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does anybody have any suggestions on what could be used as fuel for a bbq?

Wood. I like to burn sticks and trimmings of wood in my bbq.

I've seen an alternative made from coconut husks and read about banana skins but not really viable for home production I expect!

Have you tried making your own charcoal ? http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Charcoal and lots more if you google make charcoal.

Ellendra wrote:Wood. I like to burn sticks and trimmings of wood in my bbq.

Same here. You just have to wait until the wood turns to embers before putting food on to cook.

I burn hardwood too, when I grill. Like Contadino says, you do have to let it burn down to embers.

Besides the money savings, using wood lets you try different types of wood for different meats, for example birch for chicken or beech for fish. You can experiment to find what you like best.

Wood - only you make an Aussie/NZ style barbecue where you cook on a sheet of metal over the wood fire, rather than on a grill as you would with charcoal. Great for burgers and fish as they don't fall through the grill or get stuck. You need to season the metal well though and reoil it before putting food on - and not with a plastic pastry brush as my husband once did when it was hot!

Dear Luvpies,

We use dry driftwood and let it burn to embers. The salt makes it burn with a blue flame and adds a distant tang of the sea. We also stick it on the woodburner in winter, it's free and sustainable. (But not much use if you're too far from the sea)

Love and Peace
Jim

Why oh Why did you all say wood? At the moment I'm looking at my lovely tree stalls we got and counting them, I made him pick up an extra one as a just in case seat and I now have visions of that extra one, him and an axe Trouble is they are too big to hide the spare from him, oh well.

jim wrote:Dear Luvpies,

We use dry driftwood and let it burn to embers. The salt makes it burn with a blue flame and adds a distant tang of the sea. We also stick it on the woodburner in winter, it's free and sustainable. (But not much use if you're too far from the sea)

Love and Peace
Jim

Ooo, does spritzing it with saltwater while it cures have the same effect?

Mesquite or hickory wood are the two I know and like.

Is burning wood much better or worse than burning charcoal?

Perhaps the issue is what you're buying? The 'manufactured' charcoal is nasty stuff compared to proper lumpwood charcoal.

Wood is free for me, there are enough shed twigs after every windy night for me to feed my grill.

Charcoal is wood that has been partially burned, usually at a low enough temperature that some of the more interesting compounds are evaporated instead of incinerated. Then it has to be shipped. So, while the net CO2 released from just the burning might be pretty close, I think if you have a source for wood then wood is better.

Plus, I just like that smokey flavor it gives the food. Even canned soup tastes better heated over wood :p

Commercial charcoal is full of poisons: petroleum distillates, which are highly toxic. Many people are deathly allergic to it.

Wood is oodles healthier and the food tastes much better when cooked over it.

Paper logs,?

LBR wrote:Commercial charcoal is full of poisons: petroleum distillates, which are highly toxic. Many people are deathly allergic to it.

Wood is oodles healthier and the food tastes much better when cooked over it.

Hang on: this may be true of charcoal briquettes - which I agree are very dubious things made mostly from toasted sawdust, glue and paraffin - but the same cannot be said of artisianally produced temparate hardwood charcoal.

This is very clean burning and a fine cooking fuel. Plus for those practicing sustainable forestry it provides a useful sideline to support their activity and should therefore be supported.

It is worth being picky: a lot of lumpwood charcoal comes from tropical sources and has a bigfoot sized carbon footprint, but it should be possible to find something locally produced in the UK.

That said, there is something a bit special about steak grilled over the hot embers of grape vine clippings that makes it hard to beat.