Kitchen Essential

A wood fire should have no more flames, just red-hot coals. You need to know how hot your fire is as different meats need different heats (see below). The palm test has been handed down through the centuries and is still the best way to test a fire. Hold your hand the same distance above the coals as where the barbeque grid will be, roughly 10 centimeters above the coals. If you pull your hand away before you can count to three (as in one-thousand-and-one, one-thousand and-two, onethousand-and-three), you have hot coals. If you can keep it there for four to five seconds you have a moderate fire, and if you can count to six or seven you have a slow fire.

If the fire is too hot, wait a while or reduce the amount of coals under the grid. You should keep them to one side for later use.

If the fire is too slow, push the coals closer together to boost the heat, blow on the fire to reduce the ash covering and start an extra fire on the side to replenish the original fire. In the meantime you can set the grid lower and start barbeque if your guests are ravenous.

A charcoal fire is ready when the coals are covered with ash, but still have a red glow. The amount of ash coverage is an indication of how hot the coals are — the less ash, the hotter the coals. It’s always easier to reduce heat than to increase it, so rather start off with a fire that’s too hot and remove coals to reduce the heat.

Barneque Meat

To recap: different meats require different heats, But not only are there different meats, there are also many different cuts. Fortunately the basics for all these are pretty much the same with the greatest difference being dictated by personal taste. The three degrees of doneness are rare, medium and well-done. To make things interesting there are degrees in between as well, but as we don’t expect you be the next nominee for Kettle barbeque King, take it easy and stick to the basics. As with most cooking, you become better with time and practice, and probably more so with barbeque techniques.

And if you’re a girl and things do go wrong, there’s usually a guy who would just love to jump in and save a damsel in distress. But persist — it’s fun and you’ll be impressing all the right people.

If you are using meat from the freezer, take it out the day before and let it defrost slowly in the fridge. Any other method will result in the meat losing moisture which could cause it to be tough and dry by the time it’s cooked. Defrosting in the microwave is okay, but at 30% power or the defrost setting if it has one.

When turning the meat on the barbeque, don’t use a fork or a knife as piercing the meat will result in a loss of juices and consequently dry meat. Invest in a pair of good barbeque tongs — it’s not just an image thing, it’s actually quite necessary and you end up using them for all sorts of interesting stuff — even catching insects.

When seasoning the meat, leave the salt at first and only sprinkle towards the end of the cooking process as it has a tendency to dry out the meat.

Lamb and pork chops

Lamb and pork chops are probably the most common barbeque fare and are also the easiest. If there is a rim of fat around the chop, make an incision every 2-3 cm in the fat to prevent the chop from curling and to ensure even barbeque. Chops should be barbequed on moderate to hot coals for roughly 7-10 minutes per side. If you prefer your chops well done, 10-12 minutes should do the trick. If you are unsure, take a knife and slice it — have a look, there are too many variables and too many different tastes to do it according to textbook instructions, so poke around.

Steak

Now here is where you are treading on dangerous ground. Generally people who enjoy eating a steak are also quite picky about how their steak should be done. We recommend that steak be cooked rare to medium. Anyone who prefers steak well done should stick to chops and sausages to spare himself hours of endless ridicule from serious steak-eaters. To gain the respect of a true follower, barbeque the steak over moderate to hot coals for 5-7 minutes on each side. But if the request was for a medium or well-done steak the same time frames apply as for chops (the same level of respect as well).

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