Barbecue - Part I

Difference in culture appears in every aspect of life, even in as homely a practice as barbecue.

Back in Hong Kong, barbecue is more of a winter activity. Everyone huddles round a barbecue grill, having the freshly flame-grilled meat & veg while taking warmth off the burning charcoal.

In the UK, the opposite is true. it seems that no one has even the least interest in barbecue in winter. Barbecue must be a summer festivity, where the fire is set in the midst of intense sunshine and heat. I was bewildered by this awkward and seemingly contradictory behaviour at first, but then got the point of it very soon - all the heat from the sun and barbecue grill is to be washed down with gallon after gallon of beer. Without either the sun or the barbecue, the enjoyment obtained from the beer will be greatly diminished.

Then comes the method of cooking. In Hong Kong, we were all used to each having a barbecue fork. A device rather resembling the sabres of musketeers, with a sharpened U-shaped double pin at the far end and a wooden handle at the back, the fork would allow the user 2 skewers of meat or veg pierced through and grilled above the fire. Should the user wish to cook food of bigger sizes (e.g. steak or pork chop), then the slab of meat would be skilfully pierced through both skewers so that it would spread out for even cooking. This device would require the user to hold on to it, and turn occasionally to enable uniform cooking.

Not so in the UK. Here the barbecue fork is a rare sight. Instead a grill net would be set up above the grill, and the food to be cooked simply placed on top and turned with a tong occasionally. This is a clever method of barbecue (lest a lazy one), in which just one person would be able to operate and feed dozens. Simple, easy, makes having a barbecue more enjoyable but takes the fun out of the process of cooking - where people can comment on each other's food and barbecue skills, or have a light-hearted chat round the grill. Unless the one operating the grill enjoys serving, the UK way appears to condemn whoever flips the meat to the post of a cook, while the rest of the participants assume the roles of guests enjoying themselves without having to share any burden of party management.

What is the purpose of barbecue? Once you have decided, you may then proceed to selecting the appropriate form of barbecue.