Do You Enjoy BBQs?

[RabbitsRock]

My family were never really into BBQs when I was growing up, although I always enjoyed barbecued food if I had it. DH & I only bought a BBQ when we moved out of his house into our own ( we’d been together 7 years by then) and it only got used for us, not for entertaining. We never get invited to BBQs either. We moved again to a house with a smaller garden. The BBQ got left out all winter & is really rusty, although it works fine. Again, it’s very rarely used. We didn’t cook anything on it last year & probably won’t during this heatwave, even though it is nice to eat al fresco. DH says he just can’t be doing with the faff & the waiting around. How about you guys?

We love them. We have a charcoal bbq and a meat thermometer, so everything is perfectly cooked.

DH used to prefer gas for BBQing, whereas I'd only ever had charcoal. The difference is enormous.

If it's just the three of us, we'll pick a carby element (usually baby potatoes/cous cous/bulgar wheat), a protein (in most cases, chicken as this is our son's favourite), and we'll usually do marinated courgettes, asparagus, and peppers, then a chopped salad. Oh and sausages, because it's the BBQ law.

If we have guests, we'll have a few carbs, maybe some pasta salad and a wider range of meats and veg.

I love having a wider range of options, but there's only so much a person can eat.

Buy a teppenyaki grill instead. That way you can all sit together and cook food at your own pace. You don't get the charcoal taste but so much more convivial.

We like a bbq but we have a nice garden in a rural area so that helps.

Why is he cleaning it? Whack it in high for 10 mins after cooking and leave it to cool, rub it down with a good quality wire brush. Deep clean every now and again, I usually do it at the end of the summer.

We had souvlakia this evening, chicken thighs on the griddle ,yum.

Yes - love it! Well, Dh does, and he's a bit of an expert. We slip into very traditional gender roles where bbqs are concerned and I prepare the salads whilst he goes all caveman over the meat.

I'm not a big fan of the boring burger and sausage bbq variety though. We had souvlaki chicken, salmon, nduja sausages, flatbreads, veg and halloumi skewers with tzatziki, Greek orzo salad and potato salad for my birthday barbecue on Saturday and it was bloody lovely. The week before was ds's birthday and we had bbq ribs, candied pork loin and corn on the cob with homemade coleslaw.

We hardly ever did bbqs when I was little (probably because i grew up in Manchester and it wasn’t particularly sunny!) but I love them. Got a Weber kettle bbq a few years ago and it’s made it all so much easier! We had a spatchcocked chicken and lamb kofte skewers at the weekend. Really really easy (used meat thermometer for the chicken and cooked over indirect heat) and just put the lamb skewers on when the chicken was done and resting.

We usually just bbq for the 4 of us though - it’s usually less straightforward when we are doing for guests as well as we’re not so used to doing larger amounts, so we tend to mess up timings more. I mean, it’s not hard, but the chatting and me getting carried away buying lots of diff things that need different cooking times throws us off. Easier now with the bigger bbq though - the last one was tiny and it was a right faff. But I can see how people are so confident in it when cooking for themselves, then it goes more wrong when you’re catering for 20.

One thing i take as personal challenge is marinade. I love creating improv marinades. We do have massive amount of spices and sauces home so it's ultra fun. We also make our own peri peri and i pimped up my shawarma one to perfection.
Fucking love summers. It's good food any time but not the same in winter.
Dh grills while i sit down with beer and/or water garden. Bliss.

For anyone moaning about having to go in and out bringing things. Big tray. Deeper one. Saves most the hassle. I even used the large oven tray few times.

I think most people mess up timings when chatting and having fun😁

For ourselves, on an "omg the sun is out, lets enjoy it " adhoc moments - love them

Having a BBQ for 20 + ? Hell on earth

Last organised BBQ I did was 11 years ago, last one I attended could have been just as long

If we have friends up on a summers day for a drink in the evening, Ill stick some wings in the air fryer for nibbles and that's it nowadays

I like BBQ's but that's because Dh is skilled, and attentive, whereas most people aren't great bbq cooks and ruin the food. You need to watch the food, flip it regularly. Many people's bbq the heat is too high, you get nigh on burnt outside undercooked inners.

We got through so many BBQs over the years. All ended up rusting in the garden !
Now we will just buy a disposable BBQ occasionally. I still always precook chicken in oven and then finish off on BBQ .

I want to love it more than i actually do. The idea always seems great at the time, but I cant stand standing in direct sun, I hate fighting off flies, I hate the constant having to go in & out the kitchen to prepare it, and the extra surfaces to clean.
I hated cooking with coals & gas its just too much faff & cleaning, but I do enjoy my ninja woodfire grill more as I have better temperature control and its a breeze to clean in comparison and food comes out so much nicer. I often cook on that even on non bbq days.
I also dont eat bbq food cooked by other people because higher chance of it not being cooked properly and its never up to my standard anyway 😂(im a chef)

We bbq sometimes just for us, other times with friends. All sorts of things get cooked on it.
We currently have a small gas one, im eyeing up a charcoal one.

I enjoy the social aspect of a BBQ, but not the food. Only nice BBQ I ever attended, they cooked us all delicious steaks.

No. We’ve never done a bbq and can’t see the point

I love bbqs, even cooked on them in the depths of winter!

Oh God, I hate these threads because I know I’m going to be googling BBQs tomorrow instead of doing something important🤣🤣

Only if the foods good. My brother does an awesome bbq. Others buying already preseasoned meat and it’s just tough shoe leather and cheap overly sweet deli salads, not so much. So sometimes, mostly no though.

I think they’re overrated

@tobee food tastes great on a gas grill but I prefer the charcoal smell personally. There’s something about it that is really nostalgic but that’s because I’ve not lived in Uk for 18 years.

reminds me of summers growing up and my dad sitting in our shed over the charcoal bbq with his apron and makeshift smoke goggles on.

We use it all the time as a second oven as it’s less washing up 😂
Asparagus, aubergine, sweet potato slices, mushrooms…. Fish, lamb, chicken…
we rarely eat outside though and usually bring it back in to eat at the table.

BBQ's are too much faff. Not for me at home

I love steak done on a BBQ & parcels of banana with chocolate & marshmallows mmm mmm!

Foil parcels that was meant to say

I don't think I've ever done sausages and burgers more than a couple of times in all the years I have been bbqing as they're not something we eat a lot of.