An Aussie Barbie

This post is inspired by the earlier post on creating the perfect burger, half a bottle of rum and a bit of sleep deprivation.

I'm always amazed/impressed/embarrassed by the lengths to which Americans go to creating their burger patties compared to our efforts in Australia. It's an art form, verging on a religion with you guys but in Australia little to no attention is paid to perfecting burgers.

A typical BBQ in Australia (and by BBQ I mean high heat cooking over a hot plate or grill not low'n'slow, grillin' to you guys) would see us cooking steaks, sausages, lamb chops, maybe some marinated chicken wings and what we would call meat patties or rissoles, the smaller poor relation of your burgers. If we made them ourselves it would be mince (ground meat) bought from the butcher, onion, garlic, various herbs and spices bound together with an egg and some breadcrumbs then formed into patties. Or, if you really didn't care you'd buy them ready made from the butcher and take your chances. In terms of protein hierarchy the steak is king and the burgers/meat patties are definitely way down the pecking order.

For what it's worth here's my take on a typical Aussie barbie. Bear in mind that most barbies here are evening affairs not lunch time. Bear in mind also that most of my friends are drunkards and I'm not speaking for all Australians here. (But yeah, I probably am)

Your mates turn up late afternoon and you start drinking. You've actually been drinking for a few hours before they turned up but so have they so it all evens out. You keep drinking collectively. Eventually the combined chorus of the womens' "what time are we eating?' reaches critical mass and you fire up the barbie. For strategic reasons sausages and meat patties go on first. When they're cooked you announce " Orright you Sheilas and kids, there's bangers and rissoles here for you lot." That buys you and your mates a bit more drinking time then you cook the rest of the proteins. Generally all the salads and proteins will be laid out on a table, smorgasbord style, and you will fill a plate and eat it as a meal with knife and fork not as a burger.

This is a convoluted way of saying I'm interested in how other countries/cultures approach BBQ/outdoor cookery. And I'm only talking about throw together, spur of the moment affairs not 2 day marinade, 3day slow cook type cooking. Simple stuff.

So how do we all cook?

First three sentences of the fifth paragraph had me laughing out loud.

When I am a bit more organized than normal I will grind chuck loosely form 1/2 pd patties and place them in the freezer. Once they are starting to freeze I vacuum seal them and into the 129 degree water bath they go. After an hour back into the freezer for 20 minutes or so then onto the smoking hot grill, torched, or in a pan with 1/4 inch of starting to smoke peanut oil.

what you are describing with the egg, herbs etc is what I call meatloaf. It has no place on the grill.

I semi freeze my beef than do a guick run in the food processor to grind it. season it with salt and pepper and sprinkle in tiny frozen butter cubes, cause you know - butter.

Then form into BIG .3 to .5 pound patties and throw on a high flame grill. when blood droplets start to appear I rotate burgers one half turn for good grill marks. When more juice comes up I flip and just keep poking with my finger until it feels med to medium rare.

Toppings include fresh and carmellized onions. Sauteed mushrooms, bacon, and various cheeses. I have a few tomato slices and lettuce leaves available to keep it healthy.

We do macaroni salad and camponata with fresh mozzarella on the side. Beer is usually an Irish red or chocolate stout. Depends on how hot it is outside.

My friend and I do most of the prep while our hubbies are drinking. Then my hubby takes the meat and announces "I'll get these on the grill...". He'll then get distracted so I'll keep an eye on them and when they're ready to pull I'll "gently" elbow him in the ribs...:laughat:

The guys will do the cleanup while my friend and I sit back and talk about our men...

This thread brings back memories of my one visit to Australia about 20 years ago. Both BBQs I attended went down in almost exactly that same manner. Good times.
:thebbq:

Bill and The Captain's experiences are exactly what I'm talking about. No-one I know in Australia grinds their own meat or combination of meats for burgers except some restaurants or professional burger bars. And definitely no-one sous vides them. I have a sous vide machine and use it regularly but even I wouldn't consider using it for burgers, not when you can just chuck a patty on the barbie and it's ready in a few minutes. I'm continually impressed by the lengths you folks go to in order to make a humble pile of ground meat into a gastronomical experience.

We grill a lot of meat in the summertime around a friends pool. 9 times out of 10 its a last minute thing after a long day of drinking on the beach or boat so there isn't much prep time.

Usually we have burgers, brats and some kind of chicken on a stick.

I love yakitori so I usually make Negima. Just chicken thighs and green onions brushed with some tare.

Last year I took a trip to Puerto Rico and discovered pinchos and that has been my other go to.

Just cut up some chicken thighs and toss with adobo seasoning, skewer and slather on BBQ sauce. Top the skewer with some grilled garlic bread and your off to the races.

Having spent time around the coastal towns of New Jersey most of my life, Outdoor Cooking(BBQ is a term for heat and smoke, not flame) Hamburger patties and Hot Dogs were for the children and the uneducated.
We ate steaks, of many varieties, whole beef tenderloins grilled to perfection, loins of pork,lamb chops(ahhh, i would kill for a perfect grilled lamb chop) and varieties of fish, whole, filets, clams etc, etc. And vegetables..........peppers,zucchini,squash,corn all grilled to perfection(find a recipie for elotes, it will change your life, you will never look at an ear of corn the same way again).
Much has been made by many so called chef's(insert Bobby Flay's name here) to glorify the humble ground beef patty and yes, there are a few good ones out there,but,.....that is not what Outdoor Cooking is about.

I think we tend to worship the meat more than elaborate preparation.

My take on a perfect BBQ experience. Take a freshly cut aged scotch fillet steak, minimum 2 inches (5cm) thick. BBQ on a stinking hot cast iron open grill on all four sides (rotating every minute) until nicely crusty. Rest for 10 minutes. If you haven't buggered it up, when you slice it into 1cm strips (as I like to do, like a mini roast), you should have juicy pink meat from edge to edge with a 3-5mm cooked crust.

Finish your beer, open a nice local Pinot Noir or similar, savour the culinary perfection :hungry:

You can have salad, veggies, etc if you like, but these are totally optional

I still haven't told my dad in South Africa that I got a gas BBQ. I think the disappointment would kill him.

We call it a braai and it's always charcoal or hardwood. Steaks, chops and a long, coiled, beef sausage called boerewors. Some pervert put chicken on once but he's not ever allowed at my dad's house again. If you want fish, drive 700km east.

Back home we always used charcoal and threw on top whatever meat we could find. Prime suspects were pork chops (with bone) and chicken legs. Any other part of the pork would usually en up in cut in pieces and skewered at intervals with onion, bell pepper and pineapple if it was available (the skewers cooked fast). My mom used to stock on Argentinian white grilling sausages and those were favourites as well. We usually prepared a "mojo"and would spread it on top of the cooking meat from time to time. The charcoal gives such a special flavour... ah damn now I'm hungry and can't even use the gas BBQ (it's -17 C with windchill of -25 outside)!