It's been awhile.
Now onto the fun stuff.
BBQ at Anna's place!
Had a BBQ at Anna's place for her hostel friends. Not a bad showing. Here's some of the stuff I prepared. Others also made food, but i'll just be egotistical and focus on my stuff...
Lumpfish caviar, baguette and butter
Some find it too salty. I find it just right. For the WIN. It's easy enough to prepare, and is creamy and salty and chewable. Good way to start the evening.
Chargrilled Bell Peppers
Chargrilled Aubergines
Grilled both over the flames (especially the pepper). I thought the peppers would catch on fire, but they came out just fine. Note to self: don't go easy on them, just char the suckers till they're black. I put both together with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt. Was good. The eggplant absorbed the flavours well. This is a recipe that i'll repeat.
Grilled Squid
Salmon head
Whole mackerel
I love grilled squid done very simply. The high point of my day was cleaning the suckers. Not literally. It was a first for me, and I was pleasantly surprised by how clean smelling the squid were - not at all fishy. I suppose the proponents of freshly caught/bought food are right! Opened up, grilled, served with lemon squeezed on top and some salt.
Ditto for the salmon head. Didn't try this one though. Oh well.
There are few things better than whole mackerel. Although this was done quite late in the night so I was almost full up, it was still good! Too bad the others were full already. I felt that this mackerel was a little too big though. Not as tasty as the previous one.
Chicken wings two ways -
Traditional: dark soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, pepper, sugar
Nigel Slater: honey, mustard, lemon juice
Traditional ones were better. The skin was crispy and salty enough. Even the flesh had some flavour. Kudos to Anna and Ben for cooking these to perfection!
Honey mustard made the skin tart and sweet, but the flavour wasn't really that strong and didn't penetrate too far in. I tried to correct that by basting the wings as they cooked, but i'm not sure how successful that was.
The fire was perfect for cooking chicken wings though. Must've been the atas charcoal used.
Galbi: beef short ribs marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, chopped garlic and onion, rice wine, sugar.
Quite good! A surprise. I'm not sure how authentic this galbi is, but it's a flavourful, tasty way to cook the ribs. It's not as well-sliced as the restaurant version, but it's a little more strongly-flavoured. Will probably repeat this recipe.
And that's that for my part!
Cheers,
Terence
