Fire Up the Barbeque with help from The Butler’s Pantry

We may not have had the warmest weather this summer but it is still a great time to gather your friends and family for a barbeque! We can help bring the WOW factor to your event. See our handy hints below for entertaining with ease.

Light the barbeque before your guests arrive

Barbeque purists insist that the smoke from is like an ingredient in itself. There is no better smell than the waft of a barbeque grill, it just screams summer! Get the coals burning ahead of time to whet your guests appetites. If you have a gas grill perhaps you could cook some nibbles to welcome your guests with, think cocktail sausages served with The Butler’s Pantry Beetroot Ketchup or grilled veggies with The Butler’s Pantry Hummus.

Mise en place

The key to relaxed entertaining is being ‘en place’. This essentially means that you have everything laid out and ready to go. If you can, marinade your meat the day before and have salads and sides prepped – just make sure not to dress your salads until the last minute. This will leave you free to mingle with your guests with a glass of something chilled in hand!

Be organised at the barbeque

Make sure that you have clear work surface near your barbeque. Ensure to use separate utensils and dishes for raw and cooked meat. Calculate timings so that the meat that takes the longest goes on first. If you don’t have enough space to cook everything at once, loosely cover cooked meat with foil and keep warm in a low oven until you are ready to serve.

Use wonderful ingredients

We always use Irish meat in our dishes and we recommend that you do too. Drop into your local butcher where they will be happy to advise what’s best to throw on the barbie. Seasonal fruit and veg are in abundance in the summer and will taste wonderful when barbequed or added to salads. We can take some of the pressure off with our entertaining portion side salads. We recommend trying our Summer Pea, Grilled Courgette and Asparagus salad with garden mint and feta or our baby potato and radish salad in buttermilk dressing.

Flavouring your meat

Marinating is the best way to inject flavour into your meat. If you can do this the day before, it will really allow the flavour to permeate and tenderise the meat. Always shake off the excess so that it doesn’t cause the barbeque to spit and burn the meat. Season with salt just before barbequing as salt can break down the meat and make it tough. Allow at least 20 minutes out of the fridge for the meat to come to room temperature. If you have a fantastic piece of quality meat, you should only need a light brushing of oil, salt and pepper.

Temperature control

If your barbeque has a rack system, ensure to shuffle your food around from hot to cool patches so that it cooks evenly. If the food is cooking too quickly and is at risk of burning on the outside and not cooking properly on the inside, wrap it in foil and move to a cooler rack. Try not to keep opening the lid of the grill as you will loose heat.

Rest the meat

It’s essential to rest meat after barbequing to allow it to relax and reabsorb the juices. If you cut into the meat straight off the grill, the delicious juices will simply run off it and you will lose flavour. Place it on a warmed tray wrapped loosely in foil, away from the direct heat of the grill or in a low oven.

Serve and enjoy

Dress your salads, arrange the meat on platters and lay out sauces for your guests to help themselves. Our fabulous barbeque sauce range of chipotle mayonnaise, salsa verde and chimichurri will add a flavour explosion! They are all handmade and bursting with fresh herbs and ingredients. Enjoy!

If all of the above sounds like too much hard work, why not hire one of our chefs to come to your house and BBQ for your party! We can prepare and cook everything from meats, salads and sides. Contact us to find out more [email protected].