The summer heat is upon us and what better way to celebrate than to have a BBQ. In all honesty, I started barbecuing before the summer officially started but who cares, summer is here and that’s all that counts.

For many years I have been using gas systems for the BBQ because it’s convenient. But as of last year I have been using more and more of the charcoal variety instead of the gas and what a difference it makes. It took me a bit of getting used but once I got the knack of it there was not stopping me.
Got myself one of those kettle style grills and yes I could have gone nuts and bought myself one of those mega large kettles but I’m not grilling for a team so why bother. Besides, I want to get my grilling down before splurging. 

If you have never barbecued on a kettle grill then I suggest that you go out and try it. There are a few models that can be found cheap at the hardware stores and it does the job well, it doesn’t have to be one of the more popular ones like weber, big green egg or old smokey. Once you get the hang of it then go on and have yourself a real grilling party. I found that it really helps to use a chimney when dealing with briquettes and charcoal, it makes it that much easier. If you’re not sure what I mean by chimney then do a bit of research and find out. If you don’t want to research it then I’ll tell you.

A chimney is basically a metal pipe (think stove pipe) with a handle that has space at the bottom for some flammable material, like paper and the top portion is filled with briquettes and charcoal. You basically light the paper at the bottom and it will create a ton of smoke for a brief while and in a few minutes you get hot coals! Grab it by the handle and not the body. You can also check out the embedded video below.

So what should I grill? Everything! I like the usual suspects when it comes to grilling, steak, pork chops, chicken, veggies, kebabs of all kinds, basically whatever you want. The only thing I wouldn’t try is cake, I don’t think cake grills to well but I could be wrong, maybe I can ask the folks at America’s Test Kitchen to try it, they’ll probably find a way to make it work. Hmmm…grilled cake.

Sitting and grilling

Grill my pretties, grill!