Kitted out

COOKING WITH CHARCOAL

Add charcoal briquettes to a charcoal chimney starter (see page 46). Place lighter cubes on your barbecue grate and set them on fire. Place the chimney starter over the cubes and wait for the flames to reach the coals at the top. Once you reach this stage, the briquettes are ready for use. Immediately remove the chimney starter from the grate, set the grate aside and carefully turn the briquettes into the grill. Replace the grate.

IN THE ZONE

While barbecuing could bring out your inner caveman, it’s a good idea to learn a thing or two about controlling heat before you get down to cooking. Create two cooking zones on your grill – one for direct heat and another for indirect heat. Arrange the red-hot coals to one side of the grill using tongs to make a high-heat zone perfect for achieving grill marks and caramelising. The cooler zone, with fewer coals, is best for items that require longer periods of cooking.

COOKING OVER THE RIGHT HEAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE

High Heat

Arrange the red-hot coals to one side of the grill, ensuring you create hot and cool zones in your barbecue (see In the Zone). High heat is ideal for caramelising meat on the outside while keeping it rare or medium-rare on the inside.

Perfect for: T-bone steaks, burgers, racks of lamb, corn and squash.

Medium Heat

Around 20-25 minutes in, the coals will be the optimum temperature to cook thicker cuts of meat or whole fish, as well as fruits with high sugar content and more delicate vegetables that would otherwise burn.

Perfect for: Drumsticks, chops, kebabs, spring onions and melons.

Low Heat

By this stage, at about the 45-minute mark, you can put whole vegetables with thick skins directly on the coals, turning every now and then until they are cooked through. If required, you could wrap the food in aluminium foil.

Perfect for: Whole potatoes, aubergines, carrots and whole garlic

WHY WOOD IS GOOD

Cooking over a wood fire is essentially going back to the roots of cooking. Did you know different flavours can be extracted from various types of wood? For example, olive wood is ideal for grilling and smoking and it infuses your meat with fine, aromatic flavours; oak is an all-rounder, offering a mid-range flavour and adding a mahogany colour to the meat as it is smoked; birch is slightly heavier and works well with fish. With its extremely low moisture content, Spinneys Sekelbos Hardwood gives a long-lasting and intense heat that’s perfect For the barbecue.

Lumpwood charcoal is made by burning wood very slowly without any oxygen present, burning away all of the water and other contaminating substances until pure carbon remains. It lights a lot more quickly than briquettes and also burns hotter. Iproduces high heat and adds a pleasant smokiness to your grills – ideal for quick sears and large BBQs.