Aussie BBQ's

Tonight was the last night of trampolining for the term, and we ended in grand style, with a barbecue after our training was over (I was totally with Mark on this one - eating before bouncing is a bad idea). It was just a little group of us in the end - although Mark had invited a number of the other adult classes who were at the gym at the same time as us, only our group came. So there was lots and lots of meat for us to sample (and some yummy veggie patties for Jen!).

So I figured this'd be a good opportunity for me to share with you some of the differences between Aussie and Canuck BBQ-ing culture. Even before flying down here, I had heard that Australians take their barbecuing very seriously. I must admit I smiled at that, coming from a Canadian family where we barbecue hamburgers outside all year long - incuding in the dead of winter! I figured I knew a thing or two about grilling. Given the opportunity, I'd way rather cook meat on the barbie than in the oven (alas, such is the curse of having lived in a small apartment for so many years... the whole BBQ-ing thing just wasn't gonna happen on a regular basis!). But the BBQ'ing traditions here are somewhat different than they are at home.

Let's start with the actual barbecue itself. At home, our propane-powered BBQ's typically have a layer of lava rocks between the flames and the grille - I guess to store (and then help radiate/distribute the heat?). No lava rocks here. Also, our BBQ's have a nice domed lid (my guess is to help keep in the heat/keep out the bugs?) and sometimes a second 'warming' rack high off the flames. Here, no lids here at all - the tops are totally flat! Any lids I've seen here are just rain covers and couldn't be put on over top of cooking food 'cause the food would get squashed flat. In fact, a number of the BBQ's I've seen here don't even have a proper grille... they're more like a large, flat, propane-powered griddle than anything else. On the other hand, Aussie BBQ's are typically much more portable than ours, due to their flat surface and lack of lava rocks. The one we were cooking on tonight could've been easily folded up and put into the trunk of a car.

And now onto the food. In both Canada and Australia, it's pretty much anything goes on the BBQ, but again there are marked differences. At home, if you were asked to name the most popular item to be cooked on a BBQ, you'd probably say it was the hamburger. Here, it's definitely sausages. In fact, cooking sausages on the BBQ here has it's own name - the "sausage sizzle"! Hamburgers and chicken kabobs are also popular party foods. But what's so interesting to me is the method of serving up burgers and sausages here. It seems to me that Australians haven't invented the bun yet (which part of me thinks is pretty funny, considering (a) the number of bake shops in this country, and (b) the excellent quality of all the baked goods I've sampled so far!). At almost every BBQ I've been to, slices of regular bread have been used instead of the bun! Jen and I find this rather strange, but hey, all the bread we've eaten here has been excellent, so who cares if it's not in the shape we're used to?

The condiments here are different too. There is no ketchup as we know it; the "tomato sauce" found here is runnier, but still tasty. Mustard is not popular at all, and Dijon mustard appears to be non-existent. We have yet to find relish even in the supermarket - lots of different chutneys, but no cucumber relish. The Aussies look at us strangely when Jen and I put mayonnaise on our burgers - but then again, beet root is a common topping here that we would never think to use at home.

So yeah, the BBQ thing has proved to be another neat way for us to experience some of the differences between Australian and Canadian culture. I especially liked the looks of puzzlement we got when we were trying to explain to some of our house mates how we'd like to cook our Christmas turkey on the barbecue. I mean, it's not like I get to do it often, but cooking chickens and even turkeys on the BBQ, especially when it's hot outside, is great. But then I realized that, the way the BBQ's at our house are built, there's absolutely no way we could attach a rotisserie spit - and since there's no lid, it would take forever for the bird to cook AND it'd be covered in flies by the time it was done! So I guess we'll have to cook our turkey the old-fashioned way... in the oven!