth into a suspiciously pink chicken leg or been served a slightly over-charred sausage? These all too common occurrences can be easily avoided if you follow our easy instructions. Our marinating and food safety tips apply as much to indoor grilling as they do to outdoor cooking.

Marinating tips

■ For mess-free marinating and an even, all-over coating, place your ingredients in a strong plastic bag. If you have no large plastic bags or are marinating meat on skewers then always use non-corrosive dishes such as Pyrex, glass or stainless steel and cover tightly with clingfilm to avoid other foods tainting the flavour.

■ If you are marinating your meat for longer then 30 minutes always do so in the fridge. Remove it only 30 minutes before cooking to bring it back to room temperature.

■ In some recipes we heat the marinade. This speeds up the marinating time. Do not, however, heat marinades containing milk products such as yogurt and do not use hot marinades on fish, because they will begin to cook it immediately on contact. Hot, not boiling, marinades should be poured over the meat and left for no longer than 30 minutes at room temperature just prior to cooking.

■ Never mix raw foods such as fish and chicken in the same marinade – for maximum safety, keep foods separate.

■ Never combine cooked meat with your uncooked marinade. Instead, use the uncooked marinade during cooking for basting the meat.

■ If your marinade has a high sugar content it will burn more easily. Always hold off basting with these marinades until at least halfway through cooking. Always ensure that the last basting has had sufficient cooking. A low-sugar content marinade can be used to baste the meat from the start of cooking.

■ Before placing marinated items on the barbecue shake off any excess marinade, particularly if there is oil in it, to prevent flaring and burning.

■ Never use your best extra virgin olive oil in a marinade. It will burn and smoke because of the high content of monounsaturated fatty acids. Use light olive oil or vegetable oil instead, and save your best oil for salad dressings.

■ Acids are an important ingredient in marinades as they help break down enzymes and tenderize the meat. Common acid ingredients found in marinades are lemon juice, yogurt, wine, soy sauce and vinegar. Some fruits such as kiwi fruit and pomegranate are also highly acidic and are common meat tenderizers.

■ Do not over-marinate your meat. You may gain in flavour by doing this but you will also lose in texture. Some acidic marinades will break down the meat or fish if left too long.

Food safety and hygiene

Food safety is an important issue when it comes to barbecuing, keeping in mind that it is usually a hot summer’s day when the barbecue comes out. When you’re barbecuing, the greatest risk of food poisoning comes from raw and undercooked meats. Bugs such as E.coli, salmonella and campylobacter can cause serious illness. Follow these simple steps to avoid illness:

■ Always wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling raw meats.

■ Always keep your food cool, covered and out of the reach of animals and children.

■ All meats should be thoroughly defrosted before cooking. The best way to do this is to defrost them in the fridge overnight.

■ All marinated foods should be refrigerated until about 30 minutes before cooking unless a hot marinade has been used (see page 10). Take chicken out no longer than 30 minutes before cooking.

■ Use separate dishes to transfer uncooked and cooked meats and never combine the two.

■ Check your meat is at a safe temperature for eating; insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the flesh so it is as close as possible to the centre of the meat. Avoid contact with bones, which will give you an inaccurate reading. The temperatures should read approximately:

■ Don’t assume that meat charred on the outside will be cooked properly on the inside. Check that the centre of the food is piping hot, particularly when cooking chicken, burgers, sausages and kebabs.

■ Always have a bucket of sand nearby just in case the flames get out of hand.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Long tongs

These are essential for turning meats. Avoid any with sharp teeth or you will pierce the meat, and juices will be lost causing flare-ups and tough, dry results.

Wide spatula

A useful tool when dealing with whole chickens, pizzas or any large items. Ideally a pizza paddle with a long handle will do the job best. Otherwise use a large flat fish slice with a long handle.

Clean plates and trays

Essential for cooked food. Never put cooked meats back in the same plate or dish that they came in. One trick is to line the dish of uncooked meats with clingfilm. While the meat is cooking, remove the clingfilm and you are left with a clean dish for the cooked meat.

Timer

An extremely useful piece of equipment to have at your side when manning the barbecue. Over-cooked meats are never a joy to eat so set the timer and then you can carry on socializing. Timers are particularly useful when the lid is down and you can’t see exactly what is going on.

