My Winter HOME Barbecue

Every quarter, I always like to cook up a feast for my buddies & friends that I have not seen for a while. My previous BBQ was around a year ago due to the renovation on our building & I am delighted to be able to host such parties again. It is such wonderful times to catch up with friends & enjoy some fine food & drinks on offer, plenty of laughter with a cosy & fun atmosphere. The Barbecue Grill above has got to be one of the best piece of investment I have made, purchased via on online shop of course & safely delivered to Hong Kong.

I am NO professional chef but I like to try my best to do some cooking at times & experiment on different flavours & sauces for barbecue which is fun & relaxing for the weekends. To prepare for this barbie, it wasn’t the easiest task as I always like to throw good parties therefore I as usual, over invited on the headcount with 28 people. Buying, preparing, marinating & seasoning as well as all the hosting & drinking & chatting with 28 people is not the easiest task to do & each time, I find such barbecue parties to be quite high pressured job which all my friends always tell me to relax, an art that I have to master on. Perhaps, the most difficult task is to purchase food for 28 people as a) everyone has different diet requirements b) a lot of $$$ will be spent into the barbecue c) all the travelling to various markets on the best products available. As a host, I don’t believe in the traditional approach of asking my friends to chip in money for the food but I ask them to bring the drinkies which is key to a good party therefore please do not compare this barbecue to restaurant barbecues or barbies you see on TV Shows as the quality of meat & fish that I use are on a different league. This is what I call as a peasant barbecue to say the least.

Some of you may also know that Victoria (http://geoffstwitchen.com/?page_id=489) & myself have been invited to participate in the Moleskine Recipe Journal Exhibition which will exhibit some of our work from March onwards around Asia. For Hong Kong, it will be in City’Super, Page One, Dymocks & Kelly & Walsh, look out for that. I have used this barbecue feast as the basis of my exhibiting works which contains some very simple barbecue recipes which I did for this party. Check it out & let us know what you think as there was some serious extra effort & time being put into this.

Last but not least, what was slightly disappointing about this barbecue was that once the party got going, it was virtually impossible for me to take photos as I had to make sure everything was going smoothly for the food, music & drinks on offer. Have tried my very best to get all the best shots of the barbie!

This barbecue however was a special event, not only did I purchase majority of my own ingredients & food for the evening, I also recieved some amazing sponsored food products from a premium steak & wine company -The Porterhouse (http://www.porterhouse.com.hk/) & Hong Kong’s very best French online gourmet shop, Comme a la Maison (http://www.commealamaison.com.hk/). Again, want to define this grey area whereby readers express that free products or free meals will equal to a good review on Geoff’s Twitchen, I can ensure you for sure that this is a lot of rubbish & it is all about intergrity which is what we believe in.

It is rare to find good quality French products in Hong Kong which is why I fell in love with Monsieur Chatte on Bonham Strand (http://geoffstwitchen.com/?p=252). I don’t quite remember on how I came across Comme a la Maison’s website & I believe a conversation on Saint Marcellin was how it kicked things off. If you browse through their website, there are some kick-ass French products lying around which I am sure must be very appealing to the French expats who miss a bit of the French cuisine. Terrines, Pates, Foie Gras, Spreads – they have it all & they also partner with Chez Patrick, one of the most renowned French restaurant in Hong Kong to deliver their dishes directly to your door-step. You gotta love their approach to food & we need more local food heroes like such. Since there are so many products which Comme a la Maison generously sponsored towards our barbie, I will only go into the highlighted items:

For this barbecue, Comme a la Maison very kindly provided myself with 800g of Homemade Smoked Salmon from Chez Patrick which the salmon is home-smoked using beechword imported from the Alps region & cold smoked at around 37 degrees. As an appetiser, this kicked-ass in every manner & it was a wonderful appetiser to kickoff the barbecue. The smoked salmon was wrapped & kept in the fridge over-night & when opened up the next day, it was fresh, oozing with flavour & with a delicate texture. Only thing missing was that we didnt have any dill, sour cream or capers nor did we have any time to prepare thinly sliced toast to serve the salmon as a canape once guests starts arriving. We thinly sliced up the smoked salmon & everyone just helped themselves. Unfortunately, no photos for when the smoked salmon was sliced up as everything was gone within 10 mins & I kid you not, the quality WAS that good!

