It’s astonishingly easy if you follow some basic rules, which consist of chopping your meat (or prawns or halloumi or fish) into appropriately sized chunks and then slathering the lumps in delicious liquid and letting them soak before cooking.

The main ingredients that form the base of just about any marinade are: Olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. So as long as you’ve got those ingredients, you’ll be fine.

But we are going to share a few marinades, that go above and beyond them ingredients, to kick start your BBQ

Make space in your fridge, mix the basic ingredients, add whatever herbs and spices are appropriate, and then use your hands to mix it all up. Then leave it in the fridge to absorb all the lovely flavours, the longer the better: overnight is ideal but at least an hour will do.

Once the chunks are marinaded, you just need to put them on sticks, wood or metal. Cook and voilà – you have shish kebabs, or souvlaki, or whatever you choose to call them.

Here are some marinades to get you started:

1. Asian chilli marinade

Mix 4 tbsp sriracha, a chopped stalk of lemongrass, a grated chunk of ginger, 1 tbsp palm sugar and the juice of 2 limes in a bowl. Use to marinate salmon fillets or chicken before cooking

2. Chermoula marinade

Put the juice of a lemon, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, a small bunch of coriander, 1 chopped red chilli and 2 chopped garlic cloves in a food processor and whizz, adding enough olive oil to make a marinade (about 4-6 tbsp). Use to marinate firm fish like tuna or salmon, or veg, before cooking.

3. Wholegrain mustard marinade

Mix 3 tbsp grain mustard, juice of 1 lemon, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar and 1 tsp thyme leaves. Use to marinate steaks or veg.

Put 4 chopped spring onions in a food processor with 2 chopped scotch bonnet chillies, 3 crushed garlic cloves, a small, grated chunk of ginger, leaves from 6 thyme sprigs, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 3 ground cloves, 2 tsp ground allspice berries, 3 tbsp dark brown sugar, 4 tbsp groundnut oil and half a cup of water. Whizz to a marinade. Use to marinate rack of ribs or whole bone-in chicken pieces.

Put 250ml natural yogurt, a large bunch  of coriander, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 4 green chillies, a small chunk of ginger, 2 tsp ground cumin and 1 tsp ground coriander in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Stir in 1 tsp ground turmeric and 1 tsp salt. Use to marinate lamb leg steaks or chicken fillets before cooking.

6. Sweet halloumi marinade

Halloumi is a barbecue beauty and doesn’t need much help to taste delicious, other than a squeeze of lemon juice straight off the barbie.

But if you really want to impress, drizzle the hot halloumi with honey and sprinkle with za'atar before serving

 The weather may not be great everyday, but who says with these tasty marinades you can't bring the BBQ inside. 

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