*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

The Hill Billy

Threads merged. The 'Search' function is your friend.

tHB

Mammamia17

Cheers all....now I have loads of ideas :-)

slowburner

This is my default barbecue recipe and it is great if you have a few mouths to feed simultaneously. Timing is probably the most difficult aspect of barbecue cooking. I won't give quantities because it all depends on the size of your barbie. It is an intuitive dish anyway.

Good quality, minced round steak. (The better the quality, the more successful the dish). This should be minced for you by the butcher rather than being given to you from a tray. Don't even think about supermarket mince!
Finely chopped Onions; equal in raw volume to the meat. E.g. 1 lb of meat to 1 lb of raw onion.
Seasoning.
Herbes de Provence.
Madras curry powder.

Fry the onions in a little butter and some sunflower oil over a low heat until they begin to melt. You will know they are ready when they begin to stick together. It takes a long time - don't be tempted to turn up the heat - it will ruin the flavour.
Put the onions aside until fairly cool.
Then mix onions and beef together with herbs and seasoning.
When all is well mixed, squash the whole lot into a gigantic burger of a size to suit your barbie. About 1/2 an inch thickness. Give the burger a dusting of curry powder on both sides and cook straight over the white coals. You will know it is time to turn it when it doesn't stick to the grill.

Et voila

Kablamo!

Paddysnapper wrote: »

Second course: Bananas in their skins, leave them on until they are soft and the skins have gone black (Do not burn).. They are absolutely delicious with ice cream. P.S. remove skin before eating:D

Slice the skins and the banana on the top and stuff with chocolate! :cool:

Kablamo!

Mammamia17 wrote: »

Hi All,
just wondering if anyone has any ideas or recommendations for barbequing.....dd is 18 and we're having a bbq next week, but have never bbq'd before so want to practice this w/end.

Was thinking burgers & steak, sausages & some skewers....lamb maybe & some salmon steaks.....am doing chicken/mushroom vol au vents so will stick to red meat on the bbq

would also like to do pasta salad & curried rice along with the cold meat salads & regular garden salad.... so if anyone has any suggestions or tips I'd be really grateful
Cheers!

Handy side for a BBQ are baby potatoes. Lash them in the oven and coat them in a little rapeseed oil, some cayenne pepper and some garlic salt. Delicious.

murphyebass

Hi guys,

Not a forum I frequent here so bear with me.

With the good weather on Friday and Saturday there I decided to pull out the bbq again,.... and put back in under the cover thankfully before the rain!

I've done a quick search and cant really find any designated bbq thread so here it is.

Anyone with ideas or recipies would be most welcome!

Also I have a 4 burner gas bbq, 2 burners are over a grill and 2 are over a hotplate.

Any ideas for the hotplate in particular would be most welcome as I never use it.
I do the likes of rashers and veg on the grill part and they come out grand. I suppose the likes of onions but to be honest again I've done them in rings quickly on the grill part as well which works fine.
I've never done something with so much sauce that I felt I couldnt throw it over the grill part and tbh I dont tend to put anything with sauce on it on the bbq. I rather the bbq / char taste so tend to keep to dry rubs.

Anyone do pizza on it?

I know its a bit rubbish weather wise today but it'll be soon bbq weather again!

Whistlejacket

I got into the habit of always including some vegetables on the bbq when I lived in New Zealand. It's a nice balance to all the meat.

Sweetcorn, whole cobs still in their leaves when in season.
Soak in a basin of water for a few minutes, shake off the excess and put on the bbq. Leave until the outer leaves start to blacken/go on fire and then turn slightly. Repeat until the entire outer surface is blackened/charred and lift off. Wrap a tea towel around your hand and hold the cobs at the base. Peel off the leaves with your other hand (put on a washing up glove if they're very hot). The result is sweet, smoky, steamed sweet corn. Brush with melted butter and gnaw.

Sweet peppers, tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, baby sweetcorn, mange tout, a handful of spinach leaves, pine nuts etc.. Whatever you fancy really in the way of leaves and veg that will cook quickly (potatoes, carrots and other roots take too long this way). Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and oil e.g. olive, sunflower or rapeseed, salt and pepper, and wrap up in a tinfoil parcel. Place the parcel on the hot plate. Leave for about 15 minutes (until you hear the contents gently sizzling). Carefully open the parcel and put the contents into a bowl to serve.

