Grilling al fresco

People may complain about the smoke, the stench and all the rubbish left behind, but Grillen, as barbequing is called in German, has a long tradition here in the capital. In fact you could say it's any true Berliner's third-favorite hobby - after complaining and binge drinking.

In summers past, the city's Tiergarten park often looked as though it were being consumed by wildfires - so many people used to set up portable grills there. That's history now. In 2012, the city banned barbequing in its central park, much to the disgruntlement of residents.

Still, there are 18 separate locations all over the city where it's legal to fire up the briquettes, as well as around ten times that number of spots where guerilla grillers can do their thing without anyone's nose getting out of joint.

When the weather gets hot, Berlin's parks become gigantic, communal eat-in kitchens. So the first question in planning a BBQ party is always: where to?

Tender or tough - those options apply not only to the meat on the grill, but the place where it's cooked.

Those who prefer the latter are advised to head straight for Görlitzer Park in Kreuzberg, which is pretty much the pit bull among Berlin's public-relaxation spots.

Relaxed this park is not. "Görli" often resembles a lunar landscape - if there were garbage on the moon, that is. But you will find an intriguing mix of tourists, remnants of the district's punk past and lots and lots of German-Turkish families.

People with Turkish roots are the most fanatic grillers in the capital. The first foreign workers to arrive on the banks of the Spree brought their culinary culture with them, and their descendants still cultivate that legacy.

"BBQ is a food with a soul," a friendly fellow names Eray tells me. He's sitting at the head of a long table with his relatives. "Our cig köfte is the best in the world. It's based on an old family recipe from my ancestors' village near the Mediterranean. Do you want to try it?"

He doesn't have to ask twice. The bulgur and beef kebabs certainly are delicious. Whether they're the best in the world, I can't say, but that's the nice thing about barbequing. It always stimulates conversation, and healthy competition is part of the game.

Barbequing on the runway

The new center of the griller scene is the "Tempelhofer Freiheit," the 954-acre open space left behind when Tempelhof Airport was closed in 2008.

Barbequing is permitted on three sites within the park, and while long-term residents gripe that it lacks the shade of the Tiergarten, so many grill masters set up shop there that on weekends the clouds of smoke they generate often influences visibility on the nearby ring highway.

The former airport is a place for ambitious would-be gourmets to roll out their deluxe Webbers and strut their stuff. It's not unheard of for people to roast whole suckling pigs.

Bratwurst remains the popular favorite, but in cosmopolitan Berlin pretty much anything can end up on the grill: fish, rabbit, kangaroo steaks - even vegetables.

As Berlin gets more and more international, so too do people's eating habits. Many is the Berliner who has picked up a trick or two from the Thai women who semi-legally sell food grilled outdoors in the Preussenpark in the upscale district of Wilmersdorf. In any case, BBQ in Berlin these days involves a lot more than heading to the gas station for beer, charcoal and vacuum-packed Nürnberger.

But the plethora of options can be a bit daunting. So I was very glad recently when my mate Sascha invited me to help celebrate his birthday. Outside on the banks of Wannsee Lake. With a BBQ of course.

Creative locations

Sascha and I have a bit of history when it comes to Grillen. A year ago, as part of a bachelor party, he organized the most surreal BBQ event I've ever been involved in: in a UFO on the River Spree.

In the eastern district of Treptow, you can hire out a so-called "grill boat," a round, bright orange contraption with an outboard motor and a built-in barbeque in the middle. There's room for ten in these floating saucers, and they're available for between 45 and 55 euros an evening.

You also don't need a captain's license, and you're allowed to take beer on board, even if the friendly rental staff reminds you, with a twinkle in their eyes, that someone should stay sober enough to get the thing back to port.

This year Sascha and I are celebrating on the shore and not on the water. When renting a sailboat, Sascha noticed a big BBQ grill and asked if the shoreline spot was available for rental.

This sort of outside-the-box thinking pays off when planning events in Berlin. Very often you'll end up with a cool and unusual location. Now it's up to me to come up with something cool and unusual to eat.

The good old butcher shop                                                                                                 

For a city of its size, Berlin doesn't have all that many traditional butcher shops, but I know a few good ones. Fleischerei Gottschlich in the Prenzlauer Berg distract is a great place for carnivores. The owner is an avid cook, making his own marinades and handing out advice on what works and what does on a grill.

His rule of thumb is that the cuts of meat should be well marbled and not too thick. Without any great problem, I settle on spicy chicken, miniature beef roulades and pork belly in garlic and chilli.

Then it's back to Kreuzberg to the Turkish-Arabic supermarket El Fi, where I pick up some fresh lamb, hot peppers and a couple of dangerous looking sauces. At check-out, I do a double take at the bill. These sorts of supermarkets are unbelievably cheap.

So it's off to Wannsee with two stuffed plastic shopping bags and a few extra euros in my wallet. The smoke is already rising from the BBQ when I arrive, and the fifty-odd guests are starting to loiter with intent.

"Hey, man, what have you got for me?" Sascha says by way of a greeting. He's referring to the food, not the CDs I've brought along as a birthday present. He hands me a beer, and we head - where else? - for the grill.

The view of the lake from this bit of the shore is luxurious, the cold beer hits the spot on a hot June afternoon, and I'm beginning to get hungry. Without the BBQ party, I doubt I would ever have come to this spot.

That's typical of Grillen in Berlin. It's not just a way of spending some pleasant hours with friends. It's an excuse to discover new and unusual parts of a city you can never get to know completely.

Jefferson Chase loves animals: grilled, baked, boiled…