Table top bbq cooking tips please.

Cobb BBQs are a good option. They use hardly any fuel, light easily and remain cool to touch (other than the lid) so you can stick them on a table or even pick them up and move them when lit and cooking. The other ace thing is that you can even slow roast stuff like full chickens or a boned out leg of lamb. I am a bit of a cookery ponce so have a meat thermometer in the van so I can tell when the meat is coked perfectly. I have done leg of lamb a few times and it turned out really nice. I have also tried to do croissant and pain au chocolate (the sort you buy as dough in a tube) and they worked pretty well too. I used to have a small gas BBQ (Cadac one) but these are way better.

Music is cheesy on the attached but you will get the idea from the vid.

 

Any dripping fat should burn as it hits the 'coals'. Most gas BBQ's also have a drip tray underneath where excess is gathered. Cooking things in foil isn't a bad idea though, it is less likely to burn (then finish off in the flame) you can also buy BBQ trays which can help lessen the effect of the flame and prevent burning, but you need to grease these before use or your meat sticks to them.
Buy lean meat as it's healthier and less fat to drip anyhow. On a gas BBQ this will cook just fine, whereas a standard charcoal one relies on the fat from the meat dripping and fuelling the flames somewhat I find and so fattier meat cooks better on a traditional BBQ.
The trick to any BBQ cooking is constant turning of meat and having it up to temp to start with.

 

I'll disagree there,
1/ Preheat a barbecue grill or flatplate on medium-high. Brush both sides of the steak with olive oil to prevent it from sticking to the barbecue.
2/Wait until just before cooking to season your steak, as salt draws out the flavoursome juices from the meat, making it tough. Season one side with salt and pepper, then cook the steak, seasoned-side down first, to seal in the flavour. Season the other side just before turning over.
3/Cook the steak on the barbecue, using long-handled tongs to turn the steak, until cooked to your liking. Cooking times vary depending on the thickness . Turn steak once only during cooking - any more and the juices escape, which can make the meat tough.
4/After cooking, transfer the steak to a plate and cover with foil. Set aside for 5 minutes to rest. Heat pushes the juices to the centre of the steak.

 

If your worried about the heat and burning the table buy a heat mat or if the wife is not looking pinch her hair tong mat and use that, but it could make her hair greasy. Don't forget the most important thing when doing a bbq ' have a tinnie in one hand'.

 

Yeah I'll have it with steak which needs to remain juicy within, and never fully cooked, but chicken and pork that need thorough cooking I find are best turned frequently, firstly to seal and then prevent burning (which if the BBQ isn't regulate able often happens if just left). Constantly may not be the best word, but frequently with those meats and burgers / sausage for me. Much of my experience (especially when camping) is with the cheap instant BBQ which often requires a technique different to an all singing split level gas jobbie anyway

 

Cooked in foil with lemon & garlic ..... yes!!!

 

I find it very hard to tell the difference between gas and charcoal as long as there is something hot for the fat to drip on to create some smoke

 

Gas are good but i still like the coal.
Try this:

Add baby back spare ribs into a pot or deep baking tray.
Cover with beer and whole cloves of garlic.
Cover with foil and let it boil for 1 hour.
Remove ribs carefully and let cool.
Remove the skin off the inside of the ribs (optional)
Cover the ribs in barbeque sauce or rib sauce,I like the sweet type with a dash of lemon juice and apricot jam.
Make the sauce your self so you can experiment.

Leave the ribs overnight or longer in the fridge.
The next day light up the BBQ and brown them and baste them til the sauce gets thick and starts to crystallize on the outside.
Be careful when turning on the BBQ because they will be super tender.
so tender that you can actually grab the bone and pull it out of the rib quite easily.

Make sure you change your telephone numbers/email addresses because your mates will be hounding you to do it again!
Don't believe me? try it!

 

Another one i like is a whole leg of lamb on the BBQ.

Here we go:

Buy a Webber BBQ and use the indirect method of cooking on it. (little coal baskets)
Take a large leg of lamb and season with salt,pepper and dried Rosemary.
Rub it it and add a few drops of olive oil to make it stick.
Get a knife and murder the leg by stabbing it about 10 times all over.
Push peeled Garlic cloves into the stab wounds.

Get your Webber fired up with the coal in the little baskets against the side.
thinly chop some carrots and potatoes and place in the tray that Webber kindly supplies you when buying one.
Place the tray between the coal baskets and put the grid over.
Throw your leg of lamb onto the grid so its not over the coals and put a meat thermo in it.

Close the lid and crack a beer.
Position the lid so the gauge can be read through the air vent and
wait until the thermo is about 65 deg C.

Take some big bunches of rosemary from the garden and throw on the coals.
put the lid back on and wait for the smoke to clear.

The Rosemary burns and covers the lamb with a smoky rosemary taste and the carrots and tatties will be swimming in the fat from the lamb.

Again! Make sure you change your telephone numbers/email addresses because your mates will be hounding you to do it again!

 

Mine has coal rock type things under the grill part where the fat drips on to and mine was £20 from go outdoors Malc u got a Bargin

 

I really like the Weber BBQ's. Cooking with the lid on is the way to avoid raw inside, black outside syndrome. They do a gas fired 'picnic' sized one and I'm very tempted for the van. Also, no problems with CO production from a gas one.

 

Not sure buddy but if mine Arnt there the food is in direct flames all the time a bag of them only cheap

 

You should have coals matey.

 

They are quality ! Mine is 8 years old and its fine.
My father has one which i think is about 20 years old.Still looks ok.
I have a small one for my camper,i dont do gas only coal.
Suppose im just a traditionalist when it comes to that.
What i do have which is the best for camping is the potjie pot,its a 3 legged cast iron pot for making stews.
Slow cooking nice stews is really nice,i have a stand that it sits in to cook on.
The trick with a potjie is never to wash it with soap,scrape it clean then oil it because it develops a certain taste.
@Bhubesi would have had some potjie and could vouch for that.
I bought mine in the UK at a shop for South African food.