Don’t you just love summer days when you can get out onto the patio, set up the grill and invite some friends around and chill. Those smells, the flavors, the fun, that gorgeous food; surely it can’t be beat. Its little wonder that in most outdoor cooking equipment surveys its grilling that most people enjoy the most.

Now hold on a minute. This is absolutely true, but if you want a really successful and enjoyable outdoor cooking experience then you need a well thought through outdoor kitchen.

The scale of your outdoor kitchen will be down to available funds but ideally you should aim to have the big seven in your outdoor kitchen: a grill and a stove; a cabinet for storage; a work top, a sink; a refrigerator and a well positioned seating with table area.

With an outdoor kitchen come so many benefits. Think of it. There will be no more lugging things in and out every time you want to have a BBQ; you’ll get more time to spend with the family & friends who will be impressed and you’ll have everything to hand when you need it… that is of course, if you’ve planned things well.

Summertime, the time for barbecues and outdoor living. Here are twenty tips to help you really enjoy to the full cooking outdoors

1. You have to chose will it be gas or charcoal that you’re going to cook with? Chose charcoal if you like the smokey flavor; chose gas if like cleanliness, control and convenience. But do, do remember if its charcoal always light the fire naturally, never with fuel as it taints the flavor regardless of the time that you wait to start cooking!

2. Consider carefully whether your outdoor cooking equipment purchase is going to be an investment Don’t go cheap! Go for quality, it pays every time in both the short and long term.

3. Stoves and outdoor burners are measured in terms of their output or BTU. Make sure the one you buy is well suited to what you’ll be cooking; too small a burner and you’ll never be able to heat up those large stockpots; too large a burner and you’ll be wasting your money when smaller would have done just as well.

Cast iron cookware is ideal cookware for outdoor cooking; indeed I’d venture to say its the best. But why?

1. Comparatively speaking cast iron is inexpensive; especially when its considered how long it lasts. Well cared for your grandchildren will be using your pans and your skillets and in turn will be passing it on to theirs;

2. Cast iron cookware is absolutely great as a cooking medium as it has near perfect heat conduction & heat retention; it heats evenly & consistently without heat spots;

3. You can cook nearly all types of food in, or on, cast iron cookware;

4. Cast iron. cookware is really healthy to cook with! Why is this? Because you cook fat free! A well seasoned skillet/pan is ‘stick-free’ it requires no oil for cooking. [Note: Seasoning is the filling of the holes & cavities in the pan with grease in an oven. The grease becomes gets cooked so giving a smooth surface on the inside & outside of the skillet or pan;

5. In cast iron cookware your food slides easily & freely in the pan.

The American story is littered with references to cooking and the pioneers use of Dutch ovens. Spurned by those who want modern fads and TV dinners the Dutch oven is revered by those who appreciate great outdoor cooking and wonderful flavors in their food.

Its easy to get it wrong when buying a Dutch oven; it really is important that you buy the best you can; quality counts. For the best choice and value its advisable to go online.

First decide whether you want to use your Dutch oven on a campfire or on a grill. For the campfire chose a Dutch oven with 3 legs and a lid that allows coals to be put on the top; but for the grill chose a flat bottomed version.

What else should you consider when selecting which Dutch oven you want?

1. It should be of a good consistent, standard thickness throughout; inconsistent thickness of the walls can lead to hot or cold spots, warping or even a crack. Inconsistency is a sign that the oven is poorly made. If however the oven has a rough texture this is not a problem as over time this will be smothered out by seasoning; too smooth a surface and the seasoning cannot take effect because there’s nowhere for the grease to set within; too smooth a surface is therefore not good!

What is the force that is driving the move towards ever bigger, ever more technical, ever more sophisticated outdoor cooking equipment?

Whilst its true that outdoor cooking requires slightly more effort and takes slightly more time than when you’re cooking indoors don’t you think there’s something magical about it? Don’t you think its well worth the extra effort given that nothing tastes better than food cooked outdoors?

We run the e-commerce Outdoor Cooking Equipment Store providing cooking equipment to people who enjoy outdoor cooking. The reason I’m writing is because I’m becoming evermore concerned about the technology, the scale and the gadgetry that comes with the latest outdoor cooking equipment. I have to ask whether its worth cooking outdoors given the fact that what they’re cooking on is a bigger scale and more technically sophisticated that that which they cook on indoors! What on earth is it that we are trying to create in our gardens?

The days of simple outdoor cooking are threatened by those who would have us believe that the next technology horizon is the patio! Even as a retailer of outdoor cooking equipment I have to ask, what is the point of cooking outdoors if technology has taken over? Where has the flair gone; where is the initiative; where has the creativity gone?