Last Minute Halloween Party

Many moons ago when I was a kid growing up in the North West of England, we didn't have pumpkins in those days so we had to make do with a suede. Two eyes, a nose and a mouth with a few crooked teeth and then a candle inside. A suede is not the easiest or safest of things to carve out when raw but the job had to be done and it was Dad's job. Now to light the candle - I can almost smell the flesh slowly softening under the heat of the wax candle as I carry my "ghouls head" down the road to the village party, happy memories.

In England on 5th November we have Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes night when we celebrate the execution of a famous villain who attempted and failed to blow up Londons's Houses of Parliament.

Both fantastic celebrations and great parties celebrated with fire so what better way to continue the celebrations than with a gigantic barbecue cookout?

In my local village today there will be a party for Halloween and a party for Bonfire Night, we'll all congregate at the pub, watch the fireworks, have a few drinks and warm ourselves by the two half oil drums just waiting for the charcoal to settle. After the celebrations it's all about feeding the masses with some tasty barbeque hamburger recipes and spicy BBQ Chicken. So simple to do but there are some essential ingredients:-

1. Patience! When using an oil drum barbecue there's an awful lot of charcoal and believe me that the fire will still be going in the morning so make sure that the charcoal has had ample time to settle.

2. Good quality meat. Try a mixture of chuck steak and brisket minced up for the burgers.

3. Check out my barbecue hot dog recipe

One final point:-

It's a great time of year and it's a fantastic party but keep thinking safety. There's many people injured on bonfire night, please don't add to the statistics.

Resources for further reading:

Barbeque Smoker Recipes - Free barbecue grill recipes & meat smoker cooking ideas on gas, charcoal or electric.

Barbecue Recipes - Outdoor grilling tips, easy fire pit menus, healthy rotisserie suggestions, best homemade bbq sauce recipes.

Easy Smoker Recipes - Easy recipes for the smoker grill with lots of tips.