 

Comme a la Maison also provided our barbecue a special “hamper” which contained a variety of spreads & sauces which adds a lot of flavour to the red meat & toasted baguettes. Such calibre products are difficult to find in Hong Kong & since there are so many products which they generously sponsored towards our ghetto barbecue, I will only recommend my personal favourites which were the Goat Cheese Hazelnut Spread & Roquefort Hazelnut Spread.

The Roquefort Hazelnut Spread comprises of roquefort cheese, olive oil, fresh cream, egg whites & I loved this spread very much as it was perfect to pair with our hot baguette. We purchased the baguette from Taste & sliced them up evenly which was then placed on a baking tray & with virgin oil drizzled on the surface & straight into the oven for around 7-8 mins at 180 degrees. When the baguette was nicely toasted, spread generous portion of the roquefort hazelnut spread on the hot toast, YUM! This spread is also good for pairing with any type of red meat or as a sauce for pasta dishes which I will soon experiment. If you are a cheese fanatic especially on Stilton & Roquefort, this is your pick!

The Goat Cheese Hazeulnut Spread comprises of goat cheese, olive oil, fresh cream & egg whites & this cheese spread is best for tarts but however, we also applied this spread to our hot baguette, fresh from the oven. Comparing to the roquefort spread, this has a slightly milder taste to it as the flavour of the roquefort cheese was extremely pungent & intensive. If you want a slightly milder taste spread to your slice of toast, this is your pick.  

 

A French meal is never complete without the good old French foie gras & since Comme a la maison is a French gourmet store, I was plesantly surprised that they threw in a jar of Goose Foie Gras & much appreciate their generousity on this. The foie gras which they carry won a Bronze Medal at the 2009 French Farming Competition (Médaille de Bronze Concours General Agricole 2009) therefore quality is guaranteed. Duck foie gras is classified as a cheaper version & carries a slightly more bitter taste whereas  Goose Foie Gras carries a less gamy flavour with a smoother & delicate texture. Best way to enjoy such luxury product is to apply the spread straight onto a slice evenly toasted bread which is exactly what we did for our barbecue. Mamma Mia, this is making me hungry whilst I am writing this! If you love your foie gras & are a foodie, I recommend Goose Foie Gras over Duck Foie Gras for this special taste & flavour. A feast like this is also the perfect occasion to survey what tastes well or what doesn’t with the group as the Goose Foie Gras alongside the smoked salmon vanished within 5 – 10 mins, every single slice of toast was gone with the wind. Great stuff to enjoy on special occasions!

 A while ago when flipped open a magazine, as a marketer like myself, I am numb towards print ads as they never really attract my attention. However, this particular ad really stood out because of its simple design & above all, I have never seen a meat & wine company that has such budget to place an Inside Front Cover position of a magazine. I then visited their website & was equally amazed at their website design which was clean cut & extremely professional. A relatively new establishment in Hong Kong this is, you can simply go online & order your steaks + wine which will be delivered straight to your doorstep the next day by their Porterhouse Van. The steaks are imported from Chicago & Syndey & are all air-shipped, chilled & never frozen to ensure their top quality & taste. The Porterhouse Steak very generously provided our feast with some incredible quality USDA Prime Rib-eye Steak, Certified Angus Beef Double Cut Filet Mignon, USDA Prime Dry Aged Rib-eye, Certified Angus Beef Brand Rib Eye. What was even better was the full customer experience in which a customer can simply sit in front of a computer screen & place your orders with all the premium steaks arriving at your door with every piece of steak beautifully packaged & wrapped. Such professionalism & quality is there to be admired & thank The Porterhouse for such wonderful experience & we now have another premium online gourmet store in Hong Kong.

