Marcus is one of the most familiar and admired names on the BBQ scene, with his hugely popular CountryWoodSmoke business, providing recipes, videos and inspiration on cooking outdoors.
He is also the author of the bestselling books Food & Fire, Skewered, and his latest book, BBQ for All.
BBQ for All by Marcus Bawdon, published by Dog ‘n’ Bone Books (£20)
I’m always looking out for new delicious ways to serve my smoked meats, and these tasty little cheese baskets are certainly a winner. Loaded here with smoked short rib meat, sour cream and chipotle sauce, you can fill with whatever you like.
I am blessed with the quality of seafood along our beautiful Devon coastline, and the maritime larder is especially full at this time of year, just in time for when most people are firing up their BBQs.
Salmon is a delicate fish, so cooking on a plank such as maple or cedar keeps it from falling apart and helps to not overcook it, and you can add extra flavours, such as the lemon and marjoram herbs.
I love a charred octopus, but baste it with spicy nduja butter and you have possibly my perfect dish.
We’re blessed in the UK with some wonderful seafood, but many struggle with cooking it on a BBQ without it all going wrong, and usually sticking and falling apart.
Skate wings are a real winner when it comes to fish on the BBQ or in a wood-fired oven; they are substantial, affordable, meaty and very tasty.
This is a wonderful vegetarian alternative to the sausage rafts that were in my Skewered book. But equally delicious with the charred leek smothered with melty cheddar cheese and chimichurri. A truly delicious combination.
A whole cauliflower oozing with cheese and topped with a crumble of crispy cooked onions can be a real centrepiece for a feast.
Provolone cheese is great when grilled, with crispy edges and a soft oozy centre. Load it up with a zingy dressing similar to chimichurri that will cut through the richness of the cheese.
A hugely popular street food dish in Peru is the spicy anticuchos skewer, commonly made using ox heart (or from any of many other beasts). Here I used fallow deer heart as it‘s readily available to me here in south-west of England.
You should be able to pick up the boerewors sausages pretty easily these days. The authentic wood to use for flavour is a Namibian hardwood kameeldoring (camelthorn).
I love this recipe and brought the big guns out for it – my 1m-long churrasco skewers – and cooked the meat over applewood embers.
A good pork chop is a wonderful thing, but not easy to get right; you need the right sort of heat to ensure a good sear and crispy crackling.
There have been some wonderful twists to the traditional recipe. My favourite tweak has been to add a sprinkle of black pudding on the inside with the sausage meat.
A Barnsley chop is a beautiful thing, a wing of juicy tender lamb with butterfly handles for you to grab hold of, and when you nail the crispy fat, oh boy, it’s wonderful. Here I serve them up with some Spanish-style rice and chimichurri.
Spring lamb is wonderful and a real seasonal treat. What better way to cook it than on the BBQ.
Often I find the most simple way to cook BBQ turkey is the best. I’ve tried brines and they are great, but sometimes a bit of faff. For me my favourite way is to simply inject the breasts with a huge amount of butter.
A real treat if you are cooking up a Sunday-roast style BBQ meal, or just to go with a selection of BBQ meats…
A hanger steak can sometimes be hard to get hold of – the butcher or abbatoir often keep them for their lunch! Here I pair them up with some delicious king oyster mushrooms cooked in butter and a lovely herby baste.
A cheeseburger needs to really work its way hard into my affections. This is one of the few that has made it…
Stinking Bishop, as its name suggests, is a strong, pungent cheese, but it is also very creamy and works really nicely with dry-aged beef. The cheese goes really melty and oozy.
A caveman or dirty steak – meaning it is cooked directly on the coals – is just about my favourite way to cook a steak. I went with a lovely dry-aged sirloin with creamy fat for this dish.
