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Barbecues are Great Fun, I Don’t Know Anyone Who Doesn’t Like Them.

By Flower | February 22, 2009

barbecues are great fun, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like them. The warm breeze on your face, sausages sizzling on the charcoal together with a nice glass of pimms.

Who could ask for anything more!

There are however some rules you should follow to guarantee everything goes smoothly. The last thing you want is the day spoiled because of an injury or some such thing. Keeping to a few simple guidelines will ensure that any excitement is of a positive kind!

Getting the barbecue lit can usually be relied upon to set the pulse running for more than one reason. Once lit make sure you set aside enough time for the barbecue to reach it’s optimum cooking temperature. Be sure you take that into account.

If you’ve got a gas or electric barbecue to lighting process is whole lot easier, so long as you’ve got enough Gas in the bottle. People who opt for Gas or electric usually cite this as the main reason for their choice of barbecue.

If you are using charcoal it’s very easy to be seduced by that bottle of lighter fluid when the charcoal won’t take but I’d advise against it. It’ll get onto the food and give it a rotten taste. I know this because I’ve done it often. But if your partner has got you running to call the Fire Service because of their over zealous use of the demon fluid I’d suggest you let the thing burn for at least 30 minutes and this will get rid of any unpalatable odour.

For something that will really impress your guests I’d go for cooking over wood chips. If you have been impressing your guests for some time you in all likelihood already knew that. For those that aren’t so experienced, there’s nothing beats that gorgeous flavour associated with cooking over wood chips. Using BBQ wood chips will take you to the next level of barbecuing. Whether you have an electric, gas or charcoal BBQ you can add wood chips to get an authentic barbecue flavour

To get the best effect and flavours the wood chips need to burn slowly and you can achieve this by soaking them for 15-20 minutes before they’re needed. You ideally want your wood chips damp but not soaking.

With masses of flavours to choose from you can pick out one that will just meet your needs. Try matching lighter wood chips with lighter food. Cherry fruitwoods go great with veal poultry and pork, Alder Wood is great with seafood. The stronger flavours of maple and hickory are best suited to Lamb and duck and possibly poultry too.

But remember it’s all about the food. Make sure you get the best you can afford for your guests. They’ll love you for it.