“There’s nothing wrong with just getting it done and buying some burgers and some sausages – that’s great,” says TV chef Tom Kerridge, who holds three Michelin stars, but if you’re just scraping the surface of your barbecue ability, you might be missing out.

“It’s just one of the nicest, loveliest ways of cooking and it brings a flavour that you can’t get from a kitchen – that charcoal cookery, smoke.”

Plus, it’s one of the most social ways of cooking this summer. “There’s been many a time where there might be 30 people around our house, and we’re cooking stuff over flames – I love that sort of thing”.

With the release of his latest cookbook The BBQ Book, the 51-year-old wants us to branch out this summer (or, indeed, winter – he believes in year-round barbecuing). Here are his top tips…

Buy good-quality charcoal

Many of us probably haven’t given any thought to what charcoal to use, but there’s a reason some costs more than others. “There’s a huge difference,” Kerridge says. “It is better to have bigger because they hold better, they’ll hold the temperature longer. Smaller pieces will burn out quicker.

“Investing in charcoal actually goes a long, long way. It’ll last twice as long as the cheaper stuff. It holds the temperature much better, cooks [food] more evenly, and really good charcoal goes a long way to improving your barbecue.”

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Don’t worry and relax

The biggest thing is sometimes people are too scared of getting more technical with a barbecue, he explains. Yet “the one thing that I think a barbecue does give is, it’s a bit of a leveller, because there isn’t an ultimate process to it. It’s base-level cookery. It’s fire.

“There are always mistakes. There are always things that go wrong. Some parts are darker, black or charred more than others, and that’s part of the joy of it.

“Sometimes people worry about the geekiness of it, and actually they should just relax more and enjoy it.”

But do understand how the fire works

Using metal coal tongs to move the coals around will create pockets of less and more intense heat. You’ll want to have a range of temperatures on your barbecue at the same time, if you’re cooking different things on it. Higher, direct heat for meat and fish, explains Kerridge in the book, and lower for vegetables.

To increase the temperature of the whole barbecue, close the lid and keep the air vents open, oxygen circling and coals burning. To lower the temperature, close the air vents.

You’ve got to “keep feeding” the fire, says Kerridge, “You’ve got to keep it alive – particularly if you’re cooking on an egg-style barbecue. Air flow is a big thing, allowing [the] oxygen it needs to get in, to increase heat, and being able to control that.”

Don’t move the meat around constantly

It’s tempting to keep prodding, flipping and moving your food around the grill, but it will impact the cooking.

“You’ve got to be very conscious of the heat source and where it’s coming and how hot it is,” Kerridge says.

“There’s nothing wrong with leaving something on there, let it get that colour, let it get that texture, let it get that flavour – that comes from letting things stand still.”

Try slow-cooking meat first

For people who are ready to stretch their legs with barbecuing and to make it a bit more ‘cheffy’, Kerridge suggests using your oven first, for a short rib of beef, for example. “It’s quite good to braise things and slow-cook them in the oven first, in a dry rub or marinate, then leave them to cool and reheat them on the smokiness of the barbecue – so you get the best of both worlds.

“You get the safety of the oven first – a good way for beginners – and then get the finishing flavour that comes from a barbecue. You can do that by adding some wood chippings as well – that also gives an added flavour,” Kerridge says.

“You don’t need it for long on the barbecue at the end just to get a bit smoky. [Just] long enough to impart and repeat and give flavour. You might cook something for five or six hours gently in an oven on a low temperature and reheat it on a barbecue for half an hour.”

Try cooking directly onto coals

“You’ve got to ensure those coals are very, very hot. The temperature needs to be quite hot, so when [the food] goes on, it doesn’t stick too much.

“Things like bavette steak works really, really nicely on coals like that. ‘Dirty cooking’ it’s called,” in the chef world, says Kerridge.

For fish, start with monkfish

“I do quite a lot of fish on the barbecue – that’s something that not a lot of people touch because they worry,” says Kerridge.

A good ‘entry level’ into fish barbecue cookery is monkfish, he says, “which cooks very much like meat. It’s a firm texture, a muscular fish, so it cooks a bit like a fillet of beef. That works really nicely.”

You can cook a piece of fish in a ‘fish cage’, he adds. “It means that you’re moving the fish cage, rather than fish that’s directly on the barbecue – so it doesn’t stick.”

Make your own burgers

“If you can mince the beef yourself, it’s amazing,” says Kerridge. “If you’re buying, don’t buy fatty mince, buy quite lean mince and then add fat to it. If you put bone marrow through it or some minced-up pork belly, that works really nicely.”

Add a pinch of salt too, but try not to overcomplicate the flavour of the burger, he says. “Make the burger all about the meat and then add the flavours to it afterwards.

When it comes to mixing the meat, “work it and move it around with your hand for about five minutes. Keep squeezing and moving [it] – what that does is the salt stretches the proteins in the meat, they kind of unravel and then they tie back up again, which means it becomes firmer. So you can shape your burgers nicely so they won’t fall apart when you put them on the grill. They stay nice and firm in shape.”

