We finally got to use the new barbecue grill/station we had constructed at the beach and it worked brilliantly! We cooked dishes in palayoks, on the cast iron grates and in cast iron pans (didn’t get to a planned paella but will do that the next time). The “real” fire bricks take some time to heat up (read: more wood or coals) but once they are hot provide a long radiant heat that is terrific for some barbecued dishes.
The coals (you can’t see them well) sit on two levels of grates, so you can have high heat, and medium heat, moving meat from the searing section to the cooking section. The thick cement sides insulate cooks from the intense heat.
I am happy we decided to go with a less cumbersome to make and maintain grill than a full-on pizza oven as a starter project… I can dream up lots of things to cook on this set-up. But someday, I still want a properly constructed real fire-brick oven to make roasted lechon de leches, pizzas, bread and other slow-cooked dishes.
If you were attentive and got this far in this post, then you would know that perhaps, just perhaps, we are going to go ahead with that mini-eyeball at the beach for MM eyeball regulars… and I plan to have a contest on this website to find 3-4 readers who may want to drive out and join us for a barbecue near the beach in Nasugbu sometime in early June. Not sure about the details yet, but stay tuned if you want to possibly participate. There is a group of say a dozen or more folks who met through marketmanila and who stay in touch and meet up 1-2x a year and they plan to come to the beach for the day, and with Gejo bringing farm produce from Malipayon farms and Nacho bringing stuff from Toscana Farms, along with seafood I buy at the Nasugbu market, it promises to be a rather simple but filling lunch where all present must toil at the grill or kitchen to bring the whole meal together. Maybe a boneless lechon, maybe a paella or two, some grilled seafood, some wonderful salads, and whatever else we manage to make that day… :)
31 Responses
Hoping to join Marketman! Im so giddy just thinking about it.
Mouthwatering! Roasted peppers? I so loved them! I hope I win and get invited! :)
Hi MM – i hope I can come :) I can bring a big palayok of my sinaing na tulingan version! :). Will stay tuned for your announcement. Happy Easter to you and the family! :)
Cool! I would love to come and try all the delicious food but I think I would be too shy :)
I’m game! Love that grill.
I’m similarly obsessed with grills! Hope one day to make something like yours Marketman!
So excited for this! Hope I win a spot : )
Hope I can win a spot too even if I’m based in Cebu! Exciting! :=)
it’s my birthday in june so to let me join in nasugbu will be the best gift .
Would want to be part of the lucky ones that can view the new grill up close and see you and the other marketmanila readers….I will bring the homemade bagoong for the manggang hilaw…and the flowers for your table :-)
Excited and feeling very fortunate and grateful!
Those grills are really neat. Are they the Weber grills at 12 k each (whew!), or did you have them custom-made?
I would love to be a part of that eyeball MM. Hope it will be done on a weekend. :)
Gej, the grill station was custom made, actual cast iron grills are purchased from a restaurant place in Cebu.
How lucky for those privileged few who will get invited to this eyeball. They’re guaranteed good food and top notch entertaining from the man himself. That boneless lechon is the nearest we Metro Manila folks will get to Zubuchon outside of flying directly to Cebu.
Grill looks really heavy duty! ang laki ng grill marks!
I wish I get to eyeball with the group. I really do. How I’d love to try out the grill. Am willing to bring a few slabs of steak and bottles of wine if I get invited. (wink wink) ha ha ha ha
Oh my goodness. I want to join the EB! I missed the one in Cebu too….
By the way MM, when you said Nasubu, that’s in Batangas?
Sorry Hershey, auto spell check is driving me nuts… Nasugbu, Batangas.
I’m over the moon at being invited! I will try to bring as much variety as possible. MM despite having given up on the Weber grills, I notice you still use the Weber tongs.
Nacho, I love Weber, except at the beach where they rust too quickly with the salty air… And yes, sharp eyes on the tongs. We still have two Weber’s in the city. :)
hi marketman,, im from davao and im an avid follower of your blog!. id sure like to know which store you purchased those cast iron grill grates in cebu and if you have a contact no. ..Ive been trying to buy those for a while now but i just don’t know where…Thank you and may you continue to be blessed with abundant blessings in wealth and in health ! 09332066888
onix, I am pretty sure we got them at MR Metal or Cebu Metal (same company) and they have a CDO office if that works better for you. Contact details, here.
I wanna join the eyeball! sa Batangas lang pala!! woohoo!
Wow I want to join the eyeball too :-)
I agree with you MM, I have two Webers myself, both are charcoal grills, since gas grills just won’t do.
Aaaargh MM…if only Batangas was just a few hours drive away from Dumaguete…sigh :(
Uyab and I will ride out to Nasugbu for an eyeball. On two wheels. Please? =D
Sounds exciting MM! As you can see by my name I’m a BBQ fanatic, even built my own steel BBQ/Smoker big enough to put a whole lechon in it and the spit is electrically powered, rotates slowly for a perfectly cooked pig.
I can cook about 15 whole (halfed) chickens in it along with several pork butt roasts and the lechon.
Forgot to tell you, it is also mounted on wheels and is pulled behind my Van when I cater Events and Festivals, that’s my job here, I’m the owner of The Original Seattle Cheese Steak Co.
thank you very much MarketMan for the info about the cast iron grille.. ! il contact them soonest ! If you need anything from davao il be glad to reciprocate!
yey EB!