babe899
Newbie
- Apr 9, 2015
- 5
- 10
John's 70th birthday party is now over and a good time was had by all. I ended up doing two full legs of mutton on the bone , and two large eye trevally (whole). I had a few temporary set backs as there was no way for me to check that the second hand lidded barbecue was working before I got there (it wasn't). As for the meat, I rubbed it with a garlic, rosemary, white wine and Extra Virgin olive oil and mint marinade the day before cooking, then went out and got the barbecue working and the marquees put up before starting on the prep for the dips, salads etc.. Having the legs of mutton in large, oiled, aluminium trays was great as there was no problem with splatter and it was easy to baste them. Cooked them on the lowest temperature setting, in the centre of the griddle, with the burners on each side alight but not the middle one. I had no idea if the thermometer in the lid was accurate, but it was reading about 195C, Cooked them for about 6 hours, tested that they were done, took them out of the barbecue, sealed them in foil and covered them with blankets to rest and put the fish in to cook. Very simple, salt and fresh ground black pepper, sliced lemon and garlic all together in the gut space and XV Olive oil on the outside of the fish. cooked for about half an hour covered with foil, then uncovered and finished off in the barbecue till done. Lunch came together at about 12.30pm and everyone helped themselves to the pulled mutton, fish, tangy coleslaw, greek salad and beetroot salad and hot bread rolls.. Most of the 70 or so people stayed till about 8.00pm, nibbling through the afternoon. When I was clearing up afterwards, I saw that there wasn't even any meat left on the bones, someone had totally cleaned them up. I had quite a few requests for my recipes and methods and especially for my beetroot salad. A lot of John's 'rellies' had travelled from Barham, New South Wales (several hundred kilometres away) and were staying overnight so they called in the next morning for breakfast before they left to go home. I mentioned that we seemed to have quite a bit more alcohol left over than I thought we would and one of John's friends said that it was because everyone was too busy eating to drink much. I was very pleased that the slow cooked/smoked meat/fish,on the barbecue had worked out so well for a first attempt. Moist and tasty. Forgot to mention that I used charcoal and small pieces of apple wood prunings off my trees back at King Island over the gas burners on the barbecue. I am definitely going to get into smoking meat when I can get a unit built over here on the island. King Island has a wonderful reputation for the quality of it's meats, Angus, Hereford, Wagyu etc and heritage pork and lamb, all grass reared and organic. If I can get it erected over winter, it will be a very pleasurable and educational Spring. Just in time for the tourist season?
