Picnic barbecue
An informal and popular
A picnic barbecue is such fun. Sunshine makes us all feel more relaxed and firing up a barbecue is a great way to feed friends. |
Entertaining becomes more laid back when you throw an outside party with yummy barbecue recipes.
It’s much easier to get together with friends too, because everyone wants to be outside, chilling out in the warm weather (isn’t English a funny language?!) and catch up.
Having a picnic barbecue party in the garden or taking a portable bbq along on a picnic, does tend to make the preparation a little easier because most of the cooking can be done while you’re lounging around outside.
The back garden is a favourite spot for a picnic barbecue and the equipment is easy to put together. A few bricks and some unwanted oven grill racks will do the trick, although most of us these days go for the convenience of buying a ready-made one.
Personally I much prefer the more primitive experience of grilling over embers. I appreciate that you can achieve some char-grilled smokiness with gas, but charcoal still seems to give a more intense, smoky and appetising aroma both to the food and the surrounding air.
This is not always practical on a picnic of course. You don’t want to have to carry bags of charcoal in your backpack!
| N.B. In Canada and the USA gas barbecues are used much more frequently than here in the UK. On my friend Mike's excellent Gas Grill Review site you can check them all out. The one he seems most excited about at present is the Bubba Keg Grill which is modeled after ceramic cookers like the Big Green Egg, the Primo or the Kamado but far less expensive. |
Light the barbecue a good half hour before you intend to start cooking so that you grill over hot, glowing embers and not flames. If the odd flame does spring up, because of fat from the food or excess marinade, then a plastic spray bottle (one you use for spraying plants for example) will help extinguish the flames.
Use a firelighter or two among the charcoal or sprinkle lighting gel over it and allow it to soak in well before lighting. Then wait for the flames to die down and don’t start to cook too soon or the embers will be too hot (You should be able to hold your hand just above them for about 5 seconds) and your food will burn, which is not safe grilling practice. Cooking meat at a lower temperature is better for your health.
Some friends gave us a good tip last year – line the bottom of the BBQ with a double sheet of aluminium foil before putting in the charcoal. This may speed up the lighting process and it also makes it much easier to clean out the thing at the end of the meal!
Cooking utensils should be as long-handled as possible and have some thick oven gloves to hand as well. Keep a bucket of water handy in case of accidents and damp down the cinders when you've finished cooking.
The aroma of barbequed food, and the smoke wafting through the air, stimulates the taste buds. With a glass of wine or a long cool drink, the fat shiny sausages or hamburgers taste so much better when you eat alfresco at a picnic barbecue!
The traditional grilled foods such as those sausages,hamburgers and chicken drumsticks will always remain al fresco favourites. However, with a little additional effort many imaginative and unusual dishes can be created.
I will continue to add suggestions for
picnic food and salads,
sauces and
healthy dips
to accompany the main courses, so please add this site to your favourites, or RSS Feed (see how under nav bar). Thanks.
You might find some BBQ bargains now at our auction!
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