The barbecue is a great way to enjoy a meal

The warm breeze on your face, the gentle drift of aromatic smoke accompanied by a chilled glass of chablis. Pure heaven!

There are however some rules you should follow to guarantee everything goes smoothly. You don’t want phone calls from all your neighbours next day regaling you with stories of their tummy upsets. Following these rules should make sure the event goes off OK.

Getting the barbecue lit can usually be relied upon to set the pulse running for more than one reason.

Once lit make sure you set aside enough time for the barbecue to reach it’s optimum cooking temperature. Be sure you take that into account.

If the whole process of getting the thing going is just too much for you the answer is a Gas or Electric barbecue which simplifies the whole lighting process and is the usual grounds for choosing that type.

If you are using charcoal never be tempted to use lighter fluid to ease the lighting. It will permeate into the food and make it taste awful. Believe me I’ve done it often enough to know. The only thing I can suggest if you find your better half has already made a replica of Dantes Inferno is to let the coal burn for at least thirty minutes that way you won’t spoil the taste of the food.

To get everyone’s juices flowing I’d suggest adding wood chips to you barbecue. If you have been impressing your guests for some time you in all likelihood already knew that.

For those not as seasoned in the art, you cannot beat the smell and flavour that goes with adding wood chips to the mix.

Adding BBQ wood chips will promote you into the super league of barbecuers.

Whether you’re using an electric, gas or charcoal model the addition of wood chips imparts the true flavour of barbecuing into your food

The secret to using wood chips is not to let them burn too quickly and you can do this by soaking them for about 15 minutes before you use them. They should be moist but not saturated.

There’s any amount of flavours to select from that will enhance your barbecue. My recommendation would be to pick milder chips to go with lighter meats.

Apple wood chips are superb with veal poultry and pork whilst you could try Alder Wood with seafood. The stalwarts of maple and hickory are ideally matched to meats like lamb, duck and chicken.

But remember it’s all about the food. Make sure you get the best you can afford for your guests. They’ll love you for it.

Relax and have fun at your barbecue. Now where’s that bottle of ice cold beer with my name on it?