Vegan Barbeques and Buffets

[Mr Flibble]

From my books review site (which needs updating with my recent purchases) about Vegan Barbeques and Buffets by the same author:

"Rule 1: Never judge a book by it's cover. This book is a good example - the cover looks crap, but the contents are utter shite! I don 'tget it - a book with barbeque in the title which contains no recipes which can be made on a BBQ grill!! Isn't that the point? Each of the recipes suggest that you place the items on a oiled baking sheet which then goes on the grill, but isn't that just the same as using an oven? Why bother getting the BBQ out at all? In disgust I haven gotten round to trying any of the recipes from it, so i can't comment on them working or not. The only thing I can comment on is it's trade description act violation, combined with a cover that looks like it won runner up in an under 9s design competition."

I have a vegan taste of Thailand too, but i haven't read it yet.

[aubergine]

How strange.

[Mr Flibble]

Exactly. I bought the book because i wanna figure out how to bind ingredients sufficiently to go on a grill without falling appart and without using special ingredients (like guar gum). Obviously Linda didn't figure this out either, and hence she just said to use a baking sheet. To me this misses the point of barbequeing as it means the food won't pick up the flavours in the same way, nor will they pick up the pattern of the grill. My view of her books is that she's written far too many without being an expert on any of the subjects - rather invented recipes in a rush to suit the publisher. Personally i prefer buying books written by people who have dedicated their entire career to that specific form of cooking and have tips and wisdom to pass on.

[aubergine]

Fair enough then. That's at least one book I shall not be buying.

[auntierozzi]

Since the sun has been shining and we ate outside for the first time this year, I was wondering if anybody has any good barbeque recipes or books to recommend. I see from this thread that Linda Majzlik's book is not a goody
;-) but maybe something better has come along.

[Cherry]

Funny this thread should re-surface today. Mr Flibble was getting excited at the prospect of a barbeque earlier ... (we've just moved into our house and the kitchen is a cooker-less building site), but as the back garden is chock full of bits of wood/broken tiles and general rubbish, we're having our veggie burgers microwaved

Looking fd to some real barbequeing though. Hope people have some good ideas

[piggy]

i usually barbeque soya burgers/sausages/schnitzels, the Fry brand is really good.

as for "homemade" stuff, i like to barbeque 1-cm thick slices of butternut or aubergine. It's nice to brush them with olive oil first, but not essential. Once they're done, i dress them with olive oil&vinegar&garlic&salt&herbs. Also works with sliced peppers. O corn on the cob, just put some salt and marge on afterwards.
Oh, it's important to get the bitter juice out of the aubergine slices before grilling, you do that by salting them, and letting them stand for about 20 min, then patting them dry.

Also nice: portobello mushrooms, with lots of marge/olive oil and garlic on..they're best if they stay on the grill till the edges go totally limp.

Something else i like to so, is make toasted sandwiches over the fire, generally i use 2 slices of white bread, with marge, sliced tomato and onions, lots of salt and pepper. I toast that on the fire, on both sides. it can be a bit tricky to turn, but if you use lots of marge, and one of those big barbeque-tongs it should be ok.

Some other suggestions: (you might not get the grill's pattern on these, Mr Flibble, but if you use wood to make your fire, you will definitely taste it.)
Wrap potatoes or whole peeled onions in aluminium foil, and bake them directly on the coals. Dress afterwards. Garlic bread on the coals: Slice a baguette into 2-cm rounds, but don't cut quite though, leave the rounds attched at the base. Put lots of marge, lots of chopped garlic and parsley between each round. Wrap the whole baguette in aluminum foil on the coals (not flames). This takes quite a while, but it's worth it, and you can sip a few glasses of wine while waiting for it to get ready you can also start just warming the bread up by the side of the fire before the coals are ready.

As for some kind of homemade veggie pattie, which is probably the type of thing people want..well, i've never tried to make one that wouldn't fall apart on the grill...but surely it must be possible...i used to buy some fresh ones containing chickpeas and various types of grains as well as butternut, and they were perfect.

Sorry for the lenghty post everyone , but this is something i am quite passionate about, and even my meat eating family likes my lenghty veggie barbeques. so i got a bit carried away

[piggy]

here's a good idea from Smoothie: barbequeing polenta http://veganforum.com/forums/showthr...907#post288907

[auntierozzi]

Ooohh great Piggy and Smoothie, I'm looking forward to trying all this! I wonder if getting a piece of finer metal mesh, like from dismantling an old mesh sieve would produce a surface that could let through the flavour but not disintegrate..when doing veggie burgers..etc..We especially love corn on the cob. Thanks for the ideas.

[Cherry]

I wonder if getting a piece of finer metal mesh, ... would produce a surface that could let through the flavour but not disintegrate..when doing veggie burgers..etc..

Now there's a plan. You can buy those 'burger squashers' too (no, they're not called that, but hopefully you all know what I mean!), which might help make homemade burgers more compact and less liable to fall apart. I like the Fry's ones too

Great ideas Piggy I never bother salting my aubergines, is that bad?

Another thing no-one's mentioned yet: Marinated tofu and vegetable kebabs

[piggy]

I never bother salting my aubergines, is that bad?

salting them draws out the bitterness that aubergines often have. i've noticed that the bitterness can become quite overpowering if you roast or grill your aubergines, while if you boil or fry them it doesn't seem to matter.
anyway, that's the way aubergines have been prepared traditionally, but newer varieties have been selcted not to be bitter, especially the round ones. i always salt them anyway, just to be on the safe side

great idea about the vegie kebabs!

[MarkAnthony]

Barbecued vegtable kebabs with marinated tofu are amazing!

For dessert the classic chocolate banana works well on a barbeque. Slice down the middle carefully and insert some chocolate, then just whack it on the barby until nice and gooey!

[auntierozzi]

I'm going to have to write all this down. Incidentally, have you ever tried frozen bananas? I have heard that that's good too but bananas never hang around long enough in our house. We must eat a few tons of them year.

[piggy]

have you ever tried frozen bananas?

mm, no, but i like frozen grapes, very refreshing when it's hot

i like fried bananas as a desert, they should be almost over-ripe, sliced down the middle, and fried in some margarine and brown sugar

[MarkAnthony]

My girlfriend raves about frozen bananas. Apparently if you coat them in melted chocolate first they're delicious.

[Mr Flibble]

i like fried bananas as a desert, they should be almost over-ripe, sliced down the middle, and fried in some margarine and brown sugar

to digress completely from the topic of barbeques; the addition of an orange (zest and juice) and cinamon to this also works really well.