Mumbai sizzles as the BBQ craze takes hold

Chef Yen guides Mumbaikars through that perfect BBQ experience

I'll never forget my first barbeque party. It was the winter of 1998; we were barely out of junior college. We had the grill, we had the meat and potatoes and we had plenty of beer.

What we didn't have was experience, and as we waited for hours on end for the meat and potatoes to cook on the slow flame of the barbeque, we got drunk and forgot all about the food. We finally ordered pizzas. But after talking to Chef Roger Yen, of the popular Barbeque Nation in Khar, I know exactly where we went wrong.

"Marinade," he says emphatically. "You have to marinate the meat for at least two to three hours before you put it on the grill. With a good flame, it takes 10 to 12 minutes to cook the meat." That was mistake number one.

The kitchen shelves of the restaurant are packed with trays containing skewered meats and vegetables as the stew in the different sauces - Teriyaki, Korean, Lebanese and the indigenous tandoor masala.

But before you even think of the marinade, choosing the meat is important. "It has to be fresh and firm," he says. Yen suggests experimenting with bite-sized pieces of meat and veggies before moving on to more ambitious steaks and burger meat.

What is it about this simple, almost primitive style of cooking that gets the blood roaring, as our testosterone levels go into overdrive? It's something to do with our caveman origins — meat and fire. Yen concurs.

From the tribal areas in the heart of India to New York City, barbeques have always been in vogue. "When we think barbeque, we think mainly of meat. It's only now that people have started experimenting with vegetables." Potatoes, red and yellow peppers and zucchini make for great barbeque veggies. If you're working with a variety of sauces and marinades, bread works as a great neutraliser.

Yen brings out some deliciously warm sweet bread before we move on to a spicier, grilled chicken.

In that winter of 1998, we borrowed a family's monster grill — not that it did us much good — but Yen likes to keep things simple and says that he gets great results with the traditional sigdi (an Indian stove). "It's got a great flame and there's something earthy about the taste," he insists. But if you're looking for a gleaming steel machine, you'll find plenty of options that range from Rs5,000 upwards.

Then comes the drinks. Once again, Yen prefers takes the traditional route. "Red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat," he says. "Of course, beer will go with anything."

But 21st Century barbequing has erased a lot of the primitiveness that's associated with this style of cooking. Besides marinades, we're looking at side dishes, garnishing, sauces and all that razzmatazz. "You have to be creative with your marinade and also with the sauces," says Yen. On the table we tried the mango chutney, which when combined with the barbequed fish, was simply divine.

But steak, spuds on the barbie, with slaw on the side, is still an old favourite.
t_anjali@dnaindia.net