Yes, there are many other things that you can cook on a barbeque. Not that there is anything wrong with a good snag or steak. It is a cliché, but offcourse you are only really limited by your imagination. Anything that you would cook in the oven or on the stove can be cooked on most barbeques.

I don’t really have anymore experience with barbeques than the next guy. The only real professional experience that I have had, has been standing in front of a barbeque on a beach, under the light of the moon and the tiki torches, with the sweet sound of the steel drums playing Bob Marley melodies in the background. This was at a hotel resort on an island called Nevis, in the South Eastern Caribbean. I was only turning half lobsters and fillet steaks while making small talk with rich American guests. It was really only for show, or for what we call making smoke, in the industry. The guests love to see a guy in a tall white hat cooking their food in front of them, and at a minimum room rate of $US 800 per night, and this was 10 years ago, the hotel was able to put on a great show for the newly weds and nearly deads, as we called them.

Since returning to Australia a few years ago, and settling down, I have had the opportunity to cater for and attend barbecues on several occasions. Always exercise extreme caution when you are asked to cook on other people’s equipment, as you may not be familiar with it, and also, unfortunately, it may not have been left in a state that is fit to prepare food on. I have been caught out like this on a couple of occasions and it is not pleasant. There is a prevalent culture of not cleaning barbeques; it seems that because they live outside, they do not need to be cleaned. This is not true, like any piece of cooking gear, if it is not cleaned properly then it will not work well, and it is not hygienically fit to prepare food on.

I have a basic model Weber barbeque, and I love it. It is not the charcoal model, which, lets face it, is not very practical if you want to use it spur of the moment, but it does make food taste great. These are not cheap barbecues but you get what you pay for, and like anything else, if look after it and get to know it, it will look after you.

Back to your question, I would recommend that you go to a book store and look for a barbeque cookbook; there are plenty of them out there. You can also use any other style of cook book which appeals to you and which has char grill or panfry recipes in it.

Remember that when hosting a barbeque event for family and friends, it is a goods idea to construct the menu such that the different accompaniments and accessories are prepared and ready in advance. Then you just need to finish the main protein or vegetarian components with a beer and tongs in hand, while enjoying the company of your guests, which is what the great Aussie Barbie is all about.

One of the things that I have enjoyed cooking this past summer on my barbeque has been a whole butterflied lamb leg. I had milk fed Kangaroo Island lamb on the menu for a while, and sometimes a couple of the back legs would come home with me, destined for the barbie.  I marinate them for 4-6 hours and serve them with some Middle Eastern type dips and pita bread that I char mark on the barbeque at the last minute. The robust flavours of this marinade also go well with any fresh type of summer garden salad and a glass of crisp white wine. You can apply the same marinade recipe to a whole free range chicken, just ask any good butcher to butterfly it for you, if you are not game yourself, same goes for the lamb leg.

Before marinating, if you wish, you can score the skin side of the meat to allow the flavours to work through deeper. I would recommend using a Stanley blade knife, but go out and buy a new one, don’t get the one from the shed. These are cheap and you can easily adjust the cutting depth, so they make scoring easy.

The great thing about this recipe is that you get to enjoy a whole chicken or roast leg of lamb, but because it is butterflied and therefore flattened, it cooks in a fraction of the time.

Recipe

1 whole lamb leg boned and butterflied or 1 whole chicken butterflied
300ml Olive oil
100ml Natural yoghurt
60g Crushed garlic
2 large sprig Rosemary, finely chopped
30g Anchovies, finely chopped
3 pinch Chilli flakes or to taste

Sea salt
Ground black pepper

Season the meat. Mix all ingredients together and by hand, gently rub marinade into meat like a slow massage, taking your time. Allow to sit for 4-6 hours in the fridge. Char grill on a medium barbeque until lamb has reached desired temperature, or with chicken, until it is cooked through to the thigh bone. You may want to cook slowly with the lid down, for a great Weber effect. Allow to rest for 5 min before carving.