We are all familiar with the incredibly dull array of chops and snags available at the regular BBQ, but these weird and wonderful BBQ recipes could just be the thing you need to spice up your next BBQ!
1. Coca-Cola Steaks
Amanda Diggins has taken a leaf out of the American’s book and used a favourite soft drink as a sweetener for this dish!
Ingredients:
6 Scotch Fillet steaks
1 can Coke
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
Method:
Combine all ingredients in shallow dish. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Barbecue steaks until done to your liking. Boil marinade in a saucepan until thickened slightly and serve with steaks.
2. Vegemite Rissoles
Leisa Conley has taken your everyday breakfast spread and turned it into a winning dinner dish that all the family can enjoy.
Ingredients:
750g minced meat
1 onion finely chopped
½ capsicum finely chopped
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vegemite
Salt & pepper
Method:
Mix together and shape into rissoles, roll in plain flour
Cook on BBQ as long as you like - the vegemite makes them go dark anyway, serve on bread with tommy sauce.
The kids can’t get enough of them!
3. Char-Grilled Bugs
This recipe from Sarah Evans gives new meaning to getting back to nature!
Grill Morton Bay bugs in their shells, split in half. As they warm place a knob of garlic herb butter on top and watch it soak in. They melt in your mouth.
4. Satay Prawn Pizza
Ever thought of cooking a pizza on your BBQ? Well now thanks to Elizabeth Davey’s recipe, you can…
Elizabeth Davey
Ingredients:
1/2 bottle satay marinade
Thai sweet chilli sauce
1 medium brown onion, sliced
Can of diced capsicum
100g snow peas, sliced thinly
500g small uncooked prawns, shelled
1/2 cup roasted cashews
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 cup pizza cheese
Small store-bought pizza bases
Method:
Mix marinade with desired amount of sweet chilli sauce. Spread pre-cooked pizza base with satay marinade, top with onion, capsicum, snow peas, prawns, cashews, coriander and cheese. Cook in a covered BBQ, using indirect heat for about 10 minutes or until cheese has melted.
Enjoy!!
5. Barbecued Bacon Wrapped Prawns
Effie Bakkalis’ recipe puts a gourmet twist on the traditional pig wrapped in blanket party favour recipe.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Dash of cayenne pepper
24 large/jumbo prawns, shelled and deveined
12 bacon slices, cut in halves \
Method:
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and saute until soft and transparent. Stir in the ketchup, water, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, tomato paste, dry mustard and pepper. Stirring continuously, simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Immediately stir the prawns into the sauce, covering them completely. Let them stand for 15 minutes. Heat the grill and grease the rack. Remove the prawns from the sauce. Wrap each prawn in a piece of bacon and secure with a wooden pick, or thread 4 bacon-wrapped prawns onto a skewer. Place on the greased rack, on high heat, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Then turn them and cook the remaining side until the bacon is crisp. Reheat the sauce and serve separately as a dipping sauce.
This recipe makes 6 main-dish servings or 12 appetiser servings.
6. Grilled Pineapple with cracked salt
This recipe from grill master, John Ryan, is surprisingly delectable with the salt bringing out the sweetness in the pineapple!
Take one ripe pineapple, skin and cut out the eyes. Either core and cut the pineapple into rings or slice the pineapple from the core; marinade in a good Rutherglen Muscat for 4 hours. Heat the grill to hot and place the pineapple slices on, watching carefully as they will char very quickly. Turn once and ensure you get good grill lines. Remove from the grill and crack rock salt liberally over. Serve with good quality vanilla ice cream if desired.
7. Barbecued Leg of Lamb with Lavender and Baked Garlic
Deidre Steain’s recipe provides an interesting combination of flavours. Don’t be frightened to leave it in the marinade for a little longer!
Ingredients:·
1 leg of lamb (roughly 1.75kg and butterflied)
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp of fresh lavender flowers (retain the stems)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp demerara sugar
Salt and black pepper
Baked garlic
2-3 bulbs garlic
Olive oil to sprinkle
Sprigs of fresh thyme
Method:
Flatten the lamb by pressing on it and place in a large dish
Sprinkle over the onion and the lavender flowers
Mix together the balsamic vinegar, cider vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice and sugar. Season with the salt and pepper and pour over the lamb
Leave to marinate for 1 hour, turning frequently to ensure an even coating
Dampen the leftover lavender stalks and scatter over a cool area of the BBQ
Remove the lamb from the marinade and place on a medium-hot BBQ and cook for 30-35 minutes, turning occasionally, basting with the reserved marinade. Allow to rest
To prepare the garlic, shake over some olive oil, add a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme and then wrap loosely in some tin foil. Leave over the warm part of the barbecue for 30 minutes or until soft.
