Gee gj, how am i going to cover all that. It will take me hours so here is a small answer as it is the end of this thread, so i can probably talk off topic as it will fade away into the internet cloud somewhere.
Outdoor cooking.
So, first I have the standard gas BBQ. We use this for unplanned quick outdoor BBQ's mainly for corn on the cob, mushrooms, zucchini sweet potatoe slices and other such veges. We use only a very small amount of meat as an side accompaniment to our meals. We eat a plant based diet, so finding new ways with the BBQ is an exciting challenge we enjoy.
Next we have the hibachi cooker, a small cylindrical cooke using charcoals from our extensive planting of Eucalyptus plantings. (E. maculata,E. Sideroxlyn, E. Scoparia, Corymbia citriodora, Angophora Floribunda...and so on) We use this for our Thai street food such as char grilled pork or chicken skewers with sate or peanut sauce. (YUM!). we also do a vegetable skewer with small egg tomatoes, red onion, red, green or yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, and a very small cube of steak.
Next we have the first of our campfires. This sits on a hill in front of the house overlooking the valley below. We use this for entertainment cooking as the views are great and we can arrange garden seating around this fire. We use it for camp oven pot roasts with plenty of root vegetables and lamb or beef. to sit there and smell the aroma's of it cooking is heaven on earth.
After this we have our main BBQ fireplace. We have created a sunken garden with one of those heavy outdoor picnic tables that you often see in national parks. We have surrounded this with an acre of native plantings (grevilleas, bottle brush trees, wattles and so on). We use this for cooking bacon and eggs for brekky.....a very small sliver of bacon, but plenty of mushrooms, tomatoes, wood fired sourdough and so on. It's a great place to sit and have brekky, out with the birds, the occasional echinda, wallaby, fox, red-bellied black snake and so on. We also use this with the camp oven for damper that we use to create a ploughman's lunch. The smell of wood fired damper cooking is an absolute delight, and we often sit there and think..........."you know, we can go to any cafe, or restaurant in Australia.............but we won't match this" Heaven on earth.
And then we have our bonfire/burn off area. This sits near some radiata pine trees so that when we burn off, this fire usually runs for a week, so that after dark with a full moon shining and causing a shimmering glow on the needles of the pine trees, with the dark, cold winter nights, this makes a great spot for nice red, or port. We also use this with our camp oven roasts/stews.
that's it, my typing skills have run out.....have a Happy New Year everyone, see you all on the new thread.......where it will be back to business.
(20min delay)