BBQ and Summer

I hate barbecues in the U.K., they’re always put together by people who don’t cook.

Gregg Wallace

Welcome to summer, the season of ants, blazing heat, beach picnics and sand and let’s not forget the most important event, “the barbecue”.

Tilly: You forgot the flies and mozzies.

Just when did the first barbecue happen? Simple, when God put Adam, Eve and Steve together,- Steve, I think, was a neighbour.

“BBQ is the answer; who cares what the question is?” – Unknown.

I wish I could tell you it was Adam or Steve who invented the BBQ pit. But alas, it was neither. History shows that not one nation today can lay claim, to this invention of open-pit cooking. It occurred simultaneously. Who brought the charcoal is still a mystery history has yet to solve.  However, please feel free to search and let Olive and Tilly know.

Now, to Eve in the kitchen cranking out the BBQ sauce. Being the modern woman for her time, she was doing her best to decide which BBQ sauce recipe to choose. Not wanting to upset the new neighbour, Steve, Eve, elected to present two of her favourites, plus an, other version she had yet to decide on.

Digging through her copy of – Apicius: Cooking and dining in Imperial Rome for another recipe, she wanted one that would complement the meat the boys were roasting on the spit. Eve thought this one would be perfect:  “221 Apicius mustard sauce recipe

TO THE BOILED FOWL ADD [1] PEPPER, CARRAWAY, CELERY SEED, PARSLEY, CONDIMENTS, MORTARIA [2] DATES, HONEY, VINEGAR, WINE, OIL AND MUSTARD.

ANOTHER [sauce]ALITER

Tilly: Mortaria? Available from all good mortuaries? Think we should mention it is a Roman container for pounding or grinding.

 

222 PEPPER, LOVAGE, PARSLEY, CELERY SEED, RUE, PINE NUTS, DATES, HONEY, VINEGAR, BROTH, MUSTARD AND A LITTLE OIL.”

Tilly: Happily, rue will keep the flies away from the food … The parts that grow above the ground and the oil are used as medicine. Rue might have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects and has been used for cancer, indigestion, insect repellent, birth control, and many other purposes, but there is precious little scientific supporting evidence.

The folk legend that it kept away witches, evolved into the Catholic Church’s practice of dipping branches of rue into Holy Water and sprinkling it over the heads of parishioners as a blessing, hence the common name of “herb of grace.”

(Apicius is the title of a collection of Roman recipes, thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD the earlier versions are nothing like their cousins of today.)

Checking her pantry Eve found the mustard seed, honey, nuts, and cumin. All she needed now was a leek and green celery and some raisin wine. Perhaps as a treat she would dice a fresh pear or two with just a dash of fresh cinnamon. Eve decided to leave out the rue; she hoped to have children someday and decided to play it safe.

With her cast iron skillet and mixing bowl piled high with all the ingredients Eve headed out the back door to the open-pit.

I love how the men stand around cooking the barbie while the women have done all the work beforehand doing the marinade and making the salads and then everybody says, ‘what a great barbie’ to the guy cooking. A barbecue is just the ultimate blokes’ pastime, isn’t it?  – Curtis Stone

So just what were the other BBQ sauces?

Sauce for Barbecues from her favourite cookbook[1]

: “Sauce for Barbecues. – Melt half a pound of butter; stir into it a large tablespoon of mustard, half a teaspoon of red pepper, one of black, salt to taste; add vinegar until the sauce has a strong acid taste. The quantity of vinegar will depend upon the strength of it. As soon as the meat becomes hot, begin to baste, and continue basting frequently until it is done; pour over the meat any sauce that remains.” Interestingly, Mrs. Hill shares many “catsup” recipes, among them two for tomato catsup that are pretty close to what we know today.”

And of course another very popular one in South Carolina is another Mustard sauce recipe: Using the same cookbook by Mrs. Hill.

Mustard Sauce. — Stir to a teacup of vinegar a teaspoon full of mustard, one of salt,

two of loaf sugar pulverized, one tablespoonful of butter; put all into a stew-pan, and let it simmer until boiling hot.

Beat in a bowl the yolks of two eggs; stir the vinegar to them, stirring slowly and constantly.

Return the mixture to the fire, and when boiling hot, pour into a tureen an serve.

This is a good sauce for broiled meats, hashes, rag-outs, or game. If fresh olive oil is used instead of butter, this make an excellent sauce for salad, or cold slaw.

Of course her favourite from Mrs Hill cookbook was the Tomato Sauce recipe… great on all meats.

