[The sun is shining, the weather is sweet my friend. Makes you wanna eat, some delicious meat. To the rescue, here we are. We’ve got the (grilled) chops and the (beer) bar. Cue up the terribly reworked Marley, we’re dedicating a whole week of drool-worthy content to the unbeatable flavour and spirit of #BudBBQWeek. Three cities--Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune--will be activating the festivities on ground so bring your Budweiser Magnum for the ride. Because let’s face it, the only thing better than the combination of a good grill and a cold beer is...well, two cold beers and a good grill.]
[Disclaimer—These recipes may cause artery clogging.]
Unlike most foods, barbecues are personal. Anyone can toss some meat on the grill and garnish it with a dainty little puree or maybe a handful of chips and buttered veggies. But our choice of ingredients, the sauces you deem worthy of accompanying your grilled main, the textural crunches and munches we pair it with…well, let’s just say you can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle a grease pit. Barbecues may well be the most (and only) all-American culinary tradition there is but unfortunately for the Western grillers, most of the world’s had their own version right from Bulgogis and Gogiuis in Korean Barbecues to the good ol’ Tandoor in India. As far as championing the BBQ cause right here in Mumbai goes however, turns out we happen to know some of the city’s best.
[When it comes to food, we’re the kind of people who find it difficult to name the core ingredient in less than 50 adjectives so this time, we tried keep the alphabets to picture ratio to the appropriate degree—less of the former, more of the latter. Drool on.]
I. Chef Gresham Fernandes & His ‘Rack O’ Ribs In Beer And Tamarind Sauce’
The Who’s Who:
The What’s What:
Who would he feed it to?:
We say barbecue, you say?:
Rack O’ Ribs In Beer And Tamarind Sauce, and served with pav and slices of cucumbers. {Serving wooden board from 42 Design Studio}
Follow Chef Gresham Fernandes on: Twitter
II. Nikhil Merchant & His 'Beer Barbecue Marinated Mushroom Bruschetta'
The Who’s Who:
The What’s What:
"For me, BBQs are incomplete without marinades, an obvious thing to say, perhaps. When I first heard about the Magnum pairing, the only way I saw it being used was a Beer BBQ Marinade. I have used beer in my cooking in the past, from batters for onion rings to caramel sauces for cake toppings.
I’d even made a coke BBQ sauce (super sweet and caramely with vanilla notes highlighting the concoction) and thought a similar concept could be utilized to create a marinade with a veritable yeast-y flavour profile for this. I am extremely experimental when it comes to cooking and its always fun to think out of the box so I really enjoyed coming up with this.
The Magnum has a slightly higher alcohol content and delves into yeast and hops notes quite easily. The bittersweet and slightly hoppy characteristics would meld well with a host of BBQ sauce ingredients such as Worcestershire, Balsamic & Tomato Puree, complimented by an all-american base sweetness of Maple syrup and herbs (fresh oregano).
This sauce is versatile enough to be used with any fleshy ingredients which absorb liquids well. Though I have used it in mushrooms (to create a vegetarian BBQ dish, where Vegetarian BBQs are very understated) it can be used in many meat and seafood varietals. I further enhanced the dish by using it as a topping for bruschetta. Thus my creation "Beer BBQ Marinated Mushroom Bruschetta" was born."
Who he’d feed it to?
We say 'barbecue,' you say?:
'Beer Barbecue Marinated Mushroom Bruschetta;' {Serving wooden paddle board by 42 Design studio}
III. Sahil Makhija & His 'Beer Barbecue Sauce Bacon Bomb'
The Who’s Who:
The What’s What:
”My signature dish is the bacon bomb which we do barbecue. So there wasn't much thinking required, I mean BBQ + BACON + BUDWEISER MAGNUM BEER. It pretty much created itself.”
Who he’d like to feed it to?
We say Barbecue, you say?:
IV. Chef Prathamesh Mickey Shenoy of Leaping Windows & His 'Beer Rack O’ Ribs With Bhoot Jholokia'
The Who’s Who:
The What’s What:
“I’ve been working on some newly sourced Sri Lankan ribs for the past few days. The images uploaded led to me being part of this article I suppose. We are doing a rack of BBQ ribs which undergo a 27 hour treatment from when we receive it to the point it reaches the plate. I was already doing a Cola BBQ sauce. I just substituted the Cola with the Budweiser Magnum Beer, tweaked the sweetness and it worked like a charm.”
Who would he feed it to?:
We say barbecue, you say?
Follow Chef Prathamesh Mickey Shenoy on
V. Amrita Rana & Her 'French Toast With Barbecued Fruits & Marshmallows With Beer Caramel'
The Who’s Who:
The What’s What:
Budweiser Magnum Beer
Who she’d feed it to?
We say Barbecue, you say?
Photographs by: REMA CHAUDHARY
Wooden Paddle Board: 42 DESIGN STUDIO (Shweta Kaushik)