This is one for the hardcore Aussie BBQ fans. This is how we barbecue Down Under: by Joe from Joe’s BBQs, Silverwater Rd, Silverwater, Sydney.

We are going to use the superb Weber Ranch Charcoal BBQ. You can also use the 57cm Weber Kettle to the same effect. ( With a smaller cutt of meat though)

Firstly, the BBQ Set-up is most important. Place 40 x heat beads on either side of the BBQ. Joe has positioned a Heatbeads Chimney Quickstarter in the middle with 20 Heatbeads inside and 3 firelighters light underneath. Once the Heatbeads in the Chimney Quickstarter are well alight and glowing white, tip half the contents on the 2 piles of the non lit heat beads. Now expect to wait another 20 minutes for all the heat beads to be well alight and glowing white. A tip to remember: When lighting the BBQ, always leave the lid off, this assists with lighting the coals + Leave all air vent fully open. Once all the heat beads are well alight (completely ashed over) you then may place the lid on the BBQ.

Whilst the BBQ is getting started, Joe prepares the meat. This year we have a full cut of a small pork and medium lamb hindquarter. First thing we do is score up the pork and give it a good coating in sea salt, this assists with the crackling. Like with the pork, also score up the lamb and cover it with salt and pepper and then fill the score marks with rosemary & garlic. Now that the meat is prepared and the BBQ well lit, load the meat onto the BBQ.

First one I load up is the pork, as I am after a good crackling I going to leave it on the BBQ  for 45 minutes, and set the BBQ on high – to  do this  I close the lid & ensure the vent on top is fully open. This means maximum oxygen is getting in, and giving the heat beads a higher burn, thus a higher temperature. After the 45 minutes has passed I then load up the lamb. This time when I close the lid I close the vent on top to about half which means the meat is cooking at around 180 deg.

Have a Look at this !

After a further 1 hour, which is enough time for the skins on both portions of meat to really crisp up, I then turn the BBQ down again. This time I closed the vent by 2/3rds bringing the temperature down to about 140deg and then leaving it for another 2 hours, and going on the above outcome, I believe I got it spot on.

Happy Barbequing,

Joe’s Barbeques – Sydney, Australia

How to do a great  pork roast on a charcoal kettle. This month’s theme of the Christmas Pork Roast on arguably the best roasting BBQ of them all, the Weber 57cm Kettle.

 First things first, let’s set up our Kettle BBQ.

Conventional barbecues can only grill or fry the food; Weber kettles are able to do this too, but they are also able to roast and bake. The picture shows a cross section of a Weber barbecue kettle which is ready to

roast or bake. You will notice that the coals providing the heat are placed out to the side. When roasting or baking, the food is placed on the upper grill between the two fires, directly above a foil drip pan.

This method of cooking is called indirect cooking. It will be used for the majority of foods you cook.

Use the Right Fuel
It is recommended that you use briquettes specially designed for use with Weber barbecues. In Australia, Heat Beads are the preferred brand of barbecue fuel and firelighters.

 How to prepare your Weber barbecue for indirect cooking:

1.    Open the top and bottom vents on the barbecue, and remove the lid.

2.    Position the bottom grill so that its steel rungs run across the barbecue rather than from front to back, this ensures that the hot baskets are not located under the handles when your fires are alight.

3.    Place 4 firelighters (2 on each side) in the cavities provided by your grill.

Place the Char-basket fuel holders on the grill and fill them with the required number of briquettes.

 Lighting the Indirect Fire:

1.    Light the firelighters, make sure that all of the firelighters are burning well (sometimes a strong wind can blow them out if they are not burning well).

2.    Once the firelighters are alight, move the baskets to the centre of the grill, over the flames.

The barbecue may now be left until the coals are ready to cook. It will take about 40 minutes for the fire to establish itself. During this time, make sure that the lid is left off the barbecue and all vents are open. This allows more oxygen to reach the coals, which helps establish the fire faster.

