Barbecuing

The two meanings

Direct grilling

Food over the coals. Fierce heat, minutes not hours. Burgers, sausages, chops, prawns, vegetables.

True barbecue

Food beside the coals, lid on, for hours. Low heat and smoke. Brisket, pork shoulder, ribs.

The equipment

The same kettle can do both. What changes is where the coals go and whether the lid is on.

The failure

Trying to cook a thick joint over direct heat. It burns outside and stays raw inside — the single most common barbecue disappointment.

Safety

Cooking temperatures, times and storage windows for meat, poultry, fish and reheated food are food-safety matters rather than culinary ones. Follow current Food Standards Agency guidance rather than a recipe timing.

Setting up a two-zone fire

The single most useful thing anybody can learn about a barbecue.

1. Light the charcoal and let it burn until it is covered in grey ash. Cooking over flames deposits soot and burns the outside.
2. Rake all the coals to one side of the grill, leaving the other half empty.
3. You now have a hot direct zone over the coals and a cooler indirect zone beside them.
4. Sear food over the direct side, then move it to the indirect side to finish through without burning.
5. Put the lid on when food is on the indirect side. The lid turns the barbecue into an oven and is what makes indirect cooking work at all.
6. Use the vents to control the heat: more air is hotter, less air is cooler. Close them to put the fire out at the end.
7. Keep a clear space to move food to if something flares up.

What goes wrong

• Cooking over flames rather than embers. Wait for grey ash. Flames deposit soot and burn.
• Everything over direct heat. Thick cuts need the indirect side to finish.
• Flare-ups from dripping fat. Move the food to the indirect side rather than squirting water, which raises ash.
• The lid left off. Without it there is no indirect cooking and no smoke.
• Sauce applied too early. Sugary barbecue sauces burn. Brush them on in the last few minutes.
• Poking and turning constantly, which prevents any crust forming.
• Judging doneness by the outside. A charred exterior says nothing about the inside; follow food-safety guidance for meat.

Getting smoke into food

• Wood chunks rather than chips on a charcoal fire — chips burn away in minutes.
• Soaking wood is largely pointless. Wet wood steams first and then burns; it does not smoulder for longer in any useful way.
• Smoke sticks to cool, damp surfaces. Most of the smoke flavour is taken up early, so put wood on at the start rather than at the end.
• A little goes a long way. Over-smoked food tastes acrid and ashy.
• Different woods differ — oak and beech are mild, hickory and mesquite are strong, fruit woods are sweet and gentle.
• A gas barbecue can take a smoker box, and will never taste the same as charcoal.

Common questions