Barbecue Tips from Mark Hartstone

It's great to welcome back guest blogger Mark Hartstone from the award-winning La Fosse Restaurant in Cranborne. For once the British summer seems to be playing ball and delivering the perfect weather for getting outside and enjoying a barbecue and alfresco dining. Mark has been doing just that and shares his expert advice and tips as well as a delicious recipe too!

 

Dust off the barbecue

National Barbecue Week may have come and gone now but with the heat wave continuing for the foreseeable future, alfresco dining is definitely 'de rigueur'. Whether you have used the spur of national picnic week, the World Cup or Wimbledon as a prompt for getting out and about, there is so much you can do to make it easy for yourself. Cooking on open flames tends to be a very social experience, far more so than hanging around someone's kitchen. Lots of chefs and restaurateurs have turned their back on standard kitchens and now only cook over coals. In La Fosse at Cranborne we are trying to balance between the two styles. All year round barbecue cuisine in our Grillikota (Scandinavian-style hut with a fire pit in the centre) that parties of friends and families can dine in to our new Porter House Kamodo Grill that has a ceramic liner that retains the heat, so is fantastic for low and slow cooking. Kettle style barbecues with the lid over the cooking area are a splendid progression in outside cooking as they give greater controlability with heat and flames (by reducing the air flow in the vents). Bodum have created a stylish portable one that is great for both picnics and your back yard alike. Just ensure you have plenty of water and don't leave hot embers behind. There are a few different styles of barbecue...

 

Old school

The hot dog and burger style of most peoples youth, where the charred meat used to be placed in cotton wool like rolls have developed as there are now a myriad of sausage and burgers types. Of course most hipster barbecuers insist on over sweetened brioche buns. I personally favour a crusty baguette that contrasts both with texture and flavour of the filling. Toasting buns on the grill caramelises the bread, aiding the flavour and also helps prevent the bun from falling apart. If you are in a small group the traditional long handled toasting fork is still a winner. If however you have guests, a double-sided grill that sandwiches the buns in the middle is a quick way to toast them. Flat breads, be it chapattis, naans or pittas can be baked in from scratch, shop bought breads given a whirl over the hot coals will be transformed too. No getting side-tracked with refreshing your glass as they will become cardboard-like discs in no time at all. Kept in foil pockets the moisture is kept in the bread and they are kept warm too. A re-purposed tea cosy also is great at keeping your bread warm.

 

Low and slow

The large joint of meat style barbecue has, over the last decade, become popular. The Jamie Oliver beer can chicken is quite a quick trick and is not very demanding of the cook either. Barbecue aficionados rave over low and slow cooking. Cuts that contain plenty of inter-tissue fat like pork shoulder are fantastic for this. Often spice rubs are massaged into the meat and the cooking process takes five or six hours. The bonus of this type of dish is that you have done the work prior to guests arriving. This work can also consist of sitting back in the garden, keeping an eye on the barbecue with your feet up, and with a little forethought, a drink on tap from a large Kilner Jarfull of your own homemade punch. It doesn't necessarily have to be alcoholic either. Distillations from the garden or spices of the orient made by Seedlip mean complex cocktails that are not over sweet or fruity are feasible. [insert page='kilner-drinks-dispensers-and-jars' display='custom-product.php']  

 

Tapas and tasting menus

These are still popular despite their alleged forecasted demise. The reason being we like to try exciting new things but are unwilling to risk having something totally new as the main component of a meal. Trying lots of small portions is great as they cook quickly on a hot barbecue and are easy to control the portion size. The down side is the effort required in preparation and cooking. Little things burn quickly if left to their own devices. A curly cable brochette/skewer means only one item needs flipping at a time as opposed to individual skewers. A rack that raises skewers off the grill prevents them from sticking to it. Having wooden-handled skewers, so your guests can cook their own, fondu-style means you can just serve the diced meat, prawns or vegetables in dishes. Tramontina do great double-forked skewers. These are a revelation, traditional old school skewers can mean the meat revolves as you turn it so the same side gets over-cooked. The flat brochette type prevents this, but may split the food so it falls off. The cunning dual-speared Tramontina tines mean you can easily skewer your food and it is stable when being cooked and rotated. [insert page='tramontina-barbecue-tools' display='custom-product.php']  

 

Fruit and veg

Most of us should be eating more fruit and veg and this is often forgotten at barbecues. A novice can cook vegetables over flames easily. Blanch vegetables in boiling water first so they stay moist and you only get a little smoke and flame action when finished on the barbecue. Wrap it up in Parma ham! This bastes the vegetables and works wonders with asparagus or sticks of courgette. Corn on the cob grills well. The leaves can either be pulled back banana-style to create a handle, or left on to protect the kernels so they steam in their own juice within the leaves.

Aubergine cut in half, drizzled with oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper bakes perfectly on a barbecue. Place a piece of smoking wood onto the hot coals and the vegetable will absorb the flavour beautifully. Serve as it is or puree with a hand mixer for a stunning middle eastern dip, experiment with ground hard spices to see what you prefer. Ras el Hanout spice mix works wonders. Quarter a pineapple, poach and then char-grill for a super pudding. Serve with sorbet for a real refreshing treat (see recipe below).

Marinated Pineapple - serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 Pineapple
• 1 litre Orange Juice
• 50g Sugar

½ a teaspoon of the following spices...

• Chilli
• Saffron
• Coriander
• Peppercorns
• Star anise
• Clove
• Cardamom

Method Cut the skin off the pineapple, the green leaves can be left on to use as a handle or just to look great. The woody centre is best removed too as is not nice to eat. Quarter the fruit so it is divided into segment-type portions. Heat the juice with the spice and sugar at a simmer for 15 minutes, add the pineapple and return to a rolling simmer for 30 minutes. For best results, allow to cool and char grill on the barbecue.

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Use a wide opening thermos to take sorbet on a picinic or for the barbecue. Kept in a cool bag or box you will not have to depend on the Ice cream van being on hand!  Bananas cooked campfire-style work well in the coals. Remember the bar of chocolate to stuff in it as a quick pud. Finally, marshmallows are still popular. We might pretend they are beneath us and just for the kids, but most of us still relish that crusty outside with the gooey centre. • Mark will be at various shows across Dorset this summer demonstrating culinary tips and tricks. Or you can sample his food at La Fosse at Cranborne his award winning Restaurant with B&B accommodation. Visit www.la-fosse.com for more details.