National BBQ Week

Now the weather is beginning to warm up and it’s becoming bearable to be outside, people are starting to think about the summer meal that Brits are most fond of – the humble barbecue.

As soon as the first rays of sunshine are peeking through the clouds people flock to their gardens, spatulas in hand, to fire up their trusty grills.

This week is National BBQ Week, and what better way to celebrate than to bring the Barbie out of the garage, get some burgers and get cooking!

BBQ Facts

– Two out of every three UK households own a barbecue
– In 2013, people in the UK hosted over 125 million BBQ’s
– The entire BBQ market was worth just over £7.1 billion in 2013
– 33% of men and 32% of women attend between 8 and 9 BBQ’s a year
– There are three different methods that people call BBQ’ing – Grilling, smoking and BBQ’ing itself. Grilling means cooking food at a medium to high temperature, with the food directly over the heat source. Food easily burns this way. BBQ’ing actually requires a hooded grill, and is a slower process than grilling. The food is placed at the opposite end of the grill from the heat, and cooks slower. Finally, smoking is a technique that is favoured in the USA, and only uses the heated smoke to cook the food.

Weirdest BBQ’s

– The biggest ever BBQ was in New Orleans in 1997. Around 17500 people attended a BBQ held to commemorate a surprise 40^th birthday party.
– The longest running BBQ lasted for seven months in Jamaica. It was eventually cancelled due to lack of food, drink or money.
– A group of men on a stag party were spoken to by police after hosting a BBQ in a graveyard, dressed as ghosts in 1999.
– In 1996, a bungee jumped down to a BBQ 250ft below in Auckland, New Zealand, to speed grill a burger.

BBQ Safety

– Wash your hands before preparing food, after touching raw meat and before serving
– Keep raw and cooked meats separate
– If the weather is hot, throw away food that is left outside for more than an hour
– Keep children and animals away from the BBQ
– Be careful to keep an adequate distance away from the BBQ, to stop yourself getting burned
– Always make sure that frozen food is completed defrosted before BBQ’ing

This weekend, make sure that your BBQ goes off without a hitch by preparing, serving and storing your food correctly. Why not have a look at our Food Hygiene course to find out the best way possible?