It's a busy season with all the advertising, TV and internet coverage of barbecue and bbq, but there's a lot of misleading information.
There's also a much greater appetite for baking during these months, obviously the good weather and holidays play a part because it's a great way to relax, let's continue with the basics.
Recently published a short three-part short BBQ quick tips I was delighted to receive feedback from many people that they liked it and found it informative.
So today we continue, at your request we'll clarify some simple “but it's good to know” basic BBQ terms and leave the barbecue story for part three.
We've already clarified what BBQ is, so if you'd like to join us now, we'd simply say. smoke cooking over a slow fire.
As with all cooking processes, seasoning plays an important role. The most common form is to add a thin layer of mustard or bbq sauce to the meat before frying, followed by a heavy layer of dry marinade, known as RUB. Not only does it play a flavouring role, it also helps to retain moisture in the meat and plays an important role in the cooking process itself.
The term speaks for itself in Hungarian, meaning to rub. Today you can buy a wide variety of spice mixtures, RUBs, specially developed for BBQ, but you can also prepare them yourself according to your own taste. RUBs mixed with Hungarian red pepper are particularly popular and are also used in America.
CompositionThe following elements can be varied according to taste, but the basics are:
-salt
-sugar
-bors
-dried vegetables, herbs
-citrus
-paprika
-other spices
How can you tell in a catering establishment that you are dealing with meat prepared with real BBQ techniques?
Find the smoke ring!
One of the hallmarks of the BBQ technique. Roasted for a long time, over embers, in smoke, it rewards the care and produces a very nice dark pink ring under the outer layer of meat in a band of 2-8 mm. .
Watch the barque!
The bark is the outer roasted spice crust on the meat, which can be daunting for the layman when tasting BBQ for the first time. The aforementioned rub, when added to meat in the right composition, can certainly produce a dark, characterful “burnt looking” finish. This is not to be feared, in fact it is ideal, as due to the slow fire smoke cooking, constant low temperature, the juices of the meat will dissolve the rub nicely and cook together.
Check out the smoker at the restaurant!
A simple but great tip! Personally, whenever I visit a restaurant or food truck and have the opportunity, I always ask what utensils and how the food was prepared. I've never been bitten off for it, in fact the really sophisticated places will proudly tell you how they cooked the meat, knife the side dish.
Nowadays, we travel more and more for a good meal, and there are some great places that we heartily recommend to visit in our little country. We're also creating a special map for this, which I'll tell you more about, and it's currently being developed.
BBQ is a great way to get away from it all, whether you want to experiment on your own or set yourself up at a popular BBQ destination for a tasting or a gastronomic excursion.
