*****Official BBQ Thread - Suns out, Buns out!*****

OK then Sonny and Street, as you seem keen to steer me towards charcoal, recommend me a decent basic charcoal bbq (approx budget £200).

I will have a look into chimneys. What happens if I just want to grill 4 burgers? can the coal be put out and used again? I had assumed gas would be more practical for small portion meals.
 
If you only need to cook 4 burgers, then just fire up a small amount of charcoal :)

You can put out charcoal either by shutting the vents in the bbq which will snuff it out fairly quickly (depends a little on how good the sealing is on your bbq) or in the past I have actually dropped charcoal into a bucket of water to put them out, then let them dry out for a couple of weeks and have used them again for another bbq.

Best bang for your buck for that sort of price would be a Weber 47cm kettle. Gives you plenty of space for grilling burgers and sausages etc but also loads of scope for doing some lovely low and slow bbq food too.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
Gas also has the downside of that ideally you need 2 gas cylinders to hand with the second as a back up.
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Not sure I'd agree with that unless you are outdoor catering you'll be fine with one bottle. We only used the gas barbie once a week on average over the summer cooking for 2- 4 burgers, chicken, sausages etc no slow cooking or roasts and I got several seasons out of one large bottle. Gas BBQ is very convenient if you want to eat now because it will fire up in 5 mins to working heat, but it does lack that charcoal aesthetic.
 
EdwardTeach said:
OK then Sonny and Street, as you seem keen to steer me towards charcoal, recommend me a decent basic charcoal bbq (approx budget £200).

I will have a look into chimneys. What happens if I just want to grill 4 burgers? can the coal be put out and used again? I had assumed gas would be more practical for small portion meals.
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anything made by weber. check hot uk deals out.

if you want to cook 4 burgers then just use less charcoal. or re-use the charcoal by hosing it down and then leaving it on sunny windowsill to dry out for a few weeks.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
anything made by weber. check hot uk deals out.

if you want to cook 4 burgers then just use less charcoal. or re-use the charcoal by hosing it down and then leaving it on sunny windowsill to dry out for a few weeks.
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Rather than doing that you can just close all the vents to kill the fire and then fish the charcoal next time you want to use it.
 
Street said:
With a chimney starter, lighting a charcoal BBQ is no hassle at all really. I quite often fire it up in the evenings to cook the odd thing on it.
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Still takes longer than a gas grill and has a lot more to cleanup.

Even using a chimney, by the time the coals are ready I will have cooked and eaten my dinner!
 
D.P. said:
Still takes longer than a gas grill and has a lot more to cleanup.

Even using a chimney, by the time the coals are ready I will have cooked and eaten my dinner!
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What clean up? Light the chimney, few minutes later toss it in the BBQ and cook then close the vents when you’re done. Repeat next time.

May as well just cook it inside if you’re using gas.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
Gas also has the downside of that ideally you need 2 gas cylinders to hand with the second as a back up. Charcoal is much easier to get a hold of.
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Pretty much rubbish - gas bottles have level indicators on them, and calor cylinders are available at almost every petrol station or garden center - hardly difficult to obtain.

Minstadave said:
May as well just cook it inside if you’re using gas.
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Again more rubbish, unless your oven can magically add a smoky taste.
 
Minstadave said:
What clean up? Light the chimney, few minutes later toss it in the BBQ and cook then close the vents when you’re done. Repeat next time.

May as well just cook it inside if you’re using gas.
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BS, considering in double blind taste testing there is no difference between gas and BBQ competitions world wide are won with gas.

With a charcoal you get all the ash to clean up afterwards

And as for needing 2bottles, that same argument can be used with charcoal. You might run out of charcoal or gas, which is why you check before cooking. The difference with charcoal is you will run on often, a gas bottle will last 6-9 months frequent use
 
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@Street - cheers - I'll be putting it together today :)

@HazardO the pizza stone is something I will (well the kids will) get a fair bit of use from. It was the "Free Gift" with the BBQ - I certainly wouldn't be paying £50 for it :p
 
More shortrib today, been in the sous vide for 72 hours, will be hot smoked over whiskey barrel and finished with JD original BBQ sauce :)

@{SAS}TB Even if you find the stone doesn't work for BBQ pizza, those stones are pretty useful in the oven for pizza or bread. Also I tend to use our (cheaper stones) for reheating fried Indian or Chinese starters like samosas or spring rolls etc.
 
The gas vs charcoal debate will never end. Gas is somewhat more convenient, charcoal is somewhat more authentic and flavourful. Both are viable.
 
Participant said:
For me the appeal of charcoal lies in the primitive thrill of 'man make fire'. Gas grills are just boring in that regard.
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Yeh, that! Gas feels like cheating!

I bought the 47cm Weber plus with the GBS system a few weeks back. Few successful BBQs so far and aiming to do a load more over the summer. Do fancy trying Pizzas in the BBQ, the Weber stone seems to be a ridiculous price though - any alternatives worth considering?
 
dl8860 said:
The gas vs charcoal debate will never end. Gas is somewhat more convenient, charcoal is somewhat more authentic and flavourful. Both are viable.
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That is just the point, charcoal isn't more flavorful so it is down to practicality vs playing with fire.
 
Participant said:
For me the appeal of charcoal lies in the primitive thrill of 'man make fire'. Gas grills are just boring in that regard.
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Totally get that but I also fiind using charcoal, a chimney a lighter cubes a bit of a chest as well.

With 2 kids and a busy life i like the fact that with gas i can cook eat before a charcoal grill is even ready. On the flip side,when I have time I like to make a real fire with the kids with wood, kindling,, dried grass as starter and create coals to put potatoes wrapped in foil in, chunks of meat above the embers, marshmallows on sticks etc.
 
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