The Hill Billy

Threads merged.

tHB

murphyebass

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Threads merged.

tHB

thanks hill billy, genuinely didnt see this one. Give me more to look at now though!

TheKBizzle

I've done pizza on the bbq and it's not really worth the effort in my opinion. I use one of my burners with a can filled with wood chips that have been soaked to get the smoky taste into food. It works a treat

The Hill Billy

murphyebass wrote: »

thanks hill billy, genuinely didnt see this one. Give me more to look at now though!

No probs. I knew what to look for.

rick_fantastic

Hickory Smoked Pull Pork Shoulder...

Dry rub bone in pork shoulder (I used smoked paprika, cumin, allspice, black pepper, salt, various herb, chilli powder, mustard powder, garlic powder)



Prep bbq (mines gas, one half drip tray, no direct heat, other half with tinfoil full of soaked hickory chips.



Cook meat, rotating away from heat every 45/60 mins



it should look like this...



When it reaches around 150 degrees (F) take off bbq and put in oven to finish, i steamed it over a couple of bottles of beer on a rack covered in tinfoil to keep steam in at around 125degrees celcius

when internal meat temp reaches around 180 degrees (F) take it out and cover with tinfoil and a towel and let it sit for about an hour and a half.

remove all fat and then pull with two forks.



voila - enough meat to feed the masses for 15euros... takes a while to cook tho... i had it on bbq for 6.5 hours and then in oven for another 4 hours... wouldve done it on bbq for whole time but had to go out for a few hours hence finish in oven.

next time i do it (prob weekend, ill take more photos of the whole process)

had it in dry rub for a day and a half before cooking...

FortuneChip

rick_fantastic wrote: »

Hickory Smoked Pull Pork Shoulder...

it should look like this...

:eek: Mother of Babe!!!

niallam

From another thread I posted in.
I used an offset smoker, I removed the fat as it's the 1 thing the smoke won't penetrate properly and I used an injection.


I've always been a big BBQ person but yesterday i tried my first ever "Pork Butt" or shoulder as we call it

I started off with a full 7kg pork shoulder.
My rub consisted of coarse salt, black pepper, paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, mustard powder, brown sugar & white sugar
My injection, apple juice, apple cider vinegar, water, white sugar, salt & Worcester sauce

I deboned the shoulder, took all the fat off and applied my rub on 1 side, 40 mins i wiped off the excess and applied to the other side.
I rolled it up very loosely but to keep an even thickness throughout.
Added my injection throughout and wrapped in cling film.

First i lined my smoker with tinfoil and 2 drip trays.



I was using hickory wood chunks and apple wood chips, some soaked and some not so as to get as long between adding more wood as i could.

I also had a foil tray over the charcoal with apple cider vinegar and water. The pic of this is more for just showing and was fresh chips put on.




Opened for the first time after 2 hours





I kept the temp in the smoker at about 250f for 6 hours, was very hard to control the temp but managed. I used a meat probe with 1m cable on the rack to tell inside temp.
Adding wood every 30 mins, used about 2kg hickory chunks and 1kg apple.

After 6 hours of rotating every hour and spraying with apple juice it was ready for the next step.



Wrapped it in foil and sat in a tray. Inserted the probe inside now and temp was at 154f, injected it again which brought temp to 150f. Covered it and fresh charcoal (cleaned out full heat box at this point) for the next 3 hours. Monitored the temp to make sure it wasn't climbing too fast and my target internal temp was 190-200f, best for pulled pork according to all American forums.
2 hours 45 mins later it reached temp.





Left to rest for 45 mins.

Pulled it all, sprayed again with apple juice a few times and added the injection juice from the tray from the last stage (not the drip tray).



Got perfect smoke ring for my first attempt, served it with a red onion marmalade

rick_fantastic

that looks great....

Tom75

Last jobs from smoker:
bacon
sausage
pork steak
turkey breast
chicken

niallam

Did 2 racks of ribs last night and chicken thighs.
Few too many beers beforehand made me forget to take pics.
The thighs were amazing, made my own bbq sauce for everything.

