Anyone seriously into barbecue?
 

I don't mean burning a few sausages and burgers over an open grill ;)

Anyone into spit roasting, water smoking, flavoured woods and home made sauces? Now that we're enjoying a reasonably warm and sunny afternoon I've declared that it's time for the first bbq of the season, so this evening Mrs C and I will be enjoying a whole hickory smoked chicken with our own recipe tomato & vinegar based bbq sauce :)

Has anyone managed to find a charcoal fired grill with both lid and spit? The only ones I can find are gas fired, which although it doesn't spoil the taste, does spoil the fun.

At the moment I'm using a cheap open grill to which I've attached an electric spit, and some tinfoil serves as a hood to keep the smoke in. I also use a water smoker - a bit like an oil drum with a lid, where the fire burns in a bowl at the bottom, a bowl of water halfway up boils continually, and the food sits on a grill at the top. The food is cooked slowly by indirect heat from the fire, and the lid keeps the steam and smoke in to retain moisture and flavour. It's ideal for use when it's a bit windy (like this afternoon) - the fire is completely protected from the wind, with just a few ventilation holes top and bottom to stop it from suffocating.

Anyone care to share techniques and recipies?

Calling Steve Periam!!!

I'm no cook, but I am into my bbqs (ok usually it is burnt sausages and 4 gallons of beer) but have you considered getting a Webber BBQ? Its a kettle bbq which means you can do joins of meat and its absolutely lush!

Basically, you get these wire dividers which split the charcoal so it is either side of the meat and not directly under so it won't burn. You put a tray of water beneath the joint which will help steam the meat whilst catching the fat, put the lid on, adjust the vents and leave the heat to circulate inside. The result is absolutely lovely, moist and flavoursome! :D

Oh, and to answer your question you can get a spit attachment too!

http://www.grillstuff.com/webketrot.html

im into a good old spit roasting,dont know about the rest tho:D

what size spit roast are you after? one that will fit a full pig?

My brother BBQ'd his turkey on Christmas Day last year! Perhaps at this point I should add he lives in Dubai!

He used a kettle BBQ, and he follwed the instructions thinking this doesn;t look like enough charcoal. Sure enough it wasn't so when the potatoes etc were ready the Turkey wasn't! Result was they ate the veg, put lots of charcoal in the BBQ and went to the beach! Came back and turkey slightly singed but edible and very tasty apparently!

A full pig? Not really, Mrs C and I aren't that greedy! Something that will hold a chicken would be plenty big enough.

Actually I'm having a bad afternoon. The smoker's been burning away for hours and yet the air inside just isn't getting warm :( I'm just letting the chicken smoke for a while and then it's going in the oven instead. I guess it's just too cold and windy today. I think I need a model that offers a bit more control over ventilation.

:confused:

When my girlfriend and I bought our house this time last year I said that I was going to build a BBQ. Its still has not happened :rolleyes: :)

Darren

Maybe you needed more charcoal?

AndyC. You look a bit flummoxed mate? You know SPIT ROASTING!!!!! nudge, nudge. Think about it????
dave

I've been using 'heat beads', which are like charcoal briquettes but denser, so they burn hotter and longer than regular charcoal. On an open grill they're great - just a single layer will do for sausages and burgers, and a double layer will spit roast a chicken and still be good for another hour or so.

I had a whole bag of the damn things in the smoker, though, and still the chicken came out barely warm. I think the problem is the design of my smoker - it's got quite wide ventilation gaps top and bottom and today it's windy. All the heat was just getting sucked out by the wind. The same amount of fuel normally does a pretty good job.

I did remember (too late) that I normally build up the fire on top of a grating that just keeps the coals off the base of the fire pan; this allows some air to circulate below the coals and lets the ash drop through so the fire doesn't suffocate itself. So, at least I have something to try next weekend, but failing that it's off to a DIY store for a new smoker that's air tight with vents that I can control.

I'm sure cavemen didn't have this trouble ;)

I remember this thread topic from last year.

It made me hungry......I went out and bought a BBQ cheapish £60 effort, the outcome was not what I had imagined.
I am just too impatient, things werent cooked through, then some things were cooked too much, and nothing was ready at the right time.
She did the chips in the house and they were ready before I had managed to light the barsteward.

Can we have more food talk and less equipment talk please.:)

And maybe some pictures.:D

We did a whole 60lb seeker deer over a pit last year at a mates place in the Borders - took 8 hours - shoved a scaffold pole in one end and out the other :D It was basted with about a gallon of stuff comprising about 4 bottles of wine, 20 heads of garlic, olive oil, onion, seasoning, thyme etc. and stuffed with rice. Superb!

One last years bbq thread someone recommended duck try it its lush

If your really into BBQ's then this is the place for all my grilling buddies

http://www.caribbeancookers.com

The DADDY of BBQ's.

lol ello james :D :D

been away from pc for couple days, almost missed such a worthwhile thread ;) :p

yep have bbq'ed whole chickens.

lol, we did a bbq xas day last yr........unfortunately we dont live in dubai but on dartmoor :o still it did not rain, was just above 0 degrees centigrade and was a gr8 way to spend xmas.

posted few piccies on here iirc.

just bout to move in with my fiancee and gotta get a proper mega bbq organised cos i'm used to bbqing all year and usually 4/5 times a week :D

try some different stuff to........we do

duck
crocodile
kangaroo
ostrich

etc etc

wotever u can find near u in a specialist butcher :D :D

oh and dont get me started on 'gas' bbq's :o :o

oh and check out these sites....

http://www.recipesource.com/main-dis.../indexall.html


http://www.national-bbq-week.co.uk/index.shtml

i bought a weber kettle couple of years ago - at fist i was using it like a conventional open bbq as i thought the idea of putting a lid on was silly :rolleyes:, eventually i thought i might as well try it with the lid on and was amazed - things like chicken portions that tend to burn on an open grill turned out brilliant; very well flavoured and moist.

i like the idea of smoking stuff, but i've never done it. hot smoked fish is awesome. what sort of device do you need to do this properly?

Help please! novice at bbq's-whats the best type/make/model to cater for 5 on a regular basis & up to 14 at most?
Thanks.......ali

....forgot to put - want to be experiment not just for burgers etc.....thanks

14? Try digging a pit in the ground and stick a wrought iron gate over it!

I'm sure someone will have a more helpful suggestion - most of the big ones I've seen are gas fired and expensive.

Has anyone tried using online meat suppliers like http://www.barrowboar.com and http://www.alternativemeats.co.uk ?

Quite fancy getting in some exotic meat for the barbie, but don't know anywhere round here that I can get it from.

LOL not a bad idea!