An Australian journal of fire and steel
Fire, steel and the Australian backyard
Barbecue GrillsIndependent long-form writing for Australian backyards, balconies and campgrounds.
Archive
Long-form guides for Australian barbecue grills, from the first bag of heat beads to a Christmas ham on the hooded six-burner.
Australian seasons
A July cook in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, the ACT or southern New South Wales is a heat-retention problem. Wind, a lid and the early dark decide the menu more than the recipe.
Tom Bellear · 14 July 2026
Care and safety
The Top End build-up and east-coast summer storms rust a barbecue faster than a winter in Melbourne. Clean it, dry it, keep the cover honest, and do not trap a wet machine in plastic.
Tom Bellear · 6 July 2026
Care and safety
A flare-up is fat meeting flame. A hot spot is uneven fire. A grease fire is a tray or tamer that has become fuel. They are related, and they are not fixed with a spray bottle of water.
Mina Rahman · 28 June 2026
Care and safety
Total fire bans are local, they change with the day, and a backyard barbecue can be legal, restricted or forbidden. Check the fire service, then decide whether dinner belongs on the grill at all.
Tom Bellear · 20 June 2026
Care and safety
Seasoning is a thin polymer film on iron, not a flavour and not a wash. Do it once, then keep it with heat, oil and the right kind of cleaning.
Mina Rahman · 12 June 2026
Care and safety
A gas barbecue that is not cleaned becomes a grease fire and a rust farm. The useful job is regular, not heroic, and it starts while the grill is still warm.
Tom Bellear · 4 June 2026
Outdoor kitchens
Strata by-laws, smoke and fire bans decide what you can cook on an Australian balcony. The rules are local, and a neighbour’s Weber Q is not a permit.
Tom Bellear · 28 May 2026
Outdoor kitchens
Drainage, gas certification, benches, shade and coastal rust decide whether a backyard kitchen still works in February, not the colour of the splashback.
Callum Hartley · 20 May 2026
Fuel and fire
A hood is a lid that turns a grate into a small oven. An open grill is a fire you stand over. Wind decides which one still cooks in an Australian backyard.
Mina Rahman · 12 May 2026
Fuel and fire
How local hardwoods actually flavour food on a kettle, kamado or offset — ironbark, red gum, apple and the woods to leave in the pile.
Tom Bellear · 1 May 2026
Fuel and fire
A pellet barbecue is an electric wood fire. What electricity, humidity, pellet supply and bushfire bans do to that idea in an Australian backyard.
Callum Hartley · 20 April 2026
Recipes
Feeding a crowd on an Australian barbecue is a sequencing problem. Two zones, a short menu, cold drinks in the shade, and a plan for who eats when the first tray is ready.
Jess Nguyen · 16 April 2026
Fuel and fire
Light heat beads or lump without a lake of fluid, then run vents and zones so an Australian kettle or kamado holds the heat you asked for.
Mina Rahman · 10 April 2026
Recipes
Halloumi, mushrooms and firm vegetables can be the whole barbecue, not a sad side. Give them two zones, oil, salt and the same attention you would give a chop.
Jess Nguyen · 6 April 2026
Fuel and fire
Town gas is a licensed connection. LPG is a bottle you can move. How heat, apartments, changeover and certification actually differ on an Australian barbecue.
Callum Hartley · 2 April 2026
Technique
A rub seasons the surface and helps a crust. A marinade flavours and can tenderise the outer layer. Most Australian backyard cooks need less liquid and more salt than they think.
Jess Nguyen · 28 March 2026
Buying guides
Three charcoal and wood machines, three different fires. How ceramic kamados, kettle barbecues and offset smokers behave in an Australian backyard — heat, capacity, wind and the learning curve.
Callum Hartley · 22 March 2026
Technique
Texas brisket advice assumes dry air and a large offset. Australian backyards have humidity, small smokers and neighbours. Here is the honest version of the long cook.
Mina Rahman · 18 March 2026
Buying guides
A built-in barbecue is a wet-area renovation that happens to hold fire. Choose the head, the bench, the gas run and the drainage before anyone pours concrete.
Callum Hartley · 12 March 2026
Technique
A whole chicken on an Australian barbecue wants indirect heat, dry skin and a probe in the thigh. Spatchcock it if you would rather eat on time.
Jess Nguyen · 8 March 2026
Buying guides
How to choose a camping or caravan barbecue that survives Australian parks, bottle rules, wind and a boot full of other gear — without buying a patio trolley by mistake.
Tom Bellear · 2 March 2026
Technique
Direct heat browns. Indirect heat cooks through. Almost every good barbecue meal in an Australian backyard is a conversation between the two.
Mina Rahman · 28 February 2026
Buying guides
How portable Q-class, Family Q and Spirit-style trolley barbecues actually behave in Australian backyards — bottles, side tables, roasting and the limits of a compact hood.
Callum Hartley · 18 February 2026
Technique
Reverse sear is the most reliable way to cook a thick steak on an Australian backyard barbecue. Gentle heat first, a hard sear last, then a proper rest.
Mina Rahman · 14 February 2026
Buying guides
Match household size, fuel, wind and strata rules to a grill class before you spend. A decision path for LPG, natural gas, charcoal, pellet, portable and built-in machines.
Callum Hartley · 10 February 2026
Recipes
Prawns, barramundi and bugs like a clean hot grate, a little oil and a short cook. Buy them cold, dry them, and take them off the fire as soon as they turn opaque.
Jess Nguyen · 22 January 2026
Recipes
Lamb chops for the impatient, a butterflied leg for the table, and salads that survive January. Light early, watch the fire bans, and do not cook through the worst of a heatwave.
Jess Nguyen · 12 January 2026
Australian seasons
A 42°C backyard is a food-safety problem before it is a recipe problem. Cook early, keep food cold, drink water, and use the oven when the yard is the worse kitchen.
Jess Nguyen · 8 January 2026
Recipes
A Christmas ham on the barbecue keeps the oven free and the kitchen cooler. Score, glaze and heat it with indirect fire, then watch the sugar at the end.
Jess Nguyen · 2 December 2025