On no account should you place the lid on the barbecue or close the vents while the fire is getting ready for cooking. Your barbecue is not the same as an oven. Putting the lid on during the lighting period will quite often put the fire out due to lack of oxygen.

 How Much Barbecue Fuel You Need to Use
To obtain the correct temperatures in your Weber kettle you should use the following barbecue briquette quantities.

We suggest that you count the briquettes when preparing your first few indirect cooking fires. After a while you will become familiar with the quantity required and you will be able to judge it visually.

go out and you can then use the left over fuel next time. Remember to shake excess ash off the fuel before re-lighting it.

Here’s a final tip: 

Once you’ve finished cooking, closing the vents will prevent oxygen entering the kettle. The fire will die down completely. You can re-use or dispose of the remaining coals.

  Now that the BBQ is ready, let’s get our Pork Roast ready.

 First we ensure the roast is completely defrosted, a good tip is to allow the roast to sit in the bottom of our fridge overnight uncovered allowing the roast to dry out a-bit.

 Next we towel the meat dry (paper towel), then using a shape knife make diagonal scores in the skin across or vertically down 5 to 10mm apart and about 3mm deep. We then rub good sea salt into the skin and scatter with rosemary.

 The roast is now ready to place into our Weber Kettle BBQ, all you need to do is place the roast in the middle of the grill above the foil drip pan, then we place the Kettle lid back onto the BBQ, ensuring that the vent is set in the middle and not over the briquettes.

 We now have the top and bottom vents open full, this is cooking on high, and we do this for 30 – 40 minutes so the skin can turn to “crackling”. After 40 minutes we close the top and bottom vents by a third, medium cooking, and we now cook for 50 – 60 minutes for each kilogram of meat.

 One of the great traditions that go with Pork at Christmas is Apple sauce, and the best way to do it is once the Pork roast is done and is resting, place a saucepan directly above the hot briquettes, add in 3 small cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced, a tablespoon of water, ¼ tablespoon of allspice and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Now cover and cook gently until soft and pulpy. And now you have a great apple sauce to go with a great Christmas Pork Roast.

Important Tips to remember.

 1)    Don’t overcook pork when roasting, a simple check is with a skewer or fork, push into meat, and if the juice

     is clear, the pork is cooked.

2)    Let the roast sit for 20 minutes before you cut and serve, experts advise resting your meat allows the fibers

     to relax and helps the meat to hold in the juices.

3)    If crackling doesn’t work, when pop crackling into the microwave between two paper towels on high for 2 minutes.

  And finally as a special offer to our subscribers, we are going to give everyone a 10% discount off all Weber

Kettle products this month, all you have to do is bring in this months copy of our news letter or mention this blog.

 All the very best & I hope you give this a good go. Do a few dry runs to perfect your technique and how it relates to your bbq model/size/capability prior to having that all important bbq dinner or inviting friends over to show off your skills & most important share quality fun times together. If you need to, please feel free to call us at the Silverwater store in Sydney.

Cheers,

It’s easy to cook a roast on your BBQ with a predictable outcome every time :

Step 1 – Pre-heat your BBQ to 250 degrees.

Tip: Place your roasting pan or holder in the bbq whilst pre-heating.

Step 2 – Prepare your roast.

For this example we will prepare a lamb roast, (ensure your roast is completely de-frosted and is at room temperature)

Step 3 – Once heat has been achieved, and your roast is prepared place you roast in the middle of your BBQ ( under the burners which are off) and close the hood.

You now must turn your middle burners off, and then adjust the outer 2 burners to the desired temperature ( low setting ). 

 Tip: Use a drip pan to collect all those delicious juices.

With Lamb we adjust the outer burners to achieve a temperature of 180 degrees.

Step 4 – We now cook our roast the same time as if we were cooking our roast inside.

For Lamb, we allow 45 minutes per kilo, and please remember rest our roast for 30 minutes once done.