Slice rested lamb and serve with garlic and salad of your choice
8. Grilled Pork Chops with Apricots
The following recipe, according to Juliette Elfick, is a bit different, healthy, simple and scrumptious.
The idea of bbq’ ing fruit is one which makes our barbies so much more interesting for everybody, but particularly vegetarians. See Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer for her bbq’d pineapple dessert (we chuck amaretto over the top too at mine). Take a few pork chops and 2 apricots, halved and pitted, per chop and bbq. Be sure each chop has a small layer of fat on it. BBQ the apricots cut side up drizzle with a little honey until they are quite mushy - soft enough that you can see their inner fibres - and maybe a little caramelised (you may need to coat them in honey for this).
The cooked apricots should be eaten as a kind of relish with the chops. Ideal accompaniments to this dish are bbq’d sweet potato (in thin discs) and asparagus.
A total barbie meal!
9. Beer Can BBQ Chook (need a Weber TM)
According to Angela Clark, this recipe can even be used with duck! The beer infuses a fantastic flavour into the chicken, a keeps the meat tender and moist.
Ingredients:
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp granulated onion
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 whole free range or organic chicken
2 tsp olive oil
1 can large beer – the Germans make the big cans, like DAB
Cherry wood chips (optional)
Method:
In a small bowl combine the rub ingredients.
Lightly spray or brush all over with the oil, and season inside and out with the rub.
Open the beer can and pour off half of the beer. Set the half-full can on a flat surface and slide the chicken over the top so the can fits inside the cavity. Transfer the bird to the grill, keeping the can upright. Carefully balance the bird on its two legs and the can. Roast for 1¼ to 1½ hours.
Carefully remove the chicken and the can from the BBQ, being careful not to spill the beer – it will be hot. Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before lifting it from the can. Discard the beer. Cut the chicken into serving pieces.
Eat!
To make it even better, try soaking some cherry wood chips in the remaining beer for a few hours beforehand and place them in the WeberTM with the roasting chook for an extra smoky flavour.
(Julian Wu’s Beer Can Chicken Pictured)
10. Stoned Bugger Bird
Of course this recipe is not quite as strange or illegal as it sounds! Dave Cresswell provides an entertaining recipe with a combination of interesting flavours.
This here is a recipe that I believe embodies all the ingredients of a true Ozzie BBQ and tastes damn good to boot.
It includes:
Beer ( But of course-Woof!)
Stone’s Green Ginger Wine ( One of the most over rated under achievers out there- a must on many a twisted cooking adventure) and especially a sadistic sense of humour
This recipe also gives a fusionary friendly nod to our northern neighbours and beckons all to have a hearty finger-pointing chuckle around the pit o flames.
Ingredients:
1 Whole Chook
1 Beer in can
2 Cups of Hickory or Apple wood, soaked for one hour + in water and/or beer
Sesame Oil
The Rub (To make about 1 cup):
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup sweet paprika
3 tbls black pepper
4 tbls coarse salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp celery seeds/salt
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (Love it spicy)
1 tbls Chinese 5 spice powder
The Beer Can Mix:
3 tbls Beer ( a good Bitter doesn’t go astray)
2 tbls Stone’s Green Ginger Wine
2 tbls Soy Sauce
1 tbls Red Wine Vinegar
1 tbls Honey
Method:
First punch a few holes (with a church key can opener, ice pick etc) in the top of your standard empty (a good excuse to start early) can of tasty brew. Then put into the can the ingredients of the Beer Can Mix. Set aside for later.
Make the rub by adding all the ingredients together in a bowl and stir to mix (will keep for ages in a good air tight container)
Now grab remove all the fatty bits from inside the body and the neck of the chook. Rinse inside and out with cold running water and blot dry, again inside and out, with paper towels.
Then take your sesame oil and drizzle it all over the outside and inside of the chook, enough to give it a nicely glazed surface.
Now sprinkle your rub all over the chook, as well as the inside, enough to give it a well-crusted coating. You can add a pinch or two of the rub to your beer can mix as well if you like.
Now here comes the fun part. You might want to get the kids’ outa the room for this. Take your nicely lubed up chook and slowly violate him with a good buggering of the beer can so the can fits tightly into the body cavity. Grab the legs and pull them forward so the bird forms a bit of a sodomized tripod. It is best to tuck the wings to the back of the chook as well.
Set up the grill for indirect grilling (coals on side of grill-drip pan beneath chook) and place chook in centre of the grill above the drip pan.
