Chicken and Pork BBQ (Pinoy style)

Every working Pinoy or even high school/college student probably has been exposed to the wonderful flavor of Pinoy-style BBQ. Merienda or lunch, it never fails to satisfy our tummy. The vendor who has the yummiest marinade can be guaranteed of income that will rival that of a blue- or even white-collared job in the Philippines, as long as he/she has the perfect spot - usually near schools or wet markets.

I was working with a nurse before, whose husband was laid off, and turned to selling lunch at work for extra income. We loved their BBQ. I, being a working mother then, did not have much experience in cooking save for the usual sautee, boil, fry, with my specialties being the leche flan and lumpia. I asked for their recipe for their BBQ, because back then I would only marinade mine in adobo mixture then grill...not achieving the results I wanted. Since I was already about to leave the Philippines, she told me what she did with the adobo marinade: add ketchup, sugar and 7-up. No recipes, really, but I had that in mind.

The closes recipe I saw online was that of ut-man's chicken BBQ, and with addition of some ingredients, here is now my recipe...

Ingredients and Instructions:
Meat (chicken or pork for me; about 2 kilos), marinated overnight or up to 3 days.

Marinade (amount of spices depends on your taste preference):
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup 7-UP
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 head garlic, crushed
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp freshly milled black pepper
5 bay leaves
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional; I wanted a slight kick in my BBQ)

For grilling:
Mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with 1/2 cup cold water.
Drain the meats and reserve the marinade. Boil the marinade and add the cornstarch/water mixture gradually to thicken the sauce. This makes it easier to stick to the meat when basting while grilling.
Grill the meats on one side until the surface is dry on that side. Turn over and baste with the boiled marinade. Do the same on the other side. Repeatedly do this until the meat is done.

Simple and yummily Pinoy!