Burnt Ends Bao & Pitt Cue Soho

I don't know whether you made it to Pitt Cue Co.'s barbecue truck underneath the Hungerford Bridge last summer, but if not you're in luck, as they've just opened a tiny place on Newburgh Street. We popped in during soft launch to be immediately greeted by pickle backs, that combination of a shot of bourbon followed swiftly by a shot of pickle juice. Most people wrinkle their noses at this, but once you drink it that sweet sour kick you get is addictive. Even if it does have a hint of Big Mac about it.

Downstairs is tiny, and the four of us squished in for dinner and ordered virtually everything from the menu. Trays came out laden with smoked meats, pickles and other sides. Pulled pork was soft and juicy, pork ribs glorious. Beef brisket was smoky and tender, and beef ribs fatty and charred. Burnt ends mash was insanely addictive, and ample helpings of beet slaw cut through the richness. Crispy pickled shiitake mushrooms were an absolute revelation and I still drool at the memory. It turned us feral, and we grabbed at each others' trays, trying to get a good taste of it all. All washed down with a New York Sour, I can imagine myself spending a lot of time here when they open properly on Monday 16th January.



We popped into the kitchen to give a wave to Tom and Neil who were manning the stoves and they kindly sent us off with a packet of burnt ends. These are the ends of the briskets that take on the most smoke flavour when they're cooking and often thought of as a delicacy. In thinking about what to do with my bounty, my brain kept screaming "MASH! Re-create that mash!" but I decided instead on buns. More specifically, the buns you get at dim sum restaurants ('bao' in Cantonese), usually stuffed with char siu (barbecue pork). The buns are steamed and they are soft and sweet, rich smoky meat within. The burnt ends were an obvious replacement.

The dough was a lengthy process, and I turned to the ever-trusty Sunflower for guidance. Her recipe involved making a flour roux first, then adding this to dry ingredients. I am not much of a baker to know why, but it worked so I'll go with it.

After a couple of hours proving, the dough was then flattened and stuffed with the burnt ends mix to then be pleated shut.

Left to prove in the steamer for a little longer, I was worried that they wouldn't work. They seemed like they hadn't risen much.

Happily, they doubled in size when they were steamed. The buns came out a more cream colour than what you might be used to at dim sum restaurants, but this is because commercially made bao is made with super bleached flour. Incidentally I found some when I was at my local Chinese supermarket picking up something else while this dough was proving. Typical.

I was really happy with the result; soft, pillowy buns broke open to reveal intensely smoky and juicy meat. I ate 4 of these with ease.

Burnt Ends Bao

Makes 9 - 10

(Adapted from Sunflower)

20gr plain flour
100mls water

Whisk in the flour to the water while it is heating gently. Keep whisking until it has thickened and take off the heat. Leave to cool.

1 tsp instant yeast
80mls water
Flour roux as above
300gr plain flour (or bao flour)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
60gr sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Mix the yeast with the water and set aside. Sieve the flour and the baking powder together.

Mix the flour roux with the dissolved yeast liquid, sugar, salt and oil.

Using the mixing paddle or a sturdy wooden spoon, add half the liquid to the flour mixture and mix well. Add the rest of the liquid using a tablespoon so that you get a soft but not too sticky dough. I used all the liquid but you may need less. Mix well but don't knead it and leave it for 15 minutes. Then give it a quick knead until it is smooth, and leave to prove somewhere warm for 1.5 hours or 2, basically until it has risen 1.5 times in size.

Filling:

Any kind of barbecued meat, or char siu. You'll want it to have a bit of sauce though so that it's not too dry.

10 squares of greaseproof paper
1 tbsp white vinegar

When the dough has risen, dust it with a bit of flour and knead for a minute. Divide into 9 or 10 pieces and roll into balls.

Flatten the dough into a circle. It's better to have the middle a little thinner than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling into the centre and start gathering the dough from the right handside - try to pleat and twist towards the centre so that you have a middle gathering at the top of the bun. Place on a square of greaseproof paper and leave to rise for another 15 minutes.

Add the white vinegar to the water in the steamer - this is supposed to make the bao fluffier - and once the water is boiling, add the buns to the steamer and place the lid on. Steam for 10 minutes on high and then remove. Eat while hot; any leftovers can be refrigerated and steamed gently to reheat, or frozen.

