***** Official 2016 BBQ Thread - Chucking it Down: Proper British BBQ Weather *****

[FrenchTart]

Following on from the 2015 thread...

Sheets of pouring rain, biting cold, an umbrella and a pint of beer. You're ready for British BBQ.

A few of our previous efforts:

Pork tenderloin stuffed with jelepenos and cream cheese by timmeh.


Beef rib by ganesh.


Oak-smoked Moroccan lamb shoulder by ganesh.


Beer-can chicken by Bipolar Kittens.

Marinaded lamb chops by Stan Lite.


Beer-can burgers by randomshenans' kids.

Jerk chicken by Stan Lite.


Steak, charred white asparagus, courgette, tomato, onion and potato salad by Stan Lite.


Mocha-rubbed oak-smoked beef ribs by FrenchTart.


Beef ribs by oli collett.

 

[FrenchTart]

BBQ Guides/Info

Some "things to look out for as a newbie BBQer": [here]

Snake method for low and slow smoking on a regular kettle BBQ: [here]

Great guy to get wood chunks from: [here]

Two-zone method for low and slow cooking on a regular kettle BBQ: [here]

More to come...

 

[Maccapacca]

Nice one, been thinking about a 2016. Can't remember where I put the BBQ

 

[FrenchTart]

Yeah..I've not BBQ'd anything for a while myself. I need to get back on it

Btw - if anyone has any more things to add to the first two posts let me know. The OP I thought we could have some of the more tasty stuff from last year shown and in the second post links to guides/sources of wood/etc.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Bought myself a Cobb BBQ last year to take fishing. Wow what a buy. Seems pricey for what it is but it is worth every penny if you want something portable.

Cook literately anything in it, coal burns at a good temperature for 3 hours and lights in seconds, the BBQ is cool to touch when in use and can be picked up and moved around with your bare hands. Also has a moat to catch fat and roast veggies in it or alternatively use the moat to put beer/cider to keep roasting meats moist and tender.

I am taking it this weekend to the lake. Normally stick a whole gammon joint and cut off slices of gammon throughout the day to shove in a bap.

 

[randomshenans]

Need to get some charcoal, but funnily enough not many supermarkets have it at the moment.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Need to get some charcoal, but funnily enough not many supermarkets have it at the moment.

Petrol stations never let me down for this sort of thing. Could be 5am on Christmas day and i could pop down to my local 24h station to grab some. Use to go at obscene hours when we had evening BBQs that turned into all night party things.

 

[randomshenans]

I'm lucky if they have petrol in petrol stations over here. Maybe someone outside smoking and drinking a beer though.

 

[lego]

My smoker will be on the go tomorrow, should be a nice day for it

 

[Proc]

After having a quick glance at the other thread, just wondering what would a decent bbq & or smoker on a budget. Just moved house so not much dosh, but would love to start smoking my own food and have a decent bbq for the summer.

 

[FrenchTart]

After having a quick glance at the other thread, just wondering what would a decent bbq & or smoker on a budget. Just moved house so not much dosh, but would love to start smoking my own food and have a decent bbq for the summer.

How much do you have to spend? For primarily smoking the ProQ Frontier is very good and quite decent (hotsmoked.co.uk stock them and have great CS).

If you want to do more 'classic' BBQ but still also be able to smoke fairly well then a Webber OneTouch is often recommended. Someone else will be able to give you a bit more detail on that side of things though.

 

[HazardO]

Well my Weber has been used at least 3 times so far this year so season is definitely open. Still need to get my Bradley set up for some low and slow short rib, but need to wait for a longer dry period as I'm pretty sure it's not safe to use it in the garage.

 

[FrenchTart]

Sadly I think you're right. I'd love to have a smoker I could use indoors when I'm feeling lazy though

 

[Proc]

Was thinking about £100 but looking at prices think i will struggle to get something for that, may have see about a smoker once cash flow is better. But i will keep an eye out for Webber bbq's for now.

 

[FrenchTart]

Was thinking about £100 but looking at prices think i will struggle to get something for that, may have see about a smoker once cash flow is better. But i will keep an eye out for Webber bbq's for now.

To be honest I've managed to get good results with cheap £50 kettle BBQs from the likes of B&Q. This was before I got access to a better smoker. You can use the snake method and the two-zone method to smoke food well enough. It just requires a bit more attention than a bullet smoker.

 

[Proc]

Thanks for those links, think i will get myself a decent kettle bbq and give those methods a try. I'll keep an eye out for any Webber ones going cheap.

 

[molinari]

..

 

[FrenchTart]

I think that the unlit charcoal thing is a bit of a myth - there was some investigation on Amazing Ribs about it but I'm not sure where so I don't have the link.

As long as you're not using something silly like instant lighting stuff you'll be fine

Regular fresh coals would save a bit of worry compared to using a method you haven't used before so I guess it's a toss-up really.

 

[Mark M]

What is the issue with unlit charcoal?

 

[FrenchTart]

What is the issue with unlit charcoal?

Some people believed that the charcoal would give off "fumes" or weird off-flavours during the process of lighting and that this was one of the reasons why you should wait until the coals are white before chucking them on.