Outdoor cooking - Barbecues, Barbecue, BBQs, BBQ, Smokers, Grills. And Ribs.

The radiant heat in the bbq is ridiculous. Despite the temp at the grill where the meat being only 90c it has only taken about 20 minutes to raise the core temp of the steaks from 0 to 20 C

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When they get to desired core temp they will be removed and left to stand for ten minutes

Vents will be opened to get the coals firing at full tilt

Asparagus will then be seared before the steaks get seared over the coals.

Steaks and spuds

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How long did you cook the steaks and at what temp?

Temp was approx 105 but the radiant heat from the bbq is amazing. I’d usually expect a steak to take 45 mins or so to get up to core temp of 42c. This was much much faster. The steaks were warmed by indirect cooking but the spuds were over the coals and getting a lot more heat.

Then the steaks were taken off to stand, vents opened up and the temperature on the grill rack was in excess of 350C

So steaks got about 30 seconds and flip, then flip again at right angles to get the cross hatching. So the grill lines took 2 mins if that.

I now have spring onions, courgettes, peppers and beetroot on. The softer veg are being char grilled. The beetroot were dropped into the coals for 20 minutes and are now out of the coals but still cooking. I’ll leave the beetroot on for a while to cook through. These will be veg for meals during the week.

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Thanks, sounds amazing!!

Yum, proper life time of experimenting with that thing.

I’ve got my first pulled pork in the Aldi egg, charcoal is a bit old and was tough to light but we seem to be at temp. See you guys in the morning.

Ps. That’s the wood chips that are flaming, don’t panic.

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I clearly angered the BBQ gods by trying to use last years (bloody expensive!) charcoal… turns on oven

Can you microwave some of the charcoal to dry it out? Could this then be got burning and get the rest of the damp stuff going?

Bummer. Just keep telling yourself that past 160/170f internal it’s all just heat anyway don’t worry.

What kind of monster are you using Fahrenheit?

I think I’m fighting a losing battle, I thought about drying some out in the oven but TBH if fails again I’ll be double angry for not just buying fresh.
The gods may also be punishing me for buying a second gas bottle for the grill too. I was tired of returning what I suspected were half full bottles for fear of running out mid-cook when guests were over.
Good job I kept my gob shut and didn’t invite anyone round for today!

Love this, am planning to get one for the deck we're about to build. Probably not this version tho'. 🤑

That Komodo is a beautiful thing.

The 32” is the sweet spot size where you can get a suckling pig on. Also the smaller ones don’t really achieve proper two zone cooking where you can do low and slow but also cook directly over the coals at the same time.

I was a little anxious I might be hit by buyers remorse but the first two cooks have been utterly impressive in terms of its ability and the flavour of the end product.

I did get all the attachments - spit, rotisserie cradle, the basket splitter for the rotisserie, baking stone and smoker attachment. The smoker is amazing because it produces cool smoke with none of the acrid bitumen/creosote flavour that can be a problem with poorly managed over smoking.

The cradle I hope to use for a suckling pig porchetta one day.

Right, had my coffee and regrouped. I’ve baked the charcoal in the oven for an hour and relit to run a few experiments.
Once it’s at temperature, how open do you keep the upper chimney vent?

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I'd say it depends how open the bottom is - once you're low & slow, not loads, but open more while you're getting it going

Bottom has billows fitted although not perfectly sealed as I need to fettle the adapter plate.
I wondered if I had it too closed last night and suffocated it, whereas today the temperature is climbing to 150°c despite no fan.
I’ve burped it to see if that resets the temp.

mine on a pork shoulder cook is usually done with the leaf shaped holes closed up and the entire top disc hinged slightly to about 1-2cm max in a very thin crescent shape hole. it needs to be nicely settled after lighting before you close it right up like that though. but the billows does the temp stabilisation not the top vent.

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I don't usually do fish on the BBQ but had visitors who are pescatarian so decided to give it a go.

Bought half a dozen sea bream and watched a few YouTube vids.

I ended up with the (Weber) grill too hot and the fish stuck so aesthetics were a bit challenging but flavour was great.

The prep was:
Score each fish from head to tail in a diagonal line down to bone
Season with salt, pepper and a little oil
Place on grill over direct heat, cook for 5 mins with lid on, turn and cook for another 5 mins.

I tried to season the grill a little but the heat and slightly rusty grill made this fairly ineffective.

I think it would have been fine if the heat had been a bit lower. Overall it was still a success and the flavour was top notch.

Will be doing fish BBQ again.

Once up to temp clean the grill with a metal brush. Then oil and let it burn on to form a carbon non stick layer.

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It sounds a bit weird but when doing fish I find coating them in mayonnaise helps. It doesn't flavour the fish at all but acts like an oil to stop sticking.

I did the wire brush thing.

How do you apply the oil to the grill? I was pouring some oil onto an old tea towel and then rubbing the grill with that - mainly the tea towel caught fire...

Ah yeah I've heard of that - will give it a go!

By no means up to the standard of (frankly anyone else in) this thread but I got this little bbq for £3 in a sale.
I’ve had three little bbqs in the last week and a half (cooking for 2-4people) and I am loving the simplicity of having less space than I’m used to.
Yesterday was
Cumberland sausage
Korean style gochujang chicken
Sweet peppers
Bulgar wheat
Basic salad with nice tomatoes and a mint and coriander dressing

Just wanted to add something at the more basic end of the spectrum for balance and to say that even on a little bbq with no lid(!), I’m having a lovely little time

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