Tag: bbq
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
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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 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.
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.
I guess this means it is going to rain tomorrow.
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!