Tattoo On Food

Would the real BBQ please stand up...

Well summer is here and I feel I am expieriencing a little de ja vous, as it was exactly a year ago when I was sitting here telling you that 'summer is here again and it is time to BBQ'. But, over the last year I have learnt a few things that have changed my understanding of what it really means to BBQ.

Over the next few months you will find yourself being invited to your mate's place for a BBQ where standing round talking shit and sinking a few cans you will watch your best intending host pleasuring themselves in their outdoor kitchen. However most likely they will be commiting one of two evils - scortching snags on a nuclear hot fire or stewing steaks on a luke warm hot plate.

It seems the Australian BBQ technique has been adapted from its American and Asian origins to suit our neglected palate and hectic lifestyle. What has long been a slow cooking method is now nothing more than an outdoor extension of the normal household kitchen and because of this we are missing out on the true pleasure of what cooking with fire does to our food.

Rules for BBQ

Use Fire
The first and most important rule is you must use real fire. I have often been called an idealouge because of many things and I am sure the philastines would try a sling a little mud on me here but when it comes to food I practise what I preach and barbequing without coal or fire is nothing more than grilling - or broiling as the yanks would say. Here in Australia "BBQ" has become more of a verb justifying getting pissed during the middle of the day (something I see nothing wrong with) but if you build on this tradition with a genuine wood or coal fired barbie it will make for a better day.

The two sorts of fire you can use are char-coal or wood. Coal is great because it saves you the time of waiting for the wood to burn down until it is coal but if you have the time and the wood you will be rewarded with different flavours imparted by different timbers. Redgum is a trusty favourite but old hardwood building offcuts like jarrah have a beautiful smoking flavour.


Necessity is the mother of invention
After spending a bit of time in Asia over the last year I have really learnt you dont need to spend the money on a fancy 'outdoor kitchen'. Some of the best food I have eated this year has been cooked on make shift satay grills or terracotta coal BBQ's. My favourite at home is the hole in the back yard with an older webber grill sitting on a few rocks. I have easily cooked dinner for 30 people but then the best part is continuing in the Aussie tradition of getting pissed, take off the grill load the fire up with wood and you have a ready to go bonfire.

This Malaysian satay grill has been fashioned out of steel off cuts and is fueled with coal logs, something we could knock up for no more than $100 here in Australia but on which the stall holder makes his livelyhood.

BBQ is a Slow Cooking Method
Although using fire is the most important rule - what you do with the fire is a very close second as you could quite easily use fire too hot and wreck everything. A little internet psedu-research and you will quickly find one concept is heavily repeated - BBQ is a slow cooking method for secondary or larger cuts. Probably the most famous example from the home of BBQ, America, is pork spare ribs. For spare ribs to be at their best the sweet gelatinous fat dripping meat needs to fall of the bone with only the perfect amount of resistance. A final result which can only be achieved by slow cooking.

Like any of the slow cooking methods it is a waste of time and money if you use fancy cuts of meat. This is not to say that grilling eye fillet outside is not a worthy practise, just in the context of what is truelly a BBQ it doesn't fit.

Why do you slow cook. I will put it two ways. First scientifically - tougher cuts are tough because they have a lot of tendons, fast twitch muscle and fat. These types of tissue need long and gentle application of heat to alter their chemistry to make them palatable, processes such as transforming colagen which is unsoluable into gelatin which soluable. Second gastronomically - Slow cooking changes the tough fats and gristle into tender sticky sweet goodness that when combined with a great marinate will leave you liking your fingers clean.

Some good cuts for slow cooking are shoulder, belly, marylands, shin and neck to mention just a few. Slow cooking whole beasts and birds is good because you get a mixture of all of the cuts with the fat and tendons all still in place.

Fag it up & Keep it Real!
You dont have to ditch the snags and burgers, just start to think outside the square a little. Sure a pre digested Safeway sausage in cheap white bread with sauce or Mums secret recipe rissoles are a good start for the novice, but between Masterchef and Jamie Oliver I am sure you have been shown enough to start to think a little grander. And don't just go for fancy, go for authenticity. Like any of the top chefs and their food, for it to to be truely good it has to have indestructable foundations. It has to have a lineage that can be traced back to authenticity somewhere - even if two styles of cuisine are fused the elements of each must be able to stand alone. Whats all this waffle mean - try things like indonesian BBQ chicken or Malaysian Satay, even American BBQ pork spare ribs.

What I am cooking here is a whole scotch filled marinated with herbs and oil. The scotch took about 45 minutes to cook just past medium rare and was divine. The fire started out hot enouugh to seal the outside then cooled perfectly to continue gently cooking. When you are barbequeing in this way it is important to keep turning your meat, the opposite of hot cooking.


Aussie Style BBQ Tandoori Chicken

Cut the chicken through the breast then push down to flatten out. Cut out any of the small bones like the ribs or the wish bone. For the marinate I use a bought tandoori paste - Pataks is better then Sherwoods. To this paste I add lots of crushed garlic, ginger, salt & pepper, some finely chopped chilli a bit of lemon juice

Marinate for a few hours then cook as pictured. It takes about 35 - 45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Size 15 are the best compromise between size and texture, as when the birds get too big the breast are dry by the time the legs are cooked.

My Vietnameese BBQ Chicken Salad

Slow Roast Rosmary, Garlic & Lemon Lamb Chops

PERI PERI Chicken

Home Made Fancy BBQ Jus