Spread the pre-soaked wood chips onto the readied Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes and cover with the dome of the BBQ. The temp should be around 180c-200c when at constant. Cook the bird for approximately 45min-1 1/2 hours depending how big your chook, until it is nicely crispy brown on the outside. Check on it occasionally during cooking and if you notice it getting a bit over cooked (usually on top,) just slap a piece of aluminium foil over the hot spot. When done, let the chook rest for 5 minutes then carve it up.
Accompanied nicely with a decent multitude of stubbies that friends enjoy!
This week’s blog concludes our series on the art of char grilling. Hopefully with your newfound skills you are now able to create a BBQ feast to impress your friends and family alike!
Think BBQing is purely a man’s domain? Think again. 67% of respondents to our 2007 Heat Beads® BBQ Lovers Survey were female. More and more women are not just stuck in the kitchen making the salads but lighting up the Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes and getting involved in all the action!
And here’s living proof, Kerry Tait, winner of the 2006 Triple R BBQ Competition. She is an extremely enthusiastic BBQer throughout the year and enjoys experimenting with great new succulent recipes that turn traditional BBQ on its head. Kerry’s recipe for ‘Treat BBQ Like a Wok (Tempeh & Vegetable Stir Fry)’ was one of the fantastic, innovative dishes that wowed the attendees at the Steven Raichlen Degustation BBQ in February. The recipe is listed below along with her winning recipe for Lamb I am BBQ Back Straps that scored her a victory in the 2006 Triple R BBQ Competition.
Treat BBQ Like a Wok (Tempeh & Vegetable Stir Fry)
Great for vegeterians and gluten intolerant. You need a nice, heavy BBQ plate which you can heat up and then back the temperature off. Have a clean, dedicated plate for this one - no bits of old sausage should make it into this meal!
Ingredients
Slice up and marinate good quality Indonesian tempeh for a few hours in:
finely grated fresh ginger
tamari or good quality light soy
fresh red Asian chilli (optional)
sesame oil
Experiment with the marinade proportions. The tempeh should be coated but not drowning. Go easy with the sesame oil.
Chop mouth sized pieces of any combination of seasonal vegetables from the following list putting together contrasting colours:
zucchini (courgette)
asparagus
green beans - especially snake beans for the nutty flavour
yellow beans
red and green capsicum
yellow baby squash
snow peas
broccoli
Method:
Soak or par boil some noodles in hot water. Vietnamese rice vermicelli is good, so are Japanese udon if you’re after a more wintery feel. Or, grab some fresh ones if you’re near an Asian grocery.
Have some fresh mung bean sprouts ready to go to add last
Chop and set aside some fresh coriander for garnish.
Have some chopped roasted peanuts set aside for garnish.
Ok, here we go.
Fire up the BBQ and oil very lightly with sunflower oil or peanut oil. No canola, it’s evil.
Stir fry the tempeh and put to a cooler part of the plate. Reserve the marinade.
Stir fry the veg. Add in the noodles and join tempeh, noodles and veg together, final stir fry on the BBQ plate. Cook the veg fast. Add a little reserved marinade or tiny bit of water to cook quicker/steam on the plate, up to you.
Add in the bean sprouts at the last minute, one stir through.
Plate up. Garnish with coriander and dried peanuts.
Lamb I Am BBQ Backstraps
Method:
Take 1kg of trimmed lamb back straps from any Halal butcher on Sydney Road (but I love Wahlid’s the best).
Cut into generous serve size portions.
Get it amongst this marinade for any amount of time from one hour to one night:
The Marinade:
Couple of tablespoons of light soy sauce; Couple of teaspoons of whole cumin seeds or freshly ground cumin; Crushed garlic - 3-6 big cloves, it’s up to you, but lamb can take it believe me; 2-3 tablespoons of good quality olive oil; freshly ground black pepper.
Char grill quickly on high heat to seal in that lamb flavour. Give the scrappy end bits to those who like it ‘well done’ and serve with fresh Turkish bread, salad and dips. And BEER.
So what are you waiting for ladies? Grab those tongs, move the men aside and start lighting up your grill with Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes this weekend!
John Ryan and his family will soon be off to hit the huge BBQ circuit, in where else but Kansas City, US of A of course! Although John will be working in IT part-time, his main passion will be learning to be a certified judge for the Kansas City Barbeque Sanctioned Events Circuit. If you wish to aspire to Master Judge level, like John, the certified judging course takes about a year. The training is currently only provided by the Kansas City Barbeque Society in which participants take an oath to uphold the principles of BBQ, and is taken very seriously indeed:
‘I do solemnly swear to objectively and subjectively evaluate each Barbeque meat that is presented to my eyes, my nose, my hands and my palate. I accept my duty to be an Official KCBS Certified Judge, so that truth, justice, excellence in Barbeque and the American Way of Life may be strengthened and preserved forever.’
