Activity Review - Cooking Kebabs (BBQ)

On Monday 26th of June we had a BBQ Kebab theme with a Global taste for our CUBS.
Some weeks before a letter went out and the cubs arrived with loads of spices and herbs, massalas and marinades for their kebabs! The focus was a cooking/global program.

So the target was to base this on a meeting time of 1h 30' and to cater for the variety of cultures and vegetarian diets. If in doubt don't forget to ask those of different dietary requirements in advance for suggestions, they know best. Also ask for allergies!

Food hygiene and safety was assessed,  we also took the opportunity to pass these on to our cubs on the day. Finally this was an outdoors activity, we all know that fires are not to be lit indoors, don't we?

When we run this the excitement and the reception from our cubs was very good, still as an adult leader I felt that something was not quite right, mainly because we had only 1h 30m to run this and nothing was really safely cooked before the closing ceremony, meaning we had to give the kebabs to the cubs "takeaway" at the end of our meeting...

Our leaders worked really hard to produce and supply us with the activity and I feel we must repeat this very popular activity, a bit more improved!

So here are 10 points, I am sure there's more to add but i guess 10 is a magic number!

1. Wash hands, preparation areas and utensils.
2. Prefer Chicken, Beef and Lamb, buy in pieces or cut them in advance.
   Courgettes, onions, mushrooms and peppers are good for BBQs too.
   Check fish products, they must be well preserved, check for various diets.
   Avoid Pork and sausages for cultural or religious diets.
3. Make clear that no BBQ food is to be eaten uncooked.
   Chicken and Pork if used, must be cooked thoroughly before tasted!
4. Make clear that each meat preparation must be separate.
   e.g. no chicken and beef pieces on the same kebab stick.
   Meat must be handled one type at a time, plan ahead!
   e.g. start with beef and lamb, wash, moving to chicken, wash, pork last.
5. Prepare a strong fire, preferable on small disposable BBQs Small BBQs keep cooking time to a minimum. Have one BBQ per Food Type to avoid cross contamination i.e. avoid one per six. 
6. Cook meat separately from vegetables/vegetarian food, it is also a cultural need.
7. Add a challenge to light the fire with 1 match or a light steel!
8. Add a global twist with marinades and spices we can prepare the food with.
9. Have a team to prepare the salad and the dips, sides etc.
10. Work out a rota for washing up, drying up, cleaning up, gathering rubbish etc.

We decided as a team to undertake the cost of the BBQ, most of us turn up at the HQ straight from work and school and we are always hungry, scouts are always hungry!

The cost was £2.50p per leader (i am not saying how many leaders and cubs, it was proportional) but we did not have small disposable BBQs, we had a big one and it was a squeeze to cook around, the fire was too weak and the grill had mixed food with all sorts, not the best set-up but it kinda worked at the end.

Last, don't forget the dessert, marshmallows and fruit kebabs are instant gratification! they are consumed even before they find themselves stacked on skewers!

So as I said this is not an exhaustive list, if you thought of a point I forgot to make then this blog did it's job!
Ah yes, here's one, where there's fire, there's a bucket of water nearby! Right?