Around this time of year, I get asked the question a lot about what grill should someone buy. It’s such a massive question as what’s right for one isn’t right for another, then there is space, budget, family size and so many other factors to be considered. But the first starting point for most seems to be gas or charcoal.
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Some brands of BBQ manufacturers produce a product and then stick to the ‘If it aint broke, don’t try to fix it’ school of thought. Well that’s all well and good but more recent times in the BBQ world have meant that some of these long standing and well-established manufacturers are being left behind. The market for outdoor cooking is ever growing, and more and more people are looking to get involved, and are now armed with more knowledge than ever of cooking styles and types of BBQ and grilling, thanks to social media, BBQ blogs and YouTube videos. As that’s where more forward-thinking brands like ProQ have stepped up to the challenge.
[Read more…]The Masterbuilt Gravity Smoker 560 is a new grill to the market, and I was fortunate to get a pre-release model to test out, and come up with some recipes for. It’s a really interesting and well thought out grill.
I was very fortunate to have been sent a Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center by the kind folks at Weber and Riverside Garden Centre to review and get to grips with. It’s a beast of a kettle BBQ but with the insulation of a ceramic kamado style, sitting beautifully between the two. Still relatively lightweight that it can be moved around on the cart with ease, and yet sturdy enough to make you realise this is definitely a premium grill.
Cooking direct and Indirect (using the substantial baffle) and swapping between the two is very easy, lighting made simple with the gas starter canister under the coals, you really feel like there is nothing that you can’t cook with ease on this grill. The best thing of all is the level of control that can be achieved by using the air inlet, because it doesn’t have the thermal mass of a ceramic grill, it’s quick and responsive to ramp the heat up or cut it back.
I’ve really been able to achieve some great results with this grill. Here’s a video of my first impressions of the weber summit charcoal.
The stainless steel twin walled Kamander is a Kamado BBQ style grill and smoker that allows you to sear or smoke slowly, it’s a sturdy bit of kit that is well constructed. Here’s a first look at the Kamander and it’s features.
Pit Barrel Cooker ReviewBBQ’ers tend to fall into two groups, those who like to fiddle with vents and temperatures/timings, and those who like to set their BBQ up nice and simple and leave it running doing “it’s own thing”. [Read more…]
Big Green Egg Mini Maxi
I’m grateful to Neil Clifton of Pit Smoked BBQ for sharing his thoughts on the Big Green Egg Mini Maxi.
A few have asked for feedback so based on 1 cook – these are my thoughts.
For reference, at home I cook on a Primo Oval XL so I have a couple of years experience of cooking on ceramic bbq’s.
Delivery from Alfresco Concepts was 4 days including a weekend.
Assembly – 25 minutes.
Build Quality – superb finish on the metal brackets. Good solid gauge material and nice finish with the wooden handle on The Egg itself.
Big Green Egg Mini Maxi
Lighting – my preferred method is chimney starter so no influence from The Egg, however, I did start by lighting some restaurant grade charcoal in the The Egg and ironically it was the largest chunks of the last 12 months so did take a little to get going in a smaller firebox.
Big Green Egg Mini Maxi
Temperature stability – Just as easy as the Primo to hold at a specific temperature and really easy to ramp up the temp if required.
Portability – It is fairly heavy which is what you would expect from ceramic BBQ but not so much that it would prevent it being mobile. While it would be too heavy to take to the beach – it certainly shouldn’t deter you if you plan to use it when caravanning (several have suggested their purchase may be for this reason)
Re-action from non-bbqers (you are on this forum because you love BBQ but, unbelievably there are some people whose world doesn’t revolve around it! – my business partner, who, by his own admission isn’t a cook loved the idea of the minimax – he felt the size would be ideal for a family get together but may put off by the price for an occasion ‘que.
In conclusion, the look is better than the Primo, the build quality is just as good. For midweek BBQing I will be using The Egg – less fuel needed and gets to temp quicker. Otherwise it has all the other benefits of a ceramic BBQ.
Price : £550 RRP
Thanks Neil, looks a great bit of kit, feel free to visit Pit Smoked BBQ Facebook Page
There’s many different types of BBQ and Grill available Charcoal, Gas, Electric.
Here you will find advice and reviews on some of the equipment available here in the U.K.
