Great Grills of Fire!
The temperatures are starting to heat up and the thoughts of entertaining outside over the summer is coming to mind.
Coolings Lifestyle’s Manager, Matt Muskett has a few tips and recipes to help you enjoy the most from your BBQ over the coming months.
Lighting a charcoal BBQ
I can speak from first-hand experience that lighting a Charcoal BBQ can be difficult, but with a Weber Chimney starter its quite easy. Fill the top cavity to the brim with charcoal and a few firelighters on the charcoal grill (not the cooking grill) position the Chimney starter over the light lighter cubes and wait. Once you see flames starting to come out of the top of the chimney the coal is ready to poor out and start cooking. This whole process should take around 15 minutes and ensure that all the coal is lit.
Cooking temperatures
Much like a conventional oven most good quality BBQs have built in thermometers that will indicate the internal temperature but when It comes to checking that meats, such as pork and chicken, is thoroughly cooked use a Meat Probe Thermometer, such as the Weber Instant Read Thermometer, to give you a reading. Stab the thermometer into the thickest part and if it reads 75°C or 165°F it is safe to eat. For fish its 145°F or 63°C.
Types of Heat!
Direct heat – Directly over the source of heat weather that’s a burner or the lit charcoal.
Indirect heat – off set to the source of heat either the burner on gas or the lit charcoal
Tip: For direct think grill – For indirect think oven.
RECIPES
Beer Can Chicken
Dispose of 2/3rds of the contents of the beer and mount the chicken over the can using a Weber Poultry Roaster, position in the centre of the grill using indirect heat. Once the chicken is cooked, cover with plenty of BBQ sauce and leave on a low heat for a further 10-15 minutes to glaze.
Hassell Back Potatoes
Using a sharp knife cut partly into each potato in both the long and sort direction so it looks a little like a grid. Once enough potatoes are cut in to, drizzle on a little oil and season with Italian herbs. Using a Grill Basket add these to your BBQ on a medium heat, prick them with a fork to test the texture and make sure they are cooked all the way through. They should open up and go a nice brown colour on top.
Weber grill basket will help ensure even cooking
Tip: When cutting, you can use a wooden spoon to make sure you’re not cutting the whole way through each potato.
Home-made Beef Burgers
Add chopped onion, salt and pepper to the minced meat and mash together, rather than an egg to bond the mixture, try using BBQ sauce. Once you have gotten the mixture to the right consistency form them into the burger shape and make an impression into the middle, cook using direct heat. Being thinner in the middle should mean that the burger cooks evenly without being too charred around the edges.
Tip: Keep flipping the burgers to a minimum to ensure they don’t dry out while on the grill.
Vegetarian Option
Take a Portobello mushroom and remove the gills using a teaspoon, stuff with cheese and herbs to your liking. Top breadcrumbs and optional chopped nuts (if there are no allergy sufferers) and you’ve got a great alternative to a beef burger. It should cook at the same time as a normal burger without the need to flip part way through cooking.
Tip: Make sure to lay the mushroom in a baking tray or on foil to ensure that it isn’t contaminated with any meat juice.
Sizzling Salmon Steaks
Take your Salmon steaks and place skin-side down onto foil, drizzle with oil and add small slices of bell peppers on top with a pinch of black pepper. Wrap in foil, making a loose parcel and cook on a low to moderate heat. Once up to temperature, unwrap from the foil and leave to cook for a further 5-10 minutes to get some colour on the salmon. You can place the peppers onto the grill to char slightly if preferred.
Tip: Sliding a spatula between the skin and the flesh of the fish should make transporting the fish to a plate easier than trying to remove the fish with the skin still attached.
Butterflied Leg of Lamb
If you are taking the bone out on your own using a sharp knife, cut fully down one side of the leg all the way to the bone and follow the bone separating the meat from the bone in small cuts. Open out the now boneless leg and make score marks with the knife, in order to open it out into a flat long cut of meat.
Cut up some sweet peppers and add this to the lamb with a touch of salt and pepper. Tightly roll the lamb up and wrap it in foil before adding it to the centre of the grill at moderate indirect heat. After around 90 minutes take an internal temperature with an instant read thermometer. If the temperature is around 60°C or 140°F remove it from the foil and place it back on the BBQ at a high heat to add some colour, at this stage you can put some sweet peppers cut into strips skin side down over direct heat to so it has a little char on it. After 10-15 minutes it should be ready to serve.
Tip: Lamb has enough natural fats in it that it shouldn’t need any additional oil.
Coolings Lifestyle has a wide range of BBQ’s and BBQ accessories in-store and Matt is on hand to offer advice to help you create your perfect outdoor cooking station.
