Food & Drink

For our final installment of JOE's BBQ King in association with Bulmers, we'll detail how to get the most out of whichever meat your choose and what to look out for beforehand.

Beef

Obviously nothing goes together better than beef and BBQs but you'll want to pay careful attention to the type of cut, thickness and cooking time for whichever cut you purchase. Remember that many cuts of beef are already tender enough without needing to be marinated - though in the case of eye-of-round or flank cuts, they will tend to be less tender.

Always remember to bring the meat to room temperature before grilling, cut away any visible fat and start the meat on higher heat initially to seal in the juices. Grilling time usually takes 4-5 minutes each side for rare cuts, 7-8 minutes for thick cuts and 10 minutes each side if you like your steaks well done.

Sausage

For sausages you won't need to be quite as picky before grilling, though we would recommend large sausages such as bratwurst beforehand. Thankfully sausages require little to no preparation beforehand but that doesn't mean you should take your eye off the meat at any stage.

For example, if cooked over a direct heat, the flames will bring the sausage past boiling point, splitting the meat and cause the juices to run out of the sausage. Not recommended.

Instead we advise cooking your sausage through indirect heat, allowing them to brown for 1-2 minutes on a high heat before turning it down to medium and arranging them as far away from a heat source behind the lid afterwards. They should then cook for around 10-15 before reaching an ideal interior temperature of 160 degrees.

Poultry

Chicken is very much a more time-consuming but less work-intensive meat. We recommend a slower method that begins with a seasoned chicken left on a grill of between 230° and 250°F and left for 2 1/2-3 hours. This way you won't get charred chicken and can leave the basting until the chicken itself has been cooked through.

Lamb

You'll want a butterflied leg of lamb here so unless you have a boning knife, ask your butcher to do so beforehand. From here you can marinate the lamb and then run two or three skewers through the legs before cooking. You'll need a steady, low heat and will want to turn the legs every ten minutes or so.

As a rule of thumb, allow around 40-45 minutes for a thick leg and 30-35 for a smaller leg, while also allowing a little time before carving afterwards.

Turkey

Why should turkey be confined to just a dry feast on Christmas Day? Or weather permitting (this is a long shot, admittedly), it could even be a new way to celebrate December 25th. Here you'll need a whole turkey cooked on a low, indirect heat, placing the bird on the grill surface.

At least once every hour you'll need to baste it, while we would estimate that you'll need 30 minutes cooking time per pound. Once the temperature reaches 180, she's cooked, so allow 10 minutes resting time before tucking in.