Please critique my first ever bbq menu

[Liud]

Hosting my first bbq this weekend in my first home.
Sadly the weather looks a little iffy but we’ll have a laugh regardless.

This is my menu. We have a few vegetarians. I think it’s a very easy menu as I can give dh the skewers I’ve premarinated. And the rest can be prepared in advance.

The only thing that really requires effort is the focaccia (I don’t love making bread but I love the recipe).

Its probably a bit carb heavy but I’ve done it that way with the vegetarians in mind.

Pasta salad
Homemade focaccia
Greek salad
Bombay new potatoes (dishoom recipe)
Butter herb new potatoes (for ppl who don’t like coriander)
Halloumi skewers
Veg skewers
Tandoori style chicken skewers (tastes better than takeaways imo)
Mint lamb kofte
Corn on the cob

Homemade mint chutney
tamarind sauce
Mango chutney

Crisps and shop bought dips
Nuts

Key lime pie
Profiteroles

Wine
Beer

My too but I have been brought up on braais not BBQs so spoilt by the range I've experienced.

Tbh this is why I think barbecues work best as a communal thing. In our circle, the host generally provides some stuff but everyone just brings meat and sides and drinks along, so there ends up being a big selection and everyone has something they like, no one is walking sadly away because they were confronted with a burger, no one is appalled by a kofta.

It isn't either/or. You can be be widely cultured, and still enjoy a burger, as well as a vast variety of other foods.

Or a sausage, but, let's face it, just sausages and burgers at a barbecue are pretty boring.

Oh dear. Let me spell it out a bit more clearly. You can have all of the tandoori chicken and other options. The menu is not complete without burgers and sausages in my opinion. If you walk away because those options are available, more fool you.

Doesn't have to be a vast array for me. Don't have to be widely cultured either. Just regular food cooked well.

I think if op knows her audience she doesn't need this thread. If she doesn't than there needs to be a middle ground. I don't care what cuisine it is, there's always somebody fussy, or maybe some intolerances. I think there's room to keep her menu while also catering for them, for example plain skewers with dips as well as the marinated etc. Some small changes could work, and will mean everybody can enjoy the delicious food.

Ditch the corn. Everything else sounds heavenly.

To be fair, when I cater for other people I always ask about preferences and dietary requirements, and if I had people coming who wouldn't eat anything other than sausages and burgers I would provide them - as well as other, more interesting foods for the other guests.

I would do sausages anyway as I love them.

You can have salads and potatoes and veg skewers, and crisps and dips like the OP is planning to do. They go very nicely with burgers and sausages.

There's a really depressing - barbeques MuST be burnt sausages and cremated burgers attitude on this thread.

This absolutely NOT what you'd do for an Aussie Barbie and no one would tell an Aussie that they can't barbeque.

It's an utterly depressing reflection of British culture tbh.

I agree. Most people I know enjoy a much wider variety of foods than the posters on this thread.

Hosting my first bbq this weekend in my first home.

I'm confused.

Menu sounds nice though

barbeques MuST be burnt sausages and cremated burgers attitude on this thread.

Who has said this? I must have missed it.

Lamb and tandoori chicken can get burnt too.

I don’t think anyone said that but she asked for a critique and then got arsey because it was suggested that most people would expect those things (burgers/sausages/plainer meats - not specifically burnt or cheap ones) as well as some of the other things she was planning.

One of the worst barbecues that I’ve attended was prepared by a friend’s Australian husband. Also Australians tend to use gas which is not really a proper barbecue in my opinion.

Aussies wouldn’t have a Barbie without snags! Fucking hell, you’d get lynched 🤣

Nobody has said anything needs cremating. The OP has invited a large group round for her first ever bbq. People have suggested that they might be expecting the odd sausage alongside the coriander laced spuds and mint koftas.

you obvs go to the wrong barbecues.....but I do know what you mean....some of my neighbours' barbecues stink!

It is even worse when the burnt smoke is flooding over the fence. They covered our new garden furniture cover with white ash. Honestly I'm glad we now have a higher fence! I wish they would cook on gas like the Aussies 😂
I like a good burger, but only with high quality meat. I make my own bread buns too, because the shop ones are usually dry/unpredictable.

you don’t have burgers or sausages - most folk expect them

YABVU it’s the devil’s herb

no idea what they are using. We always used charcoal and never had an ash problem. I have got a Cobb now and use the Cobb Nuts

Could be from their makeshift open fire pit!

What?? No? I love a bit of coriander. Garlic naan, boring. Garlic & coriander naan, now that's what I'm talking about. The herb just makes it better, always sprinkle it on my curries at the end as well. I think it is a bit like marmite, you love it, or you hate it. I don't understand why though, as I don't find it particularly offensive.

It is genetic apparently - honestly it tastes like soap for me, but worse than soap. I can taste one leaf in a plate of salad. It is horrible.

It is the only plant item that I can not stand.