Longer, warmer evenings have made me drag out the barbecue again. This one is made of an oil barrel, cut in half lenghth-ways and hinged, so when closed it can become a smoker and an oven. I have made barbecues out of biscuit tins, a circle of stones and piles of bricks, but the best so far is the oil barrel.

Cooking outside seems to be an exclusively male occupation. The primal man says 'Me man, me make fire. Me roast ox.' Primal woman intelligently stands back and has nothing to do with the swearing when the charcoal won't light. Unlike letting men loose in a kitchen, letting them get on with a barbecue actually reduces the washing up. It's the next best thing to being taken out for a meal.

If you get a warm evening use it; they don't come that often. If, like me, you hate buying tiny bags of charcoal for silly money here are two suggestions: firstly, make your own charcoal. Dig a hole in the lawn, putting the sod carefully aside. Your wife won't mind, it's all in a good cause. Now fill the hole with dry wood, split fairly small and set fire to it. When it's blazing beautifully cover the fire with the sods. Anywhere smokes gets out needs to be covered with more sods or earth. The idea is to make the pit as air-tight as possible. Leave it for two days, checking every now and then for signs of smoke. If you see any, pack on more earth and sods. If all is well, when you open up the clamp you'll have charcoal. A biscuit tin works well for small amounts. Light the kindling in the box and put the lid on when it's blazing. Same principle as the clamp, just smaller.

If making charcoal is not for you, you can cook successfully on a barbecue with wood rather than charcoal. It's my favourite way of doing it. Make a big stack in the barbecue of split wood and fire it. When it's really blazing well and all the wood has been blackened by fire knock it down and spread the embers evenly around the base of the barbecue. A plant spray filled with water is handy at this point to kill any flame. You just need glowing embers. If dripping fat starts a flame, simply spray it to quench it.

The main differences between this and charcoal cooking are: the embers are ready for cooking on faster than charcoal; you have less time for cooking before the wood burns away; the food has to be closer to the embers than it would be to charcoal.

If you happen to have pruned a fruit tree and kept the branches, they make great cooking wood. Apple especially imparts a hint of fruit through the smoke; pear works well also.