Spec me a Barbecue

tom_e said:
As Glaucus said the thermometer is only really for when you're slow cooking as you need keep the temperature lower, or normal every day bbqing there's no need for one.
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I find the thermometer on my Weber Performer very useful, if I'm cooking using the indirect method with the lid on. I rarely cook direct since moving from an open barrel style to a weber kettle, and having the lid on really helps infuse the food with whatever wood I'm using to smoke the food.

I'll often do west country lamb rump, marinaded in garlic, balsamic, rosemary and olive oil, and then smoke the rump for 25mins or so over rosemary. The thermometer tells me the meat is cooking without having to disturb it too much.

lmfy2k said:
ive been looking at this one: http://www.bbqworld.co.uk/weber-57cm-one-touch-premium-and-starter-pack.asp

worth it for the extras?
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Personally I'd say not. Get the BBQ on it's own, the rest is fluff except for the Chimney starter, which doesn't have to be a webber one.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Apparently B&Q had the Original one touch at £75 a month ago ?!
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They did (though in very limited stock - we looked around our local stores and failed to find one). The B&Q own brand BBQ that looks a little like the One Touch is pretty good though, and well worth it for the cheaper price.

randomshenans said:
The blurred pics had me in stitches!

Cleaning a BBQ?! Say what?! :p
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They seemed appropriate... :p
 
Will keep an eye out on a Weber One Touch then, doubt I will get the premium. Will go to B&W later to see them all in person too.

Question though, how do you control the heat, like the distance between the coal and the rack at the top? Is the Weber rust proof? or do you guys buy the cover for it?
 
Raymond Lin said:
Will keep an eye out on a Weber One Touch then, doubt I will get the premium. Will go to B&W later to see them all in person too.

Question though, how do you control the heat, like the distance between the coal and the rack at the top? Is the Weber rust proof? or do you guys buy the cover for it?
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You control the heat by the amount of lit coal you add. You get a feel for this as you use the BBQ more (and I recommend experimenting at first).

In case you're not already aware, with indirect heat you would place all the coals on one side of the BBQ and then the food on the other side of the grill. With the top on you then end up with an oven-like environment but with the added bonus of all the delicious smoke. Contrary to what you might guess at first too is that having the air holes open more generally means higher temperatures as the coals have more oxygen to work with. When you've finished with the BBQ close all the air vents and the coals will eventually go out, meaning that you can reuse some of them next time.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Will keep an eye out on a Weber One Touch then, doubt I will get the premium. Will go to B&W later to see them all in person too.

Question though, how do you control the heat, like the distance between the coal and the rack at the top? Is the Weber rust proof? or do you guys buy the cover for it?
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You shouldn't need the cover, as the BBQ is ceramic coated, and IIRC most of the fixtures are aluminium. A shed is better than a cover if you are worried, covers and sunlight don't mix indefinitely.
 
So in a round bowl, it is split in half. You put coal in 1 half but you can either put food directly on top of that half of the BBQ for direct heat or the other half for indirect heat with the lid on (I guess this is where the thermometre comes in useful).
So do you ever use the entire surface of the BBQ?
 
Raymond Lin said:
So in a round bowl, it is split in half. You put coal in 1 half but you can either put food directly on top of that half of the BBQ for direct heat or the other half for indirect heat with the lid on (I guess this is where the thermometre comes in useful).
So do you ever use the entire surface of the BBQ?
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That's basically it, yeah. Generally speaking for most food you'd do as Glaucus said and indirectly cook food mostly then finally move it to the direct heat just to char up the outside a little bit.

You could easily make the entire BBQ into a direct-heating monster if you were only cooking lots of food that you just want to sear quickly. Generally you'll get better results if you slow-cook things as much as possible though. I can't remember the last time we cooked something only on the direct heat (unless we were making a snack whilst we waited for the main food to cook).

Check out some of the videos these guys do for some examples/tips:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BarbecueWeb?feature=watch
 
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It's not physically split in half. You just poor the coals on one side, or you can buy a tray to put them in.

If you want you can use the entire cooking area for direct cooking, can't use the entire area for indirect.

Burgers and some kebabs are about the only thing I direct cook. Even then that's shop/farm brought burgers. Otherwise home made monster burgers need indirect as well.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Why do I get the feeling that I end up getting the premium ?!

I never thought about indirect heat because I've only ever cooked small things like burgers, sausages and chicken wings. Just keep turning them to stop them burning.
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Well, if you've been using disposables then you've not had an opportunity to anyhow... Once you get yourself a decent BBQ you've got no excuse though :p

Whole chickens marinaded in soy, garlic and orange juice go awesomely well with smoking btw. *drool*

Glaucus said:
Did you see this link?
http://www.gardenxl.com/weber-57cm-...-thermometer?gclid=CNrY-dqC0rcCFTMQtAodKTcAaQ

It's an original but with thermometer on top.
Then in the future you can upgrade the temp/ash controller at the bottom to the premium. Which would then make it a full blowen premium, but with an initial cost of £40-50 less.
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You don't really need to add the ash controller thing to the bottom. With the catcher tray and the ability to open/close the vents at the bottom you can clean it almost as easily as with having a bucket at the bottom.
 
Learn how to butterfly, whol legs of lamb, chicken etc.

I'm going on a butchery course in the next month or two, we get to say what we want to do.
So butterflying will be on the top of the list.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I guess with indirect you don't end up with all the oil and sauce landing on the coal creating all that smoke as well.

Thanks for the link :) Although i was hoping to get it in person, don't want something that big to be delivered to work lol
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Having oil/fat/sauce land on the coal isn't actually a bad thing as the smoke given off helps add a nice flavour to the food. Some people get a bit of cheap mince or some other low quality/cheap meat and leave it over the coals whilst the rest of the food cooks indirectly. You waste that bit of meat but the other meat benefits from the additional smoke.

Personally I tend to just use wood chunks. I've only properly tried applewood and mesquite with any kind of frequency. I've found applewood to be the best so far. You don't absolutely need the wood chunks/chips but they can definitely improve certain dishes.
 
If you cook with the lid on with meat dripping directly over coals all you get is acrid tasting meat as the fat doesn't catch fire it just smokes away, do not put meat over coals and put the lid on.

I put a shoe box of charcoal to one side and and cook with the lid on 90% of the time adjusting the vents to get a healthy heat, I use the 4 second rule, if I can hold my hand over the vent for less than 4 seconds it's too hot and vice versa 4 seconds is perfect.
 
The premium one one touch with the cleaning bit is worth it imo, for instance yesterday i was at a mates having a quick grill and he has the one with just the tray dust catcher, anyway, every time the coals fall through and its windy you get it blown all over the place
 
FrenchTart said:
Ah, I'm not a huge fan of the whisky-soaked stuff I've tried (but then again, I'm not a huge fan of whisky either).
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Each to their own. The world would be pretty boring if we all liked the same things. ;)

Personally I'm not a whisky drinker, but love the sweet smell on the BBQ. I've go to trim my apple trees so I might give that a go.

tom_e said:
This is why this forum has cost me a fortune over the years, people always put forward a good argument for the more expensive stuff :D
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Is it time to move the OP onto looking at the green egg range yet?
 
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