One of the most amazing things about the spring and summer seasons are all the incredibly fun hours spent outdoors. Among those is definitely the go-to activity for a lovely family time or a friends gathering; barbecue.

If it is you in your family or group of friends, who is the one jumping around the fire pit, we have a question for you. Isn’t it time to raise the level of your (surely already brilliant) barbecue skills a little more this year? We present you with the top 5 barbecue tips collected from the world’s renowned chefs to make you the real BBQ master chef!

1. The golden rule of marinating 

Cooking on your own fire pit, in your own backyard, with quality meat is already something to be celebrated. That’s probably why so many BBQ enthusiasts neglect marinating their steaks before preparing them. Leave the meat in a tasty marinade over night and don’t be afraid to use it in the act of cooking too. Believe us, although the mild taste of smoke is exciting, marinating your meat will make the flavors exceptional. 

2. Make sure you’re equipped

If you believe that the only thing a good barbecue afternoon is based on is nice meat, good drinks and a bunch of friends, you’re partially wrong. We can’t express the importance of the right tools enough! It might be time to exchange your father’s old grill for a new, high-quality fire pit, and get real barbecue tools instead of relying on your fingers and a fork. To give you a tip, we can guarantee you that these Cowboy Grill Tongs will make things much easier and food much tastier.

3. It’s getting hot in here

Similarly as you don’t just throw your pie in the oven without checking what temperature it should bake at, you don’t smash a steak on the grill without checking the flames. You have to make sure that the proximity of your food to the coal is under your control. A go-to technique is to put the majority of the coal to one side, so you have a scale of different temperatures to move your meat and vegetables across.

4. Pay attention to the clock

As any other type of cooking, and art for that matter, to make a delicious BBQ you have to place importance on time. According to Jamie Oliver, you have to wait for the flames on your grill to “die down”, and your coal to be “grey and glowing”. This is the heat that your meat will enjoy. And although you’ll be distracted by the chattering of your guests, don’t forget to concentrate. We don’t want any black steaks!

5. Give your steak a rest

As hungry as you and your guests are, we’re sure you can wait a few more minutes before biting into your glorious creation. Giving your meat rest after it’s cooked gives it time to reabsorb the juices so that they don’t water your whole plate when you cut in. You can cover it with a foil and place it on a warm surface away from the direct heat. Take it slowly!