Family Barbecues

Barbecue is a different gig in the southern States where I grew up as a kid / teenager - in North Carolina it refers to pork cooked slowly using one of two sauces (kind of like the hog roasts that are now popular over here)  See NCBBQ.Com for details.  This kind of BBQ is eaten in BBQ joints, like the classic Clyde Cooper's in downtown Raleigh, served with slaw and hush puppies (not the Ken Clarke variety)

However, the 'suburban' style is also popular, when families give it the full burger and dogs at week-ends and national holidays.  As a kid I loved those week-end trips to the state park where we'd BBQ on the provided grills - there were usually four or five families with assorted kids, a mix of Brits and Americans, cooking and playing soccer / baseball / whatever, and those are very fond memories.  That's why it's great that our kids are experiencing a similar ritual with friends and family right here in the Hampshire heartlands (the county is renowned for its porkers of course!)

You can BBQ freely on Southsea Common or the beach - although I'm not sure about the burn marks left on the grass every summer - but for the full-on US style family BBQ experience then Queen Elizabeth Country Park is a good destination.  You can book a static BBQ in one of the fields surrounding the park for £5, drive your cars pretty much up to the grill and 'tailgate' with your drinks coolers.  Downsides are that the grills are not US size/standard, and if you get a huge family group taking over 75% of the area (as we experienced last Monday) it can be a challenge.  However, we had a lovely time with four families and all our kids - building teepees, playing cricket (I got hit for four my first ball...by a girl) and BBQing good food (chicken marinaded in honey, lemon juice and olive oil with thyme, skewered with courgette and mushroom; prawns marinaded in harissa sauce, skewered with pepper)  We even had an Australian with us, who went native - like in 'Lord of the Flies' -  as soon as he sniffed the charcoals (he burnt the sausages tho :-)  Happy Cooking!

Aussie (right) BBQs with confidence

Food!

Outcome of Aussie over-confidence

Niamh and a sausage in a bun