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Journalism of Courage
A NEW headache for residents of Mumbai8217;s over-stuffed suburb of Bandra is the area8217;s latest bite of optimism: a barbecue joint. Just two weeks after it sprang up on a busy curb, the restaurant is filled to capacity with weekenders. The venture, set up by Sayaji Hotels Ltd from Gujarat, promises to have 99 outlets running across the country in the next 48 months. For Rs 400, guests can enjoy a grilled vegetarian or non-vegetarian platter.
There8217;s only one problem. For that crazy cheap price, there8217;s a variety of badly-made food forced to pretend it8217;s on the verge of cutting-edge cuisine. On every table, inside the updated Flinstonian interiors, there8217;s a live grill, on which customers can over-cook already done pieces of chicken, capsicum, paneer, mutton etc., with a choice of esoteric sauces and clotted butter. The results are meats and veggies that taste like they8217;ve been picked up out of a curry and fried.
At a grilled food festival held recently at the hotel, the imports of choice were Chilli Rubbed Red Snapper from Mauritius, Peanut Crusted Lobster from Seychelles, tenderloin, New Zealand lamb and Twice Cooked Coffee and Chilli Braised Short Ribs from Argentina. Despite the menu jargon, the meats were succulent, the taste clean and uncomplicated, and the flavourings played only a supporting role.
To emulate the effects in your kitchen, and to stay away from poor representations of grilled food, try the commandments of chef Madhu:
8226; Sear the surface of meats before the actual grilling, so that the juices are trapped inside. 8216;8216;It is critical that no juice is lost.8217;8217;
8226; 8216;8216;Never put salt into a marinade.8217;8217; Salt, by virtue of its preservative qualities, sucks out moisture and dries foods that are about to endure high amounts of heat. 8216;8216;That8217;s how you end up with dry, wiry chicken breasts.8217;8217; So, always season after cooking.
8226; With meats like chicken, it doesn8217;t matter if it8217;s slightly undercooked on the grill because, 8216;8216;there8217;s always a certain amount of carry over cooking from the heat left over after the cooking process8217;8217;.
8226; With tenderloin, start high to sear the meat, then bring down the temperature to a constant and cook depending on the degree of doneness you want. But be warned, if you put the steak on for too long, it will lose all its juices.
8226; Make sure there8217;s room to breathe on the grill. If it is overcrowded, there won8217;t be uniform distribution of heat on all sides of all the items.
8226; Use oils that have a high smoking point. 8216;8216;If you want to add butter, mix 50 per cent of melted butter with 50 per cent oil so that the butter doesn8217;t burn.8217;8217; Do not use strong flavourful oils like mustard or sesame seed oil; they will overpower the taste of meat or fish.
8226; With fish, curb your enthusiasm for lemon. It is an Indian habit to marinate fish in lemon juice, but 8216;8216;too much lemon can over-soften fish8217;8217;. If you want the tang, squeeze some lemon juice after the fish is cooked, or add lemon/ orange rind. The rind will give it the citric freshness without soaking it. Always refrigerate while marinating; never marinate for more than 20 minutes.
8226; The cut of the fish is very important. Make sure the portions are clean of muscle and choose cuts that are between the head and tail.
8226; 8216;8216;Never use so-called 8216;tenderizer8217; powders8217;8217;. They serve no purpose.
8226; The best natural tenderizers for lamb are fresh pineapple, tomato or raw papaya. Again, over-marinating will make the lamb a mound of mush. 8216;8216;About 1 kg of mutton marinated in raw papaya needs about four hours.8217;8217; Tomatoes and pineapples take longer.
8226; The cuts of meat that are to be used for grilling must always have some fat content to keep them moist.
8226; Never grill indoors. Choose a simple homestyle barbecue set that8217;s not expensive or hard to maintain. Even if the workspace is small, choose a charcoal barbecue, because the flavours of charcoal barbecuing are hard to mimic.
8226; Or, pick lava rocks. They are formed when volcanic magma cools down. Bags of these rocks are commercially available in gourmet kitchen stores; they are easier to clean than charcoal, much more hygienic and can be cleaned and reused for up to a year.
