BBQs

[PoisonDwarf]

What-ho!

The prospects of a combination of gas and tufa bricquettes generating the same results as burning proper charcoal must surely be virtually nil.

And how often does the big expensive gas jobby in the garden actually get used? UK weather is a downer for a start!
Then the incoveneience of dragging stuff into the garden to cook. My Weber and my Smoker both sit just outside the kitchen door - then I can serve inside or on the terrace.

Speaking from the wallet perspective then, surely charcoal ones must be cheaper as well then? So what are the absolutely vital components of a decent charcoal BBQ? I've seen flat-topped ones, those little split drum things, the round ones with chimbleys on top, then the ones that look the same as the gas things. I reckon - it needs a closing lid with space to cook stuff like chicken properly (I don't mind food poisoning but the kids aren't fans), it needs a decent size grill obviously - but that's probably about it surely?

Are there any particular design traits to be avoided?

p.s. Cougar - touche...you got me!

 

[Cuddles]

It is an ungentlemanly act, of the first water, to attend a man's BBQ and infiltrate yourself into the cooking role, unless he personally invites you to do so (like that's going to happen). It is also poor form to do a Harry Enfield-esque "you don't want to do it like that" routine while the poor sod is in mid-marinade/carbonnade! Advice should be minimised, recipe and serving suggestions can be seen as legitimate conversational topics.

If his wife asks you, tell her to ask him...

If the starving assembled masses beg you to, well that's a judgement call!

 

[PoisonDwarf]

It is an ungentlemanly act, of the first water, to attend a man's BBQ and infiltrate yourself into the cooking role, unless he personally invites you to do so (like that's going to happen). It is also poor form to do a Harry Enfield-esque "you don't want to do it like that" routine while the poor sod is in mid-marinade/carbonnade! Advice should be minimised, recipe and serving suggestions can be seen as legitimate conversational topics.

If his wife asks you, tell her to ask him...

If the starving assembled masses beg you to, well that's a judgement call!

Nah - that's still a symbolic castration, like submitting to one's wife's will and asking for directions from an old lady at the side of the road. Possibly worth a psychology MSc dissertation.

 

[Stonker]

Just paid a lunchtime trip to Lidl, worcester for some cheapo office stationery - stainless steel trolley BBQ on sale there, £60.00, reduced from £100.

Looked quite decent.

 

[blue-sophist]

Weber, Weber or Weber.

Get the big one - 57cm Weber Kettle, £89.98 at B&Q.
Big enough to cook the Christmas Turkey, and loads of typical BBQ stuff using hot and cool zones.
Last for [almost] ever
Loads of spares and accessories available.

Other brands may not have the build quality of a Weber.

I thnow the long things like a 40 gal oil drum look cooler, but there's nowt better than a Weber kettle. My BIL has 3 of them - and the oldest is over 20 years old.

 

[Stonker]

Weber, Weber or Weber.

Get the big one - 57cm Weber Kettle, £89.98 at B&Q.
Big enough to cook the Christmas Turkey, and loads of typical BBQ stuff using hot and cool zones.
Last for [almost] ever
Loads of spares and accessories available.

Other brands may not have the build quality of a Weber.

I thnow the long things like a 40 gal oil drum look cooler, but there's nowt better than a Weber kettle. My BIL has 3 of them - and the oldest is over 20 years old.

Agreed - but I got a new one for £50.00 a year or 2 back - when Wyevale were trying to clear the decks in the middle of July. You can get a good BBQ for full price at any time of the year - in the next few weeks you'll be be able to pick up a real steal if you can be bothered to put yourself about.

 

[blue-sophist]

Indeed, Stonker - I merely quoted the current B&Q price for reference.
Better offers undoubtedly exist, even at this last-minute.bbq moment.
Having won mine in a Raffle, mine was exceptionally good value

... Smokers are cool too!

They were selling ones like this at COSTCO a few years ago Clicky and I have always regretted not getting one at the time. A month later they were all gone, and never came back
That plus the Weber would have been cook-out heaven!

 

[Stonker]

Indeed, Stonker - I merely quoted the current B&Q price for reference.
Better offers undoubtedly exist, even at this last-minute.bbq moment.
Having won mine in a Raffle, mine was exceptionally good value

... Smokers are cool too!!

No No No No - itis not 'even at this last-minute' - it is 'especially at this last etc'

Anyway, I saw this in France last year - and I've been wanting one ever since (the night before this piccie was tooken, it was roasting a suckling pig, for a seriously big family gathering in the garden next to ali'l ol' logis named Le Pan De Bois

You've got a pair of Acrow jacks to hold a spit, a lead-acid battery pack powering a motor with a bike-chain/gears (little gear on the motor, big gear on the spit) to rotate the piggy, and a sawed-off gas canister for the firebed.

Saw a lot of these things around the place - well impressed.

Need a tame ex-REME type to make one up for me . . . . any offers ?

 

[pommydigger]

Go the Weber- you just whack the stuff in and forget about it for a couple of hours and drink beers, I have a gas conversion for mine as there were a few "incidents" with half the briquettes going out mid party. I still smoke things on it, you just need to wrap the wood chips in some tin foil, prick a few holes in it and put it on the burner.

 

[3stripedwoodentop]

aussie bbq`s are the best!