BBQ on a budget without compromising on flavour
- Written by Diane Falzon
Inexpensive grilling eats doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice on flavour. It is quite the opposite actually.
With a peppering of planning and sprinkling of creativity, every barbecue meal, whether it is with your family or when you are entertaining larger, hungrier crowds, a barbecue on a budget will still see them clamouring for more.
Samba, the experts in fire and barbecue, will set you up with the perfect fire, so you can focus on the ingredients and the delicious result, being mountains of delicious goodies, which best yet, won’t cost a bomb!
Wing it with chicken wings
With chicken wings on the grill, it is all about the marinade. Think crispy Korean BBQ chicken wings with a spicy and sweet sauce that is die for. Wings are an inexpensive cut, so load up on these little babies to create an unforgettable appetiser.
The secret to the perfect grilled chicken wing is to get the outside nice and crispy (those charred bits are sensational) and keeping the inside juicy and succulent. For the marinade, you will need some red chilli paste (use as little or as much depending on your heat tolerance), brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, minced garlic, fresh ginger, salt and pepper. Let those wings swim in that glorious marinade overnight so they have time to bathe and absorb!
Is your mouth-watering yet?
Sensational Smoked Pork Shoulder Roast
Another economical cut of meat is the pork shoulder and Samba recommends that this is the time to switch on the smoker. Using Samba Hickory smoking chips with this low and slow process creates pork shoulder magic.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s time to get the dry rub sorted enveloping the pork shoulder in tasty herbs and spices.
And with the dry rub, you can’t go wrong when it comes to the ingredients. Perhaps a mix of paprika, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper, as well as oregano and dried thyme. And please don’t forget the light brown sugar – that sweetness will be key in bringing out the flavours of the pork. Just make sure you massage all that dry rub goodness on the whole pork shoulder.
Once the pork shoulder is cooked, shred away to create the ultimate sliders or tortillas.
Snag a sausage or two
While it is always appetising to host a barbecue which features a menu with complex and developed flavours, you still can’t go passed a barbecue experience with good old-fashioned sausages.
And now there is a huge variety of snags that can be presented in different ways. Cheap grilling eats has never tasted so good!
A fully loaded Krensky sausage with all the trimmings including coleslaw, onions with pickled vegetables and cheese, will certainly be a crowd favourite.
Sausages from different countries can also be picked up local butchers. There are continental sausages, chorizo, bratwurst as well as the artisan butchers who may offer pork and fennel sausages or beef and Worcestershire sausages.
If you have plenty of sides such as tasty rolls, bread, salad and sauces, the humble sausage can turn into a barbecue bonanza.