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The Barbecue, Asian Style
| Article
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14421 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1988 |
1,097 Words |
| Author
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Alexandra Greeley
Alexandra Greeley was food editor of the South China Morning
Post, Hong Kong, and staff writer for the Time-Life cooking
series "Great Meals in Minutes." |
Curls of sweet, aromatic smoke from barbecuing foods drift across the fence. American cooks have fired up their grills and begun to celebrate summer. But in most Asian countries, where grilled foods dominate the culinary landscape, the barbecuing ritual is year-round. India without tandoori, Malaysia without satay or Japan without teriyaki is like Brooklyn without hot dogs.
No one disputes that cooking food over an open fire is man's oldest cooking method. What experts do dispute is the etymology of the word "barbecue." One school declares that the word derives from the French duelist's term, or the French cook's technique of skewering animals "barbe à queue" ... literally "from beard to tail." Others claim that the word developed from the Caribbean Indians' grilling method of using a latticework frame, or barbacoa, for cooking meats over an open fire.
Words aside, Asians, from Genghis Khan and Persian kings to Thai peasants, knew that grilling or roasting meats over hot coals produced delicious results. Their legacy? A compendium of ancient recipes that includes: Mongolian barbecues of lamb cooked over hot coals in a deep kettle; Chinese tea-roasted duck cooked over moist tea leaves and raw rice, or spit-roasted pork; Thai roasts cooked on an outdoor grill called a thao. The list of grills from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Nepal and other Asian countries is endless. Westerners may have reduced the complex art of barbecuing to a backyard pastime, but Asian barbecuing defies any simple definition or theme, as it reflects the mixed cultural heritage of two-thirds of the world's population.
What is the common element in Asian cooking? Most cooks start with the same basic pantry: fresh ginger, soy sauce, tamarind, garlic, onions, coriander, coconut milk, chilies, rice, noodles, poultry, seafood, and meats. They produce dishes that sparkle with ingenuity and variety, grills that are the envy of Western cooks. Their secret? Deft seasoning that transforms their raw ingredients into food unique to each cuisine. An Indian cook lavishes cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon in marinade; a Japanese cook will gather ginger, garlic, and soy sauce instead.
Reproducing an Asian grill may challenge the backyard cook who's used to just tossing steaks on the fire, but most ingredients are readily available at any well-stocked supermarket; more exotic ingredients are sold at gourmet and specialty food stores. If they desire, Western cooks can replicate such staples as coconut milk by soaking grated coconut in boiling water for 20
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