If you want to cook with charcoal on your BBQ but you want to get things going quickly, then you need an electric chimney starter.
The 3 here have a heat source and a fan to get the charcoal lit in super quick time.
Check out the video for my thoughts, all three of these charcoal starters will do a great job to get you going.
https://shop.americanbbq.co.uk/electric-charcoal-fire-starter-wand-210-p.asp
I’ve been using this classic sized Quinta over the summer and have been really impressed with it, it’s an absolute bargain price wise for someone looking to buy a Kamado, but not quite being able to afford the more expensive brands. For value for money terms the Quinta gives a lot of bang for it’s buck. Which is what I found with the Quinta Small that I had tested previously. [Read more…]
I was very excited to get this book sent to me to have a good read of pre release. Jess Pryles is co-founder of the Australian Barbecue Alliance, and a serious cook of all that is meaty. The cover doesn’t leave you in any doubt as to which way this book is going, with a beautiful cote de boeuf.
Her new book has just been released and is available in a couple of days.
There’s a great start to the book with tonnes of relevant info and techniques, a section on Meat Science, BBQ setups, and techniques such as spatchcocking chickens, and one of my favourites “the ultimate condiment spread”.
There are plenty of recipes that follow, with some stunning photography to get you licking the pages. Chicken, Game, Pork, Lamb, Beef and sides are all covered, and a Foundations and Finishes section at the end, stuffed with rubs and sauces etc.
There a re plenty of recipes that cover a great range of cooking styles, and regional styles from the US and around the globe, which is great to see.
It’s great to see game getting such a strong mention, as this is often overlooked, coffee-rubbed kangaroo fillet, quail and venison feature here.
Being a beef nerd myself, the beef chapter was full of inspiration, advce on cooking the perfect steak, and some great BBQ favourites such as Twice-cooked cola short ribs and some awesome burgers.
I’d definitely say this book had something for everyone…well maybe not vegetarians…
There’s certainly lads of recipes and inspiration that I’m going to be trying out myself.
Hardcore Carnivore is available for preorder for £20 hardback. Available on Amazon
I was very fortunate to spend a day at Grillstream HQ in Hertfordshire, and was able to cook on the Grillstream Gourmet Grill, I’ve cooked on a fair few gas grills with variable results, and the biggest issue I usually have with them, especially the cheaper models is the heat is uneven and the fats often flare up when they hit the hot surfaces same as the spreader bars above the burners. [Read more…]
If you prefer not to get your BBQ Charcoal from a garage there are plenty of great options out there, and hardcore BBQ’ers can get through an awful lot of charcoal even in the winter months when it becomes harder to pick up charcoal. So to get bags of charcoal delivered straight to your door is a definite bonus for a lot of people. There are some good quality charcoal available that can be delivered to your home. [Read more…]
Apple & Whiskey are great friends for a lot of flavours, and in this Smokin’ Yankees Apple & Whiskey BBQ Sauce they certainly make for a wonderful naturally sweet, well thought out sauce. It’s really great seeing the BBQ scene developing in UK & Ireland, and there are some teams who are really getting their products out which is great to see. Unlike a lot of American sauces they are not too sweet, and it suits my palate perfectly. [Read more…]
I’ve tired out plenty of wireless thermometers, and often the build quality lets them down, for me the simpler the better with a bit of kit like this, and let the software on the device do the majority of stuff. The Inkbird IBT-2X is certainly a good price for a bluetooth thermometer, coming in at £23.95 including delivery, simple, easy to use, very easy to connect to your bluetooth enabled device. [Read more…]
I like to try to keep up with new bits of outdoor cooking and BBQ kit arriving in the UK, so when I was asked to review the Flame Boss 300 that has just come out, I jumped at the opportunity. It is a WiFi enabled pit controller, that monitors the smoker temperature and adjusts a fan accordingly, it has a smoker temperature probe, and a meat probe, but the great thing about the Flame Boss 300 is that an extra 2, so a total of 3 meat probes and a smoker probe can be used, by utilising the extra Y-splitters available.
