British BBQ Society Forums

I'm starting this thread in the hope of helping to develop a tradition with a specifically British identity. You can't invent tradition off the cuff, but that's okay, because I feel British cooking has a long (lost?) tradition of its own.

For years the French criticised our cooking because the only thing we knew how to do well was to roast a piece of beef on an open fire. What a shame that our barbecue heritage has become lost, and that British barbecues are most often associated with sausages burnt on the outside and uncooked in the middle.

I don't believe a British Barbecue tradition needs inventing, I feel it needs re-discovering.

Any ideas, chat, whatever, I hope this thread provides a place.

I think I need to have a think and do a bit of research. Maybe come up with some old recipes, from days of yore.

But culinary traditions do not stand still - they develop and advance. We're a country which has embraced many culinary cultures - some from across the old empire, like India and the West Indies.

Anyway, over to anyone who cares to chat.

BTW, just to be clear, this discussion in no way denigrates any other form of cooking or barbecuing.

Steve W

I agree we have a fine tradition of regional cookery and foods in the UK, however we don't have a "recent" tradition of BBQ. This is my post on a Topic of Memorial Day in the US being the start of their BBQ season. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2160&p=18130&hilit=memorial+day#p18130

"Sadly we don't have a traditional BBQ season in the UK, mostly it's the first hint of hot dry weather like the last couple of days and people rush out to buy a new el cheapo grill, rush back because they forgot the charcoal & starter fluid, rush back into the supermarket to pick up a "bargain pack" of 50 pieces of "assorted bbq food for about 1/10th of what you would pay for good product. (Yes we had to go to the supermarket this morning not for any of the above I hasten to add)
They will burn the outside of the sausages whilst keeping the inside nice and raw, burn the frozen 2oz burgers nice and crisp, stuff them into a huge bun with an acidic greasy mayonaise based sauce with wilted lettuce and hard tomatoes They will scorch the skin of the chicken drumsticks and leave the middle nice and pink and give them to their children to "enjoy". They will then have a few beers too many, fall asleep in the sun, wake up with sunburn if their lucky, heatstroke if they aren't. Stagger into the house without cleaning the grill, allow it to fester and rust in the enevitable rain that will follow our 3 days of summer and tell all their friends that they had a wonderful time.

The next hot dry spell they will do exactly the same......now you know why we frequent this forum "

Because of the lack of a "Summer" the knack, and it is a knack of cooking outdoors, be it on a posh high end all singing all dancing bbq, or a pile of coals on the beach hasn't been passed down. I'm sure sociologists would mention towerblock housing, tenement and terraced housing with no gardens lack of open spaces where you can cook outdoors as reasons behind it and I'm sure that plays a part as well.
I'd sincerly love to see the recipes you come up with, I have a collection of books on Food History and a distinct love of food, as my waistline shows

So what is the non-recent tradition of BBQ - even if it was not called 'BBQ'?

British 'recent' BBQ seems to be a mix of imported BBQ cuisines - which is fine, but if there is a traditional British BBQ. Not being a native brit, or a food historian, I have no answer to this question - it would be interesting to find out

aris wrote:So what is the non-recent tradition of BBQ - even if it was not called 'BBQ'?

British 'recent' BBQ seems to be a mix of imported BBQ cuisines - which is fine, but if there is a traditional British BBQ. Not being a native brit, or a food historian, I have no answer to this question - it would be interesting to find out

Just talking off the top of my head (rather than out of my arse ), our finest tradition is roast beef. The thing is with roast beef, it's not fancy, but you have to get the timing just right. There are plenty of cuts, each of which needs cooking in a slightly different way. Then there are the condiments - just because you don't barbecue the condiment doesn't mean it isn't part of the barbecue (ask the Americans about their delicious 'slaw). Tewkesbury Mustard was mentioned by Shakespeare in Henry IV, and is a great accompinament to beef, and I suspect fish (mustard and horseradish sauces are both served with fish, so I would imagine Tewkesbury Mustard would work well with some fish, too).

It also goes with bacon chops - come on you lot, get your imaginations going!

Another obvious one is smoked fish. We've become used to them being smoked in preparation, then sold for consumption at a later date, but you can smoke your kipper and heat it at the end of the smoking, and eat it immediately.

And, as an island nation, we have plenty of fish. It doesn't all need smoking, and there are plenty of delicious fish dishes which could be barbecued.

More later.