-The Kansas City Barbeque Society Website
Last Saturday was the perfect time for some of John’s friends, and passionate char grill aficionado’s, to come together. A perfect reason to gather around the Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes warmed Kettle, and enjoy some great taste sensations with that distinct, succulent flavour, in a fitting farewell to John.
Albeit, the occasion was bitter sweet, the day was a great success with three wonderful dishes satisfying all, including a special new recipe from Julian Wu - Leg of Goat with a fragrant chilli marinade. Below is the recipe so that you can test out this new sensation for yourselves:
Roast Goat with a Fragrant Chilli Marinade Ingredients:
A leg of goat
Marinade:½ tspn preserved tofu in chilli oil (available at Asian Grocery Stores)
2-3 tbls of the Chilli Oil the tofu is preserved in
2-3 tbls basic BBQ rub (see below)
1-2 Szechuan peppercorns (also available at Asian Grocery Stores)
Blend these ingredients into a paste and brush onto Goat leg, leave overnight to marinate.
Basic BBQ Rub:
Equal quantities of salt, pepper (white and black) garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika.
Method:
When the Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes have ashed over, add some hickory wood chips, that have been soaking in boiling water for about 15-20 minutes.
Rest a Heat Beads® BBQ Tray inside the BBQ, with a little water inside. Lay the leg of goat across the BBQ, and close the lid. Leave the goat to roast within its own succulent juices for about 1.5 to 2 hours (depending on the size of the leg). About 2-3 times during the cooking process, baste the leg with the marinade.
This recipe will work equally as well with Lamb, if you find goat is a hard find.
Julian also recommends the same base recipe with a marinade that contains equal quantities of:
Garlic paste, lemon juice, good quality olive oil and mustard.
Although we are incredibly sad to see one of the most passionate char grillers in Australian BBQ’ing leave us, we wish John and his family all the best in Kansas City!
In case you blinked after Christmas, Easter’s already here. It’s another great time to gather with family and friends around a Heat Beads BBQ® Briquettes fuelled barbecue.
A great recipe idea for Good Friday, for the traditionalist in all of us, is Stavros’ (Stavros of Stavros Tavern in Albert Park) very special calamari recipe from the Steve Raichlen Degustation BBQ. This makes a fantastic entrée or a delicious main meal when served with a salad or roasted potato!
Char-Grilled Calamari Steaks With A Beetroot Skordalia
Marinate calamari steaks in a touch of good quality olive oil, lemon juice and with a hint of garlic and dill. Leave to sit for around half an hour.
Char-grill the steaks on a hot grill, fuelled by Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes, until tender. Stavros recommends serving with a beetroot skordalia (a garlic and potato dip). However, if you are no master chef like the man himself, a beetroot dip from your local supermarket would be a welcome addition to the meal!
Wishing you all a very Happy Easter and we hope that you enjoy this dish as much as we did and while you’re here – why not leave a comment with details of your Heat Beads® escapades over the break.
This week we have a particularly special blog written by a guest author, Phil Hartcher who has the enviable job of demonstrating BBQs for Weber Australia every Saturday for the 3 months leading up to Christmas.
While we were out grocery shopping last Sunday I asked “Her Indoors” or, more commonly known as “SWMBO” (She Who Must Be Obeyed) what she would like for dinner, thinking that I might burn a bit of meat on one of my 5 barbecues (doesn’t everybody own 5?). She said she wouldn’t mind some chicken but not Honey and Soy and Sichuan Pepper or grilled fillets like I do a lot of the time.
I also do a gourmet brined chicken that is extremely moist and flavoursome but wanted to add a touch of smokiness to it to give it a more distinct flavour. When we got home about midday after picking up a chicken from Safeway, I quickly made the brine mixture and put the chicken in it and then placed it in the fridge to soak for about 5 hours.
At about 4:30 I whipped the cover off my Weber® Performer and wheeled it out into the back yard. I filled my Heat Beads® Chimney Starter with Heat Beads® briquettes and placed it over a couple of lit Heat Beads® fire starters on the charcoal grate.
While I waited for the briquettes to ash over, I grabbed a small handful of hickory chips and soaked them in boiling water (if you use boiling water you only need to soak the wood for 15 – 20 minutes instead of the recommended 2 hours with cold water). While the wood chips were soaking I took the chicken out of the brine solution, drained it and patted it dry, then rubbed it all over with some canola oil.