I’m looking at tidying up my old and well used Kamado Joe, so was very happy to try out the Smokeware Chimney Cap, a matt 304 grade stainless replacement for the Kamado Joe daisywheel assembly, mine has seen better days. Also a nomex Kamado Joe gasket replacement, mine is well overdue to be replaced.
I will be adding to this review as I get this all set up, so make sure to check back….
All now available in the UK from BBQ and Smoke https://www.bbqandsmoke.co.uk
Ok so I’ve been using the upgrades now for a few smokes, and I’m loving them, they have given a tired old Kamado Joe a new lease of life, the new seals and cap make temperatures more stable and keep efficiency, and the Flame Boss 300 with it’s Wifi control and monitoring bring the KJ right up to date. Here’s the latest vid of my thoughts and experiences so far, look out for more updates to this review as I use it further.
There was an awful lot of excitement in the CountryWoodSmoke Facebook Group when Jess Pryles’ new BBQ rub Hardcore Carnivore Black arrived on these shores. For anyone not aware of her, Jess has shot to BBQ fame an Aussie living the BBQ life in Texas, and founder of the Australasian BBQ Alliance. This is one of her new rubs, the other being Hardcore Carnivore Red. The first of these rubs, the black version arrived at Great Outdoors BBQ Co. in Northern Ireland and they kindly sent me a tub to review.
As I like to do with dry rubs, I tried a little straight from the tub, the dark black colour from the charcoal makes for a very striking colour to the rub. Upon tasting, the first and biggest hit was garlic, then a taste I couldn’t quite pin down, perhaps from the charcoal, or the subtle spices. I decided to try on some venison steaks to see how it performed on a strong tasting red meat. I sprinkled the rub over the steaks and cooked quickly on a high heat direct over hot charcoal. The rub responded really nicely to the heat, probably a mix of the charcoal and sugar forming a lovely bark very quickly. The bark worked really well and the flavour of the garlic was lessened upon cooking, it was very delicious and worked really nicely. I’m looking forward to trying this rub on some more dark meats such as short rib and hanger steak, which I think it will work particularly well on. I look forward to further experiments.
Contact Roger Allen at Great Outdoors BBQ Co. for more details and availability.
I was sent the rub to try for free, but was free to give my opinion in this review.
As much as I am a huge outdoor cooking nut, I enjoy cozy evenings in front of the indoor BBQ – AKA the Lounge WoodStove, in the depths of winter, sometimes it’s just too tempting to snuggle down in front of the woodstove. I always look at the fire, and think, well if it’s going I may as well cook on it, usually something simple like some marshmallows or chestnuts with the kids, or a nice grown up steak in a cast iron skillet on the embers. But I recently heard about a bit of kit that may well just change how I do cook in the woodstove.
The wonderful indoor Hellfire Pizza and Grill Set from Natural Heating in Norfolk is an inspired idea, you have the fire going so why not cook on it… I love these people…
The set is a cast iron bridge with a grate on top, that comes with a cast iron plate, a pizza stone, a cute little peel and some welders gloves.
I placed the pizza stone on the bridge and placed in my raging hot wood stove. I allowed it to come up to temperature and raked some hot coals underneath which was easy to do.
The temperature of the stone easily reached 350 deg C which I checked with a laser thermometer, and the pizza stone was ready to cook on. I made up some pizza dough, and popped a little 7″ pizza onto the stone. It cooked very quickly in about 2 minutes and had a lovely crisp base. I was amazed how well it worked. The pizzas were lovely.
I’m looking forward to cooking plenty of other things such as steaks and seafood on this lovely bit of kit. There’s two sizes a 7″ at £43.99 and a 9″ for larger stoves at £63.99.
Visit the Natural Heating Website for more info.
