Food, travel, recipe & sights

The other day we had a small barbeque up in Cameron Highlands. We had bought the stove on a previous trip to Cameron Highlands. If I remember correctly, the stove was only RM20. Compact and light, minus the fuss of those with many parts to screw.

Usually, to get nice barbeque, there are only two factors.

1) The fire use to barbeque must be embers, i.e. when the charcoal have finished burning bright fires.

2) The meats must be seasoned for several hours, overnight if possible.

Even badly seasoned meats will taste good if these two rules are adhered to.

I merely pour some of the sauces I have in my kitchen here in Penang and brought them to Cameron Highlands, in a plastic bag.

Many people had asked me how to get ‘western’ flavoured foods. Over here in Malaysia, we do not have that many choices where western sauces are concerned. Some of them are pretty expensive and only some exclusive shops sell them. So, the above are the three basic sauces, excluding the red wine vinegar. They are Maggi seasoning, Lea and Perrins plus HP sauce.

So far, whenever I cook western, I merely have to put a few dashes of each and it tastes ‘pretty western’ to me.

RECIPE FOR BARBEQUEING
1 chicken, cut in 8 pieces, slit some of the thicker parts like the thighs and chicken breasts to absorb more sauce

Sauce
1 tablespoon of Maggi seasoning
1 tablespoon of Lea & Perrin
2 tablespoon of HP sauce

2 tablespoon honey (or sugar)
dashes of white pepper
salt to taste
Juice of 1 lemon or 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

Optional
Dijon mustard
half clove garlic, pounded
1 thumb-size ginger (squeeze the juice only)

Season chicken overnight, if possible, or at least several hours.

When grilling, use either butter or some oil. Mix with honey. Baste the meat as you grill.

To make a nice fragrant brush, use one stalk lemon grass, bruise and use it as a brush to baste the meat. Dip it into the butter/honey mixture, rub on chicken. Or use the leaves of a few pandans.

To know if you meat is cooked, poke through with a chopstick or satay stick. If blood ooze out or if you have difficulties poking through the meat, it is NOT cooked.

When seasoning, be generous with the sauces. Do not be too rigid, following too closely to a recipe. Be daring, use your imagination and try something new. I poured some red wine into the meats and it came out very nice.

Other things that can be easily cook/bbq and complement the chicken are:
corn-on-the-cob, potatoes (wrapped in foil and dropped into fire), capsicums, sausages

If only our Malaysian climate is not so hot, then I can enjoy nice barbeque more often.