607. Kangaroo and 608. Ostrich

For my brother’s birthday, we had an ‘Exotic Meats Barbecue’. We got four different weird meats - kangaroo, ostrich, kudu, and zebra - and everyone tried a little piece of each. The only one I’d tried before was ostrich, and that was as a burger. They all had similar tastes to an extent, they were gamey, and as obvious as it sounds, steak-like. I definitely had my favourites though. Kangaroo tasted good to start but had a slightly odd aftertaste that I’m not sure if I was so keen on. Zebra was probably the strongest of them all (I haven’t tried horse so I’m not sure if it tastes similar, though I guess that it would). Kudu was similar to springbok which I’ve had before and that was pretty nice, as was the ostrich. It was really fun to try all the different meats.

608 down, 1188 to go

555. Barbecued Beef Brisket

During the summer, Waitrose did this great beef brisket that they had already slow-barbecued for hours and that you then just had to roast in the oven for a half hour to finish it off. Having zero access to a smoker of any kind, this seemed like a perfect way of being able to have brisket at home. The meat was tender and shredded really easily, and had a great smoky flavour that ran the whole way through.

I served it with some poppyseed coleslaw (I always use Brianna’s poppyseed dressing to make my coleslaw; it’s great, you should try it), and some corn muffins. Yes, my corn muffins were heart-shaped, I was clearly in a whimsical baking mood that day.

555 down, 1241 to go

522. Spatchcocked Birds

I thought I’d give everyone a little break from all of the Greek foods!

A few weeks ago I went to an ‘international’ barbecue at my friend’s house. International because we had dishes from a whole bunch of countries  - Jamaican jerk, Indian and Greek meats; Thai, French and American salads; British Pimms… and probably some more things that I’m forgetting. My friend wanted to make me some things to tick off, so I gave him a list and that was what he came up with!

We had two spatchcocked birds - a jerk chicken, and a curried 523. Guinea Fowl. Both were delicious. The spatchcocking meant that the meat was spread thin enough to cook through on the barbecue, and it got deliciously charred and crispy on the outside. Guinea fowl is a really lovely meat, similar to chicken, but with more intense flavour. I would definitely eat it more often were it less expensive.

523 down, 1273 to go

This is a rather all-encompassing post so please forgive me for not writing a lot about each food as otherwise you would be reading a mammoth essay! Actually a couple of months back now (as you can probably tell from the fact that we are eating outside in the picture…) I went to Pie’s mum’s surprise birthday barbecue. It was a lovely afternoon and I ate all of these delicious listworthy items:

316. Gravadlax, 317. Nasturtium, 318. Rose Petal, 319. Chive, 320. Butterflied Lamb, 321. Jersey Shallot, 322. Insalata Caprese, 323. Classic Green Salad

It was the first time I’d tasted gravadlax and it was totally delicious, much nicer than smoked salmon in my opinion. Especially in combination with the sweet dill sauce. I really want to have a go at making my own so that might be something I will try over Christmas.

I have to say that the flower petals looked better than they tasted, frankly they pretty much tasted the same as regular salad. They look so pretty though that they definitely make a green salad much more exciting.

323 down, 1473 to go

192. Cornbread

I ate this cornbread at Bodean’s bbq restaurant, with my pulled pork and creamed corn platter. The whole lot was really tasty. I’ve always liked cornbread though since I first had it in Florida. I always try and have some when I go to the States as it’s pretty hard to find in England. I have made it myself a few times though. Usually I make it into a cornbread stuffing to go with roast chicken or turkey by crumbling it up and mixing it with chicken soup, onions, celery and herbs before baking it in the oven. 

192 down, 1604 to go