Xinjiang Lamb Skewers

Yes, that's right; I've been skewering again. For what might be one of the last barbecues of the year, I brought along Northern Chinese lamb inspired by Silk Road, one of my favourite restaurants. Their skewers come out threaded on metal rods, each cube of lamb alternated by a chunk of lamb fat to moisten each mouthful and to make your arteries contract with fear. I couldn't find any pure lamb fat for sale so I used shoulder instead. It's quite a fatty cut anyway, so I thought I'd be safe.

After a few hours marinading in a lot of cumin, chilli and other bits and bobs, they were slapped onto a fiercely hot barbecue. I was worried that the lamb would be a bit tough, what with shoulder being traditionally a slow-cooking kind of cut, but my fears were unfounded and each mouthful was a juicy and tender spice bomb. Served with smacked cucumber salad to cool the mouth, I found them borderline too salty, though I am quite sensitive to salt and the rest of the diners thought it fine. In any case I've reduced the salt content to what I used (1 tsp of the white stuff), as you can always add but you can't take away.

Xinjiang Lamb Skewers

650gr lamb shoulder
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
4 fat cloves of garlic
2 inches of ginger
2 tbsp cumin seeds
3 tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp chilli bean paste (you can buy this in Chinatown)
4 spring onions
A pinch of salt
Wooden or metal skewers - metal are better as even with ample soaking, the wooden ones still caught fire

Chop your shoulder up into cubes. Toast the cumin seeds and grind to a powder. Do the same with the Sichuan peppercorns, and add this to the lamb along with the salt and the ginger and garlic, minced. Add the chilli bean paste. Cut the spring onions into 1 inch long sections and add to the lamb. Leave this to marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Thread the lamb onto the skewers, alternating with spring onion. Cook over a hot barbecue for a few minutes each side so that they are charred and cooked through but not burnt. Serve with a cooling salad.

Moo Ping

After I munched on moo ping (grilled pork skewers) at Kaosarn, a Thai restaurant in Brixton, I knew I had to make them. Charcoal-scented pork, juicy with fat and the perfect balance of sweet and spicy? Yes please. A friend was having a barbecue so it seemed the perfect opportunity to try my hand at making them. If I'm not careful I'll get myself a reputation for being a 'things on sticks' kind of girl. Though I suppose that wouldn't be too bad.

I think the traditional cut of meat for this is pork neck, but I couldn't find any so I went for shoulder steaks. With ample amounts of fat, this makes sure the pork doesn't dry out on the ferocious heat of the barbecue. Sliced thinly and cooked quickly makes sure that they don't go tough. Don't be alarmed by the amount of sugar; you need it for essential caramelisation. Dipping sauce is mandatory.

Moo Ping

600gr pork shoulder steaks
5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp coconut milk

Slice the shoulder into think strips, about 1cm wide. Mince the garlic and mix with the other ingredients, then marinade overnight, or at least for a couple of hours. Thread onto bamboo skewers soaked in water for half an hour. Barbecue, turning often as the sugar in the marinade tends to catch. They don't take long - 5 - 10 minutes.

Dipping Sauce:

1 tbsp chilli flakes
1 green chilli
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp water
1 tsp sugar
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp oil

Place the chilli flakes in a heatproof bowl with the green chilli, sliced. Heat the oil till almost smoking, then carefully pour over the chilli mix. Wait to cool for a few minutes, then add the fish sauce, water, sugar and lime. Mix thoroughly. Serve with the skewers.

Barbequed Prawns

I think I'm on barbeque number 7 of the year already. We definitely like to grill our food; not many weekends have gone by recently that I haven't gone home reeking of smoke.

It can be a little tricky after a while to think of something imaginative to take. I don't really go in for the whole burger and sausage affair, preferring more exotic concoctions, like grilled pineapple salsa or stuffed squid. I stood staring blankly in the aisles of the supermarket before it dawned on me; some skewered prawns would be perfect. I abandoned the place and scored myself a kilo of prawns for a tenner down the local Chinese supermarket.

I made two different marinades, both very different. The first consisted mainly of chipotle en adobo (recipe here) but with an added onion, more garlic and a couple handfuls of dill. The dill seemed an odd choice but it gave the prawns a nice grassy and citrus flavour. You must eat them messily with your hands and a roll of kitchen paper, as it's the shell with the majority of the flavours that you lick off your fingers.

Chipotle Prawns

500gr prawns, shell and head on
4 tbsp chipotle en adobo
1 white onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
A large handful of dill

Set the prawns aside in a large bowl and whizz up all the ingredients for the sauce. Mix together with the prawns and leave overnight or for as long as you can - I did 3 hours and it was fine. Skewer onto wooden kebab sticks that have been soaked in water for an hour or so, and barbeque - they only need as long as they turn pink.

