A marinade gives flavour and also tenderizes food before cooking. Allow between 1-3 hours for foods to marinate.
Frozen steaks, chops, chicken joints, hamburgers and any other meats must be allowed to thaw completely before grilling.
A baste is a sauce that is brushed on to the food while it is cooking to add flavour and keep foods moist. Most are quite strong in flavour and usually have honey or sugar added. Use a haste towards the end of cooking time to help prevent meats from scorching.
I
Score fat on chops and steaks to keep meat from curling up, but do not trim completely. Fat helps to keep meat moist and any drips on hot coals help give food its lovely charcoal flavour.
A good baste for chicken is to mix 2 tablespoons soy sauce with 1 level tablespoon clear honey. Brush over chicken joints and let stand for 1 hour. Baste again during cooking. For sausages and hamburgers, mix equal quantities of tomato ketchup and oil.
3
Light the fire at least 1 hour before cooking and avoid disturbing it. Keep a reserve supply of charcoals round the edge of the fire so that they warm up. Then move them to the centre of the fire to build it up, if necessary. Adding cold fuel reduces temperature and slows down the fire.
4
While fire is getting hot, let guests help themselves to crunchy relishes. Fill a bowl with crushed ice, poke in spring onions, carrot sticks and celery stalks porcupine style. Provide radishes with salt for dipping, olives and a platter of thinly sliced salami and garlic sausage for guests to nibble with drinks.
4
Do not grill over too fierce a heat; if fire is too hot meat dries and juices are lost. When fire is ready coals will look ash-grey by day and have a red glow after dark. Test for correct temperature before you start: hold your hand over the grill at the height you intend to cook the food. If you have to take your hand away before you count past one, then the fire is too hot; you should be able to count to three with your hand held comfortably above the fire.
Spear some fat trimmings or a chunk of bacon fat on a long-handled fork and rub over the hot grill to grease it, then foods will not stick. Don’t brush foods with too much oil it causes the fire to smoke.
Control the intensity of heat by adjusting the distance between the food and the fire. Most barbecue grids can be raised or lowered. A distance of 2 inches (5cm) above the hot coals is about right for most foods.
Seal steaks on both sides, then cook for 8-10 minutes depending on how you like them cooked. Wait until you turn steaks before seasoning with salt and pepper. Season the other side after you take them from the fire.
Lay out items for cooking on a large plate or board ready for action it looks good. Have equipment required near at hand. You will need oven gloves, long-handled tongs, a fish slice, a long-handled fork and a brush for basting. Water for dousing flames may also be useful.
Lamb is delicious cooked over charcoal. The easiest chops to eat are best-end cutlets with a long rib bone as they can be held and eaten in the fingers. Cook lamb cutlets or chops for 10-15 minutes until lamb is well browned on the outside and pink in the centre.
It’s a good idea to have two tables: one for food to be cooked along with the haste, oil, butter, seasoning and serving plates required by you, the chef; the other table with cutlery, salads, bread and desserts for the guests. Remember the condiments: include sea salt and a pepper mill, a choice
Pork must be well cooked. Do not have pork chops thicker than 1 inch (2.5cm). Cook for a total of 15-20 minutes, and turn them frequently so they are well cooked and brown on both sides. Baste with marinade or barbecue sauce towards end of cooking time.
It takes time to cook food over a charcoal grill even for a small number of people. It’s a good idea to go for foods that are not bulky chicken drumsticks and leg portions cut in half are excellent. You can crowd these on to a barbecue grill. Allow 15-20 minutes, turning fairly often. Brush with marinade or melted butter.
Larger chicken joints or small chickens cut in half should he placed on thegrill bone side down the bone acts as a heat conductor and speeds up cooking. Allow 20-25 minutes, turning often, but allow chicken to cook slightly longer on the bone side. Salt chicken joints before grilling to make a crisp skin. Baste with marinade or melted butter and barbecue sauce towards end of cooking time.
Lamb liver cut in thick slices like steak is very tasty. Brush with melted butter and cook quickly, turning pieces frequently. Allow 10-12 minutes cooking time until well browned on outside and pink in the centre. Serve with herb butter melting on top or bêarnaise sauce 118).
