You could go really basic and use just cabbage and onion, but I feel carrot is essential adding colour, texture and of course taste. The other ingredients are adjustable to taste, not a mustard fan? Simply tone it down a bit.

Once you have made it a couple of times you will have it perfectly how you like it, a side with real crunch and depth of flavour, unlike those shop bought tubs…

Coleslaw

Serves 2

Ingredients

• ¼ x Red of white Cabbage
• 1 x Small Red or White Onion
• ½ x Medium size Carrot
• 2 x Generous Tablespoons you favourite Mayonnaise
• 1 x Teaspoon Dijon Mustard (or any mild mustard)
• 1 x Capful of Cider or Wine Vinegar
• 1 x Generous pinch of salt
• 2 x Twists of Black Pepper (or a pinch of White Pepper)

Method

Trim your cabbage removing the stalk, we want leaf. Now slice as thinly as you can into pieces about 2-3 inches (5-7CM) long. Thinly slice your onion to the same thickness.

Grate your carrot lengthways so you get nice long strings. You don’t want to grate it on the short end and get little nibbly bits!

Place in a bowl and add your other ingredients and mix thoroughly making sure everything is combined well.

Now let is rest for at the very least 2 hours, overnight would be better. When you remember just give it a quick stir around while it’s resting.

You will notice after time the cabbage and onion will soften and the ‘slaw will become more ‘liquid’.

Give it a taste and adjust seasoning as required.

So what do you think? Delicious right!

Remember to tell me how you enjoyed this ‘slaw and whether you added your own twist to it in the comments below.

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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The post How to make Coleslaw appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator

There’s something primeval about outdoor cooking, even in the luxury of your own backyard. Sure our ancestors didn’t have a can of beer, a nice glass of cold white or G&T in their hands as they spit roasted a chunk of woolly mammoth over an open fire, but I’m sure they looked in awe as we do at the sight, sound and smells of cooking with extreme heat.

The main picture above is actually my friends BBQ, he had some marinated tiger prawns (which were delicious) and I took over some of my Jerk Chicken which is always guaranteed to go down a treat. I love how the BBQ attracts everybody’s interest, everyone loves to have a nose at what’s cooking, it’s like a magnet, quite the opposite when you are cooing in the kitchen, then most people just want to steer clear.

It’s that sense of awe and excitement that grabs us, maybe it’s just the fact it is not the usual way we cook, or maybe it is something much more deeply imbedded in us all.

Whatever it is it’s a wonderful thing. So what are you cooking on your BBQ this weekend? I plan to try some new things so I can share them here with you. An Asian twist comes to mind…watch this space…

If you want some inspiration, take a look through Food on the Blog or check out my best selling BBQ recipe book which is packed with some great classic BBQ recipes, meat, vegetables, sauces, it’s all there.

Whatever you do enjoy not just the food but the experience and that ancient connection with fire, sun, fresh air and great people.

Tell me what you cooked up in the comments below!

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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The post In Awe of the BBQ appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator

As you will see I have used ribs with the sauce, but of course the beauty of BBQ sauce is you can use it with almost anything from the grill. From chicken to mushrooms and even onto your homemade burgers, it adds something special. So get making it so you can start pouring it

 Ingredients

•  50g Butter
• 1 Small Onion or Shallot
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 500ml Tomato Ketchup
• 3 Tbsp Black Treacle
• 1 Tsp English Mustard Powder
• 1 Tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp Paprika
• 1 Tsp Sugar

Optional

• 1 Tbsp Red Chilli Flakes

Mince your onion/shallot (chop as finely as you possibly can), then melt the butter in a pan on a gentle heat and add your fine chopped onion. We want to soften the onion and let it release its flavour into the butter, so about 10 minutes. Then add your garlic either crushed or minced and stir in for about 1-2 minutes.

Take you ketchup (yes we are using the whole bottle!) and pour it into the pan, again keeping the heat low. Now add in the black treacle and again gently stir it in.

