Barbecues

Garden braziers are an ideal way of prolonging outdoor living in your garden, they provided a real fire - comforting heat and atmospheric lighting - to sit around with hot drinks or mulled wine and double as a barbecue for cooking lunch or supper.

• The Forge at lebrazierbbq.com from £399
• The Grilltech Revolver Firepit at crocus.co.uk from £200
• The Dancook 9000 at rawgarden.co.uk from £150

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building a barbecue

There are barbecues available to suit every budget and occasion. From disposable trays to gas fired professional ensembles.

Alternatively, you can build one for yourself...

Your barbecue needs a flat surface on concrete or paving. If you build it on firmed earth the site is likely to turn into a sea of mud despite the promise of global warming! It would also prove awkward to mow around.

Choose a sheltered position away from possible fire hazards - trees and shrubs, your shed or back fence!...but not too far away from the house as you will be ferrying things backwards and forwards from the kitchen.

You will need:
A charcoal tray.
A grilling tray.
The above can be purchased as a kit or you could use an old oven rack and steel plate.

A quantity of bricks - the number depending upon the dimensions of the structure you want to build. A height of 12 courses of brickwork is usually most suitable about the same height as your kitchen oven. If you use a double layer of bricks your barbecue will be more stable than if you build a single brick width structure.

To build your barbeque use mortar mix - 1 part cement to 5 parts sand. Mix the dry ingredients in a wheelbarrow - make a hole in the ingredients and pour in water a little at a time, mixing with a hoe or a stout stick. Good mortar should have the consistency of thick mud.

Test the consistency by making a ridge in the mortar with a hoe - if the ridges fall back into the mix add extra dry ingredients a little at a time - if they disintegrate add more water a drop at a time.

Lay the first course bricks shaped like three sides of a square. When starting the second course of brickwork place the bricks centrally on top of the gaps in the first.

Lay a course of 8 bricks and then add the charcoal tray - another 3 brick layer and top with the grill and finally the last layer of bricks.