***** Official 2016 BBQ Thread - Chucking it Down: Proper British BBQ Weather *****
- Thread starter FrenchTart
- Start date
I've not tried them but I wasn't super impressed by the old ones to be honest.
Lots of people swear by Aussie heat beads, Big K and the coco shell things. Personally they're much of a muchness imo.
Lots of people swear by Aussie heat beads, Big K and the coco shell things. Personally they're much of a muchness imo.
On the BBQ Facebook group I'm part of someone posted their experiments with Aldi briquettes recently and said that they'd had good results. They don't last absolutely ages but given the price they're very economical (and don't require *that* much more baby sitting).
Country Wood Smoke actually 
It'll be easy to trace me soon once I'm tagged in the OcUK dons and admins meetup pic. I'm the grumpy looking one
It'll be easy to trace me soon once I'm tagged in the OcUK dons and admins meetup pic. I'm the grumpy looking one
Glad to hear you're dipping into the world of BBQ 
I'd really recommend checking out http://amazingribs.com/ for some tips. There's tons of ideas on there and a lot of reasoning behind why certain techniques yield better results over others.
Boiling your ribs first is generally not the most optimal way to go (at least in regards to what BBQ snobs think) but it sounds like you got some great results. Personally I'm more a fan of "smoke for a few hours" then "cover (in foil) for a few hours" then add BBQ sauce and cook over high heat for 30-60 minutes. This works really well with both pork and beef ribs, though the former takes a lot less time than the latter.
If you want to spend less time having to watch a BBQ then another option is to combine BBQ with sous-vide. BBQ at low heat to smoke (and get the kind of pointless but nice-looking smoke ring), vacuum seal and sous-vide for a good few hours, then again BBQ over high heat at the end. The advantage of this method is that although the sous-vide step can take a long time (12-48 hours, depending on the cut
) you can do that without having to baby-sit, meaning you can get amazing results with minimal effort.
As I'm incredibly lazy my method tends to involve smoking for a while, then taking completely off the BBQ and sticking in the oven at a low heat overnight. Food generally takes more than enough smoke flavour in 2-3 hours of cooking and the advantage of moving to the oven after is that you can control the temperature much more easily.
Anyhow..enough spam
I'd really recommend checking out http://amazingribs.com/ for some tips. There's tons of ideas on there and a lot of reasoning behind why certain techniques yield better results over others.
Boiling your ribs first is generally not the most optimal way to go (at least in regards to what BBQ snobs think
) but it sounds like you got some great results. Personally I'm more a fan of "smoke for a few hours" then "cover (in foil) for a few hours" then add BBQ sauce and cook over high heat for 30-60 minutes. This works really well with both pork and beef ribs, though the former takes a lot less time than the latter. If you want to spend less time having to watch a BBQ then another option is to combine BBQ with sous-vide. BBQ at low heat to smoke (and get the kind of pointless but nice-looking smoke ring), vacuum seal and sous-vide for a good few hours, then again BBQ over high heat at the end. The advantage of this method is that although the sous-vide step can take a long time (12-48 hours, depending on the cut
) you can do that without having to baby-sit, meaning you can get amazing results with minimal effort.As I'm incredibly lazy my method tends to involve smoking for a while, then taking completely off the BBQ and sticking in the oven at a low heat overnight. Food generally takes more than enough smoke flavour in 2-3 hours of cooking and the advantage of moving to the oven after is that you can control the temperature much more easily.
Anyhow..enough spam
It's certainly the weather for it today so....
Awesome
There are tons of ways to do it. If you have any kind of wood chips for smoking and some maple syrup you could do worse than salmon candy (pic below, posted earlier in the thread).
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=29327506&postcount=128
Whatever you do, I recommend you lightly dust the salmon with salt and sugar and leave it in the fridge for a few hours before you cook it. This will firm it up and stop it leaking white albumen whilst it's on being cooked.
Personally I really like the combination of sweet/salt and smoke with BBQ salmon so I nearly always do something like the above, or perhaps make a teriyaki sauce and cook it with that. As it's not a white fish you can get away without covering the salmon but I would cook it indirectly for the most part. To summarise the info in that link, you basically just put all the coals on one side of the BBQ and then stick the thing you want to cook indirectly on the other. Put the lid on (with the vents open) and you get an oven-like effect but with the smoky flavour you expect from BBQ. At the very end, quickly transfer the salmon (or steak, or whatever) over to the side with the coals and give it a short blast of heat to brown it.