Once you have stirred enough for the contents of pan to be completely combined add all of the other ingredients and stir in thoroughly. If you like it spicy add the tablespoon of chilli flakes as well. You could use a teaspoon of chilli powder instead, but I think the flakes add a smokiness and texture to the sauce.

Warning – We are now going to turn up the heat and the sauce will bubble and spit. Put a lid on the pan, then turn up the hob, we want to get a good blast of heat through the sauce, it should take only a minute or two. Once bubbling away turn the heat down again, remove the lid and give a good stir.

Replace the lid and leave on a low heat for about 15 minutes. It’s going to be seriously hot in there so don’t be tempted to taste just yet! So remove from the heat and leave to cool.

That’s it, you’ve done it…your very own homemade barbecue sauce! When the sauce has cooled give it a taste, you will see the main flavours are the tomatoes from the ketchup and the molasses from the treacle. These flavours are a real trademark of Southern USA, the home of the barbecuing.

You can use it as a marinade, as you can see from the pictures I brush on a thin even coating of the sauce and then leave in the fridge for 2 hours minimum. You can leave for longer of course, but I don’t feel the need for an overnight marinating as the sticky sauce doesn’t penetrate that much more.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article you can use the same marinating technique above for chicken, beef or lamb.

I then cooked my ribs using the same method as the how to marinate ribs recipe.

Once cooked I then pour over the extra sauce, smothering the meat in its sticky goodness and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes. The meat will become tenderer and the sauce will warm through at the same time.

You can store the sauce for a month if you put the hot sauce from the pan into a sterile jar and seal immediately.

If you like this recipe you’ll love my bestselling Kindle BBQ book! http://myBook.to/ManVsFire

Remember to share how you got on with this recipe and if you tried the options  in the comments below.

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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The post BBQ Season Part 4 – Make your own barbecue sauce appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator

It’s a simple but delicious barbecue chicken recipe, blending the spicy heat of fermented chilli peppers into a rich clingy sauce which just goes so well with chicken.

I remember going to Texas many years ago, being on a shoestring budget the first night I ordered pizza and Buffalo wings. Being from the UK and loving my curry, I had this crazy idea that Americans didn’t do hot food, so of course I plumbed for the “super hot” wings on the menu.

I soon found out (as I did throughout my trip to the Lone Star State) that my assumption was wrong, those wings blew my head off! Back then the Texas tourist motto was “It’s like a whole other country”, but this was more like a red hot new world to my taste buds.

There are many variations and hundreds of recipes for this dish, but I am going to give you a simple medium version which doffs its spicy cap to the original.

Ingredients for barbecue chicken wings

For the chicken

• 500g Chicken wings
• Small amount of oil
• Good pinch of salt and pepper

For the barbecue sauce

• 150 mls Hot sauce*
• 125g Butter (half a standard pat)
• Salt (if required)
• Cayenne pepper (for more heat if required, probably not!)

*I used Frank’s (148ml bottle) but try Tabasco or your favourite hot sauce. You can even use sriracha for a more exotic Asian style wing.

Take the chicken and rub all over lightly with oil (not dripping in it) then season with salt and pepper. Let the chicken come up to room temperature.

In the meantime let’s make the sauce. Take the butter and place in a pan on the hob at the lowest heat possible. This is important because we do not want the butter to split, at high heat butter solids will separate and this will ruin the sauce. So gently melt the butter while stirring until you have a pan of golden liquid.

Add the hot sauce to the pan and whisk it in so the sauce becomes uniform in colour. Turn off the heat and taste. At this point the smell of the sauce will make you think I’m crazy as it’s very powerful, but don’t worry all is fine :).  Adjust the seasoning using salt if required and the cayenne if you want it hotter!

The barbecue sauce will seem too thin but its fine, because as it cools it will thicken.