The second load were far more Thai-inspired. A combination of lime, fish sauce, fiery chillis and coriander ensured they packed a punch.

Thai-style Prawns

500gr prawns
5 cloves of garlic
3" of ginger
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 onion
2 handfuls of coriander
2 limes
1 tbsp sugar
4 red birds eye chillis

Whizz up the fish sauce with the ginger, onion, garlic, chillis and sugar. Squeeze in the lime juice and then whizz again with the coriander. Coat the prawns in the marinade for a good 3 hours, then skewer and barbeque.

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

I've been big into my salads at barbeques recently. This red onion and pomegranate salad is now a regular feature, and after having made this salsa, I imagine it will be too. Gone are the days of sweaty supermarket coleslaw, mayonnaise-laden claggy potato salads and a bowl of wilted lettuce to slap in your burger bun as a token gesture. No no, it's all about fresh, colourful and vibrant sides to garnish your plate.

Fresh pineapple has always been a favourite of mine. Dressed with mint, it makes a refreshing summer snack and dipped in salt and chilli, a moreish treat. Nicaraguan pineapples, their flesh snowy white, were intensely sweet and blended with water to make a thick juice, were a perfect way to start the day. Barbequing the pineapple makes them sweeter, the heat caramelising the sugars inside the meat. Chopped roughly into Asian flavourings, it made a great accompaniment to grilled mackerel, the sweet and tart flavours contrasting with the rich, oily fish. This one I made was rather fiery which suited us fine, but do test your chillis before you lob them in. Of course, you don't have to lug the barbeque out; a griddle pan will also do the trick.

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

Makes a huge bowl that satisfied 10

2 pineapples
4 red chillis (or more, or less, to taste)
A large bunch of coriander
4 spring onions
1 lime
Fish sauce, to taste

Cut the sides off the pineapple and slice into large pieces through the width. Place the slices on the hot barbeque and grill for 6 - 7 minutes each side so that they are well scorched. When cooled, slice around the hard core and chop into chunks. Add to a large bowl with the chillies, chopped finely. Slice the spring onions on the diagonal and throw them in, along with the bunch of coriander, chopped roughly. Dress with the juice of the lime, and add glugs of fish sauce, tasting after each one, so that you get a nice sweet, salty and sour balance.

Stuffed Barbequed Squid

Now that summer is upon us, the barbeque gets a serious firing up. A perfect way to spend a lazy Saturday or Sunday, I sometimes struggle to see past the usual burgers, steaks, chicken drumsticks and kebabs. Often it can turn into a total meatfest. Recently though, we've been a bit more creative. Baby octopus, marinated in paprika, lemon juice and garlic get skewered, drizzled with oil and slapped on the hot grill so that it's tentacles curl up and you're left with juicy bodies with a bit of crunch. Razor clams have featured, the heat making their shells slowly open for the sweet tender meat to then be chopped roughly and dressed with lemon and olive oil.

I usually marinate squid in a citrus with some flavourings, score them and slap them on but have recently taken to stuffing them. Their little bodies, skewered closed with cocktail sticks become the perfect encasing for the fillings; able to withstand quite a high heat,  they burst messily over your plate as you slice them. You can really make up the stuffing as you go along, but I think it's best to have some sort of grain in there to soak up all the juices. These are flavoured with chipotle and ancho chillis, so the rice was smoky and fiery all at once.

Dried ancho poblano chillis, which you can buy online here, are possibly my new favourite thing. It's a shame they don't come cheap but they have an intense fruity flavour while keeping a mild heat. Soaked in hot water, they collapse softly making them easy to chop or puree into a sauce.

Stuffed Baby Squid

1kg baby squid (I buy mine frozen from the Chinese supermarket - at £4.50 / kg they are quite a bargain)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 sticks of celery
1 dried ancho poblano chilli
1 dried chipotle chilli
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 lime
100gr wild rice
A handful of coriander
Salt & pepper
Cocktail sticks

Soak the cocktail sticks in cold water - this prevents them from burning on the barbeque. Bring a small pan of water to boil, and soak the dried chillis in the hot water in another bowl.

