Outback and our Signature 4 has been featured in the Independent’s summer survey of the UKs top 10 barbecues.
Gas barbecues take all the hassle out of outdoor cooking. You can get going straight away, with most options only taking five to 10 minutes to pre-heat. It’s usually pretty easy to adjust the heat so you don’t burn the food. Make sure any option you’re considering has all the cooking features you need, but not at the expense of being well-built and robust.
There are a lot of shoddy models on the market, which blind you with lists of impressive accessories, but won’t last you more than a few summers at best. Will you need to move it around? Or take it on camping trips? Will it need to be covered up or stored away in the summer? Consider the weight, size and manoeuvrability, and whether a cover costs extra.
Also check if you’ll need to build it yourself or if it comes self-assembled. Ensure there’s enough cooking space. Even if you’re a couple or family of four, you will need a big one if you regularly entertain. Griddles or hot plates are popular additions to the standard grill – consider if you’ll want one on your barbecue. You might also want to consider the option of infrared cooking – in a conventional gas barbecue, the flame heats the grates directly, but with infrared, there’s an extra element between the grates and flames to give you more control over the temperature and help prevent burning.
Check whether the gas canisters are expensive, and easy to buy – and indeed how long they last. Finally, don’t go on price alone. We’ve found great and not-so-great examples of both cheap and pricey barbecues. We got out in the garden to put different models to the test to bring you the most efficient. Journalist Kate Hilpern said of Signature 4:
“Step aside, boring old sausages and burgers and make way for the likes of black peppercorn steaks and Cajun prawn skewers. This brand has come up trumps with its new crème de la crème range, with porcelain-coated cast iron grill and griddle, plus infrared backburner, side burner and oodles of storage space. It feels exceptionally well made and heats up quickly, with no cold spots or food sticking. We particularly enjoyed our rotisserie chicken. There’s a six-burner available for an extra couple of hundred quid.”
She concluded “We instantly fell in love with the new Outback Signature 4”.
