Latest features 10 things you've never cooked on a barbecue

Date Published:

27/06/2008

Britain's unpredictable summers might suit a Sunday roast in the pub better than a barbecue in the sun, but deep in our hearts we still harbour a desire to cook over coals, al fresco and surrounded by a crowd.

Barbecue nation

This most ancient method of cooking seems to inspire the kind of passions you'd expect more of sports fans than kitchen table competition, with even the origin of 'barbecue' debated (theories range from the Haitian 'barbacoa' for grill, to the French, 'de la barbe à la queue' - 'from the beard to the tail'; the Romanians call roast mutton 'berbec'), but for such a flexible method of cooking, Britain's impromptu barbecue chefs might not be as innovative as we could be, with steaks and sausages ruling the grill.

To widen our grilling horizons, we've gone in search of 10 barbecue traditions around the world for an exotic summer spent toiling over coals. So put on your novelty apron, pray for sun, fire up the grill and see where it takes you.

The Argentine diet involves lots of beef - significantly more than the average Briton's relatively puny intake - and sanctifies its consumption with parties involving very big grills. Cooking over coals - 'asado' - takes time and inherited skills to get it right, and the order of cooking is very important, according to John Rattagan, chef and owner of London's Buen Ayre. Serving chicken last or beef first would be 'completely against the natural order of things', so the meal, which takes many hours, starts with pork sausages and black pudding, sometimes followed by chicken (always barbecued whole; cooking drumsticks is 'humiliating' according to Rattagan), followed by short beef ribs and the 'vacio' or boneless flank, which cooks for one hour to 90 minutes over cooler coals. The meat isn't marinated, but served with 'chimichurri' sauce, salads and wine.

Recipe: Put your money where your mouth is and try this chimichurri sauce.

Barbecueing Brazilians ditch beers for caipirinhas

Beef is king in Brazil, too, and an Indo-Brazilian breed of cattle with its shoulder hump dominates the 'churrasco', or barbecue. The rodizio style of restaurant - literally 'going around' - is incredibly popular, and rodizio churrascarias are a carnivore's paradise. Grilled chicken and various beef cuts - a favourite being 'picanha', the fatty rump - are brought to the table in succession, as the fixed price guarantees an ongoing supply. Customers use a betting chip to control their consumption: you keep it red side up when you want a break; otherwise the green side indicates you want more. Unlike other parts of Latin America where wine is often drunk at barbecues, Brazilians traditionally drink beer, starting and finishing with caipirinhas.

Recipe: Kick off your Brazilian barbecue with a caipirinha.

Get your fill of zil-zil

Eritrea's culinary tradition is a mix of Arab and African influences, combining simple, uncomplicated flavours with complex, spicy sauces. Like most Eritrean dishes, grilled meat is served with 'injera', a soft, tangy pancake-like bread for mopping up the sauce. Beef and lamb is most commonly used in the popular dish zil-zil - a marinated meat recipe cooked on skewers over coals. A heady, spicy sauce using wine, called awaze, and zigni sauce are used for marinating and dipping. Serve with couscous or rice.

Sizzle up these shami kebabs

Cooking with clay ovens called tandoors has produced some of the India's most recognised dishes such as tandoori chicken and chicken tikka. As long as you're using a charcoal grill at high heat, you don't need a tandoor to get results. Marinate your chicken in yoghurt and spices.

Recipe: Alternatively, try this shami kebab recipe.

Iranian marinade

Grilled food in Iran centres on marinated meats, mostly chicken and lamb, subtly spiced and served with fresh herbs such as parsley and coriander. Apartment living in the big cities means that most Iranians dine out for their barbecues. Subtlety is key, as chilli is not used in Persian cuisine; flavours are delicately blended using fresh herbs, saffron, onion and lemons.

Kushiyaki on the barbie

Not strictly traditional, but incredibly popular as a laid back way to eat while having a drink, kushiyaki dishes are cooked on long, narrow grills in the restaurant. Diners will choose a variety of skewered, barbecued yakitori and kushiyaki, often served with a black pepper sauce. Kushiyaki is best cooked with wood charcoal to impart the aromatic flavour of the wood and should be accompanied by a Japanese draught beer.

Korean galbi

In Korea, grilled food tends to be eaten in barbecue restaurants or 'galbi houses', as apartment living prohibits many from grilling at home. Most restaurants have hot plates set into the tables so that customers can cook their own - and barbecued meats are often wrapped in lettuce and dipped in ssamjang, a thick sauce made of fermented soybean paste, sesame oil, garlic, spring onions and hot pepper paste.

Recipe:
Experience ribs like never before with this Korean galbi recipe.

Malaysian ikan panggang

Malaysia's culinary traditions are a wonderful fusion of Chinese, Malay and Indian cuisines, making for a multicultural melting pot of food. Satay chicken and beef in particular is found in restaurants, cooked by street hawkers at the 'pasar malam' or night markets across the country. Satay is simple, tasty food; marinated meat on bamboo skewers grilled over coals and eaten with spicy sauces varying according to regional variations. It's possible that satays are a South East Asian take on the kebab, brought by Arab traders centuries ago.

Recipes:
Other delicious grilled dishes from Malaysia include this ikan panggang.

Polish barbecue favourite: Shashlik

Polish grills consist of sausages, black pudding and pork and chicken shashlik that is marinated, threaded on skewers with onions and peppers and grilled over charcoal, oak or apple wood. The southern Polish restaurants that traditionally serve barbecues are decorated in 'alpine' style, with lots of rustic raw wood and stone. Baked potatoes, Polish bread, garlic sauce and Polish mustard are served as well as vegetables mixed with olive oil and apple vinegar. A traditional treat is sheep cheese smoked and wrapped with bacon and grilled over charcoal on a stick, called Oscypek.

Abu Zaad Syrian restaurant

Across the Middle East and North Africa, meats char-grilled and roasted over the fire are called meshwi. Syrian food is broadly Middle Eastern and Mediterranean, but particularly spicy shish kebabs and shawarma, Syrian sauces and marinades and regional specialities, such as the use of yoghurt in the cooking, set Syria's cuisine apart from its neighbours.



Recipes:
Spread your culinary wings with this Barbecue chicken wings recipe.

Find hundreds of barbecue recipes in the 4Food recipes page.

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