The bbq photo & recipe thread

Author
Discussion

Sway

26,070 posts

193 months

Friday 13th May 2016
quotequote all
Chicken Chaser said:

Just a quick question for those longer cooks, at present I fill a chimney full of briquettes and then use that emptied into the side basket. Should I be starting with less lit coals and throwing a few unlit on top to maintain the heat? Good BBQ seems to be a bit of an art form rather than just piling burgers onto direct heat!

Edited by Chicken Chaser on Friday 13th May 18:13
Do a search for the minion method - all will become clear.

In summary, unlike grilling (where you have a surfeit of oxygen compared to fuel, so it burns as fast and hot as it can), you've got more fuel than available oxygen, so it can only burn at a rate that keeps temps low and allows the fuel to last much longer.

Record for me in a Weber kettle is 16 hours without needing to top up charcoal.

Tony Angelino

1,970 posts

112 months

Friday 13th May 2016
quotequote all
Sway said:
Do a search for the minion method - all will become clear.

In summary, unlike grilling (where you have a surfeit of oxygen compared to fuel, so it burns as fast and hot as it can), you've got more fuel than available oxygen, so it can only burn at a rate that keeps temps low and allows the fuel to last much longer.

Record for me in a Weber kettle is 16 hours without needing to top up charcoal.
Only ever had an odd attempt and failed miserably. How on the minion method do you prevent the food from being tainted thick strong smoke that comes off the briquettes in the early stages of lighting? Pretty sure I didn't use cheapo charcoal so that probably wasn't my issue.

thebraketester

14,192 posts

137 months

Friday 13th May 2016
quotequote all
Anyone got a good recipe for pork belly done on the BBQ?

Sway

26,070 posts

193 months

Saturday 14th May 2016
quotequote all
Tony Angelino said:
Sway said:
Do a search for the minion method - all will become clear.

In summary, unlike grilling (where you have a surfeit of oxygen compared to fuel, so it burns as fast and hot as it can), you've got more fuel than available oxygen, so it can only burn at a rate that keeps temps low and allows the fuel to last much longer.

Record for me in a Weber kettle is 16 hours without needing to top up charcoal.
Only ever had an odd attempt and failed miserably. How on the minion method do you prevent the food from being tainted thick strong smoke that comes off the briquettes in the early stages of lighting? Pretty sure I didn't use cheapo charcoal so that probably wasn't my issue.
I use lump wood, which I find a lot cleaner. Get some lump going well in the chimney, then as the 'burn front' moves across the unlit coals it doesn't seem to give off anything acrid.

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Saturday 14th May 2016
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I use lump wood for grilling, but the Weber briquettes for slow cooks.

thebraketester

14,192 posts

137 months

Sunday 15th May 2016
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~5 hour pork belly. Delicious. Started it off at about 200ºC then down gradually to about 125ºC.

bomb

3,691 posts

283 months

Sunday 22nd May 2016
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First BBQ of 2016.

Half a chicken done at 200 degrees.

Lovely and moist.









Tony Angelino

1,970 posts

112 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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Just bought the rotisserie skewer system for the Weber Rotisserie - arrives tomorrow. Anybody else got one or any suggestions for kebab recipes to try on it?

cheers

Output Flange

16,793 posts

210 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
A thousand times ::this::

Tony Angelino

1,970 posts

112 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
Output Flange said:
A thousand times ::this::
Looks fantastic. Might have to wait till next week to do this one as I don't have any boneless leg - what chance of this working with breast do you reckon? Potentially too dry maybe?

Output Flange

16,793 posts

210 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
If you change the shape to keep it flatter then it should be ok. You obviously don't want to incinerate the outside waiting for the middle to cook.

My tweak is to add berbere to the spice mix - adds some welcome heat.

hondafanatic

4,969 posts

200 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
quotequote all
Output Flange said:
My tweak is to add berbere to the spice mix - adds some welcome heat.
Everyday is a learning day!

smile I thought you had an autocorrect-speeeling fail on barbecue. However as I'm a level-headed chap I googled "berbere".

Do you mix it yourself or do you buy it? I don't think I've ever seen it on the shelf of any supermarket I use... But then again up until a few minutes ago I thought it was a typo.

Tony Angelino

1,970 posts

112 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
quotequote all
Tickle said:
Tony Angelino said:
Meatheads sight rules. Memphis dust my tub of choice. Anybody else getting the book when it comes out?
It is fantastic. Wasn't aware of the book... but now I will be buying. Cheers.
Ordered and arriving tomorrow from Amazon.

richatnort

3,018 posts

130 months

Sunday 29th May 2016
quotequote all
So i'm doing my first slow cook pork shoulder tomorrow. The recipe i've gone for is off AmazingRibs.com ( http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/perfec... )

Did all my prep this evening ready for tomorrow mornings cook. I'm slightly nervous about it but I think i should manage. Some photos of the prep ready for tomorrow. I'll update tomorrow evening with everything that happened throughout the day!




don4l

10,058 posts

175 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
I recently purchased this:-



It is available in some Costco stores for £455.00.

