Blooming barbecues!

Like watermeadow I hate the smell of them. Other people's BBQs on a lovely sunny evening when I'm enjoying the garden are the worst because I'm veggie and the fleshy 'fragrance' which many love, makes me feel nauseous and sends me scurrying inside. I do love other people having fun in their gardens but do wish the smell could stay where the cooking is!

My son loves BBQs and used to sometimes bring mates over after hockey or whatever for one - but in those cases he'd do all the shopping himself. After all - many young lads don't know what salad is anyway so it would all be pretty straightforward!

Jings
We have a Cobb barbecue for when it's just the two of us. It's brilliantly portable and, weather permitting, we often have a late breakfast in the local forest.
It has a frying pan, so we have a full(ish) English, it's entertaining watching people walking past drooling due to the smell of our bacon frying! Fried eggs taste better outdoors too!
I've done roast chickens in it, but not anywhere other than in the garden so far, perhaps that's a challenge for this year!

Oooooh! Fried eggs and bacon out of doors. We used to have a cabin cruiser as we lived on the River Ouse. DH would get up early to go fishing and when I finally surfaced I would start cooking breakfast in the small galley with the cabin doors open. The smell would soon bring him scurrying back.

Any passing swans would gather for whatever tasty bits we allowed them.

We only live two miles away from our old mooring now but it has become a marina and the annual costs are astronomical so the boat had to go.

I'm so glad it's not just me! Like Phoenix, I like eating outside ( especially breakfast!), but a barbecue is just too much of a palaver. My two brothers are very keen ( and good) barbecuers, so I'm happy to partake when I'm staying with them.

jings it was never a case of me being the "obedient wifey" more a case of my being prepared to go along with him in some things, just as he was prepared to go along with me in others without being the "obedient hubby"!! Its called give and take and in my experience most couples do it.

BBQs too much faff, I dont mind going to them as long as someone else arranging it. ... on Sunday we had the family round, paddling pool out for little ones, I made 2 large Lasagnes night before, so only had to pop them in oven, garlic bread and salad, hence had more time to socialise and play with grandchildren, we all ate outside, and my lovely daughter and step daughter sorted kitchen out, and the lads put the chairs etc away, job done !

That's very good sunseeker. From your post you did seem to have been pressured into it. I'm glad you weren't.

The last barbecue we went to was a 70th birthday. Their DD and DSiL did the catering.

The daughter did some lovely canapés, home-made breads, salads with tasty dressings etc., so we got stuck in not realising what was to follow. The son-in-law then announced it was Barbie Time and proceeded to burn cook masses of burgers and sausages. The dried up offerings were then taken round on trays. Most people nibbled on something just to be polite but I suspect there were quite a few charred remains lurking in the bushes by the end of the day.

Eating outside is lovely, until the plague of wasps that seem to sit in waiting in my garden arrive!

I blame the Americans: nasty burgers, horrid dry bread rolls, mechanically retrieved hotdogs. Why go to all this trouble when your cooker is a yard or two away in the kitchen? Our climate is rarely conducive to eating outside and as we get older eating oily food whilst one sits all folded up on a plastic chair off our laps is asking for digestive trouble. Leave it to the teenagers.

nasty burgers, horrid dry bread rolls, mechanically retrieved hotdogs
That's not what we have for barbecues
Why would I buy rubbish for DH to cook on the bbq when I never normally buy stuff like that?
oily Not at all
and we have a nice table and chairs with cushions outside (they stay outside all summer, cushions go into one of those large garden trunks from B&Q.

Cooking on the barbecue is an acquired skill, some cavemen men do acquire it!

The people on one side of us had one yesterday which did smell quite nice. However, the people who rent the house on the other side of us seem to use some sort of cheap ignition fuel then go on to cook cheap burgers/sausages. I have to stay inside until the smell has gone.

Mind you, they cook cheap burgers/sausages most days in their kitchen and leave the windows open. It turns my stomach. I would rather eat salad than what they seem to cook.

If we, or my family more likely these day, have a bbq, we make sure we buy good quality everything. You can't disguise cheap food by charring it. My son uses a meat thermometer to make sure the food is cooked thoroughly so I am happy to eat that. Years ago, when bbqs first became popular, people knew no better and (badly) cooked poor food and lots of people suffered.

Best left to people who know what they are doing, in my opinion.

We had a lovely BBQ at our daughters yesterday, so with sunshine and young GC the garden is the best place to be.

But I hate the fact that my DH takes over and just cooks, no prep for him, all the nibbles, sides, puddings, drinks are organised by me!! As is the order they go on and the decision as if they are properly cooked!!!!!!

So I am not keen on buying a new one as we have a chiminaira or how ever you spell it!! Which is fine for small gatherings.

I'd like a chimnee what she said.

We have one but tend to use it only on bonfire night and when we have people around and it is warm enough to sit in the garden. We always buy those log thingy which burn for a couple of hours makes it very easy.

We sometimes use our electric raclette grill (running lead from the kitchen) which makes a change from a BBQ. Good for small gatherings, lots of the food can be pre-prepared and everyone grills their own. As the portions are small it takes up most of the afternoon so it's ideal for sitting around chatting and drinking.

I've got a little camping stove that I put on top of the coal bunker and fry sqausages when the weather is hot. Well, a couple of years ago now. It's quite good fun.

No. They are not squashed.

DH does cheat - it is a gas barbecue, not charcoal and that ignition fuel.

Actually, sausages squashed into square shapes are so much easier to cook

We are a bit spoilt here, friends of DDs' and SIL who do not have gardens did a wonderful BBQ in ours on Saturday, we just sat back sipped champagne, then chilled wine and they did everything, including the cleaning up.
DD thinks it is a gay thing, not even a glass for her to wash afterwards.

Barbecues gay?

I hope not. Few surprises in store for some on this thread if they are.

I am not telling DH that washing up is a gay thing

Bbqs are not ideal for veggies, but sometimes one has to join in the spirit of the thing and enjoy the salads, sometimes also a jacket potato. DS1, who previously had a career as a chef is brilliant at Bbq-ing with very little fuss and no silly machismo! He is much in demand when friends and neighbours decide to put on a Bbq!

I had a look at a Cobb bbq. They are expensive -are they worth it? Only quite fancy one, but only if I would make use of it.