5 Common Barbecue Mistakes

You’re either a Pit Master or you’re not, and in the latter case you often find yourself (just like us) as an ordinary mortal fumbling around with a little barbecue in the garden or on the balcony. And every time the sun makes an appearance, you hope with your fingers crossed that you won’t ruin everything, because quite a lot can go wrong, and nobody feels like eating black courgettes and chops as tough as leather…

In the Netherlands, we have our very own Jord Althuizen, who may call himself a Pit Master: the highest accolade, Master of the BBQ pit, deluxe open-fire meat preparer, and various other titles that make our mouths water. In America, there’s Ray Lampe, national BBQ hero and legendary Pit Master from the very beginning. Never one to shy away from giving the backyard-and-balcony griller some first aid for mistakes, these are his tips.

These are five common barbecue mistakes, and how to prevent them:

You use too much smoke

We don’t mean cigarettes, but wood. Say you’ve already progressed a little, beyond the standard bag of charcoal from the petrol station, and you’re adding smoking wood to your coals. It gives your meat a wonderfully smoky flavour, and you can vary the types of wood to add different nuances. A little sweeter with apple or pear wood, more robust with hickory. Always use specially treated smoking wood for this, not just a branch you’ve sawn from a tree in the orchard yourself. A little is enough; follow the guidelines on your packaging, but start by building up slowly.

You forget to marinate the vegetables

Grilled vegetables are incredibly delicious as a side dish, or naturally as the main event at a vegan BBQ, but don’t forget that they generally contain no fat of their own. Simply throwing a corn on the cob or a few pieces of courgette onto the grill won’t work, so marinate them first in olive oil, salt and pepper. Za’atar is also delicious in this case, or dukkah. Just make sure you use sturdy spice mixes; furikake, although delicious, is too delicate. The seaweed would burn over the fire, but you can sprinkle it over the vegetables later, once they’re cooked.

You set the sauce on fire too

BBQ sauce (make it yourself!) belongs on your plate, next to the meat, according to the Pit purists. But many people like to marinate the meat in it well in advance and put it on the grill with the sauce already on it. The problem: the sugars burn before the meat is cooked, leaving you with lots of bitter crusts on your plate. If you want to use the sauce as a ‘glaze’, wait until the meat is nearly cooked, then brush it over both sides, turning and brushing each time, until it is perfectly glazed and not burnt.

You weren’t actually very well prepared

You started too late, you didn’t leave your marinade or dry rub on for long enough, you didn’t really know exactly how far in advance to light your coals… In short, although this is certainly a wonderfully relaxed ‘drink-while-you-cook’ occasion, with tongs in one hand and a beer in the other, it does require some planning and preparation. Marinades are best left to soak in for a full day. It’s helpful if the salads and side dishes are ready at roughly the same time as the meat. So plan your meal and how long you’ll need for each component just as you would with any other cooking method—perhaps even a little better.

You were too stingy with the meat

It’s better to buy less meat of good quality from a real butcher than one of those factory-produced supermarket value packs. A good butcher will be happy to help you choose the most suitable meat. Beautifully marbled beef, for example: that’s where you get the bit of fat you want, because it prevents the meat from drying out when you grill over a fire. Or the perfect juicy chicken, or such a beautiful tender pork chop. Another essential: a meat thermometer. Every fire and every grill is different, and guessing is such a waste of your effort. What you measure, you know, right?!

Also read:

• How to make the very best burgers in 5 steps
• Types of people at the BBQ
• What to make with your BBQ leftovers