Outdoor Cooking

Outdoor Cooking: Beyond the Burger, Into Something Altogether More Interesting

At some point, outdoor cooking stopped being a summer necessity and started being a genuine culinary pursuit. The disposable foil tray on the patio is still around, obviously — no judgement — but it's increasingly sharing garden space with pizza ovens, kamado grills, smokers, flat-top griddles, and outdoor kitchens that wouldn't look out of place in a professional setting. What changed? Partly the equipment got better and more accessible. Partly people started realising that cooking outside, with live fire, with smoke and heat you can feel, produces food that's genuinely different from anything the kitchen oven achieves.

Whatever your entry point into outdoor cooking, there's a version of this hobby that suits your garden, your budget, and the amount of food-adjacent ambition you're willing to entertain.

Gas vs Charcoal vs Wood: The Great Debate

Gas wins on convenience. Turn on, heat up in ten minutes, cook, done. Temperature control is precise and consistent. For weeknight cooking, this is unbeatable. The flavour difference compared to charcoal is real — gas doesn't add anything to the food — but modern gas grills with flavouriser bars and infrared burners get far closer to the charcoal experience than older models did.

Charcoal wins on flavour and heat. A properly lit charcoal grill reaches temperatures that gas grills struggle to match, which gives you the hard, dark sear on a steak that makes it taste the way it's supposed to. Lump wood charcoal burns hotter and cleaner than briquettes, with less ash. Yes, it takes twenty minutes to get going and you can't dial down the heat instantly, but that's part of the process. Our barbecues section covers the full charcoal range, and freestanding barbecues has the standalone models if you want a dedicated charcoal station.

Wood-fired cooking sits at the more committed end of the spectrum — pizza ovens, offset smokers, wood-burning grills — and delivers flavours that neither gas nor charcoal quite replicates. There's a learning curve, but for many people that's precisely the appeal.

Pizza Ovens

Pizza ovens have become enormously popular, and for good reason — a properly fired pizza oven (reaching 400–500°C) cooks a Neapolitan pizza in ninety seconds, with a blistered, leopard-spotted base and a char on the crust that no domestic kitchen oven can produce. Gas-fired models heat up in fifteen to twenty minutes; wood-fired takes longer but adds flavour. Ooni, Gozney, and Roccbox are the names most serious pizza makers converge on.

Beyond pizza, a good outdoor oven handles fish, vegetables, bread, and even slow-cooked meats at lower temperatures after the fire drops. It's a genuinely versatile piece of kit rather than a one-trick appliance.

Smokers

Low and slow barbecue — American-style smoked brisket, pulled pork, smoked ribs — requires a smoker, and the results are entirely unlike anything else. The meat cooks for hours at 100–130°C, surrounded by wood smoke, and the collagen breaks down into gelatine while smoke compounds penetrate the surface. It's patient cooking, but the payoff is extraordinary.

Entry-level barrel smokers and bullet smokers are affordable and produce excellent results once you understand temperature management. Kamado grills (ceramic egg-style cookers) are versatile enough to function as high-heat grills, low-and-slow smokers, and pizza ovens in a single unit — they're expensive but genuinely capable of all three.

Outdoor Kitchens and Cooking Stations

At the more substantial end, modular outdoor kitchens build into a permanent cooking station with countertop space, storage, and sometimes a sink. These are increasingly popular for people who take outdoor entertaining seriously and want cooking to be integrated into the outdoor space rather than wheeled out when needed.

A well-positioned cooking station combined with good outdoor furniture and proper outdoor heating turns a patio into a functioning entertainment space rather than an overflow of the indoors. The ability to cook, eat, and stay warm outside genuinely extends how much of the year you use your garden.

Accessories That Actually Matter

A decent instant-read thermometer is the single most impactful accessory for improving outdoor cooking results — food safety and perfect doneness both depend on knowing actual internal temperatures. Long-handled grill tools keep you at a safe distance from high heat. A chimney starter makes charcoal lighting reliable and consistent. Good quality covers protect the investment when not in use.

Finding Your Setup

Browse our brands directory for outdoor cooking brands across the full range — from accessible starter grills through to professional-grade pizza ovens and kamado cookers. The market is deep and comparing specifications across brands before buying is worth doing. The deals section regularly features outdoor cooking equipment, particularly in early spring when the season is starting and retailers are competing for attention. Whatever your ambitions, there's a setup that fits them — and probably one that'll push them slightly further than you expected.