120g heinz tomato sauce
40g brown sugar
30g onion
3 cloves garlic
15ml apple cider vinegar
15ml Worcester sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
cayenne pepper to hot hot you want it, i used about 2g only

Minced my onion with a tiny bit of water and fried it up in a little oil
Added everything else and reduced it for about 20 mins.

Very easy to make, I know there are far more complicated methods but this one is a great quick and easy way.

I made a very fresh rub for the chicken with sea salt (no anti caking), brown sugar, pepper, garlic granules, mustard powder and lemon zest i dried.

Seared them well on the gas bbq first then an hour in the smoker in foil trays and sauced them and finished them on the racks in the smoker to get a nice finish on them.

Sorry i've no pics but they didn't last long enough

niallam

Chicken from this evening
I gave these a small injection of chicken stock i had frozen that i reduced down to a very thick liquid to inject.

After trimming and before rub



In the smoker, gave them a quick fry on the gas bbq first. I use the probe to give a better reading of actual internal temp in the smoker.
I smoked with apple wood for 1 hour at 225-240f



After 1 hour in the smoker i coat them in my BBQ sauce and back onto the gas. I recoat them a few times turning every few minutes.





Extremely tasty.

columf

Hi All
Said I would throw up what I did for my last cook
Got some belly pork from Tesco with the ribs attached. I cut off the ribs for use at a later date.
Score the fat side of the belly down to the meat I score mine so when you cut the pork into slices the score is where you cut meaning the crackling on the slice stays intact.
I made some rub 1/2 cup of salt 1/2 cup of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper onion powder garlic powder and sweet paprika each and then a decent grind of black pepper 1 to 2 level table spoons a lovely aromatic rub suitable for all meats.
I used some yellow mustard to coat the pork and act as a glue for my rub.Make sure to get that rub between the slits in the skin
I put mine into a covered tray and left over night in the fridge.


For this cook I was using a weber q 320 gas grill it has 2 burners this is the only gas grill I have ever used my Dad got it years ago the burners are in a strange configuration there is the main burner which runs around the outer edge of the grill at the lowest setting it will go to about 170c then there is another burner which runs down the middle of the grill this will give you lower temps.

I set up my grill as following
I used hickory chips which I had soaked for 30 mins I put them into a foil tray and covered the try in foil and pierced the foil several times.
I set my grill to high on both burners and closed the lid.
I used a roasting tin and filled it with apple juice I then put in a meat rack and rested my pork on the rack. With a meat thermometer
I put my wood chips at the back corner and my meat was in the center.
The weber has 2 openings either side of the cooking area I didn't want my smoke going out the side and not over the meat so I made a baffle with some tinfoil it seems to have worked.
I kept a close eye on the meat for the first 15 20 mins until the skin got nice and crispy then I reduced the temp to between 150c and 170c and let it cook about once an hour I would spritz it with apple juice and if needed fill the pan with some more cider.
it was a modest piece of meat as it was only a couple of friends, Dad and I, so it cooked in 3 hours. I wrapped it in tin foil and put it into a insulated bag while I prepared the rest

I served it with some grilled corn on the cob and a salad
for the corn I get them still in the husk so I peel back the leaves and remove the silk I then put the leaves back and soak the corn in some salt and water for 15 mins. I then put them on a hot grill for about 5 minutes a side until they are done.

The pork was amazing and did not last long the knife glided through the meat it was tender moist and rich on the inside nice and crispy on the outside the hickory and apple work so well combined and then the slight sweet heat from the rub. the corn was tender, Juicy and covered in butter and salt as it should be.

The gas grill is not the Ideal way to cook like this but a smoker is beyond my means for now unless some kind person can pint me in the direction of a reasonably priced charcoal smoker.

Tom75

Try this site:
http://www.landmann.co.uk/smoker-barbecues.html

or this:

http://route66pl.com/texas-1-xxl-long0.html

columf

Cheers had a look at those sites. The route 66 guys have some machine there. I would love to build my own but I don't have a work shop. Has anyone ever gone to a steel fabricator and priced them making one I am guessing it would be very expensive for a one off job like that.

Montjuic

Hi,

Anyone have any ideas on good steak recipes or techniques for a gas BBQ a Weber?

Also I find the gas BBQ doesn't sear the steaks as good as I like basically I want them nicely quickly seared on the outside rare inside. Even though I have it on full blast lid down etc it still doesn't sear them good enough

Any ideas?

