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Enjoying fusion food in restaurants and takeaways for decades, Britain is finally bringing delicious British fusion barbecue into our cooking. With so many traditional British dishes lending themselves to new flavours and spices, the days of BBQing a few burgers and sausages on a warm summer’s day are over. In this article, we take a dive into the world of British fusion food, how to blend it into your cooking, and why your BBQ is ideal for exploring a world of new cuisine.
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The British Fusion Scene
British fusion food has been around us for longer than we might realise. After embracing the spices of other cultures and discovering unique flavours on holidays, products like curried baked beans, and Caribbean spiced roasts have made their way into many home’s regular rotation.
British interest in cooking continues to soar. With different cooking methods now more accessible to us, the doors are open for a new boom in British fusion cuisine.
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The Benefits of Discovering British Fusion BBQ
We all love our old favourites for dinner, but there are a lot of benefits to getting out of our rut and trying something new. We don’t need to wait for a special occasion or a dinner at a restaurant to enjoy new flavours and discover new spices. Using fusion cooking concepts, we can:
- Create unique dishes: The beauty of fusion is in the creativity. By mixing and matching ingredients and flavours from around the world you can create something completely new to your taste buds.
- Enjoy BBQ delights more often: There are only so many BBQ burgers and sausages you can eat before getting bored. Fusion food breathes new life into your BBQ menu, letting you enjoy grilled
- Familiarity with a twist: Fusion food is unique. It presents new experiences, but with familiarity. Spice up your old favourites with new flavours to keep things interesting while still enjoying traditional dishes.
- Discover new flavours: Cooking is a rabbit hole of the best kind. There is no end to the discovery. While some flavours you may recognise but have never cooked with, other spices may be completely new to you.
- Explore cultures from around the world: Learning about new flavours opens up opportunities to explore the lands they come from. We can learn from the people around us, or dive into the roots of our favourite cuisines on the internet. Food connects us and helps us understand each other’s history.
- Learn new marinating and cooking techniques: There are many ways to cook and infuse flavour into BBQ dishes. Cultures around the world use different techniques to achieve their tasty results. By embracing fusion concepts you can discover new methods, some of which will likely become your new go-to options for everyday dinners.
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Popular British Fusion Food
Heavy on proteins, potatoes, and root vegetables, British food lends itself well to fusion with cuisines from across the world. Many of our most popular ingredients are ideal for absorbing spices and are easy to elevate with new flavours. Some of the most popular British fusion cuisines in recent years include:
- British Indian fusion: With a huge array of Indian spices and a long-standing British love of curried dishes, most traditional foods blend beautifully with the rich flavours of Indian food. As many Indian dishes are at their best after long and slow marinating, cooking or smoking, the BBQ is an ideal place to start experimenting with this fusion of flavours.
- British Spanish fusion: The addition of Spanish Chorizo, aged meats, and paprika to classic British dishes creates robust savoury flavours that instantly transport you back to sunny days in Spain.
- British Middle Eastern fusion food: Using eclectic ingredients including sweet dates, rich cinnamon, and tasty cumin, the traditional meat and vegetable of Britain soak up middle eastern spices perfectly.
- British American BBQ fusion: A fusion cuisine for BBQ enthusiasts, American slow cooked BBQ dishes are famous across the world. From bold, smokey flavours to tangy sweet sauces, adding a Texas twist to your Sunday lunch opens up a world of flavour.
- British Italian food: Offering a lot more than simple pasta and pizza dishes, true Italian food offers one of the world’s healthiest diets. Rich in fish and seafood, Italian style dishes are perfect for throwing on the BBQ with the traditional British catch of the day.
- British Chinese fusion: A far cry from traditional takeaway fayre, British ingredients like lamb, and sausage make a wonderful base for Chinese noodle dishes, stir frys, and crispy spring rolls.
- British Caribbean fusion: Creating some new British favourites already, Caribbean flavours are a wonderful addition to traditional meat and potato dishes.
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Where to Start with Your Fusion BBQ Journey
The easiest place to start any cooking journey is with the flavours you already like. Consider your favourite flavours and ingredients from each cuisine and think about how they might work together. You can gain more insight and ideas using:
- Online research and recipe searching: The internet is a vast resource of ideas, recipes, and inspiration. Easy connection with people around the world makes the most authentic recipes, tips, and tricks available to all of us.
- Inspiration from local restaurants: As Britain is waking up to a world of flavours, a lot of restaurants are ahead of the game. Offering fusion flavours and new ideas, take note of the menus when you go out to eat. It can spark some creativity for your own BBQ dinners.