“Tomato Sauce. — Skin a tumblerful of tomatoes; chop them fine; cut up a small silver-skinned onion; season with salt, pepper, and a dessert-spoonful of sugar. Put These into a stew-pan with a tablespoonful of butter; add two tablespoonful’s of grated bread crumbs, a wineglass of water; stew gently an hour, keeping the stew-pan covered; shake it frequently. Just before serving, stir in two eggs beaten several minutes.”

 

Damn, even the Chinese make BBQ sauce today.

Chinese Barbecue Sauce

2 cups hoisin sauce

1/2 cup catsup

1/2 honey

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp Chinese five-spice powder

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, and stir with a wire whisk until well blended.

Use as a basting sauce for chicken during cooking. yield: 3 cups

 

The simplest fix for better grilling is to line the inside of your barbecue with tin foil. It dramatically affects how evenly the heat is distributed. That crusty black hibachi or Weber grill is doing your food no favors. Nathan Myhrvold

 

So now that Adam and Eve and their neighbour Steve have left leaving traces of their BBQ recipes. What is yours?

Tilly: How to choose! I like a well-flavoured tomato sauce made with good beer for chicken, which can often be somewhat tasteless. Or a honey, lemon and ginger (grated fresh ginger and ginger wine) marinade will liven up chicken, too. With garlic, of course. Barbecued prawns, in their shells, marinated in sherry, sambal oelek, olive oil and fresh herbs are delicious. Oysters basted with bacon butter (butter, Worcestershire sauce, chopped parsley, chopped bacon and a dollop of tomato sauce if you must) are good too. Good salami, in large cubes or slices, marinated and basted with a tongue-tickling mustard sauce makes a change from sausages.

If you make meatballs or burgers for the grill, add breadcrumbs soaked in a spicy marinade, as well as basting them – don’t overcook. Not as good when too dry. Plain ol’ sausages benefit from a marinade/baste made with sherry, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, toasted sesame oil, garlic and crushed chillied.

Teriyaki, sambal oelek, plum sauce, honey and sherry do wonders for chopped pork. Leave the meat in the sauce overnight in the fridge, then form into balls. Cut leeks into 2-3 inch/10-15cm pieces and blanch – use the strips to wrap the meatballs and thread onto skewers.

You can, of course, grill the meats plainly and serve with interesting tasties like tarragon butter for chicken, or hot chilli sauce. Lamb with a Marsala kick to the baste is a treat. So many choices, so many flavours – need more barbecues!

 

Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start.  – Anthony Bourdain

Olive and Tilly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Mrs. Hill’s new cook-book;

by Hill, A. P., “Mrs E. Y. Hill.”  Publication date 1867

 

 

18 Comments

  • Jerry Bell

    I love different barbecue sauces. Each has its own particular place on my tastebuds. It doesn’t matter if they come from Chicago, Kansas City, Memphis, Seoul, or my neighbor’s back yard. The recipes in your blog are great, and I will try them. Love the blog.

  • Sebestiana

    As usual you have another interesting read! I understand the importance of providing a good recipe to folks, but also understand the reasoning for keeping a recipe private. I understand Mr. Jeff’s father not sharing his recipe. His reasons may not have been the same as mine, but be that as it may….. I also do not share my recipe for bbq Boston Butt or can be any pork of choice or meat of choice. Folks gobble it down and then ask for the recipe. I decline. I know that they will not be pleased to hear that the ingredients are what they thought they were eating. Growing up in Northeast Ohio, my family would always eat at the local Little Italy restaurants, when we could afford it, and my Nonno sold vegetables at the local farmers markets. He would bring home cheap pork cuts from other local sellers, as those cuts were considered trash foods, that nobody would buy. Nonna would make the most delicious food from those “trash” foods. I never really paid attention to what she used, but one day I came across a recipe that looked like what she may have used. Voila…with a few tweaks it was it! It is delicious and also freezes beautifully. So yummy to have later in the year when the bbq is not in use. I have also made this in the oven and it’s still delicious. So, bbq has been around since the dawn of time. Sans the Steve character….Sorry, for the tome, but I wanted to make sure that people understand that bbq is not just the sauce it’s much more complex than that. Enjoy your bbq whatever way you make it. 😋

