Despite the propensity for progress and industrialization, the primordial love for life in the open air is always alive in us. With the arrival of spring, the desire that drives us to create green spaces and gardens and invites us to seek small oases of peace and refuges from the hectic modern life, are simple gestures that are part of our genetic code. Being immersed in nature makes us regress to a stage of greater simplicity, the continuous flow of daily bustle leads to the need to find oneself in a place dear to us, the garden. With the complicity of summer and the lengthening of the days, the need for a healthy and creative hobby that includes physical exercise in the open air becomes indispensable. Taking care of your green corner and the furnishings that can best enhance it keeps us in shape and allows us, even for a moment, to escape from the daily worries of the world in which we live. To complete the furnishing of our green space in the best possible way, just add a personal touch that reflects our lifestyle. A wooden gazebo, a pergola, a table with chairs, a bench and two armchairs make your corner of the garden a romantic place or a place to host friends. And how to complete the furniture of your garden in order to give your shelter that proverbial extra touch? An indispensable accessory that will allow you to prepare various foods enriched by good food and tables in the company of friends. You can’t help but think of the garden barbecue, ideal for sincere relaxation that you will hardly be able to give up in the future. The choice essentially depends on the position in which you have decided to install it and the awareness of how the flavors of the food are enhanced by the type of cooking.

It is important to make a thoughtful selection as you will have to be careful to place it near the windows of other houses, hedges and trees. On the market there are brick, stone, stainless steel, brick, metal barbecues, with fixed or folding structure, equipped with lid and wheels. They can also be coal, gas or electric. They are supplied with rectangular, round or square grids and additional grills and skewers. Charcoal barbecues consist of a brazier on which the grill is placed at a distance. In the gas models instead of the brazier there is a plate that heats up with the flame and are garden kitchens in all respects. In electric ones, the heat comes from one or more resistances placed under the grill. The grille is almost always sheltered by a three-sided screen. Some have a lid that can be left open to act as a screen. The grill and the spit can be positioned at different heights thanks to steps on the barbecue structure that allow them to be moved. The more sophisticated models are equipped with a rotisserie cooking motor. There are also barbecues with braziers divided into sectors for cooking on a more or less large surface.

The first operation to perform is to pour the charcoal on the brazier and sprinkle it with the flammable liquid to facilitate ignition and light it with a match. Under the charcoal you can put crumpled newspaper and set it on fire with a match. The flames that are released from the paper will ignite the charcoal. The charcoal is ready when a uniform layer of white ash has formed on its surface. At this point you can place the grill with the food to be cooked. The grill must never be in direct contact with the heat source. The hotter the embers, the more distant the foods must be to avoid burning.

The barbecue should be cleaned as soon as it cools down, waiting longer makes cleaning difficult. The steel grills and skewers must be immersed in very hot and detergent water and the use of a steel wool or a long-handled metal bristle brush is essential. For braziers and grease trays it is better to avoid the steel wool and the brush, they can be cleaned with a sponge, hot water and detergent. Once all the grease has been removed, it is necessary to rinse several times and dry the grids and accessories well before putting them away. If you want to cold-clean the brazier and the lid, use the deposit ash as a detergent or specific products, forming a homogeneous patina that will absorb the grease. Remove everything with absorbent paper sheets.

It is absolutely necessary to avoid the use of alcohol, which is extremely dangerous due to its high flammability. When charcoal burns, it releases a toxic gas, carbon monoxide, for this reason it is good to use the charcoal barbecue outdoors. It is best to place the barbecue in a sheltered corner against the wind, away from trees and bushes that could catch fire easily. Before purchasing, check the stability of the structure, avoid placing the barbecue on uneven ground, especially with models equipped with wheels.

Among the types of fuel for the embers, oak, beech, olive and fruit trees in general are preferably chosen. We do not recommend that of pine and fir, very resinous and therefore not suitable for cooking food. The harder wood burns slowly allowing an optimal management of cooking temperatures, moreover, if used well, it can give the food a particular flavor such as that released by the cherry tree. Charcoal, on the other hand, is used for the greater speed of preparation of the embers compared to the combustion times of the wood. It is produced by burning large blocks of wood in oxygen-free ovens, resulting in small uniform pieces. The briquettes are an ideal solution for lighting the barbecue and in indirect cooking as they burn slowly and at lower temperatures, ideal for completing cooking with the lid closed.

If you want to seriously approach the art of barbecue, you need to equip yourself with some essential accessories such as forks, tongs, food stirrers with long handles. You can’t miss the excellent kitchen gloves in fireproof material, to protect yourself from the heat and to move the grill during the cooking phase. A set of metal skewers with a wooden handle is very useful for combining cuts of meat and vegetables. An excellent double grill will be used to turn the food and avoid that a part remains stuck to the grill. Essential for cooking vegetables, cheeses and fish. A food brush to brush the meat during cooking and moisten it, those with natural bristles are preferred. A thermometer is necessary for those novice in the art of cooking on the barbecue to monitor the cooking of grilled meats.Serve a syringe to prepare large cuts of meat, wanting to flavor them with aromatic liquids and various flavors before cooking . A set of sharp knives for the more experienced, for processing cooked foods and for cutting particular pieces of meat. Together with the knives, a grooved cutting board is essential to collect the cooking juice and to slice meat and cooked foods that are still steaming. For cooking on the barbecue you don’t need a lot of experience but a lot of attention, patience and organizational skills. Before starting to cook, therefore, make a final check on the food, the seasonings, the fuel, the tools, so that you have everything at your fingertips. During cooking, pay attention to the embers and the food and good grilling at all.

Always considered the added value par excellence for your garden, even an element such as the barbecue has undergone an important evolution over the last few years, with the proliferation of new types of products, which inevitably require all interested parties to study quote to better address the issue.

The sector, in fact, at the moment presents us with alternatives such as those represented by wood and gas barbecues, up to the most beautiful ones to see, such as stone barbecues. Our purpose, through a section of this type, will be to let you choose them consciously, without neglecting a series of important accessories, essential for their use.