BBQs in Peckham Rye Park

[anna_ed]

Couldn't it be cool to have bbqs in the park. I have just been visiting my brother in Copenbagen and in one of the parks they had bbqs for public use. All you needed to bring was your own coal and meat. The bbqs were bolted into the ground so they couldn't be stolen and they were placed away from big trees and other plants to avoid unintentional fires. It gave a real nice communal atmosphere to the place. I would love that in Peckham Rye Park!!

[Brendan]

It is realatively simple to build a bbq out of brick. They have 'em in the park in my home town in South Africa. The grills go missing though but you just bring your own grill along.

I spent many a teenage evening sitting around a bbq/fire in the park. Well until the police would wade in remonstrating about underage drinking etc. Oh the memories.

[SeanMacGabhann]

might be cool, but would anyone turn up ;-)

* grumbles at the amount of jerk chicken he BBQ'd for the forum picnic which didn't get eaten last weekend *

[georgia]

*suddenly feels bad for not going to picnic - but then remembers doesn't eat chicken anyway* ;-)

[anna_ed]

The bbqs I saw had the grills locked into bbq itself, so it wasn't possible to take them unless you were a persistent welder.

I actually wrote to the council today about this and they wrote to me straight away; they have forwarded my idea to the manager of the park and should hear from them within the next couple of days. I'll keep you updated.

[mockney piers]

I bet you there will be health and safety issues.

All that raw chicken and pork...

[East Dulwich Angst]

Surely there can be no health & safety issues with raw meat if you're the one cooking it (!)

[Louisa]

BBQ's are awful. I went to a family one in Australia and was horrified at the way in which they keep raw meat out in the open and then catch fire to it on a grill. The food either tastes burnt or not properly cooked, its awful. I thought humanity had evolved to a point where they could cook indoors without wanting to stand around on a public common full of dogs mess and saliva, burning various pieces of meat on an open flamed fire. It seems ludicuous to me. And the food is usually tasteless and boring.

[Rolo Tomasi]

East Dulwich Angst Wrote:

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> Surely there can be no health & safety issues with

> raw meat if you're the one cooking it (!)

We all know about your legendary BBQ skills EDAngst>:D<

[mockney piers]

You could put a macaroni cheese on it in a foil box and heat it up I guess Louisa ;-P

[Brendan]

Louisa Wrote:

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> BBQ's are awful. I went to a family one in

> Australia and was horrified at the way in which

> they keep raw meat out in the open and then catch

> fire to it on a grill.

Am I right in assuming first generation immigrants who haven?t learnt how to do it properly yet?

As someone who has been making fires and cooking animals on them since he could strike a match I must defend what is truly the most glorious way to eat.

[Louisa]

As a nation which traditionally slow roasts its meat I must disagree. I think meat tastes a lot better if it has been gradually cooked rather than cremated over an open fire. It does not retain it's goodness or its juices for a start, and usually leaves a foul taste in the mouth after.

[Brendan]

I completely agree with you Louisa. This practice of bbqing over flames or coals that are too hot is heinous. People seem to do it in the UK and America. The only reason I can figure is that you have to cook as quickly as possible before it starts to rain again.

To bbq properly a wood fire should be started early in the day and the burnt down and added to and then burnt down again to get a good steady bed of coals. The meat should be grilled slowly over the coals with due consideration for the different cooking times for the different meats. Mushrooms and potatoes etc can bee slow cooked in tinfoil in the coals.

The Turks are good at this so are the Lebanese but in my completely biased opinion the art is honed to perfection in Southern Africa.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Have to agree with Brendan on this one - marinated meats on a proper BBQ = fantastic

Slow roasted meats from the oven which I was raised on and still enjoy are great too - but I have converted to the other side!

[missd]

If you have cheap cuts of meat, slow cooking is the best way to make them taste good - if you have a good piece of meat, it doesn't need slow cooking (unless you specifically want to -slow cooking is defintiely a delicious way of cooking).

Good barbecues are great - in Australia we would head down to Bronte Beach at the weekend, with meat, cool boxes of wine and beer, and put a coin into the gas barbecues provided at the beach. you're pretty mucc set for the afternoon.

no need to cremate the meat either - you can vary the temperature with gas barbecues and wrap your potatoes up in foil and chuck them on too -beautiful.

Great food, weather, drinks -all for the price of food you'd buy anyway at home, plus the 50 cents or whatever it was for gas. good stuff.

[Brendan]

You can slow roast a bird or a leg on a bbq if you have one of those Webbers ones with the dome shaped lid. It is a skill that you need to master though and one I have not.

What I love about bbqs is the fun involved, the fact that there is no precise environment with set parameters and times etc. each one is different and you have to apply you wits to the situation at hand. Most importantly though, you get to make a fire!>:D<

[mockney piers]

Totally with you Sean. Marinate overnight in my homemade "Death By Chicken"? marinade, then cook in a bbq. As Brendan says, trick is a bit of patience, don't use these insta barbecues which burn fiercely for half an hour, just get some decent charcoal and get it just right.

An absolute delight.

For the record my back garden isn't covered in spit and sh!t.

Damn right brendan, fire, fun, beer, sun. What more?!

[Louisa]

When I have steak at home, I never fry it, I always slow roast it in the oven, and it turns out absolutely wonderful. Whenever I have had a BBQ piece of steak, its always ended up being burnt on the outside and bloody in the middle. I cannot see how a BBQ can offer the same amount of variance in cooking times and how it can offer a better taste. The meat is being cooked using open flames for goodness sakes. I think the British Isles tradition of slow roasted meats is a far better way of creating strong flavours and meats cooked to perfection. The colonials may be good at making a decent wine, but they sure damn well dont know how to cook meat properly. I guess if we lived in a hot climate however, we would be partaking in this sort of thing more often than we currently do . heaven forbid!

[Louisa]

It may well not have shit and spit everywhere, but I bet its got lots of flys and other beasties waiting to lay eggs on your exposed "Death by Chicken" marinade, on a hot summers day (whats one of those?).

If you want to crucify your meat, then jump a plane to warmer climes and do it there, rather than stinking out my back garden every summer with the awful aroma of burnt meat!!!

[SeanMacGabhann]

I would say you are on fire today louisa. . . But ;-)

[missd]

yikes - i didnt realise it was possible to get SO angry over a piece of meat! barbecues now are much more varied than an open flame and a grill on top. Brendan you're absolutely right - you can defo slow(er) cook meat in the hood -i've done that a few times and it's great.

there is more than one way to skin a cat -or whatever the phrase is. slow cooking steak is nice, but then so is pan frying - both provide very different flavours. bbq it (properly rather than cremation) and you get a beautiful different flavour. i dont have any one way as a favourite -they're all nice. would try each way though rather than always eating steak cooked the same way!! why miss out on differing fantastic flavours?

[Louisa]

missd, find me a person who can cook me a steak on a BBQ without leaving a burnt taste in my mouth, and you have me converted!

[Brendan]

Blimey the beer! How could I have left that off? This is the most important ingredient. In fact I strongly advise that nobody attempt to bbq without it. Having never done so myself I can?t say what might happen but I?m sure it will be horrible.

If you like setting challenges for yourself you can play this little game. Brag to everyone about how good you are with the tongs and how lovely their meal is going to be. Then proceed to get smashed and try not to burn yourself and or the food and hold true to your boasts.

Oh Louisa us colonials are learning how to roast meat. They introduced the electric oven to Africa in 2004 along with television and shoes.

[anna_ed]

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