What sort of barbeque have you got?

[lilibet]

I'm going to get a barbeque for this summer and I'm a virgin on the subject - anyone got any advice or recommendations please?

We've got a gas barbeque and it's now turned into the home for a family of Robins!

Anyway, I'll ask DH tommorrow (he's in the shower). As obviously he's the BBQ expert being male and all that.

We've got a Sunshine Legend 4000. We've had it for almost five years now and missed it so much when we were in Australia that we hired one exactly the same out there (well, it is Australian anyway!).

It's a bit OTT pricewaise to be honest though. And we haven't got the barrel lid, which we keep planning to get and don't get round to it. The lids are great as you can then use it like a real oven - we used to do leg of lamb and roast veggies on it in Australia.

We've got a gas one too - more expensive initially but really fab - you can use it throughout the year (or rather, DH can cook outside whilst you're having a glass of wine inside & then bring the food in!); very quick to use none of that faffing about waiting for the charcoal to get to the right temperature. Or if you have a garage DH can cook in there in the winter - sorry, am I sounding cynical about men & BBQs?!

Right, Its an 'Eldorado Plus' from Homebase which is something like This . Iasked Dh what the verdict was, and he said it was only suitable for cooking for 4 max. But until the Robins fly the nest, we're stuck with the grill. In this sunshine as well!

We've got a gas Charbroil from B&Q it was about £150 and best thing we ever bought. It also has a gas side burner, great for beans.

With gas you get the heat straight away, with coal it costs a fiver every time you light it and you have to wait ages for it to get to the right temperature.

I recommend a Webber, they are v sexy to look at and have lids to prevent little ones being to inquisative. Lid means that food cooks all over. I'm personally not into gas, b-b-q's are all about the coals man, that's the beauty of them, get some of that sweet smelling wood chip stuff and the bags on coal where you just light the corner of the bag that holds the charcoal, sorted!

Another vote for the charcoal version - we have a big but basic version and it's great - back to nature in a small way. (yes I know we didn't mine the charcoal - is it mined?)

We have a Webber too - fantastic things!! You can even do a roast in them, very yummy. I tried to talk dh into roasting the Christmas turkey in it but he declined. (Wonder why?)