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BBQ. Advice

Captainron said:
You poms play at this sort of thing every couple of years when the weather is nice. Braaivleis is a way of life for us South Africans.
It’s supposed to take 3 hours and you use wood!

Rank amateurs and your gas ! Pffft :D
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Don't you like the taste of butane?

Bloody foreigner

:whistle:
 
Captainron said:
If you have the chance to use hard wood for your coals then do so as it will just taste better.
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Thought you were meant to cook with it, not eat it! :rofl:

Seriously though, we used to go sea fishing every weekend and the braai the catch on return when we lived in PE, and yes, when using hardwood, the cooked food had a better flavour than charcoal.
 
Some advice for putting the grill on.

Buy the best burgers you can afford, basically get steak burgers not the cheap nasty ones.

Chicken thighs and drumsticks cook really well. Get the grill to 200*f cook for 15 mins one side then turn over for 15 mins. When ready to turn over again cover with BBQ sauce, flip them for 10 mins then cover the other side and flip for another 10 mins. Perfect sticky BBQ chicken every time that isn't over cooked and is nice and juicy. Also before cooking use a good dry rub on them.
 
No point in being all macho using charcoal or wood. Get gas and cook to your heart's content. I do pretty much everything on the BBQ all year long
 
If it's gas it's not a BBQ

Don't use instant lighting bags, the fuel it charcoal is soaked in will flavour your meat, get a chimney starter.

Buy a meat thermometer. they can be had very cheap from Amazon.

only have charcoal on one side of the BBQ so you can cook directly and indirectly.

If you want to make something that is relatively simple, but looks and tastes amazing you won't go far wrong with something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evvoeqVyu_4
 
Blakey said:
If it's gas it's not a BBQ
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Rubbish! :p:D


Val said:
No point in being all macho using charcoal or wood. Get gas and cook to your heart's content. I do pretty much everything on the BBQ all year long
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Agreed. I have a theory that less than 5% of people who claim they can tell the difference in taste between meat cooked on charcoal and meat cooked on gas could actually do so successfully in a blind test!

I don't deny that it's pretty cool to light a real BBQ and cook your food on coal. But most of the time it's a pain in the arse!
 
Don Barzini said:
Rubbish! :p:D




Agreed. I have a theory that less than 5% of people who claim they can tell the difference in taste between meat cooked on charcoal and meat cooked on gas could actually do so successfully in a blind test!

I don't deny that it's pretty cool to light a real BBQ and cook your food on coal. But most of the time it's a pain in the arse!
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You need to get over to South Africa or Argentina mate. It’s different gravy to what folk here think a BBQ is. Outdoor cultures though so slightly different.

I will still braai in winter here. Weather isn’t a factor. I even did the Christmas beef joint on the braai
 
Unbelievable Jeff!!

29 posts and not a single mention for corn on the cob!
Stick it on, turn regularly then smear on butter and cover with black pepper.
 
Captainron said:
You need to get over to South Africa or Argentina mate. It’s different gravy to what folk here think a BBQ is. Outdoor cultures though so slightly different.

I will still braai in winter here. Weather isn’t a factor. I even did the Christmas beef joint on the braai
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No doubting that many South Africans don't use gas but I've been to enough braai's in the last few years hosted by South Africans to know there's plenty who love their gas webers too
Either way you guys know how to cook a fillet (and how to open a capped beer bottle with a disposable lighter, spoon, belt buckle, 2nd bottle, power of your mined etc pretty much anything really!)
 
Bought myself a wedding present the other week - a Weber Genesis II gas bbq and I bloody love it. I cook a mean steak in a pan but nothing compares to the steaks I've cooked on my grill the last 10 days. Completely different flavour, unbelievably tender, I didn't think steak could get any better, I was wrong.

Also - if you're not making your own burgers you're doing it wrong. Pre-bought burgers are just not the same, you can't beat a good homemade, well seasoned grilled burger. You don't even need to put much into them either - good quality mince, season well, press in a burger press and whack on the grill. Dead easy, absolutely delicious - no additives, no preservatives, no sugar, just good quality minced beef and some seasoning.
 
If it is gas it is NOT a BBQ it is a GRILL, two different things entirely.

If you are using charcoal, then it's a BBQ.

With a BBQ you can grill, Smoke or slow cook, depending on what you intending.

Grilling, use a fire starter and I don't mean fire lighters or liquid Firestarter. The little bricks are okay but can still taint the taste of food if you do not let them burn out completely. The liquid BBQ starter, not for me, you can taste in your food. A Weber Firestarter like this

WeberFS.jpg

Gets the coals glowing, place them onto unlit coals in your BBQ, close the lid, open the vents for a short while and that will really crank up the heat. likely to 350- 450

For Smoking you need a heat around 175 to 250, that will cook the meat and give you a good bark. Well you'll get a good bark depending on your dry rub and if you wet rub through cooking.

For real slow cooking over a long period 150 - 175 for that melt in the mouth brisket or pulled pork.
 
I wouldn’t go near one without a BBQ cookbook.

Quick search pops up this

Fire Food: The Ultimate BBQ Cookbook https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1787131548/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_B-BpBb7YBNN3B

I’m looking at doing the garden and getting a bbq next year so going to read up to ensure I get what I want.

I don’t think I just want an outside gas grill. My dad used to have a load of hickory chips to throw on our proper bbq... taste of childhood right there!
 
Can anyone recommend a decent bbq recipe book, preferably one which doesn’t say “marinate for 11 years then slow cook for 3 days”.
A book for a basic little bbq setup, burgers, steaks etc.
 
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