[Closed] BBQs: Why?!

I'm saluting the Stars and Stripes while singing the Star Spangled Banner right now, got a problem with that?

If you're an American, no. 🙂
I suppose it's a slightly more specific term than grilling but in general, I can't see the point.

Always thought broil/broiler/broiling sounded like such an ugly made up term. Never understood why the yanks use it when better alternatives already existed.

I've never understood why Brits insist on using Americanisms where perfectly good alternatives exist 😀

Apparently broiling technically means heat applied from above, so my use of it was incorrect - my humblest apologies. I think it was a subconscious attempt to make gas grills sound a bit more shit. 🙂

😀

I'm just jealous, tbh.
Son in Law promised us his old gas barbecue but forgot and gave it to someone else. 😐
Not impressed.

Nevermind, good excuse to buy a new 'proper' barbecue.

Will probably leave it till autumn (that's 'fall' for you) when the prices drop a bit.

a wood fire, usually charcoal fueled

That's contradictory. Charcoal is not wood.

Grum are you coming to our 4th of July grill-out?

Anyone else getting annoyed at the difficulty in finding charcal, rather than shitty briquette things? No beating proper charcoal IMO...

Charcoal is not wood

Isn't it? What's it made out of now; badgers?

Anyone else getting annoyed at the difficulty in finding charcal, rather than shitty briquette things? No beating proper charcoal IMO...

I thought the same till I read a few guides by people who take it way too serious, they tend to use brickets as the are hotter, last longer and more uniform. If I was grilling direct style I would rather use lumpwood charcoal and it is quicker to light. If you can get some localy made stuff it is much easier to light ( well the bag I got from Chew Valley Charcoal was) also if you can get restaurant charcoal the lumps are bigger and are of a more uniform size apparentely (macro sell it).

Isn't it? What's it made out of now; badgers?

Nope, polyaromatic interlinked benzene rings, mostly, dependent upon the pyrolysis temperature at which it was formed.

It's certainly not wood, which is mostly cellulose type stuff.

I think it was a subconscious attempt to make gas grills sound a bit more shit.

You failed 😀

BBQs: What is the effing point?

[s]Fun, something the OP is evidently a stranger to.[/s]

edit: argh, nearly got sucked in.

edit: spent all weekend eating campfire food, living in the outdoors, and generally feeling good about life. Now I'm back indoors (feeling sensible[s], like the sensible OP[/s]).

Whats beer can chicken? I think I can imagine what it is, but heard of it before.

i'm always on the lookout for new barbe recipes...Ive been cooking on a kettle barbe now since 1999 and found what a revelation they are compare with the old cheap open ones. Maintaining a good cooking temperature with the vented lid on, makes the charcoal last for hours, the food cook slowly whilst also being smoked...a perfect combination and is quite easy once you get the hang of it.

Charcoal is not wood
Isn't it? What's it made out of now; badgers?

It's made out of wood, but it's not wood.

In the same way that bread is not flour, or an Intel i7 is not a large crystal of pure silicon.

this is a troll post relating to the Turkey uprising and lack of media coverage isn't it?

and BBQ's are for fags, real men smoke!

Also GT85 makes an excellent substitute for lighter fluid

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ONLY way to light a barbecue is naturally. If you have to resort to any lighting bricks or fluids you've failed.

Wikipedia disagrees:

Quoting Wikipedia is akin to saying "My mate Dave says...". It's a US centric site (and as we all hopefully know they have both their own language and there own measurement system far removed from those used worldwide), they can't even spell 'paedia' correctly!

For lighting you need this:

[img] [/img]

Quicker, easier and cheaper than fluid or firelighters.

Also GT85 makes an excellent substitute for lighter fluid

This is interesting.

I stared at my can for a while on the weekend, wondering about its use in this application. Decided against in the end.

An engineer at work came in with his arm all bandaged up and his skin falling off about this time last year after experimenting with a clever way of getting petrol onto his bonfire; it's made me very cautious.

molgrips, do you need a weber barby for them, or can you use them on any old contraption?

For lighting you need this:

Quicker, easier and cheaper than fluid or firelighters.

Just ordered one today. I assumed you put firelighters in the bottom???

molgrips, do you need a weber barby for them, or can you use them on any old contraption?

It's just for starting the charcoal off so no need for a weber.

I have a picture in my mind of the OP sat in front of his computer muttering under his breath and tapping on his keyboard listening to the voices of people having a nice time through the open window.

Can use on any charcoal/brick BBQ.

Turn it upside down, put 3 sheets of loosely scrumpled newspaper in teh bottom.
Turn over, fill with coals.
Stand in the BBQ (Cooking grate removed).
Light.
Come back when flames have stopped...

Like coffee, you can get 'really into' BBQs! There's a school of thought that says using lighter fluids/blocks taints the charcoal, making food taste off.
There's also a school that says if you are going to 'top up' to coals during cooking, they should be lit first, to burn off surface ash...

DrP

EDIT - obviously, you stand the chimney in the BBQ. You stay well out of the cooking area....

i love Barbecues and i'm a Hypocritical (fish eating) vegetarian.

I do dislike social barbecues where some sod turns up with frozen cheapo burgers but eats all the veggie skewers that i made fresh then burps appologises and suggests i eat the stuff he brought whilst saying mine made a tasty change to the stuff you usually get at these do's.

I want one of those but can never find them as I don't know what its called...

molgrips you are 100% correct.

Those chimney lighter things are brilliant. As you say, no chemicals and even better is that you can just light it and leave it. 20 mins later you're ready to go - no faffing or fanning or constantly rearranging a pyramid of crumbling charcoal. Makes it as simple as a gas BBQ with the advantages of a charcoal one.

As to the OP.... Ok, I'll bite.

I guess it depends how you view food and cooking.

On the cooking side. I see it as a social activity to be shared with friends, have people involved, bring their own food, chopping salad, getting on the grill themselves. Actually having people engage with the cooking of food and see that as part of the joy of it all, rather than seeing it as a chore and hidden away. In the summer it's warm outside, that's where the people are going to be, and so that's where the cooking happens.

On the food side. A steak tastes better done on a charcoal grill than the one on a cooker. That's it.

[img] [/img]

[b]THAT'S WHY[/b]

I want one of those but can never find them as I don't know what its called...

[url= http://www.google.co.uk/#safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=barbecue+chimney+starter&oq=barbecue+chim&gs_l=hp.1.1.0l4.82596.90040.0.92129.15.12.1.2.2.0.203.1087.10j1j1.12.0...0.0...1c.1.15.psy-ab.dyODud812N0&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.d2k&fp=4981d2aea118e936&biw=1440&bih=838 ]Barbecue Starter Chimney[/url]

As above - the chimnies are generic.

Go spend some time in a sunny country. South Africa, Australia, Argentine, etc. Then you'll get it.

I feel pity for the OP, he clearly needs A) some good mates to cook with B) to eat well cooked food having been cooked either direct or indirect by someone with an ounce of ability.

BBQing is something I love and the food it creates is lovely too, seems a shame to hate something that is fun and creates tasty food.

That chimney thing looks good, but I've realised it would take away a big part of the fun of a barbecue for me: carefully stacking all the briquettes up into a tower for lighting, before spreading out for cooking at the right time.

We bbq'd rainbow trout yesterday evening.

Might do venison burgers tonight.

BBQs = a simple celebration of summer, and life in general. I feel a bit sorry for the OP. 🙁