The BBQ Thread.

Longtallronnie

Thoughts on restaurant grade charcoal? Bit cheaper than Weber lumpwood. 

ronnyb

shaunyshaun1234 said:

ronnyb said:

So after reading the progress of this thread since it began and never having owned a barbeque before thought we'd have to give it a try. Bought this a couple a weeks ago but the weather has been a bit off since then so we haven't used it yet. It's been lovely today up norf here so tonights the night. Just got some burgers and sausage from the local butcher. The weber was advertised local and paid £90. Didn't feel like paying out £300 or so being as we may not take to it. It was very clean and only a couple of years old.  

More people should snap up second hand webers!! They will last forever! I'm thinking about a second one to use for pizzas!! 

Last night went well, it was quicker to get hot than i anticipated using the chimney thing. What do others use to clean the metal grills / inside the bowl?

JAYJO

Bastard rain. 

WiresDreamDisasters

JAYJO said:

Bastard rain. 

Prince's working title.

breakstuff

JAYJO said:

Bastard rain. 

Lovely here mate. Just grilled some banging fillet steaks. 

Now sat having a beer. 

phil_b

JAYJO said:

Bastard rain. 

you need a BBQ shack

JAYJO

Just ate hot dogs indoors ffs. Sun now out. We're in the NW. Lost my coals to the bastard rain. Been lovely all day. Lit fire starter for 20 mins then it pissed down. Got marinated kebabs in the fridge hopefully for tomorrow. Did manage to buy fire glow fire starters for £3 a pack at the Co op. Worked great. Pity it pissed on me Barby. Yesterday went well though. Just think I should have cooked chicken thighs a bit longer as we prefer them a bit dry. Really nice to not smell of smoke or stink the house out with the throw away Barby so we are chuffed with the Weber. Great purchase. 

JAYJO

breakstuff said:

JAYJO said:

Bastard rain. 

Lovely here mate. Just grilled some banging fillet steaks. 

Now sat having a beer. 

Enjoy one for me  mate. Kids just threw me Jaffa cake. 

LastMantra

If doing chicken breast you should try sticking it in a food bag and whacking it flat with a rolling pin. Lovely and tender and evenly cooked plus more surface area to pick up other flavours. Some peppercorn sauce is nice.

Longtallronnie

Got a question re top and bottom vents...
My Bar B Kettle doesn't haver the fancy one touch system, instead it has three manual vents on the bottom arranged in a triangle and one on the top. 
Just wondering on people's thoughts as to how to set them up. For example, I understand for low n slow, you'd place the top vent away from the coals so the heat flows across the food but I'm guessing one of the bottom vents will probably be directly under the top vent. Would it be wise to close this one off and just rely on the other two? My thinking being it would create a kind of short circuit of airflow. High probability I'm speaking bollocks of course but having three bottom vents opens up all sorts of combinations that may or may not make a difference.  

Longtallronnie

In the middle of my first low n slow attempt. Got some pork ribs in, using 3-2-1 method. Slathered then with yellow mustard and some steak seasoning that I’ve used before with good results. 

Main problem I’m finding is keeping the temperature steady - I think this is a combination of cheap briquettes and being too heavy handed with the vent settings. When I took the lid off to wrap the ribs, the ambient thermometer was reading a massive drop in temperature so I’d panic and open the vents to get it back up. Subsequently I end up burning through the coals quicker which means adding more, which necessitates removing the lid ad nauseum. 

I intend to buy some decent briquettes for next time but my dual probe thermometer turned up Friday and I wanted to try it out. I actually think the ones I got (Bar Be Quick from Morrisons) might be ok if I refine my venting skills a bit. 

Anyone else got plans for this weekend? 

breakstuff

Longtallronnie said:

In the middle of my first low n slow attempt. Got some pork ribs in, using 3-2-1 method. Slathered then with yellow mustard and some steak seasoning that I’ve used before with good results. 

Main problem I’m finding is keeping the temperature steady - I think this is a combination of cheap briquettes and being too heavy handed with the vent settings. When I took the lid off to wrap the ribs, the ambient thermometer was reading a massive drop in temperature so I’d panic and open the vents to get it back up. Subsequently I end up burning through the coals quicker which means adding more, which necessitates removing the lid ad nauseum. 

I intend to buy some decent briquettes for next time but my dual probe thermometer turned up Friday and I wanted to try it out. I actually think the ones I got (Bar Be Quick from Morrisons) might be ok if I refine my venting skills a bit. 

Anyone else got plans for this weekend? 

@Longtallronnie I've used the Morrisons Bar Be Quick briquettes a few times now with good results. Don't know how they compare to the Weber ones as I've yet to try them, but the last low and slow cook I did took seven hours and I used about half a bag, or around 2kg. I kept the top vent fully open but adjusted the bottom to maintain a constant temperature. A duel probe thermometer is a huge help in monitoring temp, so that should help you keep the temperature constant.

That's been my experience up to now though others may have other advice. 

Longtallronnie

I think I used close to 3/4 of a 4.5kg bag over 5 hours. I probably could’ve got away with less if I hadn’t dicked about so much. 

I lit half a bag to begin with (instead of minion/snake method) then spent a good while getting the temp down to 115°Cish. I then had to add some during the cook to get the temp back up after removing the lid for wrapping etc.  In hindsight, if I’d adopted a different method I would’ve got more mileage out of them. Ah well, it’s a learning curve. 

The important thing is the ribs were bloody lovely. I would’ve posted a pic but they didn’t last long enough lol. 

I used an Inkbird IBT2X thermometer, dual probe  with Bluetooth, £25 from Amazon. I only monitored the grill temp though, didn’t see the need to probe the ribs as they’re fairly small. 

Next will probably be a whole smoked chicken which I’ll definitely be using both probes with. 

breakstuff

I've got the Inkbird IBT2X too. Great bit of kit, isn't it, especially for the price? 

Longtallronnie

Can’t complain for £25. Think I need to get a hinged grate though. Adding coals is bad enough with having to remove the whole grate but when there’s a probe attached as well it’s a massive ball ache. 

strumjoughlamps

Didn’t fancy doing tonight’s tea in the kitchen 

Longtallronnie

Nice. 

Tried some chicken thigh kebabs tonight. Made a marinade of Greek yoghurt, tomato purée, garlic, lemon juice, s*p, paprika and cumin. 
Had them in some toasted flat bread with a bit salad, bloody lovely. 

fretmeister

If you like kebabs this book has some amazing recipes



I've made a few from it, and the lamb koftas are spectacular. 

Longtallronnie

Cheers, will check it out. 
I'm still having trouble with getting lumpwood hot enough for grilling. For the kebabs, I used a bag Bar Be Quick lumpwood which I took out of the bag you'd usually set light and started it off in my chimney. After 20-30 min, the coals at the top were ashing over so I chucked them in the kettle, lid on for 5min, add kebabs and lid back on - I reckon they must've taken 30min to cook!
The recipe I followed said they should take under ten minutes and I was using less chicken. 

This the stuff I used - is it just really shit or am I doing something wrong?
https://groceries.asda.com/product/matches-fire-lighters/bar-be-quick-instant-lighting-barbecue-charcoal/1000080993961

breakstuff

I find the instant light charcoal to be pretty rubbish as it burns out far too quickly. It sounds like that is what's happening if it's taking thirty minutes to cook chicken. I did some whole boneless chicken thighs last night over some briquettes, and they where done in around fifteen minutes.