Again, I don’t have any photos of the barbecuing process for the steaks as it was simply impossible to take photos when I was cooking, chating & taking good care of our pals. As soon as we started barbecuing the steaks, the guys were particularly excited about this as we all admired the packaging & that monster piece of steak. To describe the steaks in simple terms, they were SIMPLY HOT & we just simply barbied these monsters without any seasoning which was a bold move. Surprise, even without seasoning, this has gotta be one of the FINEST Steaks I have had at home in Hong Kong & it was just mind-blowing on the taste, texture & above all, the flavour of the beef was top knotch. Since we had around 28 people for the feast, we cut up the steaks in strips & sprayed some oil onto the grill & off we go on the barbecue with a good pinch of salt & pepper, that’s all that was needed. Ketchup & French Dijon mustard was totally un-necessary as the quality of the steak was that good. The speed in which all the steaks vanished from the table was even quicker than Comme a la Maison’s products. I ain’t joking & when I turned around to check out if everything was okay, all the steaks were gone & I am talking in less than 4 minutes time. Around 85 ozs of beef were all consumed in a matter of 30 minutes, very impressive stuff guys! Everybody on the night just kept commenting on & on about the quality of this steak which I now believe The Porterhouse is the Ferraris of the Meat World. Simply astonishing & I myself only had the luxury to grab 2 slices of the meat & it was sensational. Take my word readers, check out their site & if you ever want to impress your missus or mates in dinner with a good chunk of steak, The Porterhouse is your safe bet.   

 

Now, above were the generous sponsored products for the barbecue which I am most grateful of & now check out all the other food items we had on offer for this monster feast. Kettle Chips, Doritos & Ruffles are vital to any barbecue as a good snack to welcome your guests before you start your cooking. Aside from these 3 types of chips, I also purchased a pack of Kettles Unsalted Chips which I prepared my very own GreenTea Rosemary Salt for such chips. Simply place your dry rosemary, rock salt & good quality green tea leaves into a pestle & mortar & give it a good bash until all the ingredients are all pounded evenly. Sprinkle this mixture all over your unsalted chips & give it a toss until it is evenly spread. A bit of personal invention for a wonderful feast!

For barbecues as such, there is a shop that we often visit in Jordan to pick up all our food items. Such as shop carries a variety of “frozen” products such as steaks, lamb chops, pork cutlets, seafood such as salmon steak, scallops etc. Foodies are often put off by the word “frozen” as the quality & taste is some way off the standard of the fresh products. To keep the costs down for the barbecue for a feast as such, frozen products are the way to go & this is my 2nd time in purchasing products from this location & so far, the “frozen” products does the job well & keeps the guests happy. 

Steaks = We had around 30 thin cuts of frozen rib-eye steaks which was purchase 24 hours prior & despite the frozen texture in which we de-frost 5 hours prior, the steak was not bad at all. Such “lower” quality of steaks are simply barbied with simple seasoning of salt & pepper. One lesson which I learnt from this barbecue was that I should have pre-heat the grill much earlier to generate all the heat for the steaks. If the grill was hot enough, this would have prevented the slight greyness of the steaks on the barbie. One says that a good quality steak does not require ketchup or mustard to enahnce the flavour but cheaper cuts as such, feel free to help yourself with generous serving of good French or English mustard.  

Scallops = We bought 3 packs of frozen scallops which there were between 48 – 52 pcs in total. The scallops were defrosted 6 hours prior so that the texture firms up & is ready for the barbecue. For the marinating process, big pinch of salt & pepper as well as a generous drizzle of Truffle Olive Oil which is extremely fragrant. With a pair of gloves & your hands, give the scallops a good massage & rub all the freshness of the truffle oil into the scallops. Wrap up the scallops in a tin foil & place in the fridge until when your guests arrive. When you start barbecuing the scallops, you will notice in a shrink in the scallop & liquid from the scallops will be given off. Scrape the liquid away from the grill & add an extra pinch of salt & pepper to the scallops & a minute or so on the hot barbie, you can start serving to your guests!

