BBQ anyone?

5 September 2006

We went to a BBQ last night. Arriving at 8:30pm the host Carlo was just starting to prepare the barbecue, which entailed placing screwed up newspaper and BBQ beads inside a ‘device’ on their balcony that looked something like a mini pizza or old fashioned bread oven. It was a far cry from the traditional Aussie BBQ.

He came back out from the kitchen in full barbecue chef gear, much like the blokes do at home. A ‘miners’ light was strapped to his head. He told me he uses it to read in bed sometimes. His wife told Gigi the one time he wore it to bed (!) he adjusted it on his forehead, lay down, opened his book…and promptly fell asleep.

After lighting the newspaper Carlo fired up the other essential item for an evening of grilling chops and sliced onion…a hairdryer. Yep, a hairdryer; used to blow warm air into a small tunnel at the base of the tray holding the beads. On one hand it’s a brilliant alternative to the blow-you-lungs-out method. However it was not without side effects. The fumes from the smouldering beads were ghastly, sparks flew out into the night air, and the combination of flames, electricity and Neapolitan ingenuity just looked like a dubious combination.

For those of you that think I exaggerate please refer to the images.

Most of the evening’s food had been prepared in advance, the barbecue cooked only a few sausages and some fish wrapped in alfoil. We also enjoyed ricotta and prosciutto parcels, oven baked split sausages with melt cheese, mashed potato with provola cheese and prosciutto, potato cubes oven baked in olive oil and rosemary. Dessert was either hazelnut ice cream or truffle flavoured ice cream, or a combination of both, served in a plastic cup. Plastics plates, bowls and cup are very popular here, used in many ingenious ways, not only for serving food. Their impact on the environment seems to be outweighed by the convenience.

I was quietly craving a salad or a vegetable by the end of the night, missing the spread you’d find at a barbecue at home. I was surprised by the focus on sausages, cheese and potato and the fact that so little was cooked outside.

Barbeques are different all over the world. I do think though that the Aussie reputation for a good barbie on the weekend, our ability to cook almost anything on the flat plate, grid or rotisserie and do it without a hairdryer, is justified.

The word ‘barbecue’ actually came to the English language from the Caribbean, in addition to the word ‘cannibal’ ironically. I can only imagine how good a Caribbean BBQ might be. There certainly wouldn’t be any miners lights or hairdryers.