Home Courses - The School of Artisan Food Butchery & Charcuterie Fire & Smoke BBQ

Fire & Smoke BBQ

£235.00

Beginner , Intermediate

Duration:

1 Day

Timings:

09:00 - 16:30

Course start dates:

15 Nov 2026
25 Apr 2027
27 Jun 2027
25 Jul 2027
20 Aug 2027

Hourly Schedule

Time

9:00
Arrival & welcome
Tea, coffee and warm pastries from the kitchen.

9:30
Course Start

13:00
Lunch
Seasonal lunch prepared by our catering team.

16:30
Course End

There’s something special about cooking over fire.

Whether it’s perfectly grilled meat, beautifully charred vegetables or delicately smoked fish, fire and smoke bring depth of flavour and a sense of occasion that few other cooking methods can match. Learning how to harness heat, fuel and smoke opens up a world of possibilities for outdoor cooking and entertaining.

On this hands-on one-day course, you’ll discover the secrets of cooking with fire and smoke under the guidance of expert tutor Sally-Ann Hunt. Using charcoal barbecues and a range of quality ingredients, you’ll learn how to manage heat, develop flavour and cook a variety of dishes with confidence.

Throughout the day, you’ll prepare and cook a selection of meat, fish and vegetable dishes while exploring the techniques that make barbecue cooking so versatile. You’ll also learn how to get the best from your equipment, create marinades and dry rubs, and experiment with traditional smoking methods.

What You’ll Learn

Through a combination of demonstrations and practical cooking, you will:

Gain confidence cooking with fire and charcoal
Learn how different barbecue styles and fuels affect flavour and performance
Understand temperature control and heat management
Explore direct and indirect cooking methods
Develop skills in smoking food on the barbecue
Create marinades, dry rubs and sauces to enhance flavour
Learn techniques that can be easily recreated at home

Topics Covered

During the course, you’ll explore:

BBQ styles and types
Different types of fuel
Lighting techniques and cooking temperatures
Direct and indirect heat
Smoking with BBQs
Marinades, dry rubs and sauces

What You’ll Cook

During the day, you’ll have the opportunity to prepare and cook a range of dishes, which may include:

Red meats, including steaks, ribs, prime joints and low-and-slow cuts
Poultry cuts and joints
Sausages, burgers and kebabs
Whole fish and fillets
Vegetables and cheese
Sweet dishes and desserts

Who Is This Course For?

This course is ideal for home cooks, food enthusiasts and anyone looking to build their confidence and skills on the barbecue. Whether you’re completely new to cooking over fire or already enjoy outdoor cooking and want to expand your knowledge, you’ll leave with practical techniques, new recipe ideas and the confidence to create impressive barbecue dishes at home.

Light refreshments and a lunch prepared during the course will be available at midday, followed by an informal late lunch where you’ll be able to sample the dishes created throughout the day.

Please Note:
Whilst we make every effort to adhere to best practices regarding allergen control and cross-contamination at The School of Artisan Food, we sincerely regret that we are unable to cater for severe food allergies or coeliac disease. This is due to the continuous and varied use of our teaching spaces, common areas and food preparation areas.

If in any doubt, please contact us to discuss your individual circumstances prior to making a booking, as this will then enable us to produce a personalised Risk Assessment based on your own specific circumstances and better judge if we can safely accommodate you on site.

Your Tutors

Tutor

Sally-Ann Hunt

Sally-Ann Hunt

Sally-Ann Hunt has always been passionate about good food made from healthy, sustainable ingredients. She first became involved in the world of food in 2011, while living and volunteering on a working estate. It was there that she first began to acquire a taste for artisan food production.

Then in 2018, after 20 years in the financial sector, Sally made the leap to a life centred around artisan skills when she joined The School of Artisan Food as a Course Technician, a skilled role that involves a lot of time in the training room, supporting tutors as they deliver artisan food courses.

Sally fell in love with the school’s ethos, recognising how interrelated food, lifestyle, family, and health are, and becoming inspired help preserve traditional food production methods that might otherwise be lost. For the next 3 years, Sally spent her working days honing her foraging, dairy and butchery skills and spent her free time living a simpler way of life, connecting to the food she was eating, and loving the journey she had embarked on with her family.

In 2021, Sally officially became a tutor at the school, delivering courses in foraging, BBQ, smoking and curing, pie making, sausages, dairy and more, both to the public and in workshops delivered in schools and for charity partners such as the YMCA. She is also a tutor on the Artisan Summer School.

Sally’s passion shines through in all her sessions, particularly her commitment to sustainable meat, continuing to research, test and uncover exciting ways to flavour, preserve and cook in the most ethical way possible – knowledge which she then shares with her students.