What would you make if you were doing a gourmet outdoor BBQ dinner?

When you say "Gourmet" are you talking about ingredients of high quality, special presentation or sophistication?

In the US we use the term "barbecue" broadly. Often it means grilling outdoors rather than the "low and slow" method of true barbecue. Having said that, in this context I mean a meal prepared and eaten outdoors, with proteins being grilled.

I'd do a bone-in beef rib roast on the rotisserie; high-quality pork spare ribs (I think baby backs lack flavor and texture) with a good rub and sauce served on the side; chicken marinated in lemon, olive oil, garlic and herbs; and plenty of grilled vegetables (whatever's fresh in the market). For dessert I'd grill some peaches and serve with cookies and ice cream.

I forgot hors d'oeuvres: crostini with various toppings (artichoke, olive, tomato); fricos; crudites with some type of dip; and a chicken/pork pate roll I make from one of the James Beard cookbooks. I'm not much for the drinks side of things, so I'll leave that for others.

Good food, well-prepared, friendly people and good weather. What more can you ask?

I like to take traditional BBQ items and make them "Gourmet"

Typical Frozen Burgers - Make fresh hand made Lamb burgers and top with Grilled Veggies Like Sweet Peppers, Asparagus and Portabello mushrooms. Make your own Condiments like flavored ketchups and mayonnaise(Aoili) and make some funky relishes. Go to a GOOD bakery in town and buy some of the nicest Buns they have.

Think outside of the box and put a twist on the everyday using high quality ingredients.

If you have a specific ingredient(s) you'd like to use, post it and I'll see what I can help you out with for your BBQ and I'd really like to hear the ideas you already plan on doing and what you decide to go with.

1. Selection of simple, cold tapas. Chilled dry sherry, moijtos, or beer.

2. Snails brochette on rosemary sprigs. First beverage service continues.

3. Gazpacho of best and freshest available vegetables; or, a normal, white gazpacho of almonds and garlic; or, cold beet borscht; or, classic Caesar salad. First beverage service continues.

4. Hot-smoked salmon, served cold on home made pumpernickel with sweetened, creme-fraiche enriched with horseradish -- or, fresh oysters opened on the grill served with a choice of mignonette and chipotle hot sauce. Champagne or domestic sparkler, or beer.

4. Oak smoked brisket with a truffled inject and "barbecue bordelaise" sauce; served with bourbon baked beans; poppy-seed cole slaw; and flat bread made a minute on the grill; or citrus-brined, smoked, fried chicken served with the same accompaniments. A big red with the brisket, or pinot grigio with the bird -- or, beer.

5. Tarte Tatin; or, nectarine gallette; or, lemon squares; AND home made vanilla ice cream with fresh berries; or a mousse of Mexican chocolate. Espresso sweetened with piloncillo, brandy, and triple sec -- machiatto with whole, sweetened cream.

BDL

Grill smoked shellfish with a variety of dipping sauces, especially halved lobsters with lemon thyme drawned butter.

I just happened to be watching Season 3 of Top Chef on Youtube and the elimination challenge was for them to create an upscale BBQ

go to Youtube and type Top Chef S3E2 in the search bar

This is a great question/thread. I am catering a barbeque for 100 on the 31st and haven't yet come up with the menu.

They want Texas barbeque, as it's a farewell party for some one who is being transferred there. They want it upscale as well and I am not sure what they are looking for. I wanted to do pulled pork sandwiches, along with ribs and steaks and traditional sides, but after seeing this maybe I should jump it up a notch.

Looking forward to hearing more great ideas.

There's nothing more TX bbq then brisket. When I think of upscale I think knife and fork as opposed to fingers. Brisket allows for that.

radishes,butter, salt, on pumpernickle crackers

baby artichokes with seafood salad (shrimp, crab, lobster (any or all), lemon, zest, tarragon, aioli, dillweed, scallions

Maracona Almonds


Grilled Tuna grilled rare/med-rare, on a salad nicoise....baby greens, haricot verte or asparagus, boiled egg half, olives, new potato salad with a shallot tarragon dressing.

Grilled ciabatta.....good olive oil and garlic

Large Cheese Platter with fresh fruits, nuts, honey, dried fruits
Crackers

Lemongrass (verbena or lemon zest) panna cotta with rhubarb soup
or Chocolate Cherry bombe.....chocolate cake with cherry barvarian goo filling
or crustades with vanilla ice cream

There's an ahi tuna hors d'œuvre from Hawaii's Big Island that's one of my favorite things. I wish I had the recipe, but it's a piece of ahi tuna about the size of a big cucumber, marinated in a somewhat teriyaki type sauce with ginger, I think. It's seared on the outside and raw on the inside, then sliced about 1/4" thick and served cold.