Once your BBQ has calmed down and has a good level heat with the coals looking grey, place the chicken on and keep it moving fairly regularly. Get the skin to start to go golden then move the chicken to the sides of the grill out of the main heat area. This will stop your chicken burning and let it cook thoroughly. Keep turning regularly as you will notice hot spots trying to singe your lovely wings.

Now if you have a BBQ with a lid (I guess most of you do), buy some wood chips in advance. Any of the store bought BBQ wood chips will work perfectly. If you have an open BBQ simply carry on cooking as above for around 10 more minutes.

I don’t tend to soak the chips for wings, just throw a good handful on and shut the lid. The temperature in your BBQ will drop and that wonderful smoke will fill it instantly. I would leave this for at least 10 minutes before opening,

You will see the smoke seeping from your BBQ getting less and less. When it’s almost gone open it back up and let the heat fire up again. Trust me it doesn’t take long for that smoke to flavour those little wings.

Give them a turn and a few more minutes then check to see if they are done by inserting a knife into the thickest part and ensuring juices run clear and that the meat comes easily away from the bone.

Place the chicken wings in a bowl and smother in your Buffalo sauce.

If you like this recipe you’ll love my bestselling Kindle BBQ book! http://myBook.to/ManVsFire

Remember to share how you got on with this recipe in the comments below.

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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The post BBQ Season Part 2: Barbecue chicken appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator

I make no secret of the fact that I love a burger, but when I get invited to a BBQ and the host says they are making homemade burgers I do shudder a little. It seems lots of people make burgers more like meatballs with a mighty list of ingredients including breadcrumbs, eggs even raw onion. They invariably end up with a lumpy, horrible looking thing that burns and disintegrates on contact with their BBQ grill, and it ends up shoved in your face with the promise “they taste fine”.

Why people feel the need to do this I really do not know. The burger is an easy thing to master, just remember the whole beauty of them is that you can put any other ingredients on a burger and not in it!

I’m going to show you how to make a fantastic no fuss burger that your friends and family will sing your praises over.

Ingredients

• 500g/1lb – Minced beef (20% fat content minimum)
• 1 heaped TSP – Fine ground salt
• ½ Level TSP – Fine ground black or white pepper

Is that all? It will fall apart! I hear you shout. Trust me like most good cooking it’s all in the technique. We need that fat content in the meat too, remember fat = flavour.

First place the beef into a bowl and dust the seasoning over as much of the meat as you can.

Now take a fork…and mash. Smash those strings of mince down, as it’s those lines of air running through the mince that would cause a simply “pushed” together patty to fall to pieces the second you start to cook it.

Keep mashing and “cutting through” the mince with the edge of the fork until it starts to turn into a ball in the bowl. You want it just at the stage you need to pull the meat apart rather than it falling apart willingly.

For this quantity of meat we will make 4 x quarter pounders, so half the meat and then half again and roll into 4 nice smooth balls. You can of course size your burgers anyway you want!

To make an individual patty, lay enough cling film (Saran wrap) on a chopping board so that you can fold it over the ball of meat leaving about 3 inches (approx 7 cms) all round it. Now here is the fun bit!

Take a plate with a good “burger” size rim underneath it and place on top of your cling film/meat sandwich and press down. I mean press down

hard and roll your hand pressing the meat out to the edge of the rim. Lift your plate and you should have a good size burger, wrapped and ready for your BBQ!

Repeat this method for the other balls of meat. You can use immediately, but a bit of time in the refrigerator will benefit them.

There you have it, perfect, juicy burgers that won’t fall apart.

They take about 2-3 minutes per side on a nice hot BBQ grill.

Did I mention that the same seasoning and method will work with:

• Pork
• Lamb
• Turkey (ONLY use thigh!)

Now use your imagination for toppings, different cheeses, salad or any of your favourite combinations. By the way this is now the time to add onion and maybe a fried egg if you so desire!

If you like this recipe you’ll love my bestselling Kindle BBQ book! http://myBook.to/ManVsFire

Remember to share how this recipe wowed your BBQ guests in the comments below.

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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