Bloody barbecues!

[minniemouse]

What a lovely day, everybody has their washing out, people sunbathing, children playing, then blockhead next door decides to light the barbecue.  The smoke always seems to be blowing this way.  I quickly closed the windows, brought my washing in and am sulking indoors.

[zoony]

Calm yourself, Min, and be comforted by the thought that barbecues are by far the leading cause of gastro-intestinal illness in the UK every summer.

[Diasi]

What a lovely day, everybody has their washing out, people sunbathing, children playing, then blockhead next door decides to light the barbecue.  The smoke always seems to be blowing this way.  I quickly closed the windows, brought my washing in and am sulking indoors.

It takes forever to get the barbecue smell out of the conservatory if I don't close the windows in time.

It's so bad at times that I'm thinking of not using it. 

[Traveller]

Similar things happen on camp sites all over the country. Men ( mostly it seems) who ordinarily couldn't open a tin of beans, suddenly think they're king of the BBQ.  Soon the air is full of the smell of cremated sausages and clouds of smoke are blotting out the sun.

[zoony]

Perhaps it would help if, on barbecue supplies, there was a large, red advisory reading: Barbecuing is the art of cooking on hot coals without FLAMES..

[StephenM123]

I tend to avoid them! Suddenly when people have a barbecue they seem to get the cheapest carp burgers and say how good this lump of charred mince (mainly fat and grizzle) tastes. I make my own with the local butcher mincing in front of me, cook indoors and serve outside with a decent wine or beer! Life is too short to eat and drink rubbish!

[GrannyMac]

My son does a good barbie.  We had garlic prawns last time, and any sausages or burgers are from a local farm shop so the quality is good.  The barbie is in the lee of the house, and the garden is so large no one is bothered by it.  If the weather is nice at Easter when we visit, I bet he'll roll it out then.

[Coastal]

I love BBQs, not that I've been to one for years, I like the food whether it's cooking it or eating it.

[zoony]

One of the wonderful things about being a gigging musician in California in the 70s was the downtime, spent with like-minded people just laying back with beers, instruments, good company and a continuous jam going on. Fiddles, git-fiddles, mandolins, banjos and whatever was to hand, full of every kind of music, laughter and spontaneous creativity, never to be repeated but happily thrown away to where such idylls go. Barbecues were always a feature of such afternoons/evenings nights but done by folk who knew what they were doing. Food poisoning wasn't ever an option.

[Coastal]

When I cook there are two choices, cooked or well cooked, as I don't like half (or barely) cooked food there's no chance of under done (maybe overcooked if I get distracted)

[fortyone]

I use a gas barbeque quite often at the caravan but it is more as a substitute for the completely useless oven and to keep the heat and smell outside of the van. Every time I do there is at least one sausage on it but that is for the dog in the caravan next door who nearly falls out of the window when I set it up.


I can't stand the burned on the outside raw on the inside that so many seem to consider barbeque food.

[minniemouse]

One of the wonderful things about being a gigging musician in California in the 70s was the downtime, spent with like-minded people just laying back with beers, instruments, good company and a continuous jam going on. Fiddles, git-fiddles, mandolins, banjos and whatever was to hand, full of every kind of music, laughter and spontaneous creativity, never to be repeated but happily thrown away to where such idylls go. Barbecues were always a feature of such afternoons/evenings nights but done by folk who knew what they were doing. Food poisoning wasn't ever an option.

You paint a good picture Zoony.  I could just imagine that in my mind.

[Raven]

We don't own one but we often have friends over on a Sunday afternoon in the Summer. I cook the meats in the kitchen oven and prepare the salad bowls inside too. Then when we're ready to eat we just bring the food outside to the garden table. No smoke, no stink, everything's cooked properly and we all enjoy our meal.

[zoony]

You paint a good picture Zoony.  I could just imagine that in my mind.

Thanks Min...Very kind of you to say so.

[Johned]

Before they were banned, the hazard to washing out on the line, smog in the air and discomfort for asthmatics, was the prevalence of back garden bonfires in our area.  All weekend and every evening somebody would light up, there was no getting away from it.  You would look out of your kitchen window and really think you were on an Indian reservation!  At least, that doesn't happen anymore.