Fire and skewer: the art of BBQ

Charcoal does what gas cannot. It crackles. It flares when fat drips. It leaves a smoke-ring on the meat that you can taste in the back of your throat three hours later.

Our pit master, Akram, lights the coals at 11am and lets them turn from black to white-gold ash. Only then do the skewers go on — seekh first, then chapli, then the lamb chops which get the oldest, gentlest embers.

Every kebab is hand-rolled. Every marinade is made the morning of. And the only timer in our pit is the look on Akram's face when he decides a skewer is done.