New lease of life for old barbecues
Barbecue, at least that known as American or southern barbecue, is the new big thing in WA restaurants as chefs rub their briskets, smoke their ribs and pull their pork like never before.
Its popularity has also brought about renewed interest and record sales of classic charcoal-fired barbecues and smokers.
“It was pretty much a niche market a couple of years ago, but charcoal grills are dominating sales as more and more people get to know about slow barbecue cooking,” Barbeques Galore Osborne Park manager Matt Barrett said.
“People are loving it: pulled pork, slow-roasted legs of lamb, brisket, beef short ribs, the sort of food that takes all day to cook.”
Mr Barrett says US cooking shows on cable TV and our own new breed of America-focused young chefs have been the driving the popularity.
New lease of life for old barbecues
Merrywell at Crown Perth’s head chef Rob Ryan is American. He says southern barbecue is “one of the great comfort food cuisines”.
“It ticks all the boxes: big, bold flavours, butter soft meat and smoky flavours. People love it,” Ryan said.
At Merrywell he sells a half rack of “Jack and Coke barbecue pork ribs” with watermelon and corn.
Ryan says that once barbecue was wrested from the hands of (traditional southern American rib shacks and barbecue joints and into New York’s fashionable new whisky bars and barbecue restaurants, “it was only a matter of time until it came to Perth”.
Chris Girvan-Brown’s O’Connor-based Urban Griller barbecue school has recorded “amazing growth” in the past two years. He teaches corporate groups and home cooks the secrets and techniques of American barbecue.
“Southern barbecue uses smoke like just another flavour,” Girvan- Brown said. “It’s one of the great secrets.”
His outrageously flavourful 10-hour roast brisket is cooked in a standard Weber kettle and heavily flavoured with apple wood smoke and a “Memphis rub” of sweet paprika, brown sugar, cayenne, garlic and onion powder.
In Claremont, Typika Artisan Roasters has become a destination for brisket, pulled pork and pork cheeks.
Owner Stephen Kenyon, whose beef short ribs are the best in town, said people were getting into traditional charcoal.
Source: The West Australian, 10 August 2013
