Bar-B-Q tips

[mjgeo]

I am hosting a Bar-B-Q (BBQ) tomorrow, and although I pretty much have it covered I would like to hear what other members can't live without when attending a BBQ.


For me, it is sausages with fried onions, grated cheese (tasty) and tomato sauce on bread.
BBQ sauce is required if having a steak too.


One thing I might need help with (being a carnavour and all), are good salads to go on the side.
:eat:

[omisan]

Love the angry monkey avatar!

Anyway, I love the sausage & grilled onions for a Q - can't go wrong, and it's so easy... but the big gun I like to pull out is tri-tip, marinated for a few hours in beer, soy sauce, whatever seasonings you like, and the key - papaya. Just mash a papaya up (seeds and all) into the marinade. It'll make your tri-tip as tender as a filet mignon. Also, don't marinate too long (i.e. overnight), as it'll turn the stuff into pulp. Slow cook it for maybe an hour or so on the grill after the coals have died down a bit, and you'll be wishing you made 2

Veggies.. at a BBQ? Are you insane? Hahah.. ok, I am.

One of my favorites is corn on the cob. Just cook it straight up on the grill, husks off, until it's nice and partially charred on all sides. Dunk in warm salt water for flavor, serve. For best results, use yellow corn.

Another thing you can do is take any gourd (squash, pumpkin, etc.) - or any other veggie for that matter - and place it in a foil pouch along with some diced onions and tons of butter; maybe some salt & pepper. Seal the foil and stick it on the grill. When it's a bit mushy and the butter's fried the edges of your veggies, it's good to go.

If the carnivore within is still growling, get thee back to some meat with your veggies. Get some fresh asparagus - blanch it a bit in hot water. Slice it into 2" sections.. wrap each piece in a little bacon and skewer it. Throw the skewers on the grill until the bacon's crisp (but not hard). Taaaasty.

Oh yeah - buy a giant package of bacon so you can wrap some of the sausages in it, LA-mexican hot dog cart style!

[Joker]

One of the things I like to do when catering BBQ's is provide a couple different simple dishes that are temperature tolerant and aren't too hard to prep. Nothing like coming down to the wire on a 130-person party!

Anyway, for meat lovers, I like to take flank steaks, and do them London Broil style. The marinade, and this is key with a flank is simple- crush 2-3 cloves of garlic, marinate with extra virgin olive oil, some balsamic vinegar, Lee & Perrin's worcestershire (no substitute for the best!) and cracked pepper overnight in an airtight container. I prefer a zip-loc style bag. Throw some Montreal Steak seasoning in there for a wee bit more flavor.

Grill them over high-heat to sear the outside, liberally applying Lee &Perrins to the outside, then throw in an oven for about 3 minutes at 300. Pull them out, let them rest (FOR GOD's SAKE REST THE GODDAMNED THINGS!) for about 5 minutes. Remember that meat will continue to carry over and cook.

Slice VERY thin on a bias going perpendicular to the grain of the meat. Flanks are very simple to spot the grain, as the meat tends to be stringy in appearance.

Throw that on a roll with some mixed greens, sliced onion, and a dab of a lemon-horseradish aioli and you're set! (combine lemon, horseradish, and regular, not lite mayo in a blender or food processor to taste, or make an aioli the old fashioned way from scratch)

Other meat- marinate a pork tenderloin in garlic, thyme, EVOO, and some S&P for about an hour, and grill that sucker off. Mark it nicely, and finish in the same oven for about 10 minutes. Slice into medallions. Similar method is slit the side, stuff with paste of the above ingredients and wrap with twine. As the meat cooks the garlic becomes very very sweet and imparts its flavor nicely.

Chicken is simple. I make a teriyaki blend of Kikkoman teriyaki sauce, honey, soy, peanut oil, juice from fresh oranges and lemons, and a dash of cayenne and spanish paprika. Marinate the chicken overnight so it soaks up the sauce, and let'r rip on the grill. Best if seared and finished in the oven since the sauce has a ton of sugar and tends to char if cooked too long on the grill.

As for greens, wrapping asparagus in bacon is a lotta work. Simple prep for it would be to blanch it, shock it, then grill it enough to get some marks. It'll remain pretty firm and hold well for service. Season with kosher salt and pepper.

As for other veggies, make a simple salad dressing of EVOO, Balsamic, Red Wine Vinegar (more RW than Balsamic, since Balsamic is very strong stuff). Roast 2 whole shallots and 4-5 cloves of garlic in the oven until the garlic and shallot brown (depends on temp and oven.) Trick to roasted garlic/shallot- put them on a bed of kosher salt to prevent them from burning into the pan and becoming a permanent fixture. Mince the garlic/shallots in a processor, add a half teaspoon of yellow mustard and one egg yolk for every 16oz of finished product, and then blend your vinegars. I do 3 parts RW to one part Balsamic. If you are doing this in a processor, its easiest to build an emulsification. SLOWLY!!! drip the oil into the blender until the emulsification begins, then add gradually more until you have enough finished product. Believe it or not, the egg is stabilized by the vinegars killing any harmful bacteria (the incidence of salmonella in eggs is so miniscule in American now that it is pretty damned safe.).

Any more questions either pm or email me.

Cheers!