Tom Dunne

I find if you put the BBQ up full blast, then baste your steaks generously with cooking oil (note: not olive oil), as the oil drips down, it creates a flame which colours your steaks nicely, while leaving them pink in the middle.

The Hill Billy

@Montjuic - All you need for BBQing steak is in this thread. Merged.

tHB

shoutman

Hey,

Hoping someone in here can advise as to what the best charcoal is for low and slow cooking.

Don't want to be spending a fortune and would be looking to buy in bulk. All web searches are bringing up american brands that are seemingly unavailable over here. Weber charcoal is very expensive also.

Tom75

Try this. 2,5kg about 3-4eur in polish shop.

BaZmO*

Tom75 wrote: »

Try this. 2,5kg about 3-4eur in polish shop.

That's the one I always use. Never have any problems with it. It's proper charcoal too, i.e. not briquettes.

unklerosco

4 day weekend means it's time to get the BBQ out! Doing some ribs at the moment, first of the year.

Cooking them on my WSM, 225-250f, usually takes 4.5-5hrs. I learned using the 2-2-1 method (2hrs on the bbq, 2hrs wrapped, 1hr unwrapped to finish, sauced or not) and still use it as a rough guide, u can usually tell when they're ready for each step by the look and feel of them. Once they have a bark, have started to pull back from the bone and have a good bit of flex in them they're ready to wrap. You can do them without wrapping but I like to wrap em.

Ribs, membrane removed


Rub applied, usually I use mustard to help it stick but ran out so just used coconut oil.


After sitting for a couple of hours


Lash em on, sit back n relax...

unklerosco

After around 2hrs.. Ready to wrap.


I use melted butter. usually honey but I had none so maple syrup and brown sugar.. If I had some i'd stick in a bit of apple juice. Wrap tightly, I use 3-4 sheets tinfoil to do this. At this stage u could stick em in the oven to finish them off and free up space on ur BBQ or stick em back on the BBQ.


I'll leave them on for close to 2hrs and see what they're like then.. I'll unwrap them, sauce them and stick them back on for 30 od mins to let the sauce set.. Then I'm gonna eat them, all of them!

beertons

What kind of bbq is that?

Tom75

Looks like WEBER
http://www.weber.com/grills/series/smokers

unklerosco

beertons wrote: »

What kind of bbq is that?

Weber smokey mountain

unklerosco

Just to finish up..
Wrapped heavily and stuck back on for around 2hrs.


After being unwrapped. The butter, sugar and maple syrup (or honey) create a savage sauce. You could eat them like this if you wished, I like to sauce them to add to the flavors..


Saucing them and then giving them another 30 odd mins to set. Usually I'd cut the sauce down with apple/orange juice, coke, beer, whisky,honey and add a few extra spices/rub... but amazingly enough I didn't have a thing in the house (this was a last min decision to do these ribs today...) You'd get a much slicker finish with a cut down sauce too.


Nice smoke ring, I used one chunk of hickory and one of apple wood. Less is more when it comes to wood. I've seen people dump in a whole load of wood, fine when you're working with a meat that can take the heavy smoke (pork shoulder, brisket) but with ribs, chicken less i the way to go (heavily smoked chicken is mank!)


One satisfied stomach!


Hopefully this will give someone an idea as to how to go about getting the best ribs u've ever had.. Same can be done on a kettle BBQ, I've done 2-3 racks on my kettle, used my WSM today just to blow (burn) the cobwebs off it..

dr.fuzzenstein

There are many great things you could do for a BBQ, chicken wings, thighs and use the breast for skewers. Potato salad and a million other things.
One could prepare days ahead to get everything right.
In reality it's "The rain has stopped! Quick, light some coal, throw anything on the barbie and hope it's dry for long enough!"
Usually then the midges arrive.

Cocoon

<Mod note: There's no need to quote a huge post with multiple pictures>


Nice to see somebody else using a WSM, I brought one in from the States many years ago before they were available in Ireland, used to be an active member of the Virtual Weber Bullet. Since I bought a Big Green Egg the WSM has been put to the back of the shed. I must dust it off and do some ribs and maybe a butt, the WSM does the best ribs I've ever tasted. Keep her lit

unklerosco

I've has mine about 6yrs now... Big weber fan, they're gear is built to last.. Mine sit out all year round, decent cover is all they need. Wouldn't minding giving a BGE a go sometime.

