What is the original intention of barbecue? Return to the original deliciousness and passion
Today "barbecue" has become a very popular gathering ritual in Taiwanese society, especially at the Mid-Autumn Festival. Responding to this business opportunity, manufacturers have also rolled out all kinds of barbecue sets; a single trip to a convenience store or supermarket is probably enough to buy everything at once, from fire starters, grills and seasonings to pre-marinated meats. You can also order online: marinated meat slices, chicken wings, Pacific saury, and even the grill, all in one package, and they will even get the drinks ready for you!
However, although barbecuing is increasingly convenient, the method is monotonous and bland, with every ingredient brushed with the same heavily flavoured barbecue sauce. In a market flooded with disposable barbecue utensils and cheap ingredients, "meat" is no longer the point; as long as it gets heavy seasoning, even the worst meat can taste delicious. Are we eating the seasoning or the ingredient itself? No one seems to care. What the seasoning masks is not only the flavour of the ingredients, but even the meaning of "grilling" as a cooking method is masked along with it.
Today, I am afraid everyone has long forgotten the meaning of "grilling" as humanity's most primitive cooking method. Before all kinds of barbecue utensils were invented, humans had already been "grilling" for nearly a million years (Homo erectus of the Pleistocene commonly used fire to cook meat). There are many primitive ways of grilling: the "Gaucho" of South America roasted beef or wild boar directly over fire and cut off meat with a razor to eat; the indigenous people of the Cook Islands wrapped cassava, suckling pig and fresh fish in leaves before roasting them on slightly heated pumice; American Indians would dig a large pit in the ground, fill it with red-hot coals, then bury a whole pig's head in the coals to roast slowly for several hours; and meat cured by smoking, including ham, smoked fish, smoked duck and goose, can be found in every food culture. (Source: A History of Food, Taipei, Rive Gauche, 2010)
In fact, "grilling", this most primitive and most important way for humans to eat meat, uses high heat to rapidly dehydrate the surface of the meat, producing the "Maillard reaction (Maillard effect)", which creates all kinds of small-molecule aroma compounds - not only meaty aromas, but also floral, fruity and nutty notes - forming a crust with a distinctive "roasted" flavour. Grilling can also render out more fat, reducing the calories that go into your mouth. (Source: Food and Cooking, Taipei, Everyone, 2009)