It's not Hawaiian, but a typical Japanese sushi presentation. It's called Maguro Tataki, maguro meaning tuna loin, but not from the belly (toro). Tataki refers to the cooking style. When you take the flesh from the loin, cut your pieces in long rectangular blocks. As nearly as possible in rectangular cross-section about the size of a slice of sashimi.

The fish is almost never marinated, but is sometimes slathered lightly with miso and/or crusted with sesame.

To cook: Sear as hot as possible, for as short a time as possible so as to sear the exterior without cooking the interior. I find it useful to start with very cold fish, although you have to be very careful with sticking. Use a well seasoned, well oiled, very clean grill. The sequence is sear, chill and only then slice. It is usually served with ponzu shoyu, which is soy sauce, dashi, uzu and sometimes a touch of mirin, -- sometimes slivered ginger is added to the sauce. Also, sometimes a bit of crushed ginger or radish is mounded on each slice of fish . Americans love wasabi with anything vaguely reminiscent of sushi, but in this case wasabi would kill the flavor. Ahi is good, so is yellow tail, blue fin is better, big eye is a little mushy. Albacore, which is cheapest, also happens to be best. Besides it's superior sweetness, you'll love the pink/blond color of the interior almost as much as the white exterior it acquires when briefly seared.

BDL

Yes, Abe- with a nice fat cap! A boneless one might be easier for a typical home rotisserie to handle though. I'd tie it up, too.

As an appetizer I make a smoked walleye stuffed morel with a garlic butter drizzle. Thin sliced brisket served with a nice sauce (smoked beef bone stock, more morels come to mind) served over flavored mashed potatoes (roast garlic being my favorite), and a fancy coleslaw. Keeps it BBQ themed but a bit upscale.

Salmon of Course

Great explanation BDL! I get this question all the time at my stores. And I am 100% with you on the Albacore being the best. Sashimi style, and cooked.
Now, what to serve:
Cedar Planked Salmon with fresh dill and coarse cracked black pepper.
Grill some fresh asparagus while grilling the salmon and they will pick-up that wonderful smokiness as well.
As for what kind of salmon - Even at the price it is right now, Copper River King or Sockeye salmon. If you don't want to spend the bucks for that very special treat, try the troll king salmon from the Northwest (Columbia River, Washington, BC, Alaska when it opens). Of course, you could also have remarkable results from fresh Steelhead, Halibut, and trout.

I hope you post what you end up doing and how it goes.:smiles:

Fishmonger Ran

I can't wait to try this recipe soon.

Chicken Burgers - Gordon Ramsay

-20 grams dried porcini mushrooms
-olive oil
-2 large shallots finely chopped
-100 grams pancetta cut into small cubes
-2 garlic cloves minced
-1tbsp freshy chopped sage
-600 grams boneless chicken thigh meat, minced
-2 tsp truffle oil
-salt/pepper

1. Hydrate the mushrooms in hot water for 15 minutes, then chop finely.
2.sautee the shalots, mushrooms, and pancetta in a non-stick pan until the onions are translucent, then add the garlic.
3. move the mixture to a large bowl, stir in the sage, and let it cool.
4. stir in the chicken. Season with salt, pepper, and truffle oil.
5. With wet hands shape into burgers.
6. Put on a tray, cover, and chill.
7. cook on the grill for 5 minutes on each side making sure the chicken is cooked through.
8. serve on a toasted brioche bun with tomato and mayonnaise.

What I had was probably a variant of this. There was no miso taste at all, and something soy sauce-based was cooked on, I'm pretty sure. I don't remember there being a sauce served with it. At any rate, there weren't many at that wedding reception who tried it, and I got all of that delicious stuff that I wanted. :bounce:

Yeti - Try this

In my family (the Hawaiian side. I am 50/50 Hawaiian/Norwegian) we make a Ahi dish similar to what you described.

1 lb Ahi Maguro (center cut of the loin as was perfectly described by BDL)
1 Cup Shoyu (Aloha brand Soy Sauce. Milder than, say Kikkoman)
2 Tbs Sesame oil
1 Tbs Rice Wine Vinegar
dash rooster sauce (Chinese hot sauce)

Marinate for only about an hour. Much more than that, and it really takes away from the tuna. Actually can make it mushy.

