“Preparing a perfect barbecue is not as easy as you might think.”

I have been invited to many barbecue parties around the world, but rarely have I been lucky enough to enjoy a proper barbecue! It may not be generally understood that barbecuing is a defined skill with specific rules for doing it well.

I do remember, however, a wonderful barbecue at the home of a good friend of mine in the south of France. John prepared and served one of the best barbecues of my life! The meat was first marinated in a wonderful selection of spices, it was tender and perfectly cooked! This was a wonderful multi-course meal served on a magical evening towards the end of summer in the South of France! A wonderful memory, for me!

I also remember a restaurant in Moscow where huge skewers were grilled on a huge barbecue, in the same dining room!

Another great BBQ I can remember was in Douala in Cameroon, in West Africa, right down the road! The barbecue consisted of a large steel barrel with firewood inside and then the chicken was slow cooked on a sheet of heavy brown paper, allowing the chicken to be smoked halfway through while grilling. The result was quite delicious and I ate there often during my stay in Douala.

In Asia, where people grill a lot and the choice of recipes is huge, barbecue is generally done very well. I have fond memories of women, sitting on the sidewalk grilling little plantains with grilled chicken wings available just down the road!

Grilling or roasting meat is an art in itself and that is why I wanted to write this to help you do a better job and also to give you some basic recipes that you can try. I hope trying these makes you want to grill more often and create your own recipes too!

Basic information on how to make a barbecue

Barbecue is the art of cooking food on the grill. The way one does this can range from simply barbecuing on some wood surrounded by three pebbles and then skewering a piece of meat on a small branch held over the fire, to using the more modern electric or gas grill. In between are all kinds of techniques, like using a grill on the stove. The methods for barbecuing are endless!

Whatever equipment you are using, anything in this chapter can be done with any of them. What you really need to have a good barbecue is a grate and a heat source.

You can barbecue almost anything: meat, of course, but also fish, seafood, vegetables, bread, even cheeses and fruits. In fact, if you’re using the barbecue for a meal, you could grill all of your food (except for the raw parts of the salads, of course).

At the beginning of the chapter, I told you all about my disappointment with grilled food. The main problem that a non-expert usually has when using a barbecue for cooking is that they tend to get the grill too hot and then burn the food on the outside. With burnt meat, you can see all the black lines in the food. Grill marks should be brown or dark brown, but not black. When you see black lines on broiled food, you know that food was cooked at too high a temperature or cooked for too long.

Another very important thing when grilling is not to burn fat. Often during cooking, the fat melts on the fire and catches fire. Even if it looks professional and funny when fat is burned in this way, burnt fat or meat is said to be a cause of cancer and the burnt taste takes away from a good roast meal.

Get in the habit of trimming off excess fat before cooking on the barbecue. Even if this has been done before purchasing the meat, it’s a good idea to check this point before cooking. Make sure all gristle, extra bone and extra fat have been removed or do it yourself.

Don’t put your barbecue on the highest heat you can, as it could be too hot. Temperature is something you need to watch and adjust while cooking. Are you interested and want more advice? Download the free ebook excerpt “Cook French and Stay Slim” by Jean-Louis Vosgien www.photos-and-recipes.com [http://www.photos-and-recipes.com/newspage.html]