Cooking Food Bbq

How to Be a Successful Barbecue Cook

Summer is well and truly here. We are spending our days and evenings outside instead of indoors as we make the most of the good weather. 'Salad days' are back again but in today's society the phrase 'barbecue evenings' appears more apt.

 

Many people however worry about whether they would be able to cook their food on the barbecue with any degree of success. Let me assure you that BBQ cooking is no more difficult than kitchen cooking, so anyone who can successfully cook in the kitchen can successfully cook on a barbecue. However you will need to pay a little more attention for most things you choose to cook this way.

A barbecue is effectively a grill, but uses fire-based heat or flames to grill your food. Unfortunately most barbecues, whether gas or traditional charcoal, do tend to give off vast amounts of heat which sometimes results in cooking the food quickly; fine for burgers but not so good for thicker foods which will end up being burned on the outside but still raw in the centre.

The easy way around this is to cook your thicker foods, such as thick sausages and chicken legs in the kitchen oven, under the kitchen grill or in the microwave first and then finish them off on the barbecue.

One of the attractions of BBQ cooked food is the smoked and burned (or should I say 'flame grilled') taste, this is fine if cooked thoroughly through and not left raw in the centre. Apart from that any raw or uncooked meat is not going to do you or your guests much good and is more likely to leave everybody feeling ill.

However some thicker things will cook entirely on the barbecue if you follow the right procedure. Here I need to split barbecues into two main categories; traditional charcoal and gas.

With the traditional charcoal BBQ the cook has no control whatsoever over the heat produced, but with any of the more modern gas fuelled barbecues the heat produced works just like a kitchen hob or grill. So to use either of the two above examples to cook different types of food you will need to use the procedure I am going to tell you about below.

Any flat foods (burgers, grill-steaks, chops etc.) will be fine cooked entirely on the barbecue, but with the thicker grill-steaks and chops etc. you will need to cut the heat by raising the griddle or grilling shelf on a charcoal BBQ or turning down the heat on a gas barbecue. OK it will take longer to cook your food but is more likely to cook it thoroughly, or of course you could cook it in the kitchen first and finish it off on the BBQ. Thin food like burgers or thin sausages will be fine on a high heat, but thick sausages will need the same procedure as thick grill-steaks or chops.

Chicken portions and any other larger and thicker foods really need to pre-cook in the kitchen first and then finished off on the barbecue to make the smoked and burned (I mean 'flame grilled') taste desired.

Be sure to cook everything thoroughly and you'll not go far wrong; but if you are the cook then try not to drink too much beer until after you have finished the cooking.

Be safe and enjoy yourselves!

About the Author

More food related stuff on my British food blog at http://www.BritishBellyBusters.wordpress.com/

Pete D Etheridge

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