I don't understand the appeal of the BBQ

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There, I've said it.

I understand that it's an excuse for day drinking and being outdoors with friends on a nice day. I get that bit. But why does the food have to be cooked over a fire? Someone has to stand over a fire on the hottest day of the year.

It's not even easy. Cleaning the grill is worse than any washing up, you can't have all the food ready at once and there's all the "bits" that have to go with it.

I'm sure BBQs weren't a thing when I was young in the 1970s, but maybe that was just my family. We'd have similar gatherings, but they'd be a picnic or picnic type food in the garden.

I still think that's much nicer and for any summer entertaining at our house, it will be an afternoon tea type spread in the garden. Just me? Do my friends (who always make appreciative noises) think I'm weird not to fire up the barbie for outdoor entertaining?

We love it - it's part of our DNA though, pretty much!

DH is a past master of the bbq, and he is loving his Weber coal - we pay premium for top quality fuel, which helps, because the smoke smells good, rather than of lighter fuel.

We love doing the salads and veges, as well as far too large a range of fish and meat, and have the claim to fame of having had left overs with a notorious bottomless pit of a guest in attendance.

We serve buffet style, and everyone helps themselves, and sorts themselves out. First in, best dressed.

We don't use paper plates etc, why would we? We just bung the washing in the dishwasher, same as we do when we eat inside.

We’re crap at it. Last week we acknowledged we are crap and gave it away (DH nearly gave the gas bottle away too) so now someone who needed one has one and there is nothing outside reminding us that we are failed BBQers.

We love ours, it’s a gas eight burner and yes it gets very very hot. It smells awesome and in terms of timing, you put the things that will take the longest on first, pretty standard stuff. Cleaning it is easy, everything is cooked on cast iron rack or plate basically , and I often throw them through the dishwasher and also use those silicone sheets.

For timing, things like sausages, mushrooms go on first, then add burgers, steak etc, then chicken or lab skewers, asparagus, and then sea food last. There’s also a huge rack above the grill which you can put food when it’s ready and it stays hot. Then put it all in big serving plates and you’re good to go.

It's a lot of fannying around.

I guess the upside is it gets men cooking a meal. But then the downsides - wasps, salmonella, conversations about marinades, that awkwardness of everyone pretending we're an outdoor nation when we're not - outweigh that, on balance.

Well I'm not surprised some of you don't like it your bbq 's sound crap. Paper plates, plastic cutley unhealthy food?. You can't beat a slow cooked brisket or ribs. Grilled salmon & veggies. Chard corn etc. We also have a big burner my Dh cooks all his curries on & lobster in the pot. Easy to clean, quick tasty easy healthy. Y'all are doing bbq wrong.

'love bbq, the food cooked over charcoal tastes amazing, you can't achieve the same results with any other methods. Cleaning takes 15 min if you know what you are doing and I actually enjoy the process of cooking as well.
As people say each to their own.. Your idea of afternoon tea in the garden sounds utterly boring to me. I don't understand any appeal of the scones and cucumber sandwiches, but I am sure other people enjoy them.'

Yes this ^ completely agree. The best burgers I've had have been cooked on a bbq; they taste so much better. I think people get put off perhaps when they got to bad bbq's at peoples houses who don't know what they're doing.

The thing is a lot of bbqs you are a guest elsewhere and the bigger the event, the less likely you are to get some beautiful slow cooked brisket or grilled salmon and more likely to get a paper plate with a chared sausage.

BBQs are popular because it is mostly men in charge of the cooking performance.

@veeeeh yeah that must be it . What a pathetic comment

@Carycy

I kind of agree. My DH isn’t into BBQs and refuses to get one. I get that it’s a faff. However this inevitably leads to me having to sort out the food situation when we have people round for garden type party. I do that every other day of the week. Meanwhile he just gets to chill. So I am rather envious of friends whose partners are big on BBQing.

I don't understand, I obviously get that he doesn't like bbqs but why does that mean he has zero responsibility for providing food for your guests?!

It is a bit of a faff but a good barbecue is worth it. A lot of these sound like bad barbecues - certainly the food is not guaranteed “unhealthy” - chicken, steak, veg kebabs, fish? It doesn’t have to be cheap greasy burgers!

Also don’t barbecue on the hottest days

I got out of the habit of barbecuing when I lived in a flat but now I have a house and garden again, it’s great.

They are a PITA aren't they? And you (or more often, the neighbours) have one when it's hot outside and you have the upstairs windows open, so all the smoke and cooking smells find their way indoors. Getting everything ready at once is nigh on impossible, half of it is black on the outside and raw inside, and it's just too much effort.

I'm not a big fan either as find have to use kitchen also ... So as easy just cook inside.
Only time I have found BBQ dinner being nice, worth it ect was when just me and husband no pressure of hungry people (worse children) waiting to be fed.
My husband likes to do cooking on BBq but he is not good at multitasking so would have meat cooked but no burger buns or salad ready. He also errs on side of caution and over cooks
We live in a coastal place in Ireland weather not often favourable for BBQ winds could have ember's causing damage and sudden rain downpour puts end to outdoor dining

I don't get bbqs either, don't enjoy them at all! My mum will do lovely fancy food on the bbq as is a wonderful cook but I still don't really enjoy it and find it all a faff

@fantastaballs

I cook on charcoal, so I don't cook over flames. I cook over the residual heat of the coals and I proper bbq in a drum with a temperature Probe etc. I don't pre cook anything as I know what I can cook, how long it takes and have a charcoal starter to top up the coals should they be needed. I also smoke my own food. Contrary to what you say, I don't see bbq asa chore. My grill is incredibly easy to clean with a C wire brush and I have liners to remove ash. It's a 3-5 minute job.

