Making a Habit of Backyard Barbecues
What’s a backyard party without a barbecue? It is a cultural custom I picked up during my two-year study in Australia. A typical barbecue consists of sausages, salad greens and bread with mustard and barbecue sauce on the side. Everything is kept pretty simple, easily prepared with the most rudimentary equipment. It is perhaps because most of the barbecues I’ve attended are held on campus and cater to a couple hundred of student. Now that I am back home, however, I have decided to – as Emeril Logassi always says in his cooking program – kick it up a notch! I have just recently bought the top of the line BBQ grill accessories as well. The barbecue fork thermometer is my favorite new gadget. Since I have expanded the menu to include steak and whole roast chicken, the thermometer has become a necessary tool to ensure that I am feeding my guests properly cooked meat. I have set up the master grill beside a large picnic table, where I could prepare the ingredients, lay my poking tool and, alternatively, serve the cooked batches. It was also a strategy for me to be able to draw more people to where I needed to stay. If I could not mingle, I wanted to at least have a steady stream of guests dropping by every now and then and keeping me updated on the party stories. After cooking, I thought, it would be easier to get into the party groove even if I smelled of smoke as long as I could contribute to the conversation!