Better barbecues

[Betterbarbecues]

I live in a country where everyone seems to barbecue all summer. Steak, highly processed grilled cheese, bottles of sauce with dozens of ingredients, potatoes wrapped in foil, corn wrapped in foil and an oily abomination that is an insult to real Greek Salad.

How to make barbecues simple and nice. What are your best recipes for side dishes, vege options, gorgeous salads that don’t take too many ingredients. I want to get together a few menus with a salad, a side or two and a meat and vege option. Some deserts - grilled pineapple is delicious.

For meats make a dry rub spruce mix without sugar and coat the meat. Leave an hour or 2. BBQ the meat until cooked through and glaze with a sauce mix that contains sugar. Try to match the balance the dry rub spice mix with it's glaze. Eg five spice, white pepper, garlic powder and ground ginger paired with a glaze of honey, soy, rice wine.

For fish and seafood herbs soaked in water overnight used as a steaming bed works well. Monkfish with sage is amazing. Lemon and garlic butter to glaze.

Salads.. usual social media reels have loads of ideas.

And for desert there is only pavlova.

Thank you @Unescorted This is the sort of thing we need to do. Several years of meat and cheese dropped on the barbecue as it is and I have forgotten how to do it nicely.

Great salad inspo on insta. I will also try some of these and find a few favourites: www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/barbecue_salads

Sweet potatoes in foil on the bbq are lush, add a bit of chilli and garlic butter once cooked. Also sweetcorn on the cob is nice but doesn’t need wrapping in foil, again with a bit of chilli butter once cooked.

We’ve done homemade chicken kebabs with chunks of onion and pepper. Halloumi is nice on the BBQ. Asparagus bbqs well. Veggie kebabs! Goats cheese, pomegranate and pear salad. Avo, mango, red onion and pepper salsa is fabulous. You can cook whole butterflied chicken or butterflied leg of lamb. Garlic, rosemary, chilli, lemongrass, ginger: these are all your friends with bbq meats.

Thank you @Handmethegunandaskmeagain Will definitely make the mango salsa. Also a pineapple salsa - used to make one with coriander, lime juice, red pepper, spring onion, coconut flakes if I had them and toasted cashews.

Feel like my barbecue inspiration is returning. A few years of Grillin’ und Chillin’ in Germany - meat and potatoes with unsalted butter - and I forgot how to have a nice barbecue. We do have a lot of regional and organic produce, so it could be good.

A very easy pudding to use up strawberries involves boiling up (no need to add water) any extras with some sugar, letting it cool then adding it to ice cream.

I like really simple but high quality stuff for BBQs so use local butchers and produce for steaks, green and tomato salad and just season or add a dressing

Halloumi with a dressing of hot honey. Sliced courgettes and aubergines dressed with mint, balsamic and oil with chopped feta. Par boil potatoes the barbecue them in a foil tray. Homemade lamb burgers with feta on top. Flat bread directly on the rack, pizza on a pizza stone.