Here's the menu for Father's Day: Chicken, pork and beef brochettes...in surprising marinades!
The Menu for
Fathers’ Day! Show him how much you care with brochettes so
good that he’ll savour their memory for a long, long
time.
Just about anyone can grill brochettes ... the real secret of success is in the marinade! Be a little adventurous and forge ahead with ingredients you like. That's how you'll add your own touch as the chef that you are!
All this week your Metro butcher is featuring chicken, pork and beef brochettes that are quite simply out of this world. Why not seize the opportunity to celebrate Father's Day with a menu that offers more than one type of brochette in a meal that will surely rise to the occasion? What you'll find here are a few hints on how to come up with outstanding marinades. Let your culinary creativity run freely and concoct a different marinade for each of the meats! You'll see. Everyone will rave ... especially Dad!
Marinades and dressings are close cousins. A mixture of vegetable oil and vinegar is the base for any marinade. Olive oil lends a fine taste while peanut oil makes for a sweeter marinade. And it would be a shame not to take advantage of flavoured oils and vinegars on the market: Vinegars such as raspberry, cider, nut, red or white wine and tarragon all produce little miracles...always remembering balsamic vinegar, of course.
Chicken and pork go well with salty/sweet marinades while beef works well with more pronounced marinades. Don't hesitate to add a little honey, brown sugar, stewed fruit,
fruit juices to your marinades for chicken or pork brochettes. Pork pairs well with apples and small berries, blueberries and raspberries. Lemon and lime juices are ideal with chicken and pork while orange juice goes well with beef.
A small amount of soya sauce, ginger and fresh minced garlic, transports you to the Orient. Want to be really exotic? Mix a little curry paste with your vegetable oil or coconut milk with yogurt to capture flavours of India. Indonesia beckons you? Mix a little unsweetened peanut butter with your coconut milk and a pinch of sambal oelek and let it macerate your pork and chicken brochettes.
Fine herbs also play a crucial role in the quest for the perfect marinade. Coriander, parsley and chives are always good while thyme and tarragon are perfect for chicken, bay leaves and oregano for beef and rosemary works best for pork.
Now for the marinade! Let your brochettes macerate at least an hour or, even better, prepare them the night before, and keep them in a closed container in the fridge. Remember chicken cooks to perfection in 10 to 12 minutes, or until no longer pink (depending on the size of the cubes and the temperature of the barbecue). Pork is at its best slightly pink (allow about 10 minutes of cooking). Beef cooks rare in 7 or 8 minutes and is well done in a few minutes more. A little trick: Turn brochettes only once while cooking so they retain their cooking juices. Ready for seconds, Dad’