Just finished preparing some beef ribs there... Sure what else would I'm be doing at 12.30 on a sat night... BBQ for 12 adults and 8 children tomorrow. Should be a bit of craic....

lordstilton

What have you attached to your bottom vents? is it a fan to get temp up?

Cocoon

lordstilton wrote: »

What have you attached to your bottom vents? is it a fan to get temp up?

I'd say it's a BBQ Guru to control the temp.

unklerosco

lordstilton wrote: »

What have you attached to your bottom vents? is it a fan to get temp up?

BBQ Guru Party Q Uses a temp probe to measure internal temps and then controls the airflow to maintain it. Handy for long cooks, eats batteries for breakfast though, working on modding it to take an ac adapter so I can just plug it in.

Pricer models have loads of featuers, wouldn't mind wifi so I could check temps without having to get off me arse!

lordstilton

thats a great piece of kit..saves getting up every three hours during the night when doing some brisket!!

Shred

Hi all,

I've been BBQing for a number of years now but only recently bought a Weber Master Touch 57cm which promises to take things to a whole different level. I picked up the large Weber Chimney Starter with it and have been using it with great success for lumpwood charcoal, it really is phenomenally easy. However, I've made a couple of attempts at using briquettes (Weber long lasting stuff) and could not get them to light!
I've been using balls of newspaper with the lumpwood and can see plenty of videos of people using the same method with briquettes, but it just won't work for me. I have the chimney about 2/3 full and it initially looks like it's going to take but never does, having left it for 20-25 minutes, not even slightly. I've since picked up some fire lighters and I'm going to try those but any tips would be really appreciated as I'd like to start doing longer cooks and would prefer not to have to keep topping up with lumpwood every so often to maintain temperature.

unklerosco

The weber charcoal briquettes are muck. I've had the same issues as you, impossible to light and they give out sod all heat...

Bnq used to sell charcoal that came in a small glossy bag, can't remember the brand but they gave out savage heat... I tend to just use lumpwood all the time now, better flavour and more heat.. They burn a bit quicker but that just requires a top up every now n then.

Shred

unklerosco wrote: »

The weber charcoal briquettes are muck. I've had the same issues as you, impossible to light and they give out sod all heat...

Bnq used to sell charcoal that came in a small glossy bag, can't remember the brand but they gave out savage heat... I tend to just use lumpwood all the time now, better flavour and more heat.. They burn a bit quicker but that just requires a top up every now n then.

Thanks for the reply, I was attracted to the briquettes potentially requiring less work, but I'll give the lumpwood a whirl instead and try to get the balance right. Your ribs looks amazing btw.

unklerosco

Make sure you just get std lumpwood n not the easy light stuff that's soaked in lighter fluid..

Shred

unklerosco wrote: »

Make sure you just get std lumpwood n not the easy light stuff that's soaked in lighter fluid..

Cheers, any particular brand you'd recommend? What about that polish stuff someone mentions a few posts back?

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Jude13

Charka is great if you're going to use charcoals.

I just found this thread and amazed that I haven't been here before. I love braaing (BBQ) and smoking.

I have two webbers at the moment although its too hot here for them this time of year.

I do our turkeys on the braai each year and go down a treat. One smoked, one un-smoked.

Jude13

I just seen the ribs, they look great. I usually wrap them with a bit of white wine in the wrap for the first hour.

Its rare to have ribs (pork) here though as the price and quality are terrible.

unklerosco

Shred wrote: »

Cheers, any particular brand you'd recommend? What about that polish stuff someone mentions a few posts back?

Aldi had some great charcoal in last year, at least I think thats where I got it.. still have some left, burns very hot n lasts quite long.

Woodies is the only main chain that I've found that sells un-soaked charcoal, it's not bad.. been using it for a few years.

This crowd sell a good range of fuels (and BBQs), plan to stick in an order with them soon.

http://www.aroomoutside.ie/big-k-lumpwood-charcoal-5kg.html

Shred

Jude13 wrote: »

Charka is great if you're going to use charcoals.

Cheers, after a (quick) google search it looks like it mightn't be available here though, did you buy some here previously?