To have a barbecue without barbecuing?

[Onthegejdj]

I was going to ask about half a dozen colleagues/friends around for a barbecue one afternoon next month. Not all will attend, so I’ll be catering for maybe half a dozen. I’ve got a lovely built in barbecue but whenever I host barbecues I spend the afternoon tied to the barbecue and miss all the fun and gossip.

Could I get away with putting out potato salad, another nice salad, cold pasta, cold chicken legs, a cheese and ham board, olives… Any other ideas? It needs to be food I can either make the day before and serve cold, or make very quickly. I feel rude ignoring guests and spending forever at the barbecue, and also I don’t want to feel stressed or miss the gossip.

AIBU to serve everything cold and if not, what would you want served?

Halloumi kebabs and sweetcorn are great. I would probably have burgers too but don’t faff about with the stuff - buy a pack of decent cheese slices and leave them in a pile. Pre cut buns. Lettuce in a bowl and ketchup on the side. No need to fanny about with onions and tomato slices.

You can't invite people for a BBQ then not serve BBQ'ed food. Phrase it as a "get together" or similar

We’re together for something work related that morning/early afternoon, so I won’t have any time.

I get the consensus though - I’ll either say a get together or I’ll actually barbecue. Do I have to provide the bastarding burgers and sausages in buns though or can I get away with halloumi, kebabs, sweetcorn etc? Still too disappointing without the traditional stuff?

If I got invited to a bbq then found out when I got there it wasn't actually a bbq I'd be massively bloody peeved!

It’s the buns that rile me. Torn up bits of bread and crumbs everywhere. I don’t know why but it infuriates me. Then you can only get so many burgers on, then Jim says he hasn’t had a burger just as they’re all gone, and Sally will say she’ll have one later and won’t mind lighting the barbecue herself but will be pissed and the smoke will go everywhere. This doesn’t happen with any other barbecue food. Only burgers and sausages. I don’t know what causes it.

"Do I have to provide the bastarding burgers and sausages in buns though or can I get away with halloumi, kebabs, sweetcorn etc?"

Eh? You don't have to invite them. Or light a bbq. Or do anything you don't want to. This is all your idea remember 😅

"It’s the buns that rile me. Torn up bits of bread and crumbs everywhere. I don’t know why but it infuriates me. Then you can only get so many burgers on, then Jim says he hasn’t had a burger just as they’re all gone, and Sally will say she’ll have one later and won’t mind lighting the barbecue herself but will be pissed and the smoke will go everywhere"

What the fuck? You sound like you hate BBQs, so why invite them round for one?

I don’t think you’ve read it right.

Salad, cold chicken, olives, ham, cheese, mayonnaise.

It's a fucking chicken salad mate 😅

Yeah. So odd.

I am saying it tongue in cheek. I like barbecues when it’s halloumi, sweetcorn, seafood boils, kebabs, but I hate the rigmarole of the traditional barbecue burgers and sausages in buns. I’m just asking if people would still be disappointed if I said barbecue and it was the above food and not the traditional burgers and sausages, that’s all.

@Onthegejdj hire a chef, while you gather intelligence

Just don’t do burgers and sausages! I almost never do. Usually do a ton of salads that I make ahead (including carby ones), maybe slice up some nice bread and then do a bunch of marinated skewers on the bbq. Platter of fruit and bake a pie for pudding. On a big bbq it wouldn’t take more than 30 mins to do all the cooking, they are nice cold etc. if folks are late. we’ve had 20-30 people round multiple times like this and it’s great. Caveat being I am assuming your bbq has a lid.

You don't have to do any of this. I do bbqs often and never do sausages or burgers. They're so boring and generic that I don't bother. No one has ever complained about it, quite the opposite actually.

I generally got the impression people were excited to have nice skewers than a plain burger patty but I tend to think I’m a good cook so 🤷‍♀️

🙄

Nobody on this thread has suggested this as a possibility, but good to know.

Call it a get together with a picnic lunch or buffet lunch. As others have said, just don’t call it a BBQ.

Or, if you really like BBQ to eat, then see if there are any volunteers to man the grill.

That’s interesting. I always feel that I can’t do salmon, seafood boils etc like I usually do for myself on the barbecue because people would be disappointed not to have the burgers and sausages. Maybe they’d be happy with a change.

What the fuck is a "seafood boil"? 🤣

I'm so intrigued at your non-salad salad and random invites to BBQs that are not BBQs that I want to come now

Just seen your post about still doing kebabs, halloumi, etc. That sounds like BBQ to me. I’m disappointed when people do burgers and sausages - to me that’s not BBQ, it’s just cheapskating.

Just do what you suggested OP and throw a few burgers on the BBQ. Minimal watching required! Or tell people to help themselves to the BBQ facilities.

A solution I found to this was to do pulled pork in the slow cooker and put out buns and coleslaw and salad bits and then everyone helps themselves and makes their own. Still crumbs though if you object to the buns! But zero work for you so you can mingle.

Maybe I’ll just do this then. Invite them to a barbecue, pre-make the salads, chicken, pasta, cheese and ham, then put a few skewers, halloumi, and corn on the cobs on the barbecue to make it an authentic barbecue. They won’t take long and it’ll all fit on the grill in one go rather than having to barbecue multiple batches of burgers and sausages.

I know you’re trying to be a dick but it’s this. Make it enough times and you stop following a recipe.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/247441/grilled-cajun-seafood-boil/