When it comes to household chores, men generally reign as king of the barbecue.With Father’s Day on the horizon, The Royal Gazette decided to offer men some expert advice.We spoke with Trent Mayhew, chef de cuisine at Fairmont Hamilton Princess, who shared ways you can spice up your favourite meats, fish and vegetables.Mr Mayhew, who runs Harley’s Restaurant, said the key to great barbecuing is marinating — a process of infusing flavour into the meat beforehand.But whether you chose to use a dry spice rub like paprika and herbs, or liquid marinade such as A1 sauce, it’s best to keep the flavours simple.“If you marinate it 24 hours or the night before the better it’s going to be,” he said.“I recommend just keeping the flavours simple, like adding garlic and cilantro or ginger and chilli peppers, but don’t add ten different flavours at once.“It works best when you use simple things like thyme and lime. I only ever use two flavours at a time.”Mr Mayhew helps out at the Fairmont Hamilton’s island BBQ event every Tuesday night from 6pm until 9.30pm.Menu items include a variety of side dishes — potato salad, coleslaw, couscous or pasta salad — which change every week.They also cook up fresh wahoo, usually in a basil marinade, beef steaks with cracked black pepper and sea salt and pork loin covered in a jerk season blend.“We also do a barbecue take on coq au vin where we marinate chicken in a red wine reduction then we barbecue it and we have a special onion and mushroom sauce with thyme that we add at the end.“It’s different from the plain old barbecue chicken, it’s something unique,” Mr Mayhew said.If you’re not a meat lover, the event also features grilled mixed vegetables like zucchini, asparagus and eggplant.Mr Mayhew said when cooking at home he uses a charcoal grill, which gives food more of that smoky flavour.But if using a gas grill he suggests putting more food on at once to produce a smoky effect and a more authentic grilled taste.He said people should start with the best quality of meat they can find at their grocery store.After marinating with your flavours of choice, get the grill to a hot temperature, but not to the point where you see clouds of smoke.“If you are using a dry marinade make sure you lightly oil the meat, with olive oil, sesame oil or whatever you choose, before putting it on there.“And do not make the mistake of moving it right away, allow it to rest on one side and then turn it after a few minutes without burning it. When you don’t give it time to sear you are more likely to break the fish or meat.“After cooking, the best thing is to let it rest for a few minutes and you will find the meat will release a lot more and be a lot more tender.”He said timing was very important when barbecuing. Some meats like chicken and pork need to be cooked thoroughly, but it’s also important not to overdo the meat so that it becomes dry.“A piece of meat, one inch thick, should take between ten to 12 minutes, six minutes on each side for a nice medium rare,” said the long-time chef.When cooking for his family, Mr Mayhew said he typically requires no more than a pair of tongs and slicer when cooking large fish.He said barbecuing was an appealing method for cooking because it allowed the whole family to gather outside in the warmer months. He described it as a refined form of camping.You can also experiment with grilling lobster by slicing it in half and putting it on the heat, he said.“You can throw fruits on the grill as well. You can do some things like plums and peaches then add some sugar and ice cream on top. Some people want to grill watermelon wedges.”