Barbeque ideas please!

forevershopping

Hello,
I am having a BBQ adult party in may, does anyone have any tips on food, drink, garden, lighting, seating, ect.
I have never done a BBQ party before and would be gratefull for any ideas
Thankyou for your time

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vanoonoo

mmmm



how many people and what time of day you starting and finishing?

my suggestion would be to have a contingency plan incase the weather is poor and also make sure there is easy access to the toilet with floor covering to guard against muddy foot prints

keep the booze flowing and make sure the food is fully cooked (some people pre cook indoors and jsut finish off on the barbie (particularly chicken and sausages which both are harbourers of potential food poisoning)

dont leave too much stuff hanging around outside or uncovered for too long cos it could spoil or get contaminated (cant think of a less scarey word, sorry)

warn your neighbours, have enough seating for everyone both inside and out, have maybe a patio heater if its going into the night time (these can double as lights) and consider a gazebo type covering. most things can be begged or borrowed from friends neighbours and relatives.

get your guests to bring a bottle and if you like suggest they bring a dish too - someone could bring pasta salad, another bring rice salad, coleslaw, potato salad, fruit salad, caesar salad, salad salad

also - make friends with the local butcher between now and the barbie and get some cheap steak I love barbied steak mmm

ok - now tell me actually you are all vegetarians?

tiff

We do chicken kebabs, marinade chicken breasts, cut up chicken into bite sized pieces and alternate with a piece of orange pepper, chicken, yellow pepper, chicken etc on a skewer. It looks very summery and tastes gorgeous.

Also get a large plate, slice beefsteak or large tomatoes and arrange on a plate with alternate slices of mozzarella. Drizel with olive oil and tear up some basil to garnish.

The gazebo idea is a good one, they have some in Tesco at the moment for £25 but you might get cheaper ones as the garden stuff comes into the stores.

forevershopping

Thanks, sorted out a gazibo, and patio heater!
theres about 40 people, starts at 7.30pm and finishes when ever [likely to be the early hours with just 10/15 remaining]
Got plenty of drinks as I have been buying bargains as I have come across them,but have not been able to do this with food,I need some food suggestions that are easy to do and not to messy, so that I can relax a bit and enjoy it to, I am going to cook the chicken before hand and do it buffet style, If I was to part cook the sausages how/when would I do this?
morrisons fresh butcher department do home made 100% beef burger 4 for £1.49 but they are always on offer buy a pack get a pack free,but they can only be froze for 4 weeks [so hopeing that the offer is on in arpil]
I was thinking about getting some big logs and using a [yale door lock] drill bit drilling some holes and putting in tealights? don't know where to get any logs from though.
thanks again for your suggestion so far

forevershopping

Thanks tiff sounds nice, I will definatly makes those, nice and easy aswell

vanoonoo

forty people?!!! argh!!!!!!!

hope you've got a lot of grill space.

start looking out for offers on paper plates too

check out your local cash and carry type place for burgers or find out from your local kebab shop /burger van where they get their burgers from because you can get catering sized boxes of frozen burgers (usually choices of 80%, 95% and 100% content) at a good price and they will supply buns too at far cheaper than you can buy them from a supermarket.

I wouldnt part cook the sausages as you wouldnt want them hanging around warm and not fully cooked for too long you'd need to precook them completely and serve them hot from the oven pretty much straight away - have you considered serving herta frankfurter type t hings instead of bangers?

with that many people to cater for I would suggest you take a look at some food health and hygiene literature so that you understand what the regulations are for food storage of cooked and raw meat and also to be wary of preparation and cross contamination from raw meat to salad or uncooked food.

the tealights sounds like a really pretty idea but remember that most tealights dont actually burn for very long (although I understand you can get some that go for several hours)

forevershopping

Thanks, ive found a few sites that i'm going to have a good read through, Reading these are making me panic!!

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/barbecue_bugs_final.pdf

http://www.qualityfoodonline.co.uk/food/foodfeature/hygiene/Food%20Safety.htm#BBQ

http://www.region.york.on.ca/Publications/News/2004/July+7,+2004,+Food+safety+tips+for+cooking+on+the+barbeque.htm

links enclosed for anyone else whos interested

vanoonoo

dont panic mr mainwaring!

it'll be great - you jsut have to be organised and you obviously are!

just as long as you know the safe guidelines you'll be fine - its when you dont plan and dont know and leave stuff hanging around half warm and half cooked for ages that the (literal) rot sets in.

get extra loo roll too for that many people!!!!

I always think fairy/christmas tree lights look really pretty draped around if you have any that are safe for outdoor use

will you be having music and stuff too?

spankymonkey_2

i bought an excellent sausage holder from tesco last year , that holds 8 sausages on the bbq. stops them from falling all over the place! if you have a large bbq get some small potatoes and wrap them in tin foil place them in the charcoal.these do have to be quite small but very tasty! half cook onions and leave to cook actually on the bbq(in a suitable tin of course) also keeps them warm.sweetcorn is pretty good too.....

forevershopping

yes music [mixture of everything] and neighbours are sorted!

I have some christmas tube lights that are suitable for outdoor use [will dig them out of the loft]

Good thinking about the toilet roll, will also need plenty of liquid soap!

I do not have any mud, only gravel and wood so not to worried about the carpets,

I will look at the sausage holders next time im at tesco's

I have 3 large BBQs got them last year in the winter "bargains"

What do you mean by music and "stuff"

thanks everyone

Queenie

The best recipe I've impressed family and friends with (but never 40 at once!) is "Chicken on a Beer Can" - DeeeeLish!!

Basically, el cheapo chicken, a can of beer: drink top 1/3rd of beer, stick chicken onto it so that it is "standing" and the can is now upright inside the chicken cavity (the can base and the legs form the tripod to make it look like it's "standing"). You can add a rub of seasoned butter to the skin of the chicken before cooking - I use herbs mashed in butter. As the beer heats up, it steams the inside of the chicken at the same time as the heat from the coals cooks the chicken upwards. (A 3lb chicken will take approx 1½hrs) You could easily cook 2-3 of these and then leave to stand for about 15mins, in which time you can cook your sausages, burgers or other faster cooking items.

Big bowl of hm coleslaw, crusty bread, fresh fruit served on ice and voila