Sounds good - get some pics up once you're done
I'm off to a BBQ myself in a bit. I've got a bit of tri-tip that I've salted and dusted with a mocha, chipotle and black pepper rub. I'll be cooking it hot and fast then resting it for a decent while. It'll be served with a home made chimichurri. Hoping to impress some new friends with decent cooking...
Your BF's family sound fairly typically British (in terms of BBQ) People always seem shocked by the fact you can cook stuff other than burgers and sausages.
I'm off to a BBQ myself in a bit. I've got a bit of tri-tip that I've salted and dusted with a mocha, chipotle and black pepper rub. I'll be cooking it hot and fast then resting it for a decent while. It'll be served with a home made chimichurri. Hoping to impress some new friends with decent cooking...
Your BF's family sound fairly typically British (in terms of BBQ)
People always seem shocked by the fact you can cook stuff other than burgers and sausages.
Isn't steak okay for pregnant women? I didn't think it was on the list of foods that are banned (often for questionable reasons)
That makes sense I guess..though...really sucks. Thank god I will never be pregnant 
My steak went down well. I think someone posted a pic of it so I'll try and get hold of it.
My steak went down well. I think someone posted a pic of it so I'll try and get hold of it.
Pic not taken by me but somehow the person taking it managed to be even worse at photography than me
Steak was delicious however and seemed to go down a treat with everyone.
Steak was delicious however and seemed to go down a treat with everyone.
Nom nom - nice smoke ring
You can do a fine job with a half-decent kettle BBQ so if that's a major concern then go for it.
If you want to make things easier for yourself on that front you can also just transfer the low and slow stuff you're cooking to the oven after it has had a few hours of smoke - the end result will be almost exactly the same.
@Noakesy85 - looks nice Quite sweet so I can see why you'd suggest chicken/pork.
Can you get a One Touch? I'm not a Weber expert but from memory that's the way to go. I don't think that there are many alternatives to Weber with regards to decent kettle BBQs too (though I've smoked reasonably well on a B&Q £50 BBQ in the past).
Quite sweet so I can see why you'd suggest chicken/pork.Can you get a One Touch? I'm not a Weber expert but from memory that's the way to go. I don't think that there are many alternatives to Weber with regards to decent kettle BBQs too (though I've smoked reasonably well on a B&Q £50 BBQ in the past).
@1pudding1
Looks good. Shame about the lack of wood chips (you could always rush out to go get some whilst it's cooking? If you get back within an hour or so it won't be too late).
Ah yes..looks like the One Touch and Premium are essentially the same thing. I thought they were different. The main difference is that the One Touch is a lot easier to clean.
Looks good. Shame about the lack of wood chips (you could always rush out to go get some whilst it's cooking? If you get back within an hour or so it won't be too late
).Ah yes..looks like the One Touch and Premium are essentially the same thing. I thought they were different. The main difference is that the One Touch is a lot easier to clean.
Manchester you say? Let me know if you need any help eating BBQ'd meat
The Original will indeed be fine though I do agree that from all accounts the premium is a very nice improvement.
I'm rocking a whole brisket, 3kg ribs and a bacon explosion...for 8 people
Sounds like a few of those 8 will go hungry....
I always make way too much food and even to me that sounds excessive
So tempted to suspend GSVBagpuss until he posts some pics
Ugh - still can't get the snake method to work in my Pro Q Frontier - stacked the coals like in post #47 and still couldn't get the temp past about 50C.
Minion method? No problems but obviously a higher coal usage and needs more careful monitoring. I must be doing something wrong. Still as it was just a test I put some bacon on the top rack and OM NOM NOM!
Also the top vent on my Pro Q is super stiff and I just sliced my finger open on it! Any ideas how to loosen it?
You should be able to undo it a bit with a screw driver I think. Or is it a nut/bolt setup?
Have you moved away from using water btw? Sorry if you've already said - may have missed it.