Its the summer, people are firing the charcoal and burning the meat. Its Barbecue season. as someone who has to eat gluten free, what are the best ways of managing this time of year, and thoroughly enjoying your gluten free BBQ?
As a Guest
You don’t want to make a fuss or stand out – but you want to eat. Before the barbecue have a word with your host to see whats happening with the food – and if it sounds worrying, offer to bring some yourself. The big dangers of the summer barbecue are
Sausages
Burgers
Burget buns
Marinades (especially those based on soy sauce or barbecue sauce)
So my first suggestion would be to bring some gluten free buns of your own (given the state of the gluten free bun world, I recommend splitting and toasting your buns before going to the barbecue – even cold, they’re much nicer that way).
Visit a local butcher before the barbecue and find ou if he can sell you gluten free sausages and burgers. If he can, great – you’re bringing the best quality meat to the barbecue. If he can’t you can always make your own gluten fre burgers, or you can just buy meat steaks and throw them on the barbie.
If cross contamination is a threat, you may want to bring along a set of barbecue tools and a grill pan to keep your food separate – just offer to do the cooking for a while – your host will thank you, and you can avoid pain.
Note that Granovita sell a gluten free barbecue sauce which you can buy here
As a Host
By providing all the ingredients yourself, you can make your barbecue grill gluten free – which avoids cross contamination. Gluten free burgers and sausages can be purchased in most major supermarkets these days (look out for Black Farmer sausages and Musk’s gluten free Newmarket Sausages). You’ll have a bit more trouble finding good marinades, so make them yourself ahed of time.
That only leaves rolls. You’ll never pass of gluten free bread as something desirable to the massed crowd – so have separate bread tables for you and them – and separate knives (and perhaps a separate supply of butter too)
If Someone Gluten Intolerant Is Coming To Your Barbecue
If you’re not gluten intolerant, but you have a gluten intolerant guest, my suggestion would be to act like I described above in ‘As a host’ – keep the barbecue gluten free by serving high quality meat and sausages. If thats out of the question, then a separate grill pan and tools is the way to go. I suggest asking your guest about bread – they’re likely to have firm opinions about the better (and worst) of the offerings, and might well offer to bring their own. Do offer them an uncontaminated knife and butter though.