[mjgeo]

Tri-Tip, as in: http://www.orbeef.org/New%20Tri-Tip.htm ??

Not that I go looking, but I have never seen or heard of it in Australia. However, the picture in the link looks almost sexual.
When I go to the butchers tomorrow I'll enquire about it and might just do your suggestion.


Bacon... knew I forgot something. Thanks heaps Omi

[mjgeo]

Jesus Joker, and here I was thinking a BBQ was meant to be simple, slap on a few bits of meat and turn it once in a while with the tongs.

The teriyaki sounds managable though. I should already have most of what you listed there.

[GoKrazy]

I love pork of the BBQ! My favourite (which is also really easy to make) is pork shishkebabs (sp?):

- roughly cube your fave pork cut of meat
- marinade it 2-4hrs in italian dressing with the addition of soya sauce, garlic and a bit of honey
- skewer on sticks and throw on the BBQ
- 15min later you're done!

As a side/appetizer I love to make grilled mushrooms (plain old button mushrooms will do fine, just pull out their stems)

- stuff some goat cheese mixed with your fave herb (chives works well, but so does parsley) into the mushroom caps
- put the mushroom caps on the top shelf of the grill (the heat can't be too high)
- when they have nice grill marks and the cheese melts you're done!

Bon Apetit!

[MeTurk]

This is class! I was planning a bbq I'll have to give some of these a go.

You can cook things like spuds by rapping them in tinfoil with butter and herbs in the foil aswell and just trow it straight into the coals.

[SuDz]

Another cheap fast and easy side dish is this stuff that we have at my house alot. Basically you get that three colored pasta the orange white and green kind. It can be those wheel shaped ones ir little individual noodles like an inch long or what not. I forget what they call them, but you just cook some of that up, add baby tomatoes or cut up tomatoes and pour in some ceaser dressing.

It tastes good, it can be made in like 5 minutes and adds something on the side for people. Also since it is best a little cold it can be out on the table and not be worried about it getting too cold or something.

SuDZ

[afterlife3]

You guys are deffinately not from the South. Gotta have some baked beans and mashed potatoes. Some sort of bread like biscuit or roll and cole slaw. That should set you up for a good BBQ and a good type of BBQ is Pulled Pork. Hopefully that helps a bit.

[LaurieL622]

Joker, can you come over and cook for me? I've gotten so hungry reading your post!!!!!!!! All that EVOO talk....mmm....

Anyway, my fav thing at bbq's are the pasta salads. I know this is a meat oriented bbq...but for any girls that are going to be there....boil some tri color rotini, toss with hand-torn bite sized pieces of dark romaine, sweet peas (frozen or fresh...NOT canned), and italian dressing. chill for 30 minutes. Very simple and refreshing. Also...my personal fav is tossing fresh fruit (esp. watermelon, catelope, honeydew) with a little lemon juice. It brings out the sweetness much better then salt. sorry these are very girly suggestions...but i was a vegetarian for a few years.

[benna2]

Yeah I'm with Laurie here...Joker you are welcome to cook for me anytime!!

I'm hungry now too (and since I am NOT the great cook Joker is, I will be heating up a Lean Cuisine in the microwave!)

[d_fresh]

i'm all about salmon done on a cedar plank. don't need any sauce just slap it on there...or grilled tuna steak. oh yeah.

[omisan]

The cedar plank salmon is fantastic - especially if you can get your hands on some fresh sockeye. MmmmMmMmMmMmmm.

So my friends and I had a bbq yesterday. Filled up on tri-tip, fire-baked sweet potato, roasted corn, salad.. you name it. A lot of people came over and for once, *everything* was eaten - this was a first... Which was bad, because we played poker afterwards and got hungry and there was nothing left.

[GoKrazy]

So mjgeo, how did your BBQ go?
Did you try out any ideas that were posted?

[Joker]

Originally posted by benna2@Jun 12 2005, 02:30 PM
Yeah I'm with Laurie here...Joker you are welcome to cook for me anytime!!*

I'm hungry now too (and since I am NOT the great cook Joker is, I will be heating up a Lean Cuisine in the microwave!)

Not a problem, ladies... if we can just get together the money for airfare...

Wonder what the TSA would do when they saw my knife kit go through the X-Ray...


As for cedar shake fish, I agree. Salmon works well (but only do Sockeye. N Atlantic is garbage in the States.) Rockfish (known as striped bass outside of Maryland) is my favorite that way. Little drawn butter, or better yet, a nice herb-infused beurre blanc... MmmMMMMmmmMMM!!!

Just ate a London Broil and some BBQ grilled chicken last nite at the folks house... cooked that steak a PERFECT Mid-Rare....

[d_fresh]

I usually do locally caught salmon (fresh from the river at times! my old man is an avid salmon fisher) or stuff I get from BC.

[space virgin]

One of the catering facilities I staff for specializes in cedar plank salmon. Sockeye is fantastic but gimme some Copper River any day.

'Course, I'm living in Salmon Country, so maybe I'm just a little snobby about it.

[llemus7]

Damn all these recipes and I am starving now!

It looks like we need to have a tpunk bar-b-q meet up, and Joker can be the head cook, and any other volunteers that would like to showcase there talent are all welcome.

I will eat until I explode!

[LostFarmboy]

The most important ingredient for any bbq is beer, lots and lots of beer