I think a lot of people over estimate how much charcoal is needed so light a bonfire full and then cremate everything in sight. Less is better to star t with and if the food isn't cooking at roughly the same pace as in a norma l kitchen then pile the charcoal you have closer together to get more conce ntrated heat. If you need more charcoal put some in the chimney starter and get some more ready.
I used a meat thermometer to check the food is cooked.
Picked up 3 of the chimneys starters in Aldi. They look great. Good size - bigger than the previous ones I have
Thanks again for the tip.
I precook things in the oven then give then a searing on a small charcoal grill.
All the fun of the BBQ, no food pointing, no charcoaled food (due to worries about the former), fast turnaround, all the fun and benefits with none of the downsides :)
I can do a good "fake Nandos" using their actual marinade, steam cook the chicken first, then sear off on the BBQ. Home made burgers actually seem better if pre cooked in the oven and seared off in a griddle pan or BBQ too.
So that's two lots of equipment and cleanup then?
See above (especially the cleanup).
Like you get in the kitchen you mean? ;-)
Is that 'fun' like lighting a bonfire to burn rubbish you could equally have reprocessed via the local refuse collection centre (more environmentally in most cases) or eating food you could cook easier in the often expensive and well-equipped kitchen you already have?
I've not spotted a benefit yet! ;-(
There is a place I've only ever been to twice in my life (I went the second time to make sure I hadn't missed something the first. I hadn't).
Ok, that's interesting ... not that we typically eat burgers when not 'on the move'.
20 minutes to get out and fire up the BBQ to sear a burger for 30 seconds? ;-)So, I wonder what proportion of women instigate the whole BBQ thing (as in get the kit, stock, fire it up, cool, clean and put it away themselves), rather than just get 'the man' to do it as 1) His tribal instincts make him like it, 2) It ensures he will actually be / go there and 3) means he has to also clear up the mess as it's 'his' gear?
The last BBQ I went to was because I was asked if I'd do the cooking. It was probably a ruse as they guessed I probably wouldn't go if I wasn't 'doing something'. Even though I did stuff the way individuals liked it [1], I had little of it myself as it's not my favourite food option / cooking process.
Cheers, T i m
[1] Or more accurately they took it when it was cooked to their liking.p.s. I wonder how many BBQ's planned for today have been 'rained off'?
Whilst I do speak and understand some spoken Dutch, I couldn't figure out how this works.
Lighting it isn't the problem, though. It's waiting until the whole bed gets up to temperature, especially if you don't fiddle with it every two minutes.
Ah now that is helpful. I'm still a bit bothered that over-use of firelighters leaves a bit of a "taint". In the past I have used gas torches, hot air blowers, and vacuum cleaners in blow mode to help get things going.
That's fine if you are actually in control of the menu. Different if you are just presented with a pile of what supermarkets laughingly call barbecue food.
Quite tempted to get a starter and smoker for home use though.
Very true!
I'm too old to need to worry about that now. (Actually, having had the "Anti-smoking" lecture at school in the 1960's I have always been a bit careful about this).
No LOx ?
Absolutely. I never normally cook chicken from scratch on a barbecue.
Home made burgers are saved for my family!
If you are worried about tainting the food with fire lighters (I have never had an issue) you can always just put a few lit coals on the bottom of the starter and then fill with new coals. It will work but lighting the coals will take a bit longer.
Tried the Aldi starter chimneys tonight. You have to be careful as the handle melts if too near the coals. Other than that the coals lit more quickly than my previous one
ROFL. Never had easy access to that, but I still well remember the evening demo that we had in 6th form science club in the 1960's. Probably someone from Distillers, since they had a site fairly nearby.
I have used LN smuggled home in a briefcase to freeze a rising main to allow replacement of stop tap. That was before I knew about stop taps in the street, and had my own long tap handle.
Agreed, I would *never* buy one without a proper cover. Still possible to burn with them though! Have mainly used "kettles" at home, but now thinking about a rectangular one. I see that the better stuff has double skinned covers with insulation, which seems eminently sensible to me.
The pushing action is usually to overcome any flame failure device. I've not seen one with a roaring flame. As you've heard, the burners are, more or less, silent.
The other thing is, chances are it either sits outside most of the year or in a shed/garage at best in the winter. A couple of years and, chances are, it will need replacing- even if the stainless bits haven't rusted, the rest will have or will look tatty.
I think some of the cast metal ones may last longer- the small portable ones.
We bought an Aldi one last year, it seems to have survived the winter. At, about, £80, if it does this summer, I'll be happy, a third and I'll be delighted.
I saw mine when I joined BT. ;-)
That's good, not everyone may know and why I mentioned it.
Good luck anyway!
Cheers, T i m
p.s. It's amazing how quickly things can go bad (and official, these days).
Daughter and b/f drove quite a way to a friends wedding and during the meal she carefully checked the menu to make sure nothing had peanuts in it as that's about all she allergic to.
She felt something was wrong a few seconds after eating some of the sauce (that it turned out) contained peanuts and she spent most of the rest of the evening in A&E (mainly as a precaution as she had already been sick, had some antihistamines and had her EpiPen at the ready).
Cheers, T i m
My 3 years in Africa taught me to never pre cook anything. Just learn how to use a barbecue.
IME almost no one in this country has.
Chicken takes at least 20 minutes on a very low heat - embers..
As do lamb chops and spare ribs
Only burgers sausages and steaks cook quickly. Kebabs are medium
If they are daft enough people can burn anything, including the Weber gadget for lighting the charcoal.
It's f*u*n :)
If you don;t like that, fine - I do, occasionally, and it's more fun when I can spend more time searing, drinking and eating and less worrying about food poisoning and carbonification :) :)
I love it - out of all the chains, it's the one where I truly enjoy eating.
Yes. Where's your party spirit man?
With my method, the kit is an el cheapo Landmann type thing, bag of charcoal and some lighter fluid - as the turnaround time is quick with precooking, a small cheap unit works well enough as you don't need much grill space nor much fine control over the heat.
Wish I'd come up with the precook idea before!
Last time, I just grabbed an instant BBQ on the supermarket order (a £3 bit of ali foil with a bag of charcoal - sort of thing you'd use on a beach.
Popped it on the front lawn, did my Nandos thing, and we just had an impromptu family picnic :) Most enjoyable. Except our part time pet cat (that's the cat that lives over the road but semi lives in our house for some reason) was eyeing up the chicken.
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