Brushes

Essential for basting meats or vegetables as they cook. Today you can buy heatproof silicon brushes but if you can’t get hold of these, just use whatever brushes you have available. If you don’t have a brush then try using a bunch of hard herbs such as thyme and rosemary to dip into the marinade and brush over the meat or vegetables. This is just as effective and imparts a delicious flavour at the same time.

Kitchen paper

Essential in order to keep your workspace clean. It is also useful to help absorb any meat juices when meat is resting.

Large kitchen knife

This is useful for carving large cuts of meat such as a fillet of beef or a whole chicken.

Small sharp knife

Use this to test if the meat is ready. This is particularly important for pork and chicken, where bacteria are more likely to be found and the temperature is more critical.

Thermometer

This enables you to test if your meat has reached the correct temperature (see “Food safety and hygiene”, page 11).

Long matches or lighters

These enable you to light the barbecue easily without burning your fingers.

Chopping boards

Do not use the same boards for cooked and uncooked meats.

Wooden or bamboo skewers

These should be soaked in cold water for at least 30 minutes before cooking so they don’t burn. If you have forgotten to soak your skewers then wrap the ends in foil to prevent burning. Alternatively, use metal skewers for long-cooking foods like a whole peri-peri chicken or use sugar cane, rosemary skewers or lemongrass stalks for short-cooking foods such as fish kebabs.

Poultry shears

Useful for cutting through raw chicken with bones.

Hinged wire grills

These are an easy way to cook fish over charcoal. The fish is encased, so you don’t have to worry about keeping it intact while turning it.

Drip pan

Use disposable aluminium trays or an old roasting dish that you don’t mind ruining. Place it over the coals and under the grill when barbecuing particularly fatty meats or meats in marinades that contain a lot of oil. It will catch the drips and help prevent flaring and burning.

Smoke chip box

Various kinds of smoke chip box are available, from stainless steel to cast iron to makeshift foil packages. They fit inside gas grills, slowly dispersing smoke throughout the cooking process. Cast iron ones, although the most costly, are the most successful at maintaining heat and are the easiest to “top up” as the chips burn out. To make a foil smoker pouch for a gas grill, place soaked wood chips in the centre of a heavy-duty sheet of foil. Fold the edges together to make a tight seal and flatten the package like an envelope. Using the end of a knife, poke several holes in the top of the package to allow the smoke to escape. Place the pouch directly over the burners, under the grill bars. Heat the grill to hot until smoke appears, then adjust to the desired temperature. For charcoal grills, use a grill box or simply scatter soaked chips over the coals.

Heavy-duty oven mitts

Particularly useful when you are dealing with griddle pans on the barbecue or drip pans, which may need to be moved around while still very hot.

BARBECUE INFO

Make sure you have a level site for your barbecue, away from any overhanging trees, and never leave a lit barbecue unattended. Heat the barbecue in advance and rub the grill with a little oil before cooking. Gas barbecues generally take about 10 minutes to get up to temperature, whereas charcoal barbecues take about 30 minutes to reach the required temperature and for the smoke to die down. Indoor griddle pans take about 5 minutes to come up to temperature. See “Getting the temperature right”, page 18, to ensure that you are cooking over the correct temperature. Choosing the right barbecue is a very personal choice. Make sure you shop around and find the best deal. Here are a few pointers, which may make your decision a little easier, but ultimately your choice will be dictated by the space you have available and the taste you are after:

Gas barbecues

These are usually the choice of the city dweller who can’t be bothered dealing with the mess of charcoal and just wants to light the barbecue at the flick of a switch. The advantage of gas barbecues is that they almost always come with a fold-down lid, which means the barbecue can work like a conventional oven as well as a traditional barbecue. This is useful for cooking more stubborn joints such as chicken drumsticks and whole legs of lamb. A gas barbecue also gives you more control over temperature than a charcoal one. Choose one with both a grill plate and a hot plate so you can cook several meats and vegetables at the same time. Cleaning is also quick and easy in comparison to charcoal models.

