Tips of the week… how to cook on a barbecue

If you're a dedicated barbecue cook, happy to spend hours slow-cooking, then it’s worth investing in the best combined barbecue and smoker you can afford. If not, and you only host a couple of barbecues a year, save your money: a cheap kettle barbecue will do just fine.

After lighting the barbecue, you can speed up the process by carefully blowing the coals with a hair dryer. It’s worth getting a dedicated dryer for the task, however, as the smell of barbecue will linger on it.

If you’re having steak, opt for a large one: the bigger it is, the easier it'll be to cook. A 1kg rib-eye is a good bet, as is skirt steak.

To ensure a good sear on the outside, make sure your steak is cold. Take it out of the fridge just before putting it on the grill.

Pull meat off when it’s just cooked and thus still moist (use a thermometer to check it’s heated through properly). Then, to give it extra colour and flavour, get the fire really hot and give it a final quick blast on the grill.