- Friends and family: Don’t be shy to ask for the recipe when a friend serves you a plate of delicious flavours at their BBQ. Learning from people in our lives helps us strengthen our bonds, show our appreciation, and find tips and tricks we might never find on the internet.
- Recipe books: The internet is a go-to resource, but don’t discount recipe books dedicated to your favourite foods for finding hidden gems. Recipe books are often available at local libraries, making it incredibly easy to access a wealth of recipes from today and going back decades.
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Choosing The Right BBQ for Your Needs
As Britain continues its overdue renaissance with the BBQ, many people wonder how to find the right model for their needs. Consider some of the following points before selecting a BBQ for your fusion cooking journey.
- Fuel source: Whether you want to experiment with wood smoking, cook clean flavours with gas or go traditional with charcoal, choosing a BBQ with a convenient fuel source for you will encourage you on your culinary journey.
- Size: If you are working in a small space or just cooking for two, a compact BBQ is a perfect fit for creating new dishes. For a larger family or lover of hosting, investing in a larger model that cooks a lot of food at once can speed up dinners and gatherings.
- Budget: Starting your BBQ journey is crucial, even if you need to start with something small and affordable. By investing in the best BBQ available within your budget, you can enjoy premium quality and advanced features.
- Consider a dedicated smoker: If a lot of your interest is in slow smoked recipes with a fusion of spices, consider investing in a dedicated smoker. Although many BBQ options have wood smoking options, a smoking machine helps you track the timing and temperature of your recipes perfectly, for dishes that melt in your mouth.
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Avoiding Fusion Food Pitfalls
The vast amount of flavours in the world opens up a lot of opportunities for tasty dinners, but there are also lots of opportunities for mistakes. Not all flavours go together and the learning curve can be fun if you allow it to be. We explore some common pitfalls when experimenting with fusion food and some ways to avoid or overcome them.
- Mismatching flavours: There is a world of flavour out there and the opportunity to experiment with all of it. Unfortunately, there are some flavours that simply do not go together. A little online research before starting your journey can help you to avoid some very clear no-no combinations.
- Being impatient: Although learning to explore fusion food is not as difficult as you might imagine, you won’t necessarily be able to knock up your first attempts in ten minutes. A little research and starting slow with some easy wins will turn your fusion culinary journey a fun experiment
- Not working with in season foods: Part of creating British fusion food is working with the fresh meats and produce currently in season in Britain. By shopping this way you can make the most of the in-season pricing on fresh produce.
- The “I can’t cook” mentality: In the past, the world made a lot of fun at the expense of British culinary skill. Just because something is new, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. If you have been cooking up delicious British delights until now, you can cook. Discovering new flavours is a challenge for every culture and fortunately British food is easily tweaked with fusion elements to create brand new tasty dishes.
Even if you are new to cooking entirely, the option to explore fusion flavours and spices might be the push you need to start making delicious meals at home.
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Tips For Superb Fusion Cooking
The best part about fusion cooking is you can start anywhere, with any cuisines. Explore what you already have in your kitchen for fusion dinners that don’t even require a shopping trip. As you get further along in your journey, consider some of the following tips to make your BBQ experience faster, easier, and affordable.
- Embrace the marinade: If you don’t have all day to nurse slow cooking recipes on your BBQ, use the power of marinades to infuse flavour before your food hits the grill.
- Experiment with wood smoke: Whether you are using a traditional wood smoker, or adding wooden planks to your gas grill, experiment with different woods for very different flavours in your BBQ food.
- Explore ethnic markets: On your search for new spices you may come across ingredients not widely available at your local supermarket, or they may come at a hefty price. Explore your local ethnic markets to find all of the spices you need, and often at a much better price.
- Smell ingredients and spices: As you use new flavours and spices, don’t forget to smell each one along the way. Much of our taste comes from our sense of smell and after a short time, you will start to get a nose for which spices will go together well.
In Summary
Fusion cooking is not a new concept, but our access to knowledge, recipes, spices, and flavours is so much better than it was in the past. As Britain is experiencing a BBQ renaissance, discovering the magic of cooking over flame outdoors once again, it is the perfect time to explore the magic of fusion BBQ cooking.
So many flavours from across the world blend beautifully with traditional British ingredients and dishes. At BillyOh, we help Brits find the full potential in their outside space by discovering the right BBQ and outdoor set up for their home. You don’t need to wait to go out to dinner to enjoy the delights of the world – let your everyday cooking take your tastebuds around the globe.
