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You have a range of choices when it comes to serving your barbecue. Of course you might not want to take your best plates and glasses out into the garden to risk them getting chipped and broken, but that still leaves you with quite a selection of alternatives.
- Baskets - as in the traditional chicken in a basket (which you never see any more, do you, I wonder why?) are an excellent choice. Lined with napkins or a piece cut from a plastic tablecloth, they are excellent for holding meat that has a sloppy sauce such as spare ribs. They come as either plastic or wicker items which can easily be washed.
- Metal - we've all become more used to metal ware since Indian restaurants became commonplace and we've had our curries etc served in those lovely stainless steel dishes. These are a great barbecue server too - they are indestructible, can be cleaned in a dishwasher and look pretty good. The only downside is that they are a superb conductor of heat, which means that if placed too near the barbecue, they can end up red hot themselves, which is not good!
- Enamelware - the tried and tested choice of boy scout troops everywhere. Enamelware is usually white with a dark blue trip, and is somewhat less heat conductive than steel, which can be good news. It's an ideal choice for Western themed barbecues, and because it takes rough handling, you can use it for picnics etc too.
- Plastic - the range and stability of plastic crockery is increasing every year. Nowadays you can get some good looking and quite sturdy plates etc, but this is less than ideal for a barbecue for two reasons. The first is that plastic is always flammable, so if it's placed on or near the barbecue it will melt and char. The second is that meat usually needs to be cut, and metal knives on plastic plates leave scratches that can harbour bacteria and cause hygiene problems.
- Paper - well, if you have to. The advantage is that you can throw the whole crockery mess in the bin at the end of the barbecue. The disadvantages? Paper plates look and are cheap, they bend, they tear, they tip food into people's laps, they are flimsy and hard to hold, they soak up sauces and they tend to make people feel as if they must rush through their meal before it falls off, tips up or becomes a soggy mass.
Barbecue plate photograph by Phunkstarr, used under a creative commons attribution licence.
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