It's nothing to do with steam, it's the fact that water is a far better conductor than a piece of cloth. Make a cloth wet and touch something hot, you'll soon learn.
Building A BBQ
- Thread starter Thunderbolt
- Start date
It's nothing to do with steam, it's the fact that water is a far better conductor than a piece of cloth. Make a cloth wet and touch something hot, you'll soon learn.
Saw a brick bbq at someones house and they are quite cool:
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that's really nice - simple and effective
Also liking your barrel braai Acidhell2 - let us know how you get on when it is complete.
and for the love of God please use good solid wood and not that crappy charcoal that retains it's heat for exactly the amount of time to brown the outside of meat before going out, leaving you to build up the charcoal heat from scratch again (true story) - it takes all the joy out of having a drink and talking to mates whilst cooking food
coming from South Africa where braai'ing is a national past time, I'm interested to know how you concluded that?
Soldato
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- 15 Feb 2009
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- Bristol
^ Kung fu hustle?
I've never met a south african that didn't think they were god's gift to grilling so your comment doesn't surprise me. I've also had some pretty average food grilled by south african's there and here by ex-pats (as well as some good). I concluded that because a kettle bbq, allows significantly more heat control, allows indirect cooking when required, allows convection cooking food from above when required and can do everything that open grill can do too with much more precise control. A kettle shape spreads heat more evenly and prevents flares too. If you want to slow cook a whole rib of beef, cook pizzas on a pizza stone with massive but indirect heat, cook a turkey evenly without a spit etc. etc. a lid is preferable but I'm sure your nationality has more relevance than experience or science
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I've got one of those Weber kettle grills it works great. Not very expensive either.
I've been thinking about building myself a stone PIZZA oven though. It's very rare to find a pizza place that has a real pizza oven that cooks hot enough.
before you do get a pizza stone for your weber - loads of coals but indirect, stone in middle, lid on - absolutely outstanding pizza - try it before you bother building a new oven
I've never met a south african that didn't think they were god's gift to grilling so your comment doesn't surprise me. I've also had some pretty average food grilled by south african's there and here by ex-pats (as well as some good). I concluded that because a kettle bbq, allows significantly more heat control, allows indirect cooking when required, allows convection cooking food from above when required and can do everything that open grill can do too with much more precise control. A kettle shape spreads heat more evenly and prevents flares too. If you want to slow cook a whole rib of beef, cook pizzas on a pizza stone with massive but indirect heat, cook a turkey evenly without a spit etc. etc. a lid is preferable but I'm sure your nationality has more relevance than experience or science
I'm not arguing a lid is not handy, I was questioning how you regarded not having a lid is useless and ineffective.
Yes I agree with a lid you can do the same things that an oven would, but using a lid is not part of braai'ing which I was referring to. Imho using a lid would be part of BBQ'ing with, most likely, the use of gas replacing good wood or charcaol - something I am vehemently against.
I enjoy the whole process of prepping and building up the fire, watching as it burns down to produce a good base of coals*, then actively grilling the meat by being the temperature control: flipping the meat, putting it to one side to slow down, while all the time socialising with mates with a drink or two, with tunes or a good sporting event in the background - pure bliss!
BBQ'ing with a lid just doesn't do it for me but different strokes.
One day when I get my own place with a garden I will invite you around for a braai and hopefully sway your experiences with South Africans in favour of good
*I can't emphasise enough how important it is to use good wood or charcoal to form the bed of hot coals - it will be a struggle if using the cheapest quality and will ruin the experience completely.
Soldato
- Joined
- 14 Jan 2009
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- 4,325
Do want!A buddy of mine made an oil drum bbq:
Any build guides, that could be epic at festivals.
Provided you don't let the 12 years old morons who've had one can come near your camp it could last a while too.
I'm not arguing a lid is not handy, I was questioning how you regarded not having a lid is useless and ineffective.
Yes I agree with a lid you can do the same things that an oven would, but using a lid is not part of braai'ing which I was referring to. Imho using a lid would be part of BBQ'ing with, most likely, the use of gas replacing good wood or charcaol - something I am vehemently against.
I enjoy the whole process of prepping and building up the fire, watching as it burns down to produce a good base of coals*, then actively grilling the meat by being the temperature control: flipping the meat, putting it to one side to slow down, while all the time socialising with mates with a drink or two, with tunes or a good sporting event in the background - pure bliss!
BBQ'ing with a lid just doesn't do it for me but different strokes.
One day when I get my own place with a garden I will invite you around for a braai and hopefully sway your experiences with South Africans in favour of good
*I can't emphasise enough how important it is to use good wood or charcoal to form the bed of hot coals - it will be a struggle if using the cheapest quality and will ruin the experience completely.
You are preaching to the choir on the decent coals front. I wouldn't touch gas under any circumstances. Not sure why you would assume gas and a lid / kettle go together.As for the building the fire, socialising with friends, sports events etc. - yep that's the good stuff but the name which you use for it and whether it has lid, has no impact on any of that.
I know what a braii is and good luck to you with it. But a kettle barbecue does exactly the same thing, in exactly the same way, when you don't use its lid. When you do use its lid, it does so much more - therefore, anyone who decided to build / buy without a lid is cutting off their nose to spite their face, presumably because of tradition in their region. Insisting on having a grill without a lid is pretty much the same thing as the Amish using kerosene powered fridges and hand ploughs.
It is not about doing the same thing as an oven, it is about barbecuing better - creating more succulent food and having more versatility.
I would take you up on that offer though, always interesting to learn how other people do it! I learnt most of my bbq techniques years ago from the yanks when living in Florida where weber and bbq are pretty much synonymous.
The up shot is, it is all good, but with a lid, it's better
