Burned sausages, limp salads and undercooked chicken legs you live to regret; the British barbecue has historically been a sorry affair. But a slew of fancy equipment the price of a secondhand car is revolutionising the grilling game.<\/p>\n
Over the past few years, the \u00a31,000-plus barbecue has soared in popularity. The Big Green Egg, a pioneer of the premium outdoor cooking movement, has recorded 1m visits to its UK website so far this year. Its classic model retails at \u00a31,495.<\/p>\n
The market extends far beyond ceramic egg-shaped grills. Bertha sells Tardis-like freestanding outdoor coal ovens in aubergine purple and racing green for \u00a34,500. Kamado Joe\u2019s Series III charcoal barbecue, which includes a protective cover, a bag of charcoal and a pack of fire starters, will set you back \u00a32,000. The \u201cKonnected Joe\u201d iteration comes with in-built wifi<\/a>. Another popular option, the OFYR wood fired outdoor unit (\u00a31,295), is arguably the prettiest of the bunch and doubles as a fire pit.<\/p>\n The Big Green Egg is a kamado-style unit inspired by Japanese charcoal stoves. Photograph: Alex David<\/p>\n John Lewis reports a 100% increase in sales of its premium barbecue range over the past 12 months, while Weber, the company behind the classic UFO-style barbecue, has noticed an increase in demand for its premium models<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to Alexandra Hayes, co-founder of the food consultancy Harris and Hayes, the premium trend emerged during Covid when there were restrictions on eating out. \u201cConsumers still wanted to create new and special food and drink experiences, to set them apart from the routine and everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n For Melanie Brown, the chef-restaurateur of The Laundry in Brixton, who also hosts off-grid nights in the countryside where she cooks over Big Green Eggs or an OFYR, the very idea of of the British barbecue has changed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a massive shift in the interpretation of barbecue,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s no longer burning the shit out of something, it\u2019s turned from charring to gastronomy.\u201d<\/p>\n Rain or shine, barbecues are fast becoming a year-round affair for many. Photograph: SolStock\/Getty Images<\/p>\n There has been a general increase in fire cooking. \u201cWe see far more chefs and chefs across every level using fire and charcoal,\u201d says Brown. \u201cThat has kind of moved to the convivial-style of dining where you can cook pieces of meat over long periods of time \u2026 it really is a hobby as well as getting your daily nourishment.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond the cooking, there\u2019s \u201cdefinitely the statement value\u201d to these top-notch barbecues, says Hayes.\u201cHandbags are a classic status symbol, but as more people value experiences over things, it\u2019s understandable that these types of tools and gadgets are increasingly in hot demand.\u201d<\/p>\n Another key difference is that barbecues are no longer reserved for summer. \u201cPeople and customers are really buying these to use all year round now,\u201d says Brown. Plus, even the summer months are different to before \u2013 they are getting hotter and longer. The Met Office<\/a> says last summer was the hottest on record and, as a result of the climate crisis, all five of the UK\u2019s warmest summers have occurred since 2000.<\/p>\n All of this makes it arguably less remarkable to spend more than \u00a31,000 on a barbecue. Brown is from New Zealand, where she says people would often \u201cbarbecue at the drop of a hat\u201d, rain or shine. \u201cIf you\u2019re [using a premium barbecue] three or four times a week, and you\u2019re making bread and you\u2019re doing slow braises and you\u2019re smoking, it is a year-round investment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Burned sausages, limp salads and undercooked chicken legs you live to regret; the British barbecue has historically been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-647683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}