Here are five recipes, 2 for ‘direct grilling’ and 3 for ‘indirect grilling’. Remember, both of these methods of grilling on your BBQ, can be used for gas or charcoal BBQ’s. Please see the instructions on how to use both of these cooking techniques, direct cooking and indirect cooking.

Lobster tails can now be purchased from any good seafood store or internet seafood store. These are flash frozen once killed meaning all the freshness and taste is locked in. Once de-frosted, you have a very fresh, raw lobster tail which is ideal for BBQ grilling. This also eliminates the ordeal of killing a live lobster for those of us who are a little uncomfortable with the act of doing this. If you would prefer to use a live lobster, then our ‘JAKE’S SMOKIN’ PLANK’ has instructions on how to do this.

This is an ideal starter for any special occasion and the citrus flavour sparkles through the mellow and delicate smoke taste

1 cup of good quality butter

The juice of two fresh tangerines

4 lobster tails, about 170g each.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan and then carefully skim off any foam that has formed on the top. Slowly whisk the tangerine juice into the melted butter and then set aside.

Now you are going to cut the lobster tail shells (only the shells and not the flesh) by cutting them in half, down the middle, length ways and on both sides. The best way to cut the tails is with a pair of sharp poultry shears. Once the shell has been cut all around, you can now cut the flesh with a very sharp knife through where you have cut the shell in order to separate the two halves. You should now have two very similar halves (nearly identical) of neatly cut lobster tail. Repeat this cutting method for the remaining tails.

Place the lobster tails in a suitable resealable (zip lock) plastic bag and pour half of the butter/tangerine mix into the bag. Reserve the other half for basting half way through grilling. Lay the bag down and press out as much of the air as possible, without letting the butter/tangerine mix leak out. Now seal the bag and turn it several times to ensure an even distribution of mix. Place it into your fridge and leave for 15 to 25 minutes.

Now have your BBQ hot, smoking and ready (see direct grilling). Remove the lobster tails from the bag and place onto your BBQ, meat side down. If you have the choice of heat settings on your BBQ, then grill over a medium heat, if not, don’t worry! Close the lid or hood of your BBQ and grill for 4 to 5 minutes, then flip the tails over and baste with the reserved butter/tangerine mixture. Close the lid and grill for a further 4 to 5 minutes. Serve the lobster tails straight from the BBQ and pour a little of the butter/tangerine mixture onto each plate. Let your guests dip the sweet and succulent lobster flesh into the butter/tangerine mixture. Enjoy!Serve with a chilled Chablis.

More well known and used in north America, these soft shell crabs are just starting to make an appearance in good seafood stores (local and on the internet). About time too! It takes a little time to get used to the idea of eating the crab whole, but once you have grappled with the idea, you will really appreciate the wonderful flavour and texture this unusual recipe gives. The crabs are potted at the critical time when they have just shed their old shells and are ready to form a new one, but before they have the chance to do so, they are scooped from the sea, placed into our backyard BBQ’s and served on a plate for us to enjoy!

The small crabs are cooked and crisped on the BBQ. Their soft shells turn into a crispy exterior, while the extremely flavoursome interior melts and floods our taste buds with the most wonderful of flavour from our seas. The whole crab is eaten here, yes, every last bit! The texture, the subtle smoky flavour and the wonderful remoulade it is dipped in, all combine to give you a superb eating experience. Your taste buds will put any doubts you may have had over eating crab whole firmly to bed once and for all!

For the remoulade:

¾ cup of mayonnaise

¼ cup of finely chopped flat leaf parsley

2 tablespoons of minced or grated white onion

2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon of capers, drained and bashed into very small pieces or minced

1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

Tabasco sauce

Sea salt

12 soft shell crabs, rinsed

½ cup of unsalted melted butter

Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium plastic or glass bowl whisk or blend all of the remoulade ingredients together, including the Tabasco sauce and the sea salt to taste. Cover and place into a fridge until needed.

Melt the butter in a small pan and brush each crab with it. Season each crab with a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Now have your BBQ hot, smoking and ready (see direct grilling). Place the crabs onto the BBQ, close the lid and grill for about 6 to 8 minutes or until crispy but not burnt, turning once within that time.

Serve immediately with the remoulade for dipping the crabs into.Serve with a chilled rose or the clean taste of a chilled Coors beer.

Trout is a fish that most of us enjoy. This recipes gives it a wonderful light smoky flavour and makes it an ideal fish to cook at your next BBQ.

4 whole trout, gutted and cleaned

2 teaspoons of sea salt

2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon thinly sliced

1 cup of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Grind the sea salt with the pepper in a mortar or grinder. Mix the salt and pepper so they are evenly distributed between themselves. Wash and pat dry each trout and then rub the salt and pepper mixture inside and out of each trout until all are evenly covered. Now evenly divide the lemon slices and parsley between the 4 trout and place them into the gut cavity of each trout. Have your BBQ set up as described in the instructions (indirect grilling), with the water pan, tinfoil drip tray and barrel chunks all featuring. It may be easier to use a layer of tin foil rather than a tinfoil tray, to catch any of the drips that will come from the trout. We recommend using a white wine instead of water for use in the water pan with this recipe, although water is just fine. Your BBQ should be all set, hot and smoking. Lift the lid off and place the trout evenly spaced out on their sides and over the aluminium tray or foil. Remember no part of any fish should be directly over the hot coals or gas burner. Close the lid/hood and let the trout cook. Lift the lid after 15 minutes, turn each fish over and swap the ones that were on the outer part of the BBQ, to the inner part of the BBQ and vice versa. Close the lid/hood and cook for another 15 minutes. Check to see if the trout are cooked . Their skin should be a nice golden colour and crispy. Place a fork into the fish and see if it flakes easily when prodded. If it is not yet cooked, carry on cooking for another 10 minutes, then check again.Serve with an ice cold Steel Head Trout Beer (what else?) or a Sierra Nevada pale ale.

