The Art Of Cooking On A Barbecue-part one

There is no area of cooking more poorly understood or maligned than Barbecuing.  If you’re a reader who has only experienced the horrid charred remains of your neighbour’s BBQ please I implore you to read on. Barbecue cookery is simply cooking any type of food outdoors. The reason it is so often done so poorly is because the “chef” I use the word loosely does not understand the importance of heat control. Firstly men who rarely if ever cook indoors do an awful lot of barbecuing. But for some reason because this form of cooking is done in the garden it seems to fall into his domain, perhaps harking back to our caveman roots?  Basically, there are two methods of barbecue cookery, direct cooking and indirect. This explanation refers to charcoal grills, later in the article I will go over the same principles using gas.

Direct Method Image a rectangular BBQ grill, fill one-third of it with a high stack of charcoal, the middle third with a medium stack of charcoal and the final third leave empty. So you have created 3 heat zones…High…medium…and low (the empty third will get sufficient radiated heat. Now you have 3 heat zones you will have much more control and your confidence will grow so you can be more adventurous in what you cook (I have even baked a cheesecake on the Barbie). If your barbecue is round then think of a pie chart and again divide your grill into thirds (see photo).

Direct method bbq © Kevin Ashton 2015

Indirect Method To be able to cook using the indirect method your barbecue needs to have a lid. Again image a rectangular BBQ, this time placing equal (medium amounts) of charcoal at either end. In the middle place a disposable aluminium roasting tray, ideally one that fills one-third of the space. This will be your drip tray to prevent a flare up. Once your coals are tempered (which takes about 35 minutes) then you can place a joint of meat (say a shoulder of lamb or a whole chicken) and cook it without burning. You first need to rub some kind of oil and season the meat or you can marinate the meat beforehand to add interesting flavours and textures. By closing the lid to your barbecue, you are creating an oven and you will need to baste the meat from time to time ( the same as you would if you were roasting the meat in your oven. Cooked lovingly over coals will add a delicious slight smoky flavour to the meat.

Indirect method bbq © Kevin Ashton 2015

Gas Grills Both indirect and direct cooking methods can be done on a gas grill, using the same principles. For direct cooking on gas to ideally you need 3 gas jets to replicate 3 heat zones. Having 1 set on high, 1 set on medium and 1 set on very low or off. When using the indirect method on gas you, of course, leave the middle gas jet off, also make sure that the disposable drip tray prevents fat getting into the turned off gas jet.

Don’t Forget The Vegetarians If you have more that 9 guests coming to your barbecue the chances are at least one or two of them will be vegetarians…so let’s not forget them. To respect their wishes I usually cook all the vegetarian dishes first, then there can be no question that their veggies were cooked next to the meat etc.

Too often the food offered to vegetarian guests are an embarrassed afterthought, but they don’t have to be.  Don’t just make up a few vegetable skewers  offered with a store bought dip, be a bit more adventurous!

One of the most popular veggie dishes I cook is a Warm Grilled Mediterranean Vegetable Salad, comprised  of courgettes, aubergines, red and yellow peppers, red onions, vine ripe tomatoes and grilled garlic. I dress the salad with a good quality extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar…. finishing the dish with roughly chopped fresh basil and torn pieces of mozzarella cheese.

Desserts When cooked quickly on a clean grill the combination of fresh warm fruit, very cold homemade vanilla ice cream washed down with a glass of dry champagne takes some beating.

In Summary There is a whole world of outdoor cookery that can intrigue and delight your senses once you have mastered the basics. Recreate those Mediterranean memories of azure blue waters, the fishermen landing their catch…sardines straight on the grill. Perhaps a shoulder of local spring lamb studded with rosemary and garlic as the sun begins to dip on the horizon.

Lots of other tips and tricks tomorrow in part 2

My barbecue videos on my YouTube Channel