 

Lamb Cutlets - Lamb is very important in my barbecues & same as above, my lamb cutlets are purchased from the same shop in Jordan. Once again, due to the cost issues, we went for the frozen lamb cutlets which the quality isn’t bad at all. The lamb cutlets are defrosted & I normally like to marinate my lamb cutlets with my home-blend garlic paste & olive oil with simple seasoning with salt & pepper. Around 10 garlic cloves are placed in the blender which once it is blending, slowly add fresh virgin olive oil into the blender with the garlic. Once blended well, pour the garlic mix onto the lamb cutlets & run gently with your hands until the cutlets are all nicely massaged through. Keep in fridge until guests arrive & place the cutlets  onto the hot barbie for some sizzling action. Voila – so simple but yet so delectable, just using purely the natural flavours of the garlic + olive oil. My recommendation, please DO NOT eat this with Mint Jelly as they do not pair well at all. If you don’t like a stinky breath, use less garlic cloves for this!

Salmon Steaks  - Fish is equally important in my barbecues & what a better way to enjoy a piece of Salmon Steak. First signs that I am an amateur chef is coming as I was pointed out by a few fellow professional chefs on never to use dry rosemary on your salmon steaks for barbeuce as the herbs will burn during the barbie. Scored the salmon steak 3 times on each side & gently seasoned the area with salt & pepper as well dry rosemary. What’s more, I sprinkled more dry rosemary on the surface of the salmon steak which I then rubbed with olive oil to enhance the flavour. Keep in fridge until guests arrive & on a very hot barbie, place the steaks on each side for a minute & a half as you don’t want the steak to be very well done.

Chicken Wings - Chicken wings play a vital role in the daily lives of Hong Kong people as it is one of the most used product in barbecues as well as regular meals. So simple but yet we love this little creature – steam, fry, deep fry, barbecue, such a flexible food item that is enjoyed by us Hong Kongers on an everyday basis. We alongside the Americans must be the highest % of consumers in chicken wings, we love our wings here! For this, I used a special type of Hot Wing Sauce which a friend of mine previously sent me, originating from Mexico. This hot wing sauce was so spicy that a spoonful will be enough to numb your tongue. I used around 10 – 12 tablespoon-ful of the sauce along with a good pinch of salt & pepper to marinate the chicken wings. Same as all other items, use your hands and gently massage the hot sauce into the wings. Leave the wings to sit & keep it in the fridge until your guests arrive. If you dont think the wings are hot enough for your palate, feel free to add more to your dish!.  

Local Fish from Wet Market - I have always wanted to experiment in barbecuing a local fish from a local wet market, just a passion & desire for me to fulfill. Recently, I had a very interesting conversation with a renowned chef in Hong Kong on why he does not use local fish in his menu, his simple answer was the quality & texture of the local fish in Hong Kong are not suitable for his dishes. I bought this piece of fish just to fulfill my moment from the Causeway Bay Wet Market, a steal at $25. Gutted all the inner organs & I used my home favourite mix of spring onions, ginger, shallots, dry chilli, plenty of garlic & a good pinch of salt & pepper to enhance the flavour of the fish when barbecued. To make the skin more interesting, I rested the fish on a pool of rock salt & tightly wrapped the alumnimum foil paper so that it is in a sausage shape. Place this straight onto the barbecue for 8 mins & a good trick to check on whether the fish is fully cooked is to use a fork to press onto the fish, if the tip of the fork is hot, the flesh is fully cooked. When the fish is ready, cut open the aluminium foil wrap & serve this with a good drizzle of virgin olive oil for presentation & flavour purposes. Also, the skin should be slightly crusted due to the barbecuing of the rock-salt which adds extra flavour to the fish. However, despite all the good work put into the fish, I agree wholeheartedly with the comment from the chef as the texture is slightly dry & bland & lacks any real flavour to it despite all the good work being put into it. Check it out & let me know your thoughts!

 

This was a very fun filled barbecuing day with my close friends & pals & of course, a lot of cooking was done which was the best part of it. You can tell when a barbecue goes well when each & every item of food was gone into the stomachs of the 28 guests on the day, a sense of success! What’s even better, it made me realise that I do LOVE my cooking especially barbecuing & I should take more lessons on this. Will keep you guys all posted as I will be taking some master-classes real soon in which I will be writing dairy entries on a daily basis on this. You know the party went well when we started playing Beer Pong around 1000pm in which of course, we recieved a tonne of complaints the next day!

  

Upcoming Review:: Kagoshima Buffet at Intercontinental Hong Kong

  

Happy Eating!

Geoff