Barbeque

Barbeque

Barbeque is normally referring to a method of cooking, using heat or hot fire, smoked wood, or charcoal. It is a cooking method normally used to cook meat, but sometimes, also used to cook vegetables and seafood. Marinade sauce will be applied to the meat or seafood or vegetables before barbeque.

There are two types of barbeque techniques. One is grilling over direct heat or fire, and it is done over wood, charcoal or gas, and normally it is called grill. The another one is grilling using indirect heat with longer cooking time, and it is called smoke.

Grilling is normally done using wood, charcoal or natural gas. Traditional grill is always performed using wood or charcoal as people believe wood and charcoal will add unique flavor to the meat which gas can't achieve. And of course, using wood and charcoal will take more time to start and grill as compared to using gas. On the other hand, it is cleaner and easy to light up, and also give more consistent result if using gas. Of course, it will be more expensive. Thus, it is really an individual preference on what to use. However, if you are just barbequing for some gatherings once a while or you are new to barbeque, then I would recommend to start with gas.

Smoke can be done using wood or charcoal. The heat of the fire will help to cook the meat, while the smoke adds its special flavor to the meat. During smoking, the barbeque lid is closed to make a thick dense of smoke cloud to envelop the meat. And the smoke must be able to move freely around the meat and out of the top of the apparatus fast enough; otherwise a foul-tasting creosote will build up and giving bitter taste to the meat.

How to grill meat?

Before putting in the meat for barbeque, marinade the about 2 lbs meat with 1/4 cup barbeque sauce for 30 minutes. Then, place meat on a pan and brush it with 2 tablespoons of hickory-flavored oil (2 tablespoons oil mixed with 2 drops liquid smoke hickory seasoning). Add 1 cup of beer or water to the pan and wrap the pan with aluminum foil to cover completely. Place in a 275F over or barbeque grill and roast until the meat is fork-tender. Normally it takes about 2 hours. Slice the meat and serve with extra barbeque sauce.

How to grill seafood?

For seafood such as fish and shrimps, you can wrap them with 'banana' leaf, and grill them over low heat. You can serve them with some chili sauce, ketchup, Chinese mustard sauce, soy sauce or oyster sauce. If you would like to get the taste into the meat, marinade your seafood (1/2 lb large shrimps with shells on, or fish) with 5 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons ginger powder and 1 tablespoon oyster sauce for 30 minutes. Then, place a banana leaf or aluminum foil on top of the grill; and grill the shrimps on top of the leaf or foil. But for crabs, you can just place the crabs directly on top of the grill.  

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