    • Tilly

      You realise, Sebastiana, that if you are not going to share, we will all have to pitch up for a BBQ at your home … I understand not sharing but in many ways, can’t really see the point. I have shared recipes with friends, been for lunch or dinner and they have served it – crediting me with the recipe – but it has been nothing like my offerings! I think it is similar to 20 people in an art class painting the same image. The finished results are similar, obviously a cat, horse,house, tree, whatever, but all different – stamps of our personalities . Ditto with food, I imagine. I see friends measure ingredients to within a midge’s whatsit, carefully following the recipe, to find the finished is not what they expected. Maybe because well-known chefs and cooks often leave out one ingredient?
      And the cheaper cuts of meat are invariably the tastiest – what has happened is that many people no longer have the time to prepare and cook with them. Or have never learnt how to … I see so many prepared meals in shopping trolleys and delicious cheap cuts spurned in the butchers … Maybe with the return of belly pork, ox cheek and other economical cuts in restaurants, they will be back on family tables?
      What I don’t truly understand is why you, Jeff, lef the recipe behind! That’s another lunch to which we will have to invite ourselves.

      • Sebestiana

        Well, my dear Tilly,…..you are invited to a BBQ at my home. I will share the recipe with you then. Send me your flight details and I will be happy to pick you up at the airport and for your return flight. Olive, lives not far away. I believe it was once called, a hop skip and a jump. Anyway, I digress….my recipe has MORE than the dreaded garlic, it also has an amount of an ingredient that is found in one of the previous recipes, that was posted on one of your blogs……nope not sharing this time….and, yes, cheaper cuts seem to be not the meats of choice….their loss, my gain….So, send me your travel itinerary and I’ll make sure you get here safely!

          • Sebestiana

            Please do…and as not to leave anyone out, Mr. Jeff is invited also. Hope to see you all soon. 🥰

        • Olive

          I will give y’all my recipe.
          Go to the store and buy a bottle of honey flavored BBQ sauce from that company that starts with a K. Go to the jam and jelly asile and buy a store brand of Orange marmalade. Come home and blend 1 cup of sauce with 1/2 marmalade. Chop onions, put on the bottom of a slow cooker throw in some pork and top with the mixed BBQ blend. Cook on low for a long time..When done, shred with forks and serve on toasted buns topped with cole slaw.

  • Jeff Dawson

    To “Q” or not to “Q”, that is the question. In regarrds to Steve, Eve and Adam, that’s one too many cooks in the kitchen. Someone has to go! Speaking for those us in the US, here’s a tidbit from wikipedia, “Grilling has existed in the Americas since pre-colonial times. The Arawak people of South America roasted meat on a wooden structure called a barbacoa in Spanish.[3] For centuries, the term barbacoa referred to the wooden structure and not the act of grilling, but it was eventually modified to “barbecue”” Now with that out of th way, I can attest to the multiple choices of sauce used I can attest that my Dad spent years perfecting his basting for ribs and I do maena years. And he refused to give the recipe to anyone. You want some ribs, come get them cause you ain’t getting the magic I use. And he gauarded it closely. In fact, I didn’t run acros it until after his paasing and wsa cleaning up the house for mom. It was in her metal reciped box, and even she didn’t know it was there. “Q”ing in the state,s is a wonderful way to spend quality time with friends and family. It really took off in the fifties and sixties with the advent of the subdivision. “Q”ing is just one of life’s grand pleasures no matter where it orginated!

    • Olive

      Thank you for posting that history… I believe, (through my research) that a friar from Spain brought with him to South America a tomato type sauce and spread it on the meats that the natives were roasting. When I wrote this Tilly and I just wanted a bit of fun… Adam and Eve, do happen to like their neighbor Steve. Also, as you said near the end “Q”ing is is a wonderful time to spend quality time with friends and family.”

    • Tilly

      What a splendid sharing of family info – but the big question is: will you share your dad’s recipe? Whetting appetites like that is mean when we can’t taste … I do,however, suspect that Man has been Q-ing since they lived in caves and discovered fire – whether by accident or desire. Q-ing, I mean … Thank heavens they did, is all I have to say. Hope you enjoyed plenty-plenty grand pleasure over the weekend.

      • Jeff Dawson

        Sadly, it’s 4.5 hours away in storage. Perhaps I can intice my yougest so to visit the shed and dig it out. Hmm, on sencond thought, he’d get lost. I will find it one day when I can travel back to Tulsa, Ok. But, I assure you, it was the best baste ever!!!!!

        • Tilly

          Pshaw! A mere bagatelle of a journey for something as important as this basting recipe! And as for tantalising and tormenting us further with claims of it being the best ever … well, Jeff, I’m sure it contravenes the Geneva Convention.

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