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

FrenchTart

FrenchTart

FrenchTart

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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.
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Beef rib by ganesh.
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Oak-smoked Moroccan lamb shoulder by ganesh.
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Beer-can chicken by Bipolar Kittens.
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Marinaded lamb chops by Stan Lite.
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Beer-can burgers by randomshenans' kids.
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Jerk chicken by Stan Lite.
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Steak, charred white asparagus, courgette, tomato, onion and potato salad by Stan Lite.
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Mocha-rubbed oak-smoked beef ribs by FrenchTart.
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Beef ribs by oli collett.
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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...
 
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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.
 
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Proc said:
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.
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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.
 
Proc said:
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.
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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.
 
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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.
 
@Glaucus

How come?

molinari said:
Yeah, I wasn't sure about it so I thought I'd check. I had a quick read of the The Science of Charcoal too.

I think I'll give the snake method a go, and if it fails I can get the other BBQ up and running or just failover to the oven :).
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Sounds like a plan :) At the very least you'll be able to get a good bit of smoking done so if you do have to resort to the oven it won't be the end of the world I guess.

Psymonkee said:
I'll ask the dumb question:

ProQ or Weber for a smoker? :)

The deal on Hot Smoked looks good at £180 but it doesn't mention how big it is? :)
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They both are good and they both have fanbois that will tell you one is much better than the other :p You will be happy with either.

The Frontier is big enough to fit about 8 chickens in at once (bit of a squeeze though). The Excel is probably around 20% bigger than that. I think the equivalent WSMs are 47 and 57 respectively.
 
ttaskmaster said:
To avoid the massive disagreements from last time - Is this thread for 'American BBQ' style barbecue with marinading and smoking, or more about the "Grilling" type of Barbie/Braai/Rainy British Barbecue styles? :p

B&Q periodically have some of their more expensive stuff on sale at random times in the year, for up to 75% off, too... Sometimes worth keeping an eye out.
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I think we should have the view that all are welcome and whether or not we personally think that there's one "true" BBQ we should be nice to each other and respect people's efforts :)

Good point /re B&Q btw. They do have some awesome deals at times - often in winter in fact.

Mark M said:
Is it worth going for a better brand of charcoal? Ive seen reference to chef grade charcoal but unsure of the benefits?

Also, I have a kettle bbq (non weber) and got a chicken "beer can" roaster contraption for Christmas so going to give it a whirl. What would you advise the best way to stack the coals? My kettle is quite shallow compared to a weber so may have to raise the lower grill and sit the chicken roaster on a brick or something or I dont think the lid will shut!
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Good charcoal will often burn longer and more evenly. Whether or not you think that's worth it is up to you really. Something to be aware of is that some "restaurant grade" stuff is quite hard to light.

It's a tough one. The beer-can holder things are a lot better than actual beer cans themselves for this (more convection inside the chicken). Raising the edges with bricks and then putting tinfoil around the gaps could work?
 
If you don't mind paying the extra the Elite version is a bit shinier and has a little more utility. I'd probably go for that if I were buying.

I think I'm going to make some more salmon candy as my next smoking project. It was delicious last time.

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Short rib (which is what is posted in the OP of this thread) tends to be quite a cheap cut whereas rib roast will be expensive. Rib roast has a load of extra meat on as it includes the rib eye and other stuff.
 
Good choices :)

If you want something a little easier to keep you going whilst the brisket and pork are cooking, get some ox cheeks on there too. They'll cook a good few hours quicker so you'll find it easier to resist taking the other food off too soon.
 
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