Oh, I would agree there Eddie. I prefer a barbecue with close friends because then everyone brings good stuff, and you end up eating well. I went to a barbecue with some people I didn't know well, with £15 of steaks and pork fillet and some rather nice wine. I turned up with plenty more than I planned to eat, so didn't mind sharing provided I got at least SOME of it
. However, some bu**ers who turned up with cheap MRM-flavoured sausages and beef-flavoured rusk burgers ate my steaks and pork, and drank all my wine. So I ended up eating c**p meat and drinking supermarket own-brand lager. B*stards.
Anyway, this thread seems to be showing that people enjoy barbecues just so long as the food and company is good.
Anyway, my little tips on barbecue:
1) chicken BREAST can be cooked entirely on the barbecue, and very satisfactorily indeed. I guess the bones on chicken parts are what stop them cooking properly.
2) if you homemake your burgers, they can fall apart on the barbecue. However, you can get a "thing" that clamps the burger together with two grills, and allows easy turning
3) never, ever turn the hose on your barbecue to put it out. I went to a barbecue where 2 minutes after we finished eating, and were just at that pleasantly full stage where you slump down in your chair grinning, he went to "put the barbecue out". This promotes rust and will ruin your barbecue. Chill, let it burn.
4) never, ever, wash your grill. Well, perhaps at the beginning of the season if you have left it out over winter. But no more than that. Your barbecue will heat that grill to around 350 celsius once the charcoal has caught, which will kill off anything. Your grill is like a wok: the blacker it is, the better. The wife of the barbecue putter-outer insisted on washing the grill.
I slapped my forehead a lot that evening.
5) Always let a guy do what he wants with his barbecue. He might be doing something that seems wrong, but you may be surprised. I have seen a man stick a half-full can of lager inside a whole chicken, stand it on his barbecue and shut the lid. Turned out beautiful, so good I nearly cried.
Of course, if he tries to wash his grill you should at least attempt to re-educate him.
6) Let the womenfolk have a go now and again. It's like driving, DIY and the vote, much easier to let them have a go than explain why they can't.
(By the way, number 6 is not meant seriously. You should never allow a woman access to your barbecue
)
