Top 10 Chefs

10 of the leading chefs in the UK give us their tips for elevating your BBQ food.

Gordon Ker
Founder - Blacklock

When it comes to barbecuing, I’m all about lamb chops and at Blacklock we’re famous for them. Sure, they’re delicious cooked in a pan over a hot hob but there’s nothing quite like the smell of lamb chops cooked over charcoal. My top tip: steer clear of fuel-soaked lighters – the fumes can linger and interfere with the delicious aromas and, crucially, the flavour. Instead, repurpose an old egg carton by filling it with lumps of coal and place it inside the barbecue. The dense recycled fibres will control the burn and allow the charcoal to catch fire in good time. Before you start grilling, ensure the coals are no longer smoking and have started to coat themselves with a silver-grey ash. You can add a little block of oak to the edge of your fire to allow a gentle smoke. Don’t start cooking until you have white coals. When you’re ready to grill, season the chops with a healthy covering of Maldon sea salt and a hint of black pepper.

Will Murray
Chef Owner - Fallow, Fowl, and Roe

For an umami boost, try seasoning your grilled veg, meat, or fish with kombu. It is a staple across our menus at Fallow, Roe, and FOWL and really takes dishes to the next level. For best results, sprinkle over your items while they’re hot on the grill – corn ribs work so well here. You can buy jars of our kombu-based seasoning online or you can find kombu at most Japanese and Korean supermarkets.

Ian Warren
Director - Philip Warren Butchers

Certain cuts of meat are better suited to the flames of a barbecue than others. For sausages, I recommend going for something classic and chunky. Chipolatas, for example, dry out rather easily. Try our Old Cornish Chunky Sausages; they work brilliantly. When it comes to chicken thighs, go for skin-on, which turns nice and crispy. For beef, the ultimate barbecue cut for me is a picanha – rump cap. The thick layer of fat on top is really something. As the joint cooks, it melts and sort of self-bastes. The result is a joint packed full of flavour but meltingly soft.

Mike Davies
Chef Director - The Camberwell Arms

When grilling, it’s essential to choose your charcoal based on what you’re cooking and how long you’ll be grilling. At The Camberwell Arms, we layer a mix of compressed charcoal briquettes with lumpwood charcoal. Briquettes take longer to heat up but stay hot for longer, making them great for the bottom layer. Lumpwood, on the other hand, lights up fast but burns out quickly, perfect for topping up during cooking. Patience is key; controlling the grill surface is simpler with charcoal that’s glowing rather than engulfed in flames. One of my favourite barbecue dishes is a spatchcocked chicken cooked skin side down until beautifully charred, glazed with a mixture of honey, Aleppo chilli flakes, lemon zest, garlic, black pepper, thyme, and butter.

Ben Tish
Chef Director - Cubitt House

Cooking fruits and desserts on the barbecue is a really fun way of adding a unique twist to the meal. Grilling stone fruits like peaches, plums, nectarines and apricots until they become jammy and caramelised can intensify their natural sweetness – drizzled with a little balsamic and served with burrata makes for a simple and sweet, yet rustic side dish, bursting with flavour. Alternatively, preparing small chocolate puddings over indirect heat on the barbecue infuses them with a subtle smokiness. Serve these with freshly whipped cream to add another layer of decadence. 

Will Bowlby
Chef Patron and Co-Founder - Kricket

I love to use papaya in my marinade to tenderise whichever meat I am cooking. I buy raw, young papayas and blend the flesh up into a paste. Rub this over whatever meat you’re using – it works especially well for cheaper cuts like lamb neck. After marinating overnight, I rub it in spices and yoghurt before cooking. The result is tender and deliciously flavourful, especially with some charring from the open fire.

Lorcan Spiteri
Co-owner and Chef - Caravel

I like to add a large dollop of cherry harissa to my marinade for lamb or chicken. I use one from Belazu, and it adds a really nice heat to the meat without being overpowering. When the meat chars a bit on the grills is when the harissa really sings – sweet and smokey all at the same time.

Tommy Banks
Chef Owner - The Tommy Banks Group

Always use lumpwood charcoal instead of the usual briquettes (found at petrol stations and supermarkets) as it burns a lot cleaner and has a much better flavour. I particularly like using Binchotan, a white Japanese charcoal, for its long burning time and subtle smokiness. Another thing I love using on everything I’m cooking on the BBQ is miso ­­– absolutely everything glazed in it is delicious. Mix butter and miso in equal measures, and you can then brush that on everything from veggies to fish to meat. I recently made a very popular monkfish tail brushed in miso butter on my Kasai grill. 

Paul Ainsworth
Chef Owner - The Ainsworth Collection

I like to grab a good handful of woody herbs such as thyme, rosemary and sage, and bunch them together to create a herb brush. This can then be used to baste softened butter on to the meat, or fish on the barbecue. The essential oils from the herbs permeate into the protein and give a really great depth of flavour right through. A piece of equipment to invest in is the HexClad BBQ grill pan ­– it can be laid directly on to the barbecue grills and allows the food to get an even char with the desired smokiness, without risking food sticking to the grates. Makes life easier for cleaning up afterwards as well.

Patrick Williams
Chef Patron and Co-owner - Kudu Collective

As a South African, I love a good barbecue, especially of course if it’s a braai. The key to success is the right temperature – I would always suggest high heat for red meats and a gentler heat for fish, chicken and vegetables. A staple in our home is traditional boerewors – coarsely mince beef and combine with spices such as black pepper and coriander, then grill over the fire. We also like to use our braai to elevate the flavour of vegetables, and while sweetcorn is a crowd favourite, we tend to opt for Hispi cabbage. Halve the cabbage and grill it over low embers until caramelised. Then flip it and place the meat on top to let the juices infuse into it. Delicious.