Sear that sucker in a really hot pan. No more than 30/40 seconds per side. Try to get all sides.
Pau! (done)
This also works well with Marlin, Albacore tuna, and Opah.

This recipe can also double for a decent Poke recipe. Just need to ommit the vinegar and add Ogo (seaweed) and kosher salt (not much of each) and it is ready to go. Raw! Do not cook it!:crazy:

Fishmonger Ran

Thank You Mr Fishmonger :)

I will try both of those! I love the Poke I had in Hawaii.

Nice menu BDL!

From the hip I'd like to add a couple things.

Grilled rosemary flat breads served assorted grilled vegetable and cucumber creme fraiche, IE asparagus, zucchini, Belgian endive, vidallia onion, portobello mushrooms.

Grilled B-red potato tossed in with fresh mint vinaigrette
served over blanched and chilled green beans

I know it's been done to death but Cedar Plank fish, maybe a steelhead trout or copper river salmon would be nice. Served with a tomato basil relish.

Shish kebabs..... Authentic type with lamb. Flames optional.:rolleyes:

Lemon Herb Grilled chicken. Marinate chicken in a mixture of fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh chopped garlic, rosemary, basil, thyme and oregano plus s&p. Same marinade can be used for lamb chops.

I personally love a triple thick Porterhouse, black and blue, with melted Maytag Bleu cheese on top.

I'm no chef but I do like to try new things in the kitchen and barbecue. I have been thinking about try out pheasant on the barbecue and was wondering if anyone has given this a try? If so what kind of barbecue did you use charcoal or gas? If you have been lucky to try it on both charcoal and gas which gave the best results?

One of the better evenings in the back yard I've had involved the guests building their own dinner. I did beef chuck roast and turkey breast in the smoker, pulled them off the cooker, sliced thinly and stacked on platters.

The tables were laid out with corn and flour tortillas, pitas, crusty rolls, burger buns. Lots of lettuce, tomatoes - diced and sliced, sprouts, sour cream, salsa, various onions, pickles, olives. Sliced and grated cheeses. Several types of homemade mayo, like lime and chipotle, ginger - chili - sesame oil, lemon - tarragon, your basic yellow mustard, some kicked up horseradish types, etc.

Basically it was an array of stuff to make whatever wrap, burrito, sandwich, taco, ...

Folks made what they liked, nobody went home hungry. That was a good party!

mjb.

You've gotta do some brisket for a Texas BBQ. Rub with some good seasonings and smoke it low and slow. As long as all your sides are made from scratch you are going to be upscale. I would suggest a corn pudding, baked beans, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, collard greens, squash casserole, smoked tomatoes and corn...

Pheasant can be tricky, it dries very easily. It takes smoke well and quickly, but is not a good candidate for normal low and slow technique because the skin gets very gummy. Overcooking is deadly.

My favorite method is to spatchcock the birds, brine, rub and grill at a good distance over a fire that's a mix of oak wood and mesquite charcoal. I build this fire by lighting a fireplace sized oak log, letting it burn down a way, adding some mesquite lump on top, and when the mesquite is going well, mixing the whole thing up. When the fire's a little past its peak, I lower the charcoal grate to about 8" - 10" from the cooking grates, and cook the birds at a grate temp of about 375F. With live wood in the fire, I usually cook California (aka "Santa Maria") style with the hood up. If I'm burning all charcoal, I'll usually cook hood down to intensify the smoke taste.

Whole pheasant roasts well with high indirect-heat -- for instance as you would cook it in a Weber Kettle over a drip pan. It also does pretty well beer canned. Some effort must be taken to both crisp the skin and protect the breast. Barding will protect, and the skin can be crisped later with a couple of minutes over hot, direct heat, or with a torch.

Pheasant rotisseries very well.

Despite the extra trouble and difficulty in controlling temperatures, I prefer a charcoal type grill, big enough to take wood over gas for all purposes. The food tastes better, and the extra convenience which comes with a gas grill is not that important to me. However, my smoker runs propane for heat while burning chunk for smoke.

BDL

Thanks oldschool. I liked your thoughts for a menu, too. But, I always like reading your dishes. We both favor New American Bistro, but without too much overlap usually. Your menu on this thread is about as close as get. We agree on all of the basics, especially keeping things (relatively) simple, but take some radically different turns here and there. And those are challenging in the good way, if you know what I mean. Makes one think. I'd enjoy cooking together, we'd be a great team. A little old maybe, but between the two of us we know which end of the knife to hold.

Always fun reading you,
BDL

BDL,

Well, Gawrsh! Thanks.:blush::rolleyes::D