How to spice up your summer barbecue

Summer barbecues open up a wealth of opportunity for culinary exploration. Here are four tips for taking your barbecuing to the next level, followed by three of my recipes to try for yourself: lamb cutlets with asparagus, garlicky prawns and the delightfully colourful Pepper Piedmontese. Each of these dishes have been paired with wine chosen by Andrew Peace so that you can bring out the very best of those barbecue flavours. 

Choose your charcoal wisely

Food cooked over an open fire has a different flavour altogether than food cooked on the stove or in the oven. For the best flavour use sustainably sourced British charcoal which burns longer so you’ll use less and isn’t packed with chemicals like mass-produced charcoal.

Don’t rush

Make sure your meat is at room temperature before you cook it – meat cooked straight from the fridge will take a lot longer. It’s really important to allow meat to rest once it is cooked; this will improve the texture and flavour.