Food ‘n Drink

So what stuff can you do for a BBQ? I know often the British way is sausages and beefburgers, perhaps some under done chicken and some other various BBQ style foods bought ready prepared from a supermarket. However BBQs don’t need to be this monotonous.

Burgers and Sausages:
Forget your cheap low cost frozen burgers or cheap thick sausages. Aberdeen Angus Steak burgers are the way to go. 99p each from the meat counter in Sainsburys or a similar price in packets from the fridge shelves in Tescos and Asdas. Instead of run of the mill frozen sausages go for your pork chipolatas or pop to Lidls and pick up some nurnberg bratwursts (similar to chipolatas but German bratwurst style instead). These are great as you can snack on them whilst the rest of the food cooks.

Chicken:
Unless you’re doing chicken wings or are prepared to burn your chicken on the outside to ensure it’s cooked on the inside (very important), you’d be better off either microwaving or cooking the chicken first to ensure it’s cooked through and then just putting it on the BBQ to crispen up and get that BBQ taste. Alternatively just use Chicken wings or small drumsticks. Another favourite of mine with chicken is kebabs. Slice up a chicken breast into 4 or 5 strips and marinade it in a bowl of 2:1 Oil to White Wine, with a crushed garlic clove and some herbs in. Marinade that for at least 3-4 hours as this will help keep the chicken moist. Then use either wooden or metal skewers (if wooden, soak in water to prevent burning and food sticking to them). Put a piece of chicken on and then use one of the following to divide the meat:
Pineapple, Mushrooms, Peppers, Halloumi Cheese, Challot.

Corn on the Cob:
Sweetcorn cooked on a BBQ gives it the best taste going. Perfect for a starter, put either butter or for a better taste, garlic butter, over it before serving.

Pork and Beef:
To do a good steak on the BBQ you need a thick steak. Anything thinner than a centimetre needs either cooking very quickly or else it will dry out too quick. Beefburgers however are great as they have a higher fat content. Kebabs are always an option too, but these will cook quicker and dry out quicker than chicken so they need a long marinading session and a quick cook.

Side additions:
Halloumi Cheese – this is a greek/cypriot cheese which tastes great BBQ’d. Slice about a centimetre thick and then BBQ on either side. Yes it doesn’t matter if it goes burnt, just don’t burn it too much! Again great for a snack to eat whilst waiting for the remainder of the food to cook.
BBQ’d veg – Mushrooms, Peppers, Challots, Spring Onions all go well on a kebab.
Cheesy Mushrooms – Take medium to large mushrooms, take the stork out and fill with Boursin cheese (it’s a soft cheese with garlic and herbs in). Put another mushroom on top and use cocktail sticks to skewer the mushrooms together.

For Dessert:
Put a banana in it’s skin on the BBQ once all of the food is cooked. Or chop up a pear, apple, pineapple or other fruit that you like, add a little brown sugar and wrap in tin foil and leave that on the BBQ. Experiment with various fruit and serve with vanilla icecream and a drop of Baileys if you like it.

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