And nothing compares to a slow cooked brisket. The depth of flavour is amazing. I do fabulous cherry smoked ribs too. And Thai chicken wings and honey and mustard sausages. Even cooking burgers, they have to be hand made burgers with an excellent quality mince. I make all my own sides. I have an outdoor kitchen that is under cover. I don't just churn out charred smart price burgers and semi frozen salmonella chicken.

Exactly right! Nothing beats decent bbq, but crap charred cheapest sausages? Nope!

If you haven’t already I recommend Turner & George - amazing burgers, and the butchers dogs are the best things ever

DH loved a bbq (before giving up meat) and had all the gear, did courses, was absolutely obsessed with it. The thing is, nothing imo tastes better when cooked on a bbq. So it’s really only about the cooking outside / fire / social aspect of it, all of which is more faff than doing it in kitchen with everything to hand.
You’re also really limited in what can be cooked on it - I know you can do loads, and we have, but there’s absolutely no advantage to doing it in the kitchen. And all of the extras and side dishes DO have to be prepared inside, making it almost completely pointless.
We’ve not had a single bbq since he stopped eating meat and none of us has missed it at all.

Any vegatarians who like them? Be great to know what you cook. I find them boring.

@MildredPuppy

The thing is a lot of bbqs you are a guest elsewhere and the bigger the event, the less likely you are to get some beautiful slow cooked brisket or grilled salmon and more likely to get a paper plate with a chared sausage.

When we bbq there is usually about eight of us, maybe ten. No paper plates or plastic cutlery in that size setting. Same as our friends. We’ve also done as small as just the three of us. In fact we did steaks on it for just thr three of us recently when it was warm

We did one for our friends a couple of weeks ago during the hot spell, there were eight of us.

I did the baked potatoes in the oven in advance, made a huge salad up, got three different types of coleslaw, cheese, deli and burger slaw, We cooked Marks and Sparks quarter pounders, with their cheese melts on top, garlic chicken skewers, chorizo sausages, asparagus, mushrooms and onions, all done on the bbq, was delicious, all ready at the same time, nothing was burnt. And the smell from the onions, chorizo and burgers was awesome.

We have done a bbq for about forty people, but in reality I cooked the majority of the food inside, the chicken, sausages etc, so we just did the burgers on the bbq and we did use plastic cutlery, but those bamboo plates as they are solid.

I got a lotus grill so I could BBQ just for myself I don’t want to live off salad all summer long, I like a nice bit of grilled meat or fish. It’s so much more comfortable to sit outside and just stick it on the grill rather than having to stand in a hot kitchen, cooking on a hot stove. DD and/or DS (adults) sometimes join me. But I will often just make my dinner that way. That particular BBQ doesn’t really make any smoke either so not annoying the neighbours! It’s nice, summer evening, cold glass of something and just relaxing.

I quite like bbq food (don't eat meat though) but I agree - too much faff.

I'm not keen on eating outside either if there's the option to eat inside. Sit out with a glass? Yep! Eat a meal - why?

Well i dont think ive ever been invited to yours @Bluntness100 .

@NebulaStorm

Any vegatarians who like them? Be great to know what you cook. I find them boring.

We don’t eat a lot of meat and DD is vegetarian We have large flat garlic mushrooms, Halloumi kebabs, whole feta with Chermoula wrapped in foil, green salad, tomato salad, French bread, corn on the cob, whole peppers, cauliflower steaks in Indian spices and yoghurt, aubergine wedges

Any vegatarians who like them? Be great to know what you cook. I find them boring

Not vego but we do veg skewers (Spanish onion, zucchini, cherry tomato, capsicum) basted in a sweet chilli sauce. Also large flat mushrooms with garlic butter. Corn on the cob. Potato cut into chips with Italian seasoning. We also have a side wok burner where we do stir fry veg, mainly mixed greens with a bit of garlic and soy.

No idea what everyone is talking about here with the crap food, paper plates and odd cleaning routines that seem to take more than 10mins. Having said that I grew up with a bbq at least once a week on the weekend. Back in the day our parents made makeshift ones with cinder blocks and grills, not the huge gas BBQ’s we all have nowadays. Also back in the day (40 years ago) it was pretty much only sausage. That’s long gone, now it’s rotisserie chicken, fish as well as marinated meats. I do pizza on the bbq once a week on pizza stones and under the hoods, works a treat.

We detest bbq's and generally eating outside. They are anti-social to your neighbours, smokey and smelly. It is never comfortable eating outside, generally hard chairs, a table if you are lucky, and insects galore. The weather is always too hot or too cold, and the food disappointing.

I much prefer cooking and eating inside. It's often much cooler and easier that way, and certainly more comfortable.

@MildredPuppy

Well i dont think ive ever been invited to yours *@Bluntness100* .

You’re more than welcome. The more the merrier, 😃

@BigWoollyJumpers

We detest bbq's and generally eating outside. They are anti-social to your neighbours, smokey and smelly. It is never comfortable eating outside, generally hard chairs, a table if you are lucky, and insects galore. The weather is always too hot or too cold, and the food disappointing.

I much prefer cooking and eating inside. It's often much cooler and easier that way, and certainly more comfortable.

Well my neighbours are quite distant so not an issue for them Smokey and smelly, yes to a certain extent, but just the normal of food cooking and the smell is divine, The garden furniture is cushioned and extremely comfortable. We have a gazebo so people are in the shade if they wish. We don’t eat out if it’s cold. Never had an insect issue, but guess that’s location dependent.😃