Traditional Barbecue Recipes

In cookery terms there's nothing quite like a barbecue. It's a combination of the cooking method and the atmosphere that makes barbecuing into something special. After all there's nothing quite like eating outdoors, especially if you have company and the smell of cooking foods pervades the air.

Barbecuing must also represent one of the oldest methods of cookery. After all, to barbecue meats and many starchy roots or tubers all you need to do is to put them directly on the fire. It may not be elegant, but it's undoubtedly how humans first learnt to cook. Later, meat was probably cut up and speared on sticks which were then placed on the fire.

However, it was only with the advent of metals that grilling as we know it evolved. After all, when you have metal you can place a grid over the fire and the place the foods to be cooked on this grill. The barbecue was born!

Of course, the most well known barbecue recipe is for the kebab and the recipe below is for a classic Turkish shish kebab, the traditional home of the dish:

Turkish Shish Kebab

Ingredients:

500g lamb, cut into 4cm cubes

For the Marinade:

50ml milk
3 tbsp extra-vrigin olive oil
1 small onion, grated
salt and black pepper, to taste

3 tomatoes, halved
3 Cubanelle (or Anaheim) pepers, halved and de-seeded
1 onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges

Method:

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine thoroughly. Lay the lamb pieces in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over the top. Turn the lamb to ensure even coating then cover and set aside in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 1 hour. In the meantime soak your skewers in a bowl of water to prevent them from burning whilst cooking.

When the lamb has marinated to your liking thread the cubes onto the skewer (two skewers, typically, equal a single portion) then place the skewers on your pre-heated barbecue along with the tomato halves, pepper halves and onion wedges. Turn the skewers at regular intervals to ensure even cooking and cook for about 10 to 12 minutes (turn the vegetables half way through as well).

Serve on a bed of rice, garnished with the vegetables.

The other classic recipe is for barbecued baby black ribs and the following recipe comes from Britain.

Barbecued Back Ribs

Ingredients:

2 baby back ribs cut in half
300ml tomato ketchup
3cm length ginger, grated
200ml soy sauce
2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
2 tsp ground star anise
5 tbsp runny honey
4 garlic cloves, grated
5 tbsp dry sherry (or sake)

Whisk together the barbecue sauce ingredients in a bowl then pour over the ribs and lave in the refrigerator to marinate over night. Place the ribs in a saucepan, add the marinade then add just enough water to cover the ribs. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour, covered.

When the hour is up transfer the ribs to a hot barbecue and cook. Meanwhile reduce the sauce in a wok and every 2 minutes or so brush the ribs with the reduced barbecue sauce. Continue cooking until the ribs are nicely caramelized and completely covered in the barbecue sauce.

Thanks To : Good bbq sauce At Amazon.com