Talking about what's on and off the grid. The secrets of baking!
The grill in the garden, with its hot fire, is used to prepare wonderful dishes. Whether it's semi-prepared ingredients or freshly baked, if you want to make a quality dish, you need an additive.
„Barbecuing is a way of life, spiced up with delicious food.”
- Many people in the industry know you, but how would you define who you are?
- We are the Grill Academy. Bence Nagy, we use pitmaster, which basically means that it can handle low and generally even heat for prolonged cooking. Whether it's a Pit Box, an offset smoker or even a baking pit. And I myself would caution Daniel Zákány professionalism, let's say I'm adding professionalism.
- Can it be said that you represent the grill section of gastronomy in the Debrecen region?
- Basically, I don't want to push this too hard, because there are other people who are doing it. We basically represent it, we teach it in different workshops and we also do catering. We show people what can be done on the grill with a particular ingredient and it's almost magic in front of their eyes.
- Basically, to an outside observer, it's as simple as that. There's the grid, there's the meat, you put the fire on and cook it. How can there be more than meets the eye?
- We are very careful to make people realise that it is more than that. We try to move away from the stereotypes of fried tarja and stew. We're also taking it in a different direction. For example, we present the side dishes and the background ingredients - which others still prepare in the kitchen - on the grill. For example, if we're making vanilla custard, say for a poppy seed cube, with real vanilla bean and egg, that's also made on the griddle there, whisked beautifully with a whisk. Think of the grill and bbq as a technology. You have to use it. More simply, it's an oven. I don't think it needs to be as mystified as many in the industry are. Of course you should and you can learn, that's why we are Grill Academy! How someone does it is a different matter, but one thing is for sure, we shouldn't boo each other because opinions differ. Here in the East, we bake, we work, we teach, and we are obviously dedicated because we simply love what we do.
- So in the end, can you cook everything on the barbecue?
-Naturally. You can prepare not only the meat element of the main course, but almost everything. We're going back a bit nomadic with this one. We don't even use electricity except for a little water heating. Think about it when we were stringing bacon on a stick by the campfire, if anyone has that, how much different it tasted. The sense of community is also a very important part of it, I'm thinking of the people gathered around the fire, the experience of cooking. It gives you an atmosphere that makes even the food taste so much better. And if we go back even further in time, we see that sitting around the fire before or after the meal was a community activity. Families would gather to talk about their daily lives, and nowadays, friends gather around the fire.
-Some people have it in their heads that barbecuing is seasonal. Is this true or can it be done at any time?
- In my opinion, it is not seasonal at all. Look at when there were no refrigerators, for example. But pigs were slaughtered in winter. Obviously, when the weather gets colder, you have to dress up. Fortunately, or not fortunately, here the weather allows us to organise activities well into December. Let's even have a Christmas fair! Apart from the mulled wine, I'm sure many of you will remember the roasting of the meat on the grill. If I had to give an actual time frame, I think I'd say March to December, a good 10-month season for barbecue. At the Grill Academy, our experience with workshops is that spring is ideal, and summer is for events, weddings, garden parties, so catering can work.
- What are the steps of starting from scratch in barbecue?
- We usually tell anyone who wants to start grilling to start with sausages and sausages. Even if you mess it up, no big harm done. Then it's on to the chickens. Put the meat in a five percent brine solution and the next day you can throw it on the grill. No extra additives are recommended, salt and pepper will do. The simpler the better. And then it's on to the Hungarian fish. Once you've practised these and you're not burning them, you can move on to the heavier meats. There, too, we start with the tray. Cooking, like everything else, has to be learnt, and you have to go all the way to work with robust ingredients that require serious attention. High quality steaks, for example, an Angus steak is high school. On the one hand, it's not worth spoiling because of the price, but on the other, it's a tremendously wonderful meat that makes for excellent food. What is worth trying and can be a great help for beginner barbecuers are the souvid products, which are MATUSZ-VAD is also marketed. They are almost fully prepared and make the job much easier. In many cases, not only amateurs but also professionals use this solution. Knowing the ingredients is part of the science of baking.
- You mentioned that I cook almost everything on the grill. It's also very fashionable to grill vegetables at garden parties. What can you throw on the grill?
- For my part, I can say that almost everything. All the ingredients are good with a little open fire and a little smoke. You can get a whole different flavour out of it with outdoor cooking. The thing to watch out for with vegetables is seasonality. Always choose fresh, seasonal ingredients and that's basically it.
- If you were to sum up in one sentence what grilling means to you, what would you say?
- It's hard to sum up in one sentence. Grilling, or baking, is really a technology, and the art of grilling is made up of professional knowledge, practice and dedication. But if I have to answer in one word, barbecuing is a way of life, spiced up with delicious food.
by Tamás Budafoki / Airchef
Photo: grill academy
