Barbecues are usually associated with sunny, summer days in the garden, the whole family playing games while one person stands over the grill turning the sausages and flipping the burgers. The smell of grilled food fills the air and before you know it you’ve invited friends over and you’ve got a party in the garden until the early hours or you’ve started a craze on the street with all the neighbours firing up their grills too!

But barbecues don’t have to be simply associated with the home. Many take barbecues away with them on camping trips with owners packing up the disposable or even the gas BBQ along with the tent and essentials to ensure that they get an amazing meal wherever they may lay their head.

Campsites and “stay-cations” have proved to be particularly popular with people looking for ways of saving money but still enjoying well-earned holidays. While expensive and exotic trips may be a thing of the past for many people due to the current state of the global economy, trips to the coast, country or city are proving to be just as popular as trips to the Caribbean or safaris were five to ten years ago.

In such cases people are looking for ways to experience the great outdoors and cooking on a barbecue allows them to do that, and also means that they don’t have to pay for meals at hotels or restaurants.

At family camping trips, barbecuing isn’t just an effective way of cooking but it’s a practical one too. Without access to electricity and therefore ovens and refrigeration in most sites, it’s snacks-to-go or cook-your-own. Grilling sausages, burgers, chicken and vegetables is a great way of feeding the family and provides that real sense of being out in the wilderness and survival – think Bear Grylls without the scorpions and other creepy crawlies!

Down on the coast you get an extra opportunity to test those survival skills with fresh seafood. If you venture out into the water and catch your own fish, crabs and alike, you can cook them up on the barbecue and enjoy food caught on the same day with your own hands – you don’t get much fresher than that! Wrap them in some tin foil, crank up the grill and enjoy!

Fresh vegetables can also be cooked on a barbecue meaning you can still get all of your necessary nutrition and healthy foods. When you say the word barbecue you think of meat and unhealthy products, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Cooking vegetables inside foil wrapping will do them in a similar way to steaming veg at home so even on the road you can get your five a day.

To conclude, cooking on the go doesn’t have to mean just burgers, hot dogs and bags of crisps. If you’re a whizz in the kitchen, you can whip up just about any meal on a barbecue – or the bulk of one at least! Meat, vegetables, even fruit, all cook perfectly on a grill when done correctly, helping to provide a nutritious and appetizing meal that even ensures you get the majority of your five a day.

Happy grilling!

This guest post was written by Matt Rawlings. Matt is an experienced blogger who has covered a variety of topics relating to food, from the best table sauces to restaurant reviews. He is a freelance writer currently working with The Gas BBQ Company in the UK.

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

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“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

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Though it’s not summer yet, these grilling hamburgers tips should get you salivating plenty early this year. My friend Roger Williamson is introducing his take on grilled hamburgers with an extra special technique known as the “Reverse sear”, a great way to grill burgers!

Reverse Sear Grilled Hamburgers

Nothing says summer to me like a sunny day at the lake, a great group of friends, a few brewski’s and burgers done on a Charcoal BBQ. I remember growing up the smell of the charcoal, and to this day it makes my mouth water and my belly growl. I also remember the burgers always had a hint of gasoline and where crispy burnt on the outside, let’s just say my tastes have evolved.

Charcoal BBQing has evolved as well, no longer is lighter fluid preferred means of lighting your coals (the gasoline taste), and neither do you put the whole bag into the kettle ( which would create a single zone of extreme heat resulting in the burnt burgers). But they did get something right, they always started with fresh ground beef and this recipe takes the best of all and brings it together.

The key components of a great burger are, freshly ground beef, a little flavor, a variety of toppings and good buns. Everybody likes good buns. Here is my take on the classic grilled burger.

This recipe is based on 6 burgers and 2lbs of freshly ground medium beef, add more as appropriate depending on how many folks you are making for. This recipe is not for those on a diet, but those who love a great flavorful burger. And obviously you can do this on a gas grill as well, but the flavor is just fantastic on a charcoal.

Ingredients:

2lbs Freshly ground medium beef – use medium or regular, as the more fat the better the flavor and juicier they will be

2 heaping tablespoons of saved bacon fat – this adds incredible flavor to the burger, even better if it is maple smoked bacon fat

Pinches of Salt, Pepper, and Onion powder

A Dash of Worcestershire

Make sure your hands are washed and put the ingredients in a bowl, thoroughly mix together and make 6 patties out of them and place them on wax paper. Let them sit for 30 min in the fridge before putting on grill.

Buns – if you don’t have a local bakery nearby check and see what they have for “gourmet” buns in the local grocery store. They make a big difference over the mass produced pack of 12 you see everywhere.

Fresh toppings – lettuce, pickles, Sweet Vidalia onions, local tomatoes, and bacon (maple smoked if you can find it)

Set up the grill

Set the grill up for 1 side high heat and the other side low. If using charcoal, light the charcoal with a charcoal chimney starter to avoid using lighter fluid. Here is where we do something out of the ordinary; it’s called the “reverse sear”.

The “Reverse Sear”

The reverse sear is a technique you use to keep tenderness and juiciness to the burgers. When burgers are cooked over direct heat until done they can turn out dry, and we want to avoid that. We need to ensure the meat is cooked to 160F for safety reasons, but we don’t want to lose all that juicy goodness. The “reverse sear” will ensure that.

Place the burger patties on the low heat side of the BBQ, put the top down and wait about 4 min until the pink burgers have turned grey. At that point move them to the high heat side and sear the outsides. Once they are properly seared on the outside, move them back to the low heat side, place onions, cheese, bacon or whatever else you want on them and wait for the cheese to melt. In the mean time, toast those buns on the high heat side, for a little extra flavor; spread some butter on them before you toast them.

Once the cheese is melted and the buns are toasted, bring them together with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Roger is a professional technology geek, a father of 3, husband of 1 and an avid live fire cooking enthusiast who spends his free time in Fall River cooking outside. If you have any questions send me an email FallRiverBBQguy@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @Ragaa

Thank you Roger!

Love those “Reverse Seared burgers you grilled! We are all hoping to see many more great cooking outdoors tips, tricks, techniques and recipes from Roger in the near future. Drop him a line or visit him on Twitter to tell him “More”!

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

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