Charcoal barbecues

Some people just love getting their hands dirty, and the sight of real flames cooking their food with the smell of charcoal is enough to keep them from converting to gas. There are several types of charcoal barbecue available on the market. The first, and cheapest, is the disposable barbecue. These are readily available in supermarkets and are suitable for one-off uses like picnics and camping. They consist of a foil container filled with charcoal and topped with a fuel-soaked pad and mesh wiring. They are easy to light and are usually ready to cook on in about 20 minutes. It is important to keep your food moving, as heat cannot be controlled. This applies also to the simple fire box or stand barbecues. Occasionally they will have the added advantage of a moveable grilling rack to lower the food if liked. These barbecues usually have the disadvantage of no air vents for controlling heat.

The kettle barbecue is more advanced and usually comes with controllable air vents, moveable racks and a lid. It acts in the same fashion as a conventional oven. Kettle barbecues are usually made of steel, with a porcelain-enamelled coating which will stand up to numerous barbecue sessions.

It is worth learning how to tell when your charcoal is ready to cook on. A charcoal barbecue takes about 30 minutes before it is ready but, there can be variations. The coals should be covered with a light grey ash, with a bare glimmer of red glow underneath. Do not start cooking until the flames have died down or you will end up with charred food that is still raw in the centre.

Griddle pans

These are invaluable for year-round indoor grilling and many makes also transfer happily to the barbecue grill rack and oven. Their versatility makes them an essential item in any kitchen. The best griddle pans are made of cast iron. If cooking indoors, they are much easier to handle over gas elements, which makes for greater control over temperature. Never oil your griddle pan while hot but instead lightly oil the food if necessary. Get the extractor fans going and heat your dry pan to very hot before you add the food. To test if the pan is hot enough, splash over a little water; it should evaporate immediately. Sear the food quickly then reduce the heat to the desired cooking temperature (see “Getting the temperature right”, page 18). Try not to over-crowd your pan or the heat will dramatically decrease.

CLEANING

Clean your barbecue grill rack using a wire brush and warm soapy water or crumpled foil at the end of long tongs in preparation for your next barbecue.

For a gas barbecue, burn off food by keeping the grill on for an extra 10 minutes and scraping off any burnt-on residue using a wire brush, crumpled foil or a metal scraper.

If you are cooking on a charcoal barbecue take time to empty and clean out the firebox after each use. Always allow the charcoal to go cold naturally rather than immersing it in water, which may damage the base of the barbecue. Cover the barbecue with a lid (if you have one) and close any air vents. Leave overnight and the embers will eventually die. Store away from the damp, dirt and cobwebs when not in use and disconnect the gas if using a gas barbecue.

Indoor griddle pans should never be immediately immersed in cold water as the cast iron might fracture. Allow the pan to cool first, loosen any charred food deposits and wash in plenty of hot soapy water. Always dry your grill pan thoroughly and lightly oil before storing it until the next use.

Getting the temperature right

In all of our recipes we have used consistent terminology in order to help you get the cooking times right. Depending on whether you are cooking over a gas barbecue, a charcoal barbecue or on an indoor griddle pan, the basic principles are the same. You will need to use your own initiative sometimes as every piece of equipment varies. If your barbecue has a moveable rack it is much easier and quicker to adjust the temperature. Likewise, if you are cooking indoors over gas elements rather than electric elements the temperature can be more quickly adjusted. Light or heat your cooking apparatus according to the manufacturer’s directions then adjust it to the right temperature.

Hold your hand over the grill bar, hot plate or griddle pan to test the temperature:

Low – you should be able to keep your hand there indefinitely but still feel warmth. This temperature is useful for holding cooked meat when you are not ready to serve.

Medium – you should be able to hold your hand there for 6–7 seconds. This temperature “cooks” the meat and is generally used for larger cuts and longer cooking recipes.

Medium-hot – you should be able to hold your hand there for 3–4 seconds. This temperature will “sizzle” the food.

Hot – you should be able to hold your hand there for 1 second only. This temperature is useful for food wrapped in banana leaves or foil.

Very hot – this is useful for searing meats such as steak and tuna when a rare centre is desired and very quick cooking applies. Don’t hold your hand over at this temperature, it’s far too hot.

Handy hints for meat and fish

CHICKEN AND DUCK

To spatchcock a chicken