China: Its Gastronomic Landscape : Traditional Barbecue With An Asian Accent

Home entertaining is undergoing a revolution based on easy recipes, simple menus and casual dining. And Asian flavors are playing an increasingly important role.

Whether called “East-West,” “Pan-Asian” or “Pacific-Style” food, this type of cooking includes ideas as simple as giving a more velvety texture to a classic Chinese black-bean sauce by swirling in sweet butter.

At home, my wife and I find ourselves using these ideas quite often. In many recipes we use traditional Asian salad dressings, marinades and barbecue sauces, but we combine them with foods not traditionally used in Asian cooking such as veal, salmon and corn on the cob. The following recipe is an example of how easy it is to combine widely available Asian condiments into a quick barbecue sauce for brushing across steaks.

The Asian flavors that work best for barbecuing include the richly flavored condiments of oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and plum sauce, aromatics such as garlic and fresh ginger root, and the fresh herbs loved by Southeast Asian cooks such as basil, cilantro and mint. When combined, these barbecue sauces add dramatic new taste sensations to standard barbecue recipes.

In this dish, we match rib eye steaks with a richly flavored Asian barbecue sauce.

SMOKED RIB-EYE

STEAKS WITH MANGO

SALSA

4 (10-ounce) rib-eye steaks

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger root

2 teaspoons grated or finely minced orange zest

5 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3 tablespoons plum sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons Chinese chili sauce

1 cup wood chips

Mango Salsa

Trim excess fat from steaks.

Combine garlic, ginger, orange zest, hoisin and plum sauces, sesame oil, oyster and soy sauces, honey and chili sauce in large shallow dish. Add steaks, turn and rub other side with marinade. Let stand 1 hour or longer.

Cover wood chips with water 1 hour before using. When coals or wood are ash-colored (gas barbecue has been preheated to 350 degrees), drain soaked chips and place on 6-inch square sheet foil directly on coals. When wood begins to smoke, brush barbecue rack with oil. Place ribs on rack and cover barbecue. Roast at medium temperature about 5 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Transfer to warm dinner plates, spoon Mango Salsa next to each steak and serve at once. Makes 4 servings.

Mango Salsa

2 tablespoons minced green onions

1 tablespoon minced cilantro

1 tablespoon finely minced ginger root

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon Chinese chili sauce

2 ripe mangoes or 1 papaya or 4 peaches

Combine green onion, cilantro, ginger, lime juice, brown sugar, fish sauce and chili sauce in bowl. Peel mangoes, cut flesh off in large pieces and then chop finely.

(If using papaya, peel and cut in half. Scoop out seeds and chop flesh. If using peaches, drop into boiling water 20 seconds and plunge into cold water, peel, seed and chop.)

Add fruit to bowl and stir well to combine. Cover and refrigerate up to 1 day before serving. Makes 2 cups.