BBQ

Some of you who know me are familiar with my love of barbecue. Grilling is really more accurate, because I'm not slow cooking with rich sauces. Regardless of which term you prefer, I pride myself on my Argentine grilling background and being able to turn some big chunks of meat into enjoyable meals and social events with some coals and fire.

A few weekends ago I was invited by my host father to join in the company barbecue just out of the city, in the county. A place called Chengqing lake. The barbecue area was beautiful, down off the road in a wooded area with shade everywhere extending down to the lake.
There were plenty of tables and grills for all the roasting, there were about 20 parties going on while I was there. Since Jerry is kind of the boss, he had to get there a little early, and as I arrived I was introduced to other co-workers up on the road as we waited. I finally found out we were waiting for the barbecue supplies, meat, tongs, coal, vegetables, what have you. Everything was brought by a van full of boxes of grillables and implements waiting to be opened.

After this arrived, fires started to be lit and once those were burning sufficiently the grilling took off. Taiwanese cuts are thin, bite sized pieces. They cook them on a fine grill that is wrapped in aluminum foil. It was quite the tasty event and I ate my fill and had a great time at it. The whole feeling behind the event was not quite what I'm used to or what I intend for my barbecues. I was introduced to some tasty fish cakes, which are apparently made in Kaohsiung and good ones are quite fresh and tasty although I tend to shy away from things ground to something I can't recognize.

Having a Taiwanese barbecue made my appetite for a me barbecue just about insatiable, and well, I hosted one the next weekend. Nobody could really take me shopping, so I ended up making a Costco run with my backpacking pack and my bike, which was a fun time. I finally got everything I needed and spent Saturday prepping and marinading. Sunday, we went back out to Chengqing lake and I cooked up a big ole barbecue.




 The menu included:
salad,
sausages, with mustard and rolls
grilled pineapple
marinated and grilled mushrooms
grilled chicken with a honey mustard marinade
steak with a soy sauce and spice marinade

The grills aren't exactly to my taste, but I made it work. Ben and Maia were a huge help finishing the salad and making coals for me in a different barbecue.
All in all I ended up feeding 15 people, and the food turned out terrific. Very very satisfying, personally.
If I ever invite you to a barbecue, you should come.