A barbecue evening offers an excellent opportunity for bonding between friends and families. As you excite your taste buds with the smoky flavour of juicy meat and share jokes and stories with people who mean the most to you, we know you will be creating memories you can cherish for life. In Kerala, the cool and pleasant weather you experience in certain parts provides the perfect environment for a memorable barbecue evening. Apart from the weather, the natural beauty you find in Kerala helps to make the occasion even more special. So when travellers visiting Kerala find a beautiful camping site or a nice cosy accommodation with a lot of open space, they make sure to have a barbecue party.

But in order to make your barbecue evening a memorable one, there are a few things you must remember. Read on to find out some essential tips for a great barbecue party.

  • The first thing to remember is that the better the quality of charcoal, the better your meat will cook. The smoke from the charcoal is what transforms normal meat to smoke-flavoured barbecue meat. So basically, it’s the charcoal that decides the taste of the meat. Therefore, don’t go for cheap stuff. Spend time getting good charcoal.                                                                                                                                                                                           
  • Before you start cooking, make sure that most of the flames from the hot coal are extinguished. The coal needs to get its characteristic reddish colour. Depending on how much meat you will cook, add enough coal so that you don’t have to refill once you start barbecuing. If the coal runs out after you’ve begun eating, it takes considerable time to fill it up again and no one likes waiting for meat at a barbecue party. The secret to a good barbecue party is a constant supply of meat to everyone.

 

  • Never cook meat that you just removed from the fridge on a barbecue grill. That is literally the worst thing you could do to the meat. Make sure the meat is at room temperature before you start cooking.

 

  • With barbecue, it is always important that you marinate the meat much in advance. It is best to leave it for a few hours or ideally overnight. Proper marination makes sure that the flavours you want in your meat do not fade away with the addition of smoke. For best results, have some marinade with you and keep brushing it on the meat every ten minutes as it cooks.

 

  • Clean the grill properly and oil it well. This prevents the meat from sticking to the grill, making it easy for you to flip the meat. Also, do not flip the meat frequently or it won’t cook properly on both sides. Do not flip the meat before one side of it is cooked properly. Otherwise, it won’t be juicy. Add salt to the meat after it is completely cooked. If salt is added while cooking, the meat will turn out to be dry.
  • Once you think the meat is ready, place it on a warm plate. Let it rest for some time so that its different flavours and juices settle down at the right place. We know waiting can be hard, especially when there’s juicy meat right in front of you, but we guarantee you that it will be worth the wait. Do not wait too long is you don’t want the meat to lose all its juice.

 

  • While everyone wants to turn carnivorous during a barbecue evening, it’s sometimes good to have some vegetarian delicacies as well. Smoked paneer, mushrooms, corn and veggies like potatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, asparagus, carrots and zucchini taste heavenly if barbecued right. When using vegetables, remember that some cook very easily and some take their time to cook.                                                                                              
  • Do not forget to have coolers stocked well with beverages. A hot piece of smoked meat followed by a sip of chilled beverage is exactly what everyone at the barbecue party wants. Even thinking about it makes your mouth water, doesn’t it? Beer, wine, bourbon and lemon soda are beverages that go perfectly well with barbecue meat.
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