This is a wonderful dish to serve up for a family BBQ. So succulent, your guests will not believe it has been cooked on the BBQ. It has time to absorb the wonderful smoky flavours from the barrel chunks, which really give this chicken heaps of flavour. Try any leftovers cold the next day at a summer picnic, if it is not eaten all in one go. The flavour intensifies when left overnight in your fridge.

For the glaze:

1/3 cup of Bourbon (Jack Daniels is a good one)

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 tablespoon of Dijon whole grain mustard

1 large roaster chicken, 2 ½ to 3 kilo in weight

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 large garlic cloves, minced in a garlic press

2 teaspoons of sea salt

½ teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper

Combine the 3 glaze ingredients in a small plastic or glass bowl and set aside.

Split the chicken length ways by cutting along its back bone with a pair of poultry shears. Now turn it over so it is breast side up and press firmly onto the middle of the breast until the bones begin to crack and chicken is reasonably flat. Thread two sturdy metal skewers through the flattened chicken. The skewers will run perpendicular to the thigh bones, through the breasts and through the middle of the large wing joints. The skewers will create a cross shape. Skewers are not essential, but help to keep the bird intact.

Mix together the oil, garlic, salt and pepper and brush the chicken evenly on both sides. Now have your BBQ hot, smoking and ready (see indirect grilling). Have your BBQ set up as described in the instructions, with the water pan, tinfoil drip tray and barrel chunk (s) all featuring. Place the chicken, skin side up, onto the cooking grill, above the tinfoil drip tray but not directly over any of the hot coals or gas flames. Close the lid and cook at a temperature of 300 to 325 degrees Fahrenheit if possible. After 1 hour take the lid off and remove the cooking grill to add some more hot charcoal ( if using heat beads, you should not need to add anymore), replace the cooking grill and replenish the water pan. Add another barrel chunk if you require a more smokier taste. Baste the chicken on both sides with the glaze and replace the lid/hood. If using gas, do all of the above apart from obviously adding the charcoal. After another 40 minutes baste the chicken again and replace the lid/hood. Every 5 minutes for the next 20 minutes baste the chicken with the glaze. It should be cooked in around 2 hours from start to finish, this takes into account the lifting of the lid. When the juices run clear or the internal temperature of the breast meat is 170 degrees Fahrenheit, the chicken is cooked. Please bear in mind that chicken and other meats can quite often appear pink once cooked. This is due to the smoke that has penetrated the flesh. If you are at all uncertain of whether it is cooked or not, then a internal temperature gauge is a good piece of kit to own.

Once cooked, take the chicken out of the BBQ and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Carve or pick off the bone and enjoy!Serve with Semillon from Australia or a nice refreshing cold San Miguel.

This is a wonderful cut of beef to smoke roast. A rich and succulent meat is enhanced by the whiskey barrel chunks that add a smoky taste to the meat.

For the paste:

1 whole head of garlic cloves

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil

1 beef tenderloin 1 ½ to 2 kilo

3 tablespoons of whole pink peppercorns

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons of sea salt

½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

To make the paste:

Remove the loose papery outer skin from the head of garlic. Now cut about 1 cm off of the top of the head to expose the cloves. Place the garlic head into a piece of square aluminium foil (about 20 cm) and drizzle over the 1 teaspoon of oil. Fold up the foil sides and enclose the head in the foil. Do not wrap it tight, as it may expand whilst cooking. Place in the middle of a preheated oven at around gas 7, 425 degrees Fahrenheit or 220 degrees Celsius. Cook for 45 minutes and then remove from the oven and allow to cool. Squeeze the garlic from the individual cloves into a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil and mash the garlic and oil together with a fork until it has formed the consistency of a paste. This paste can be made well in advance of using it. You can store this paste for up to 1 month in the fridge.

Trim the tenderloin of any excess fat and the silvery skin. Rub the garlic paste all over and well into the flesh of the tenderloin.

In a small bowl combine the peppercorns, rosemary, sea salt and pepper. Mix well and then press into the paste on the tenderloin. Allow the tenderloin to stand out of the fridge for 1 hour, covered loosely with kitchen roll. Have your BBQ set up as described in the instructions, with the water pan, tinfoil drip tray and barrel chunks all featuring. Have the temperature of the BBQ at 225 to 290 degrees Fahrenheit if at all possible. Place the tenderloin over the tinfoil drip tray and close the lid/hood. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes for medium rare (internal temperature 135 degrees farhenheight). Cook for slightly longer for a more well done beef. Remove from the BBQ and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Carve and serve.Serve with a Cabernet sauvignon or a cool Sierra Nevada pale ale.