Steve W

keith157 wrote:Because of the lack of a "Summer" the knack, and it is a knack of cooking outdoors, be it on a posh high end all singing all dancing bbq, or a pile of coals on the beach hasn't been passed down. I'm sure sociologists would mention towerblock housing, tenement and terraced housing with no gardens lack of open spaces where you can cook outdoors as reasons behind it and I'm sure that plays a part as well.
I'd sincerly love to see the recipes you come up with, I have a collection of books on Food History and a distinct love of food, as my waistline shows

Keith, it's generally accepted that the industrial revolution was largely responsible for destroying British culinary tradition (though I like to think it only pressed the PAUSE button, rather than STOP). As people moved from a predominantly rural culture to overcrowded urban settings with a lack of space, food become fuel.

But the good news is that most of what can be barbecued can be cooked indoors. Rubs, sauces, recipes, cooking temperatures and lengths, these can all be perfected inside whilst it's raining.

And, or course, we can stand on the shoulders of giants. If a pieces of meat weighing X pounds cooks at 180 degrees for 2 hours in Washington DC, it'll cook at 180 degrees for 2 hours in Washington Tyne & Wear. As long as ypu remember to check whether it's F or C, of course.

All that's needed is to perfect the technique through practice. Whilst you're right in saying that the British weather frustrates our practice, it doesn't frustrate it any more or less than any other barbecuing. We have British barbecuers at these forums who have apparently become superb at copying some American barbecuing techniques, without spending 2 years practicing in the States.

No reason that can't be replicated with other styles.

I suppose I'm just being a 'glass half full' kind of a guy.

Steve W

Glad you said Washington and not Leadville Colorado . Yes the industrial revolution did stop some development, but if you are talking BBQ as being cooked over flames or coals then most, if not all UK cooking was just that it wasn't until the end of WW2 and in to the 1950's that the majority of people had proper ovens to cook in. Just look at all those lovely Georgian & Victorian houses with the large fireplaces and a nook, or if lucky a door for the bread oven built in. My Mam was "in service" pre war (WW2) at a large house in the Sunderland area and even with their money there was only 1 oven, the meats were cooked on spits by the open fire.
As to rubs etc, we have always traditionally cooked with herbs, not so much spices as few grow here and again were always expensive to import and obtain.

Burgers and sausages.

I think we should claim back the humburger.

Okay, it's originally German. But the first mention of it in an American publication was in a menu from 1826 for Delmonico's restaurant in New York. The first mention in print in the UK is Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy from 1757. So, we owe McDonalds nowt!

Sausages too have been part of British culture for well over a thousand years, and wood have been cooked for most of their history over an open fire of coals or wood. And whilst burnt bangers are a staple of every bad British barbecue, a truly great British sausage is an absolute delight.

Steve W

My understanding was that ovens were actually quite rare things - hence why the British have a large number of steamed foods like pies, and puddings, etc.

As for roasting meats - yes I suspect everyone did this The question is though, is there anything in the way it was done which was specifically British?

I recall some years ago seeing a Jamie Oliver show where he showed a clockwork rotisserie which he found in an antique shop. I think it was georgian or victorian.

keith157 wrote:As to rubs etc, we have always traditionally cooked with herbs, not so much spices as few grow here and again were always expensive to import and obtain.

This is the part that really interests me. Almost everything we eat wasn't available to a Briton living here 3,000 years ago.

Where do we draw the line? I've mentioned American food, and I think it's useful because they have such an obviously mixed heritage, and one which has been instrumental in shaping their cuisine.

But we shouldn't forget our cultural heritage, made up of invaders and travellers from across the world. And we shouldn't forget that the most ordered dish in the UK is the Chicken Tikka Masala (nor that it's a British invention). I'm not suggesting we barbecue CTM, just that the dish is incredibly young. We've only invented it about 40 years ago. The first indian restaurant in the UK was opened in 1812, but the first chippie wasn't opened until 1860 !

How old does a food have to be before we can claim it as British?

I think that any cuisine which has been integrated into our culture by people who live here is fair game - so Indian and West Indian foods count, but the KFC doesn't.

But I think we have to give it a British edge, rather than just import it. So Jerk Chicken yes, but let's try something other than rice 'n' peas to serve with it.

Does that work for you?

Steve W

aris wrote:As for roasting meats - yes I suspect everyone did this The question is though, is there anything in the way it was done which was specifically British?

I think the British have been seen as masters of roasting beef, even by the French nack when they used to scoff at the rest of our food.

Steve W