I am seriously impressed with the quality. I had read that the hinge was often loose. It certainly is not loose on mine, and I fail to see how it could be loose on any other.

Learning to use a ceramic BBQ is turning out to be a bit of an experience.

Last weekend I did a hot smoked chicken. I took me ages ( one and a half hours) to get the thing up to temperature. There is a huge amount of ceramic to heat up. However, once it is at temperature, it really holds it. You can raise the lid to inspect your food, or to add charcoal, and it will return to the set temperature within a couple of minutes.

This weekend I did a slow cooked pork shoulder. I decided to use some twigs to get the thing up to temperature quickly. However, it got to 180C, and I had to wait for it to cool down. I will probably use some twigs in future because it will save me an hour, and the twigs cost nothing.

If anybody is thinking of buying one of these, do not go alone to the shop. It weighs 110Kg. You will need two strong people and a transit van.

There is one small niggle. There are two grilling racks. The supports for the top one are a few inches in from the edge. This means that you cannot put a drip tray near the back. The supports for the top rack are in the way. I had to add charcoal a couple of times yesterday, and each time I had to move the pork so that I could raise the hinged sections of the racks. This was annoying, so I will have to modify my upper rack, or find something to replace it with. If I haven't explained myself clearly, just ask and I will take photos to show what I mean.

I have a question. Do I need a heat deflector? I did the pork yesterday without a deflector and it turned out fantastic. I don't see why I would need a deflector.

Here is a picture of the pork:-


Mykap

633 posts

187 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
As anyone with a Chargriller smoker knows it's best to elevate the fire basket. On the US forums this is often done using a vegetable basket from Lowes, obviously not available in UK.

However I was in Aldi and spotted this..



£4.99 fits perfectly.





Great - saves me from messing around with expanded steel!
I'll give it a first run at smoking tomorrow.

Mykap

633 posts

187 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
Modified portable bbq for Le Mans

I bought this cheap SS portable bbq from Amazon (ES 23 euros) for use at Le Mans (we will have 6 to feed) but thought there was scope for a little modification

So I fitted a rotisserie to it.....



I used an old curtain rail hook to support the free end.
The grill folds open and has 2 grill areas.



Trial run yesterday... using Aussie Heat beads.

Starter using the Aussie method ..




Lid semi closes while in rotisserie mode




One and a half hours and the bird was done with an even 80C throughout.
Time to do the other meat.



Da da



Chicken was moist and delicious. This was just a trial run but all set now for Le Mans - result beer


richatnort

3,018 posts

130 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
So started at 7am yesterday and got the bbq out, meat with the spices on it.




left it for 8 hours monitoring it on the wireless thermostat which i have to admit was well worth the money.



Then 8.5 hours later it was ready for shredding with my bear claws





Not bad for my first time and i've certainly learnt a lot about when to add more coals, how many coals, when to open the flaps, how taking the lid off, grill with meat and water off to put more coals on is a pain in the arse but overall it was great for a £3.50 piece of meat!

boobles

15,241 posts

214 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
don4l said:
I recently purchased this:-



It is available in some Costco stores for £455.00.

I am seriously impressed with the quality. I had read that the hinge was often loose. It certainly is not loose on mine, and I fail to see how it could be loose on any other.

Learning to use a ceramic BBQ is turning out to be a bit of an experience.

Last weekend I did a hot smoked chicken. I took me ages ( one and a half hours) to get the thing up to temperature. There is a huge amount of ceramic to heat up. However, once it is at temperature, it really holds it. You can raise the lid to inspect your food, or to add charcoal, and it will return to the set temperature within a couple of minutes.

This weekend I did a slow cooked pork shoulder. I decided to use some twigs to get the thing up to temperature quickly. However, it got to 180C, and I had to wait for it to cool down. I will probably use some twigs in future because it will save me an hour, and the twigs cost nothing.

If anybody is thinking of buying one of these, do not go alone to the shop. It weighs 110Kg. You will need two strong people and a transit van.

There is one small niggle. There are two grilling racks. The supports for the top one are a few inches in from the edge. This means that you cannot put a drip tray near the back. The supports for the top rack are in the way. I had to add charcoal a couple of times yesterday, and each time I had to move the pork so that I could raise the hinged sections of the racks. This was annoying, so I will have to modify my upper rack, or find something to replace it with. If I haven't explained myself clearly, just ask and I will take photos to show what I mean.

I have a question. Do I need a heat deflector? I did the pork yesterday without a deflector and it turned out fantastic. I don't see why I would need a deflector.

Here is a picture of the pork:-

yikes £455 for an Aston, that is impressive! biggrin

Tony Angelino

1,970 posts

112 months

Wednesday 1st June 2016
quotequote all
hondafanatic said:
Output Flange said:
My tweak is to add berbere to the spice mix - adds some welcome heat.
Everyday is a learning day!

smile I thought you had an autocorrect-speeeling fail on barbecue. However as I'm a level-headed chap I googled "berbere".

Do you mix it yourself or do you buy it? I don't think I've ever seen it on the shelf of any supermarket I use... But then again up until a few minutes ago I thought it was a typo.
Just had 50g delivered, £2.99 off ebay. Will see what it's like and report.