DJ BBQ - The BBQ book

Im so excited to be introducing this brilliant barbecue cookbook its short, sweet and to the point, its super-indulgent, and, most importantly, its 50 of the best barbecue recipes that Im confident youll want to reach for every time youre cooking outdoors. From meat to fish to veggies, plus a whole range of useful tips and cooking techniques, youll be amazed at what you can get out of your humble barbecue. The author of this book is the most fabulous, bonkers, charming guy, Mr Christian Stevenson aka DJ BBQ, and boy, what this fella cant do on the barbecue isnt worth knowing.

This little book is one of the first in a collection of no-nonsense, beautiful cookbooks, inspired by the incredible cooks, chefs and artisans on my Food Tube channel. If you dont know the channel already, hunt us out on YouTube, where myself and a bunch of super-talented people, including DJ BBQ, are uploading exclusive videos every week, with plenty of clever tips, tricks and methods thatll transform your cooking. Were a community of food lovers and experts, who simply want to share our passion with you guys, so if you have any questions, please leave a comment and well be happy to answer.

So back to this little beauty with the recipes in this book, DJ BBQs really fun videos on Food Tube and a little bit of his heart and soul, your barbecue will never be the same again. Im sure youll also learn some new words along the way from this crazy cat, but dont fight it embrace it.

Big love,

Welcome to my world of outdoor grilling. Its no secret that I like the taste of food much better when its cooked over wood and charcoal cooking over live fire brings out that inner caveman. Its primal, its feral its rad. Plus, its sociable!

For me, cooking on live fire harks back to times gone by when the charcoal makers were the wealthiest men around. If someone went out to rob a stagecoach, itd be the charcoal makers theyd be after for a decent prize. Charcoal is part of a whole big story that makes cooking with it even more primitive, and its becoming more and more relevant now, with charcoal producers experiencing a renaissance in the UK. If you only take one thing from this book, please let it be this wherever possible, buy local, sustainably sourced coal.

My love affair with barbecuing started when I was eight years old. My parents split up and I went to live with my dad he was OK in the kitchen, but better on the grill. He had learnt from his father, who was king of the grill. Grandpa would often load up the car with his four children, loads of food and his trusty barbecue, and theyd drive over the border of Iowa into the Dakotas, where theyd pull up at a state park and throw down an amazing barbecued picnic feast. Grandpa would have four chickens, a couple of racks of ribs, potatoes, sauces, corn the whole works on his little transportable barbecue! He passed on the knowledge to my dad, who then got me on the grill from an early age. Man, I burnt hotdogs, hamburgers and steaks, until one time in particular when I was cutting the fat off a raw steak. Dad barked at me, What are you doing? to which I responded, Cutting the fat off. Im only gonna cut it off later when Im eating it. But thats where the flavour comes from, son, Dad retorted. And this is how I learnt.

This book is full of recipes that Ive cooked time and again during my 45 years of walking this earth. Many are family recipes and others are inspired by my travels, starting in Ocean City, Maryland, working for an old-school hippy called Woodstock Dan, to shredding the Rockies in Vail, Colorado, making snowboarding films and working at the 24-hour DJs Diner, to spending my summers in Lagos, Portugal, during the 90s. Barbecuing is all about cooking for a crowd and thats what I love to do, so get some people round, make sure your beer is ice cold and fire up that grill!

HERE ARE MY DIFFERENT COOKING TECHNIQUES, WHERE YOULL LEARN TO BALANCE YOUR COOKING BETWEEN HOT, DIRECT HEAT AND THE LESS FIERCE, INDIRECT HEAT THIS IS THE ART OF DIRECT VERSUS INDIRECT BARBECUING. IVE GIVEN YOU A GUIDELINE TECHNIQUE IN ALL MY RECIPES, BUT YOU MIGHT FIND OTHER METHODS WORK BEST IF YOURE BARBECUING MORE THAN ONE THING AT A TIME DONT BE AFRAID TO TAKE CHANCES AND USE YOUR INSTINCTS. THE MORE YOU COOK, THE EASIER IT GETS.

SLOPE

Over the past year this has been one of my go-to techniques itll give you a nice range of heat to play with. Pile the coals up so you have loads on one side and none on the other, making sure theres a nice gradual slope in between.

HALF & HALF

This does what it says on the tin and its a great method if you want hot, direct heat but you also want a safe zone if things get a bit crazy. Set up the barbecue so half the base is covered in charcoal and the other side is empty.

HEAT CANYON

This is one of my favourite ways of cooking! Place the coals on opposite sides of the barbecue to make two heat walls this will create sections of hot, direct heat on the sides, with an indirect, cooler area in the middle to ensure your meat gets consistent heat throughout the cook.

LONELY ISLAND

This method is great when cooking hunks of meat slow and low over a long period of time. Its what Id use to turn my standard kettle barbecue into a smoker (before I had a smoker, that is), so dont use this to do straightforward grilling. Place a small amount of charcoal in the corner of your barbecue so you have a little island of coals on one side, then cover with the lid and let it heat up.