Blooming barbecues!

Can't wait for BBQ season to start. Ends all my Sunday lunch cooking until autumn. Bring it on!

Not a lover of barbecues and I cannot be bothered with the hassle. Next door has a huge one, but then they often have family over.
What I do hate , is those Chimineer things, they absolutely stink. For some reason when our neighbour puts their one on it seems to permeate through every window at that side of the house and the smoke affects my asthma. I have to close all my windows on that side,plus back door,or the whole house would stink of smoke for days on end.

DH loves cooking and eating outside and I enjoy eating the fruits of his labour. Unfortunately I have a wasp phobia (I was attacked by a swarm many years ago.) Wasps seem to know I hate them and the little striped horrors love to dance about my plate daring me to try to eat something. Do they terrorise anyone else? Of course not! ?

That was reply to jing

Yes that's what I think would happen with us. £100 is a lot to pay.

I love sardines but hate the smell in the house, so barbecues are are great way to have some. I also get DH to cook extra chicken breasts which we have cold with salad the next day. Makes up for all work involved in the preparation for the barbecue!

DD1 has got one. They have had it several years now. They raved about it for a while but I never hear it mentioned now.

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.

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 am not telling DH that washing up is a gay thing

Barbecues gay?

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

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.

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

No. They are not squashed.

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.

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.

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.

I'd like a chimnee what she said.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.