5 Hacks for the Best Barbecue

A perfect barbecue is a work of art, no matter how simple this process seems at first. Choosing the right meat, finding the best grill and combining the spices in the most delicious way possible requires a lot of skills and experience. Luckily, some things can help you tackle this delightful task more skilfully, so here are seven hacks that will make your barbecue outstanding.

Get Great Meat

A number of world-famous chefs will tell you that the key to an amazing barbecue is the choice of meat, so you have to make sure you do it properly. Opting for one steak over another is challenging if you don’t know what you’re doing, so learn how to pick the right cut as soon as possible. Generally speaking, cuts with a decent amount of fat work best on the barbecue.

Burgers and sausages are popular favourites in the UK, but don’t limit yourself. Steaks, chops, ribs and even roasting joints are all amazing when cooked over charcoal.

Not sure what to pick? Why not check out our preselected Organic Barbecue Meat Box.

Add Great Flavour

Once you find the perfect piece of meat, it’s time to season and marinade it. Some sage, thyme or rosemary will do the trick and turn your meat into something remarkable, especially if you let it marinade overnight.

Rubbing the fat with rock salt will help it crisp up and really enhance the flavour.

Burn Baby Burn

Starting and controlling your fire can be tricky, especially here in the UK where we don’t get much good barbecue weather to practice!

A good tip to get your fire going without using any unpleasant chemical fuels is an old egg box.

Tip your charcoal into your bbq, but leaving a space in the centre.

Put lumps of charcoal inside an egg box, one in each space, and place in the hole in the centre of the bbq.

Light the corner of the egg box, and as it burns, it will ignite the charcoal inside, which in turn will spread to the rest of the bbq.

Make sure you light your barbecue well in advance. You should not be cooking over flames, but rather over the white embers that remain after the flames have died down.

Cooking over flames will result in meat burnt on the outside, raw in the middle – not a good result!

A good tip from an Argentinian friend of mine is to open a bottle of wine when you light the fire. When you’ve finished the bottle, it’s time to put the meat on the coals. (Though perhaps Argentinians drink at a slower pace that the Brits…)

What About Some Veggies?

At the barbecue the meat is the star of the show, but don’t forget the importance of some good supporting actors – add some vegetables to the mix! Veggies complement our highly nutritious pasture raised meat by adding fibre and water soluble vitamins.

Take some aubergines and peppers, smother in olive oil and salt, then place on the bbq whole. Once they are blackened and totally soft, peel off the skin and shred with a fork, serving with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.

Or Some Fish?

Fish is another great variation to make your barbecue stand out from the rest.

Tuna steaks and salmon fillets are pretty safe options. Don’t put them directly onto the grill. Place a sheet of tinfoil with slices of lemon on top first and lay the fish on top of this. Remember, fish cooks much quicker than meat, so don’t over cook them.