Dice the onions and celery and mince the garlic. In a frying pan, add a glug of cooking oil and cook slowly until softened and golden. Drain the chillis and chop finely, adding them to the onion mixture. Fry slowly for about 5 or 10 minutes. Add the tomato puree and the rice, stirring to coat. Add 100ml water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every so often; if it's looking dry add more water. Wild rice is very forgiving so you don't need exact measurements of water. Simmer for another 10 minutes until the grains are tender and the mixture is moist but not sloppy. Take off the heat and season generously with salt and pepper. Squeeze in the juice of the lime and add the coriander, chopped finely. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile, remove the tentacles from the squid and chop finely. When the rice mixture is cold, stir the tentacles through. Stuff the rice into the squid using a teaspoon, carefully, and secure with a cocktail stick. Fire up your barbeque and when your coals are white, oil the squid and slap them on for 3 minutes or so each side.

Goodbye, Summer

Alas, summer is over. Gone are the days of sunshine beating on your brow, the smell of cut grass tickling your nostrils, skipping to work in short skirts and flip flops. This, of course, being London means that we had maybe a couple of weeks of this weather, but one must grateful for what we did get.

Last weekend saw blue skies, wispy clouds and the sun peeked out; like summer's wave goodbye to us. I do love autumn and all the rich shades of colour it brings, but waking up and getting home while it's dark depresses me. Which is why when I woke up on Sunday and flung the blinds back to be greeted by sunshine, I hauled my housemate's ass out of bed, frog-marched her down to Sainsburys, and got all the goods for what might be our last barbeque of the year.

As there was just the two of us, I thought the best way to go would be a big hunk of meat and a couple of salads. 800gr of bone-in Aberdeen Angus rib was purchased, along with some leaves and knobbly new potatoes to make up our lunch. As a little starter, I steamed up some white asparagus, part of a birthday hamper I received from my mates. This was simply dressed with a healthy glob of butter and a generous grinding of salt. A fruity Pimms cocktail kept us company while we waited for the coals to do its thing.

The steak was left out at room temperature, and half an hour before it was slapped on the barbeque, I lightly dusted both sides with salt. Now, some people say not to salt meat until the very last moment otherwise it draws the juices out, but I seem to recall Dos Hermanos recommending this on Twitter. We tried it at a previous barbeque and it worked beautifully so I shouted "to hell with convention!" (as the housemate looked on, alarmed) and it got a good salting.

A mere 5 - 7 minutes on each side on a properly flaming grill, and it was left to rest on a chopping board. I batted wasps away while the housemate squealed. I paced up and down the balcony. We all know the importance of resting meat, but this was maddening. To console myself I got stuck into the potato salad with gusto. Finally, a good 15 minutes had passed and I refused to wait any longer. The steak was sliced, revealing a deliciously ruby red core, and served onto our plates. Floppy curly lettuce leaves were lightly dressed with heady truffle oil, also from aforementioned hamper, and a barbequed, buttered portabella mushroom completed the plate. We munched in near silence, aside from the odd "mmooh myff god this is good" and "uuugghhhhh is there more? Chomp chomp".

I couldn't have asked for a better farewell-to-summer barbeque. When finished, we pushed our plates away, lay back and had a proper mid-afternoon snooze, safe in the knowledge that our corn on the cob were steaming away under the lid of the barbeque in their leaves, ready for us to slather with more butter and eat once we arose from our little siesta.

Lemon & Rosemary Lamb Ribs

Ribs are one of my favourite cuts of meat. I've previously posted about beef ribs, cooked for hours until falling off the bone. Similarly, pork ribs are barbeque stalwarts. Marinated in a punchy sauce, the charred fat combined with the tender meat is enough to make me dribble a bit.

I came across these lamb ribs in Morrisons. I went to the local branch in Peckham and was surprised to find a lot of the more unusual cuts of meat; oxtail, pig hearts, chicken hearts. These were really cheap - roughly £3 and it fed my housemate and I generously. They didn't require hours of cooking either, though the fat content means that they are definitely a treat rather than an every day meal. I marinated them overnight and the flavours of the lemon and rosemary penetrated the meat through to the bone. They are best eaten piping hot, whipped out straight from under the grill or from the barbeque, as the crispy lamb fat is a joy to eat, with the new potatoes lightly coated in the meat juices. A side of minted braised runner beans completed the meal.

Lemon & Rosemary Lamb Ribs

Serves 2

6 lamb ribs
1 lemon
3 cloves of garlic
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard

Two handfuls of small new potatoes
300gr runner beans
A small handful of mint
100mls chicken stock

The night before, slash the ribs across. Chop the rosemary and the garlic finely and add to a large dish with the mustard. Slather the mixture over the ribs and place in the fridge.