Tip: Baste the roast in the cooking juices 2-3 times. Use the balance of the juices to prepare a gravy - just add a little cornflour, stir and heat gently. You can even use the Side Burner for this.

Tip: Try using a meat probe or BBQ Thermometer to check the degree of doneness.  

The good thing about BBQ Hoods, they turn your BBQ into an Oven, so what ever you can cook in an Oven, you now can cook in your BBQ.

Just remember when we cook with the lid down (indirect cooking) we have our inner burners off, and only use our outer 2 burners.

Best Regards

Joe

We often get asked in store about the uses for the common BBQ Side Burner - sometimes referred to as ” Wok Burner”.  Quite a lot of people tend to say at first ” Oh ! I don’t need this ” ,  or  ” We have never used one - we’ll never need it !” or ” I have a fully functional Kitchen next door to the bbq - Why would I need a side burner on the bbq ? ” .

We’ll tackle the answer to this question in two parts :

A. Firstly the person that has never used this function before and doesn’t see the need. - You’ll be amazed how once you begin to start using the sideburner, it can become a useful tool to compliment BBQ Grilling and Roasting. The simple gravy to accompany sausages for dinner can be done easily on the bbq. Boil some potatoes, toss them on the barbie in the last few minutes. Some customers swear by ” Frying Fish outside on the side burner” - to stop the odours inside - Done any deep frying lately ? - Try it on the side burner.

Cooking outside on the BBQ - even simple dishes seem much more fun than inside. Even outside on the balcony - gives the whole situation more appeal. Go On have a try ! You’ll  get more time together without the kids wanting to rush off to watch their favourite TV show.

B. Secondly the person that recognizes the use of the Side Burner but doesn’t or cannot fully utilize its potential to be an integral part of your outdoor entertaining. 

Pls refer to the comment additions posted by Rod O’ Brien - Joe’s Specialist Tech & BBQ Chef -  provides some simple recipes to try on your side burner. Also perhaps to include -being adventurous with battered fish on your side burner with thickly sliced chips grilled on the bbq -  Mouthwatering !

Remember even though the manifold gas supply to most bbqs are shared with the side burner, you can still  fire it up on its own without using the bbq or use both together at the same time.

You soon discover many and varied ways to use your side burner - that will fit into your lifestyle and cooking needs. Most experienced BBQ’ers that do lots of roasting on hooded bbqs, use their side burner as an integral part of preparing the accompanying side dish to the main roast.

Many ‘Side Burner Convert Customers’ that do change over their bbqs for new ones, are adamant that a Side Burner is a must.

Let’s give em a Roast :

Roasting is great fun and easy. The basic principles need to be understood and its plain sailing. The Roasting outcome is dependant of the type of barbeque & cut of meat being used. Our ancestors did this – they hunted meat, wrapped it in leaves and covered with rocks. Today we roast in an oven or barbeque. A bbq roast is more fun & the flavours achieved are unique and much better than those in an oven. Undeniably BBQ !

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Must be bbq'd slowly

Whatever method you use they should be cooked right through, but still juicy. Cook them slowly to ensure that the skins do not burst. This is vital because the skin helps to retain moisture, once it bursts it cannot do this. A burst skin is either a sign of a bad sausage or a good sausage ruined by fast cooking.

It can be difficult to turn sausages without piercing the skins. A pair of spring loaded kitchen tongs will make it easy to turn and reduce the risk of piercing them.

Every year sometime around Christmas I’m guaranteed to get a few phone calls from friends and family asking “how to brine”  Why brine your birds some of you may be asking? Think of it as extra insurance for a juicy juicy bird, a properly brined and cooked bird will not need to be smothered in gravy, it will be juicy, and buttery with lots of flavour. If you’ve opted to bbq/smoke your bird this year, cooking it slow and low it’s very important to brine your bird, you don’t want your breast meat turning into sawdust do you?