Gas barbecue convert: why they wow!

Our man in the kitchen heads out to the garden with a gas barbecue and is very pleasantly surprised by its performance

To be honest, I'd always been a bit scathing about gas barbecues. They're not particularly cheap and it seemed a bit like cheating. After all, barbecues are supposed to be hard to light. Isn't struggling with fire lighter and damp charcoal briquets is all part of the fun?

 

However our neighbour recently bought a large Royal barbecue. It was a great big three hundred quid object, which ran off propane and was on wheels. We were having a party, so I arranged to borrow it.

 

On the Sunday morning of our barbecue, my neighbour trundled it over. To cut a long story short, it was great and with its help I turned out literally dozens of sausages, chops, chicken legs and even tuna steaks - all cooked to perfection.

 

So what are the advantages? There are five, and they're good ones...

 

1) Having a large gas barbecue is like having a professional grill - the sort of thing you'd find in a restaurant. It is extremely good for cooking meat - far better than the grills in most domestic ovens. It has very large burners, cooks at a really hot temperature and turns out wonderful steaks. Of course, it doesn't have the sort of flavours that you get on a charcoal barbecue. It doesn't taste of smoke, which many people really enjoy. It tastes like the sort of food that you'd get in a very, very good restaurant.

 

2) On bigger models there is often a gas burner hob ring on one side, so you can cook things such as rice or potatoes - making it virtually a complete outdoor kitchen. All you need do is bring out your salad to serve your meal al fresco. I don't even go inside to clean the veg - I use the garden hose (mine runs off of our main drinking water supply).

 

3) Doing the cooking outside on a regular basis prevents you from making a mess of the kitchen. Big bonus. After using the barbie I leave it and then clean it down before the next use. Far more relaxing than reaching for the scouring pads pronto. And I do think you use a gas barbecue far more regularly than you might a charcoal barbecue.

 

4) My wife is particularly loving the fact that I cook all of our fish out there - no nasty fish smells in the house at all. And yes, the gas barbie cooks fish as well as it does meat. it's perfect for cooking whole fish.

 

5)  On a basic level, I have come to love the fact that a gas barbecue lights up straightaway - it means that instead of fighting the barbie, I am at one with it, sizzling up treat after treat after treat. I know I'll be out there in winter - especially with the fish dinners; not sure my wife will ever let me cook fish in the kitchen again!

JACK SHAMASH puts meals on the family table every night of the week at his home in north London. He also writes for The Times, The Guardian and Horticulture Week (so he knows a lot about fruit and veg). Jack bought a  Royal Roaster Barbecue after his party and can now often be found, standing in the rain, making myself a quick steak.

 

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