Perfectly Cooking on your Zip BBQ! 

When it comes to cooking over live fire, you've got two choices.

• Direct cooking, or
• Indirect cooking

Direct Cooking

Direct is essentially grilling, where the food is cooked directly over the heat source - which is what most people think about when they think about having a barbecue. 

For even cooking the food should be turned just once or twice.  The charcoal should be evenly spread across the cooking area of the barbecue.  Hint: you can leave sections with less charcoal (and a lower heat) to keep food hot without overcooking. 

This method is best for foods that take less than 20 minutes to cook - like steaks, chops, sausages, kebabs, vegetables and burgers.

Handy hints

• Heat the grill racks up straight away to burn away any excess grease
• To avoid sticking, coat your grill rack with vegetable oil before cooking
• A way of avoiding flare-ups from fat is to trim any excess fat from the meat, leaving only a small amount of fat to flavour it.
• Food will cook best over glowing embers, so have a spray bottle of water handy to extinguish any flames as they may appear.

Indirect Cooking

Indirect cooking is more like cooking in an oven, with a longer cooking time over a slightly lower heat and making use of the barbecue lid. 

With indirect cooking there is no need to turn the food as it will cook evenly from heat from the coals being reflected back to the food from the lid in sides of the barbecue.  Coals should be at each end of the barbecue surrounding a drip tray. Hint: put water in the drip tray to stop drippings from burning. Pleace the food in the centre of the BBQ over the drip tray, close the lid.

This method works best for more tender and larger cuts of meats like whole chickens, ribs and delicate fish fillets.

Handy Hints

• Every time you lift the lid, add extra cooking time!
• Use the vents in your BBQ to help adjust the heat. Open the vents to make the BBQ hotter, and close them to lower the heat.
• If you are unsure about when food is ready when BBQing, a meat thermometer will help determine whether the food is cooked.

Don't forget to email us your favourite tips and tricks - and we will put the best ones up on the site.

Happy Barbecueing!