The next day, take the ribs out and season with salt and pepper. Place the potatoes on to boil. Grill the ribs on a rack (or barbeque them) and grill for roughly 40 minutes on high, turning occasionally. Half way through, drain the fat from the roasting tray underneath and add the potatoes to it, tossing them so that they're covered in the juices. Return to under the grill.

Meanwhile, slice the runner beans diagonally. Add to a pan with the chicken stock and simmer until the beans are cooked, about 7 - 10 minutes. Take off the heat and scatter with the mint, chopped finely. Season with salt and pepper.

When we came to eating this, all you could hear were the sounds of munching and slurping. These were so delicious it was almost criminal.

Barbequed Shoulder of Lamb

It's not ofen that I cook a great big hunk of meat on the barbeque. I'm usually too taken by the idea of burgers, sausages, ribs and kebabs to want to devote a whole barbeque to just one plateful. However, this weekend I had the opportunity to have two barbeques. The first was at a friend's house, whereby we filled the sausages / kebabs / ribs quota, and the second was the perfect opportunity.

I was feeling rather glum on bank holiday Monday. The grey skies and blustering wind did nothing to help my mood so this was the perfect slap-it-on-and-leave-it kind of technique. With the aide of a friend who expertly built up a pyramid of briquettes (and by that I mean applying the lighting gel liberally), we soon had some nicely whitened coals to be cooking this whole shoulder of lamb over.




As lamb is quite a fatty cut of meat, it's important to babysit it for the first part of the recipe. The dripping fat causes the flames to flare up and if you're not careful you could have a rather more charred piece of meat than you'd like. This method of cooking the lamb imparts a wonderfully smoky flavour to the meat. Next time I'd like to try it with wood chippings, but the coal worked well too. It does take a while to prepare, but once it's done you will be well rewarded for your efforts - lightly spiced, tende meat with a deep smokiness.


Barbequed Shoulder of Lamb

Serves 5 generously

1 whole shoulder of lamb (ours was 1.6kg)

6 cloves of garlic

4 anchovy fillets

A few sprigs of thyme

1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika

1 aubergine, sliced and oiled

1 kettle barbeque

Plenty of coal

Lighting fluid

Build up plenty of coal in the base of the barbeque, applying lighting gel as you go along. You'll need a lot, as it'll be going for a good three hours or more. Trim the shoulder of any excess fat and cut slits into the flesh. Stuff with garlic, chopped anchovy and thyme. Rub with the paprika.

Light the bbq and then the coals are white, place the shoulder carefully on the heat. Carefully lay the slices of aubergine around it so that they grill, and turn overafter about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside. If the coals flare up move the meat around so you don't get any burning. We had some proper flames but it didn't get burnt much, but do keep an eye on it. When you've got a nice colour on the lamb and the coals have cooled down a bit, put the lid on the barbeque with the vent open and cook for 3 hours. Turn the meat over every hour or so.

To serve, rest the meat for 20 mins and carve into chunks. I served it with some tzatziki, shredded little gem lettuce and sliced red onion all rolled up in a flatbread.

Barbeque

Ah, the Great British Barbeque. As soon as a barbeque was on the cards, we nervously check the weather every day. British weather cannot be trusted. Last summer was a complete wash-out, the whole of last week was rainy and miserable, some might say positively autumnal. Conversations went a little like this:

"BBC Weather says cloudy and light showers".

"But Accuweather says sunny, and Accuweather must be accurate, it's all in the name."

"Maybe we could barbeque in the rain; we have done before".

I burst out of bed (when I say burst, I mean staggered) on Saturday morning and nervously pulled the curtains back. Hurrah! The sun was out.

My parents are champion marinaters. We had a million ribs, all swimming in the 'special marinade', so called because my dad can never remember exactly what goes in it.

What can be better than ribs? Especially these ones; they were slightly tangy, slightly sweet and well caramelised. Meaty too; quite often all you get is a bit of fat and bone, but these were something to sink your teeth into.

Other meaty morsels destined for the barbeque were squid, chicken legs, steaks and sausages.

You can see the tentacles of the squid sizzling away in the top picture. The squid was extremely tender, cooked to perfection and often the tentacles are the best bit, cooked so they have a bit of crunch.

We did have vegetably bits, such as barbequed courgettes, a lettuce, tomato and avocado salad and some potatoes with red onion and a little mayonnaise, but really - it's a barbeque! It's all about the building of the fire, the frustrations of the coals not catching, the joy of it finally being at the right temperature, and then, of course, the meat.

...And there wasn't a drop of rain.