This got linked to in the BBQ forum I read, and I loved it!
Tag: bbq
I’ve decided to go ahead and buy the pellet grill I was talking about last week. It is a little over the top for my needs, but I think it will be good fun. All being well, I should have the grill by the end of September.
One of the things that isn’t immediately obvious is that this larger grill is actually more practical than my kettle charcoal grill for just cooking for myself. With my kettle, even if I just want to do a couple of hamburgers for myself, there is a minumum amount of charcoal that is practical to use, which is actually more than is needed for a couple of hamburgers. After cooking, there is the same amount of cleanup, whether I have cooked for one, or a dozen, and I have to let it cool before picking out the unburned charcoal, to use again
Something that I have seen every day for a while now, has only just sunk in, to my great amusement.
My Firefox bookmarks have grown over the past few years, and the way they are arranged in folders is more a product of time than organisation.
I’ve wittered about this to two people on the phone today, and sent one of them a long email because the poor soul sounded vaguely interested in my demented enthusiasm. So I thought I might as well post about it.
As some of you have gathered, I have been having fun with BBQ. In fact, I have been grilling regularly for about 2 years now, but have only recently tried to do some proper advanced BBQ, like smoking and slow-cooked joints of meat, which I have covered here.
Read about this on one of the BBQ forums I am reading and had to share.
Make a hamburger, and top with cheddar cheese. Wrap with bacon. Then cut some frankfurters (or similar) in half, shape as appropriate, and insert into bacon wrapped burger to form head, tail and legs. Then cook.
No, I haven’t been cooking again, am going to a BBQ on Sunday, and that will be plenty enough for me this weekend.
But I did pop in to my local butcher’s today, which is run by the local pork farm, and asked about the specific cut of meat that the pulled pork recipe I have asks for. In the States, it seems to be called a “Boston Butt”, but I described it to my butcher as a “bone-in blade shoulder of pork, 4-5lb approx.”
Following on my last BBQ experiment, I did a google on how feasible it is to retro fit my Weber Kettle with a grill thermometer. Note that I already have a meat thermometer, but the idea of the grill meter is to measure the actual temperature of the grill when using it with the lid on.
The current version of my grill comes with this fitted, and it seems there are lot of people who are drilling the lid of their old models and fitting a part obtained from Weber’s spares dept, or similar. However this means drilling through steel coated on both sides with porcelain enamel. As a result many people choose not to drill, but merely place the thermometer loosely clipped in the top vent hole. As the top vent is usually used only to put out the grill (temperature is controlled by opening and closing the bottom vent), this isn’t too bad a compromise.
I have just had my first attempt at pulled pork today, on the BBQ. It wasn’t completely authentic to the recipe I was using – instead of a “Boston Butt”, I used a small piece of pork shoulder that had been boned and tied (I removed the string before it went on the BBQ). I rubbed it with a dry mix I made up of sweet smoked paprika, brown sugar, sea salt, black peppercorns and cumin, then – after I cooked myself a couple of venison burgers for lunch – I put it into my kettle on a low indirect heat, with some soaked hickory chips.
I had completely forgotten to get ingredients for a mopping sauce (to baste the meat), so I improvised with a base of vinegar, with a chopped onion in it and some lea and perrins for flavour. I then left the shoulder to smoke, basting it every 45 minutes.
Further to my comments in the previous post, I felt I just had to post some BBQ porn – this is a picture of the Weber Ranch Kettle that I mentioned.
While the kitchen is being worked on, I have been making more use of my Weber BBQ Kettle. Last night I cooked a couple of burgers for my tea, but not wanting to waste a kettle full of charcoal, when I was finished, I moved the coals to the side, and put in a whole chicken on this contraption.
The idea is this – you open a small can of beer, and pour off half of it (hopefully into a glass). You then place the half-full can in the centre of the roaster. You sit the chicken on top, so that the can goes into the chicken cavity. This means that the bird is upright, with the legs hanging away from the body, so everything cooks well, while the beer (or, in my case, cider) inside heats up and helps keep the bird moist from the inside.
Just gave the BBQ a thorough clean and degrease in preparation for the new season.
I guess this means it is going to rain tomorrow.
Eating Well – A Diet Blog:
August 14, 2008 6:05 P.M. Weight: 345.0 lbs.
August 14, 2008 6:05 P.M. Weight: 345.0 lbs.
Probably not the best move, when you are on a diet, but I have just bought myself a barbecue.
When I moved into this house, a few years ago, it had an old brick barbecue. For some time I have been planning to get the parts – tray, grill etc – to get it working again. However, it is in a bit on an inconvenient place, down the bottom of my garden.
So instead, the brick barbecue has been transformed into a potting table, and I have just bought a Weber charcoal kettle. I’ve been reading up on it, and shopping around for a month or so, and it did seem to do everything I wanted – easy to use, easy to clean, and big enough to handle things like beef joints, whole chickens, and even pizza stones. Although it’s a big barbecue, it’s easy enough to create a small cooking area for just just one or two people.
I have some friends coming over in a few weeks time, who I’ve promised barbecue. So I am about to go out there and do some experimentation.
Wish me luck!