Laotian BBQ - Eating Like A Local In Laos
Barbecues, every country has their version. From the slow smoked briskets of the American South to the delicate, precise yakitori of Japan, everyone on earth loves some grilled meats.
Laos is no different. A Laotian Barbecue is an absolute essential dining experience when visiting this beautiful country. Available everywhere from the fanciest high-end restaurants to the humblest street side vendor, Laotian Barbecue is a fantastic, communal meal that’s perfect for sharing.
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What is a Laotian Barbecue?
Laotian Barbecue or Seen Dat (also sometimes known as Daht Seen) typically takes the form of a domed, perforated metal pan sitting over glowing hot charcoal. Resting on a clay pot, the metal griddle has a “moat” around the outside that catches all of the juices as the meat grills on the domed shaped top. This delicious jus combines in the moat with stock and vegetables to become the soup and base of the meal.
The metal grill pan is common throughout South East Asia. You can find similar (but never the same) barbecue toppers in Thailand and Cambodia. What sets these different countries' barbecues apart is always what is added to the pan. Different sauces, different cuts of meat and different soup stocks combine to make for very different barbecue experiences.
A traditional Laos BBQ grill - you can see how all the flavours just drip down the side and into the soup!
In Laos, the basic set up is simple; the pot of charcoal is rested on, or sometimes inside of, the centre of the table, then the griddle is placed on top. The moat is filled with stock and the fun begins!
You add meat, vegetables, seafood or pretty much anything edible to the grill or the soup, then cook and enjoy at your own leisure. The soup boils and the dome top fries and grills. There are no rules as to what goes where, you can boil the meat and grill the veg if you like, there’s no barbeque police to arrest you!
Each person will have their own bowl. In this they can combine their cooked meat, veg and noodles with the broth and a sweet, sharp, tangy and yet somehow savoury tamarind dipping sauce.
If you’re a vegetarian you can almost always request a vegetarian barbecue. The stock will be vegetarian and they will bring you extra vegetables, tofu and greens to saute, grill and boil. Just check with the restaurant when ordering.
What is a Laotian Barbecue like?
We have enjoyed many a fantastic barbecue in Laos, but will guide you through an especially great night we had in one of our favourite places on earth, Nong Khiaw - you can read all about this magical place here.
We had spotted a restaurant just off the town’s main street (you can find the restaurant here) offering a Laotian Barbecue for just 100,000 kip per person. This would come with meat, seafood, vegetables, noodles and a tamarind dipping sauce. Feeling this was an absolute steal, we couldn’t resist and dove in.
What followed was one of the most memorable meals we’ve eaten in Nong Khiaw (and we’ve eaten a lot)!
We were ushered to a table with a circular hole in the centre and our barbeque was assembled in front of our eyes. Glowing red charcoal filled the clay pots and our metal barbecue topper crowned the hot coals. Extra ventilation was cleverly supplied by a ring of old Beer Laos bottle tops separating the clay pot and the metal grill.
Then out came our delicious feast. The tiny table was filled with plastic baskets full of vegetables and plates of thinly sliced meat, chicken, beef, pork and what we think was buffalo was joined by ribbons of squid and whole prawns. The stock was presented in a plastic juice jug and we were ready to dine!
Our full Laotian BBQ spread - looks good doesn't it!
The first thing you learn with a Laotian barbecue is patience. You have to wait for the grill to heat up and you have to wait to cook your meats. Oil is supplied on the barbecue by a lump of pork fat, placed on the very top of the metal grill. The fat is scored to let all of its juices flow and you oil the grill by grabbing the pork fat with your tongs and spreading it all around like you’re applying piggy suncream to the metallic grill. Once lubed up, it’s time to barbeque.
We added slices of pork, beef, buffalo and chicken to the domed grill. Their juices running, mixing and mingling into the stock below, making it richer and richer with every piece added. To the stock itself we added sliced onions, carrots and courgettes. We would also quickly blanch morning glory shoots, coriander and spring onions before ladling the now rich broth into our bowls.
Small strands of glass noodles added body to the soup and when the meat was ready, we dipped it into the sharp, tamarind heavy sauce before devouring the whole lot.
Between meaty feasts we would switch it up and have seafood courses. Our prawns changing colour right in front of our eyes as they cooked on the hot metal. The squid (we never knew if we were cooking it correctly) would curl up away from the heat before quickly being pulled off of the grill, dunked into the tamarind sauce and eaten with the sweet, juicy prawns. All the while, the soup stock was getting richer, deeper and more complex.
Our sliced meat ready for the BBQ!
There’s very little on earth that is as tasty as barbecued meat. It’s got it all. The anticipation; the smells wafting through the air as it cooks, the amazing, caramelised, slightly smoky, char of the meat and the unmistakable, un-reproducable juicy deliciousness of the cooked meat.
We ate the meal piece by piece, taking our time grilling, charring, flipping and boiling each piece of our meal. It’s a lovely way to eat, it really makes an evening out of a meal. You cannot rush, you cannot overcrowd the barbecue grill and every so often, you’ll need to top up the stock or refresh the charcoal. It’s also just tremendous fun. Deciding to see if you can charcoal grill lettuce, whilst your partner attempts to stop their prawn falling off the top of the dome like it’s some kind of ‘King of the Hill’ game is just plain fun. There aren’t many meals where you should play with your food, but Laos Barbecue is one of them.
Laotian Barbecue really lends itself to conversation, you eat at your own leisure, you cook your own meal and can take it as fast or as slow as you want. If you get lost in a meandering conversation and forget about your piece of buffalo on the barbecue, it just gets a little more of that great char! It’s a meal to savour, one where the longer you take, the longer that stock bubbles and intensifies, the better the meal.
We ate our Laotian Barbecue as a couple, but this style of barbecue makes for a fantastic feast with friends. We cannot recommend seeking out a Laotian Barbecue on your Laos travels, trust us you won’t regret it!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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