I made a foil pouch for the wood chips I then drained the wood chips and placed them inside the pocket and sealed it, then poked the top about half a dozen times with a fork to put a series of holes, which would let out the smoke.
By this time the Heat Beads® briquettes were ashed over and we were good to go.
I poured half the briquettes in each charcoal basket; placed a drip pan with water between them, the foil pouch on top of the briquettes, the cooking grill in place and the chicken in the middle over the drip pan. I put the lid on and made sure that the top and bottom vents were completely open and left it to cook for 1.5 hours.
All I can say is that it was absolutely fantastic – the hickory smoke taste was distinctive without being overpowering, the chicken was extremely moist and retained the chicken flavour, there was a hint of garlic tones in the flesh and a crispy sweetness in the skin. On a scale of 1 –10, I would give it a 9.95 (nothing gets a 10).
The trick is not to use too much wood.
Here is the Brine Recipe.
You can use this and variations of this for many types of meat (lamb pictured above), pork chops are especially good done this way and grilled direct over Heat Beads® briquettes or charcoal.
Brine
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground garlic flakes
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 ½ litres water
Optional, use 1 teaspoon of Chinese five spice or other spices for a special flavour.
Soak the chicken; ensuring it is fully immersed, for about 5 hours in the fridge. Dry the chicken well and brush with oil.
One of our office Head Beads® briquettes fans recently spent a weekend camping in the Grampians with friends.
But there were no canned baked beans in sight for these intrepid travelers! Instead, they whipped up a delicious Lamb and Red Wine Casserole in a camp oven powered by Head Beads® briquettes - and videoed the process to share with Sizzle readers.
If you’ve got your own fun video of Heat Beads® briquettes in action, we’d love to see it! Upload to YouTube, tag as Heat Beads® BBQ briquettes, and post a link to it in the Comments section.
Here’s the recipe for those of you who wish to try this out over the holidays!
Lamb and Red Wine Casserole
Ingredients:
Lamb
Onions
Carrots
Potatoes
Red wine
Water
Butter
Self-raising flour
Salt
Method:
1) Light Heat Beads® briquettes 20 minutes before cooking
2) Brown onions and lamb
3) Add carrot, water and red wine and simmer for 10-15 minutes
4) Add potatoes and simmer for further 10-15 minutes
5) Ensure vegetables are cooked, then add damper to top of casserole and allow to cook for approx 10 minutes or until golden brown
For useful guidelines on camp oven temperatures using Heat Beads® briquettes click here to visit Derek Bullock’s site.
Nothing can deter Heat Beads®’s John Higgs from the pursuit of the perfectly-cooked snag… even a broken arm!
A scorching summer day was a fitting way to kick off BBQ season at the annual Triple R Melbourne BBQ Day, sponsored by Heat Beads® briquettes.
As usual, before the big event we asked you to send in your signature char-grill BBQ recipe, for the chance to win a Weber and a year’s supply of Heat Beads® BBQ briquettes.
From the pages upon pages of recipes received, the judges selected their top three which were cooked to perfection at BBQ Day for all to enjoy.
So here they are… the three finalist recipes for you to turn into your own hit of the BBQ!
The winner!
(As judged by the celebrity chef judging panel: Craig Penglase - The Prince Hospitality Group, Matthew Wilkinson - Circa the Prince, Ian Curley - The European and Triple R’s Cam Smith.)
L-R Vanessa Forrest, Eve-Lynne Fairhall and owner of the Heat Beads® company, Lee Gilmour. Eve-Lynne won the day with her Beef BBQ Teriyaki recipe.
Well done Eve-Lynne, we hope you enjoy your prize, and the glory of being crowned our BBQ expert of 2007!
The listener prize
(As judged by the crowds from ‘Hamburger Hill’ at BBQ Day. This year the listeners’ favourite recipe differed from that of the professional judges on the day.)
Brigitte and Anthony are the lucky recipients of a Summer BBQ Entertainment Pack to keep their grills firing, as well as a large helping of kudos to boot!
More than 1,200 Gourmet Grill, sausage and veggie burger meals were served on BBQ Day.
Posted in BBQ recipes at 11:13 am by Heat Beads® briquettes
Recipe - Eve-Lynne Fairhall
Serves 4.
Ingredients:
· 1 kg chuck steak
· 1/2 cup soy sauce
· 1-2 tbsp fresh grated ginger
· 1/3 cup sake or dry sherry or any dry wine
· 1 tbsp brown or white sugar (brown gives richer flavour)<
