The world of live fire cooking can be daunting for the uninitiated, so we’ve enlisted our favourite chefs and experts to light the way to barbecue excellence
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BARBECUING
WITH HELEN GRAVES, AUTHOR AND FOUNDER OF PIT MAGAZINE
How to set up a barbecue
Lighting a fire is simple, but it’s important to set up your barbecue correctly so you have maximum control over the cooking. A fire is a combination of fuel + oxygen + heat and all of these must be present for the fire to remain lit. Understanding how they relate to one another, then, is crucial to understanding your barbecue. In a standard kettle barbecue, the fuel (usually charcoal) is placed in the bottom with a vent underneath for letting air in, and a vent on the top, for letting out heat and gases. These two features allow you to have some control over your fire. The more air you let in at the bottom, the more fuel you have coming in, which will lead to hotter coals inside. Think of the holes at the top as an exhaust pipe; we prefer to leave these open and adjust the heat using the bottom air vent.
Setting up the coals
In a standard kettle barbecue there are two cooking zones: direct and indirect. With direct cooking the coals are directly under the food, and with indirect they are not. Even if you’re not going to use the ‘indirect’ method, it’s important to have this area set up because it’s a great place to move fatty foods that are causing flare ups, or to rest nearly cooked foods while you finish the rest, e.g. chicken wings or corn cobs. You also have the option to cook larger pieces of meat slowly over indirect heat or to utilise direct and indirect techniques during the same cook.
There are three main ways to set up your coals for cooking on a standard kettle barbecue. If you don’t have a kettle barbecue then you’ll be able to learn the basic principles anyway and adapt them to the shape of your grill.
1. Two zone direct/indirect: coals are set up under one half of the grill – cook direct, indirect, or both! Good for steaks, seafood, vegetables and boneless pieces of meat.
2. Parallel coals: coals are set up on both sides of the barbecue, leaving a strip down the centre with no coals – best for maintaining even cooking on whole birds like chickens.
3. The snake: coals are set up in a C shape curving around one side of the barbecue – best for very low n slow cooking e.g. ribs.
How to light your barbecue
Natural firelighters are the best choice and there are many
