Raymond's BBQ Gourmet offers barbecue cooking courses

Raymond van Rijk runs Raymond's BBQ Gourmet offering two-course structures. Photo / Supplied

It was Raymond van Rijk's mother that started his love of barbecue food.

"Mum would cook our Indonesian food on the barbecue on the porch", Raymond said.

The Indonesian-born Dutchman moved to New Zealand 43 years ago and loves it here.

"There is an abundance of high-quality fresh foods of all kinds, and I really enjoy the people – that reliable Kiwi ingenuity and "give it a go" attitude," he said.

His first encounter with a barbecue in New Zealand was a 40-gallon drum and overcooked food.

"Things have changed dramatically since then. Everywhere you go there are really good quality barbecues sitting on the deck, but they're only employed to grill a few chops and sausages. This is crazy, especially in a country where such wonderful food is readily available and there are so many people who love good food," he said.

This is where Raymond comes in.

After almost 20 years as a restaurateur, he is now a teacher. He runs "Raymond's BBQ Gourmet" and has taught barbecuing all over the country including 6000 people in Hawke's Bay.

Raymond has spent several years in Europe during summer teaching BBQ Gourmet barbecue classes and promoting New Zealand products in The Netherlands, Belgium, UK and Iceland.

He slowed down a bit in recent years but feels that now is the time to get cracking again.

Raymond offers two-course structures – a three-hour elementary course and a five-week course of three hours once a week. The courses are in-depth, offering much more than how to turn on the gas and recipe hand-outs.

He covers the type and quality of ingredients – how to assess the freshness of fish, how to bring flavour into food, the difference between grilling and indirect grilling and when to use either.

"There are recipes but I like to teach the skills so that recipes are not so important. If you understand the techniques, how to use the equipment, if you understand the ingredients and how to introduce flavour, that's when you can really have fun.

"The best part of barbecuing is that it isn't just cooking, it's a social event. It's fun and everyone has a good time, the cook included! And it is great to bring pleasure back in cooking."

He says the barbeque scene has changed a lot over the past few years.

"The use of smokers and off-set smokers have become very popular and there is an increase of barbeque competitions."

He says beef is the most popular thing to barbecue.

"Cooking a beef steak is pretty easy. However when it comes to pork or chicken people tend to throw it on at a very high heat, which is fine with red meat, but although it might look cooked it's raw inside. So start with a high heat and then turn it down."

He says traditionally the BBQ season starts on the first week of September.

So now is the time to get your barbecue out. Give it a clean and take some cooking lessons.

For more information email raymond@bbqgourmet.co.nz