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Halloumi and aubergine burgers

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

2 large aubergines

2 x 250g blocks of halloumi, each halved horizontally

Salt and freshly ground pepper

For the roasted chilli butter:

3 long red chillies

100g butter, softened

½tsp sweet smoked paprika

1tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

For the garlic mayonnaise:

1 large whole garlic bulb

1tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked

2 handfuls of hickory wood chips (for the barbecue)

100ml mayonnaise

Juice of ½ lemon

To assemble:

4 burger buns

60g rocket

Method:

1. First make the chilli butter. Place the chillies on a hot barbecue and cook for about 10 minutes, turning often, until blackened all over. Pop them into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and let steam for a few minutes.

2. For the garlic mayo, cut the top off the garlic bulb to expose the clove tips. Sit, cut-side up, in a small heavy-based frying pan, drizzle over the extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme.

3. Scatter a large handful of hickory wood chips onto the barbecue coals for extra smokiness. Place the frying pan on the barbecue over indirect heat. Put the lid on the barbecue and cook the garlic for 45 minutes or until it is soft.

4. Meanwhile, peel, deseed and finely chop the chillies. Place in a bowl with the softened butter, smoked paprika and chopped parsley. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

5. Remove the pan from the barbecue and transfer the garlic to a plate. Leave to cool. Once cooled, squeeze the soft garlic flesh out of the skins into a bowl and mash well with a fork. Add the mayo and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper to taste and mix to combine.

6. Halve the aubergines lengthways and then cut a two centimetre-thick steak from each half.

7. Cook the aubergine and halloumi steaks on the barbecue over a medium-high heat for about three to four minutes on each side until nicely browned and tender. Turn and brush them with a little chilli butter as they cook but allow the halloumi to caramelise before flipping it over.

8. Towards the end of the cooking, lightly toast the burger buns on the barbecue, cut side down, then remove and smear the cut surfaces with any remaining chilli butter.

9. To assemble, spread some garlic mayo on the burger bun bases. Add an aubergine steak, a halloumi steak and then a big handful of rocket. Spread some more garlic mayo on the bun lids. Sandwich the burgers together and secure the lid with a wooden skewer. Tuck in!

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Dry-rub buffalo chicken wings

Ingredients:

(Serves 6)

16 large chicken wings (1.5kg in total), tips removed and jointed

200g table salt

10 black peppercorns

4 bay leaves

2tbsp light olive oil

For the dry rub:

1tsp chilli powder

½tsp cayenne powder

1tsp sweet smoked paprika

2tsp garlic powder

1tsp onion powder

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp dried thyme leaves

For the ranch dressing:

3 heaped tbsp soured cream

3 heaped tbsp mayonnaise

½ garlic clove, finely grated

3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce

1tsp white wine vinegar

1tsp mild American mustard

1tbsp finely chopped dill

1tbsp finely chopped chives

Salt and freshly ground pepper

To serve:

Hot sauce

Celery sticks

Method:

1. First brine the chicken. Pour two litres water into a large bowl, add the table salt and whisk to dissolve, then add the black peppercorns and bay leaves. Immerse the chicken wings in the brine and place in the fridge for two hours.

2. Remove the chicken wings from the brine and pat them dry with kitchen paper.

3. For the dry rub, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Drizzle both sides of the chicken wings with the olive oil and sprinkle with the dry rub to coat the wings evenly all over.

4. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, ideally two to three hours.

5. For the ranch dressing, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

6. When you’re ready to cook, place the chicken wings on a hot barbecue in a single layer, making sure you have an area with some indirect heat to move them to, as and when you need a lower heat. Cook for 10 to twelve minutes until the wings are nicely browned on each side, turning regularly.

7. Serve up the chicken wings with the ranch dressing on the side for dipping. Accompany with your favourite hot sauce and some crunchy celery sticks.

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Smoky beef short ribs

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

4 beef short ribs (about 450g each)

For the dry rub:

1tbsp soft light brown sugar

1tsp garlic powder

1tsp ground cumin

2tsp sweet smoked paprika

1tsp onion powder

½tsp cracked black pepper

1tsp salt

To cook the ribs:

100ml malt vinegar

150ml apple juice

2tbsp Worcestershire sauce

200ml good-quality smoky barbecue sauce (from a jar), or bourbon barbecue sauce

To serve:

Pickles

Method:

1. Place the beef short ribs on a tray. For the dry rub, mix the sugar, spices and salt together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the ribs all over with the spice mixture and place in the fridge to marinate overnight.

2. The next day, preheat your oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/Gas 3.

3. Transfer the beef ribs to a roasting tray. In a bowl, mix the vinegar, apple juice, 200 millilitres water and the Worcestershire sauce together. Pour the mixture over the ribs and cover the roasting tray with a sheet of baking paper, then a layer of foil. Scrunch the edges of the foil and paper around the rim of the roasting tin to seal.

4. Place the roasting tray on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for around three hours until the ribs are meltingly tender.

5. Remove the tray from the oven and leave the ribs to cool slightly. Carefully lift the ribs out of the cooking liquor and place them on another tray.

6. When you’re ready to serve, brush the short ribs all over with the barbecue sauce. Lay the ribs on the barbecue over indirect heat (to achieve a medium heat) and cook for eight minutes or so, basting the ribs with the barbecue sauce as they cook.

7. Lift the ribs off the barbecue, transfer them to a serving platter and brush with any remaining barbecue sauce. Serve straight away, with your favourite pickles alongside.

The BBQ Book by Tom Kerridge is published in hardback by Bloomsbury

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