Hamburgers are popular. Make your own hamburgers using lean minced beef, seasoning and minced onion. Pat into a fairly thick round shape as hamburgers shrink on cooking. Brush with melted butter or oil and cook for 8-10 minutes, turning once. A hinged double-sided wire grill is good for cooking hamburgers you can turn them all at once. Serve in soft rolls which have been split and toasted cut side down on the grill. For a special treat place a thin slice of mild cheese on hamburgers after each one is turned.
Pork or beef sausages grill well. No need to prick them nor do they require basting. Allow 15-20 minutes cooking time, turning fairly often. Chipolatas only need 10-12 minutes but watch that they do not slip through the grill bars. Cumberland sausage is coarse and spicy and comes in one long line. Cut in pieces for serving. A hinged double-sided wire grill is very useful for sausages, too.
For kebabs choose skewers that are long and flat; food will slip on round skewers when turned over. For uniform cooking string each type of food on separate skewers, then you can start to grill foods that need longest cooking first and add other skewers of food later.
Good kebab meats are beef steak cut in cubes, pork fillet trimmed and cut in pieces or shoulder or leg of lamb cut in pieces. Make smaller chipolata sausages by holding the ends, and twisting in opposite directions, then snipping to cut them in half. Bacon rolls made from trimmed rashers are nice wrapped around pineapple chunks or chicken livers.
To make beef kebabs for cooking rare, push meat close together on skewer; for medium or well done leave a little space between them.
Skewer meat kebabs with vegetables. Use onion cut in quarters and separated into layers, small tomatoes, button mushrooms (placed on skewer ends as they break if pushed too far up skewer) and green peppers deseeded and cut in chunky pieces. Try threading apricot halves on to lamb kebabs and tinned chunks of pineapple on to pork kebabs.
Fish cooked over a barbecue grill must be turned fairly frequently and a hinged double-sided wire grill is excellent for small whole fish like trout and mackerel. Have fish cleaned and slash the sides of mackerel to prevent curling up. Brush with melted butter or oil and allow 10-15 minutes for mackerel and 8-10 minutes for trout. Baste frequently. Serve fish with lemon quarters.
Trout or fish steaks are good cooked in individual loose foil parcels. Brush the inside of the parcel with oil or melted butter and season the fish with salt and pepper. Or dot the fish with herb butter 117) such as parsley and tarragon. Allow 15-20 minutes cooking time.
For extra flavour arrange items for cooking close together to trap smoke taste from fire. Or you can burn something aromatic in the coals. Try a few split cloves of garlic, thin spirals of orange peel thrown on fire towards the end of cooking time or some thyme, rosemary or hay leaves added during the last few minutes.
Toasted sandwiches are very tasty when grilled on the barbecue. Use ordinary white bread slices and make ham or cheese sandwiches. Spread the outside of bread slices with soft butter then place on hot grill. Use a long-handled fish slice for turning. Or arrange sandwiches inside hinged double-sided wire grill. Turn when brown on underside and serve as soon as cooked when they will be hot, crisp and delicious.
Don’t attempt to cook everything over the barbecue fire. Stick to the main course only and combine with other foods prepared in the kitchen. Baked potatoes to serve with herb butter and rice can be oven cooked. Salads are a must. Refrigerate salad greens so they are cool and crunchy and add tomato and cucumber just before serving. Potato salads are always favourites.
Cheese is a natural for outdoor eating. Arrange a sumptuous cheese board and present with fresh fruits. Wedges of well chilled watermelon are lovely, so are grapes on ice.
Barbecue foods are often spicy and thirst making. Provide plenty of refreshments in the way of chilled beer, lager and soft drinks. Or make up a cooling wine cup like sangria.
Use the last of the glowing embers to bake bananas in their skins. They take about 20-30 minutes and the skins will turn black. Peel open and serve with brown sugar and lemon for a wonderful and easy dessert.
When the barbecue is over, rake out coals and cool for use again. Place barbecue grill in water while still warm and give a quick scrub with wire wool to banish all pieces of burnt food. Then your grill will be ready for use next time.