Category: Articles

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The Men and Women behind UK BBQ – Jackie Weight

Jackie Weight was the first and to date only non-American to win the coveted overall Grand Champion Title at the Jack Daniels Invitational BBQ Competition (2004) in Lynchburg, Tennessee. She now runs BBQ Workshop, an independent BBQ Cookery School in Kent where she enjoys sharing her love of barbecue.

1. What got you into BBQ’ng?
I’ve had a love of cooking since childhood, so cooking outdoors was a natural progression, that and a fascination for fire!

2. How many BBQ’s do you have at home and what is your favourite method of cooking?
Err, I may have to plead the 5th on that one .. don’t tell anyone but I have around 21 at last count. I can’t narrow down my favourite way of cooking, but I love the indirect low and slow cook that my Traeger Pellet Grills give me as well as cooking indirect and searing on my Kamado, it really depends on what I’m cooking.

3. What is your favourite piece of BBQ equipment? This can be a BBQ or an accessory and we want to know why.
It’s difficult to narrow it down to just one, but I couldn’t live without my Thermapens, food probes are so important as nobody can tell the internal temperature of food by sight! I run a BBQ School and advise everyone who comes to buy a food probe.

4. What was the best BBQ food you have ever eaten?
That’s easy! The best BBQ Food I’ve eaten is with friends at BBQ Competitions mainly in America … the relaxed evening cookout before everything goes mental.

5. Tell us about your worst BBQ disaster?
Almost setting fire to a 12th century Tythe Barn during a catering event years ago! I left my cooker in the ‘capable hands’ of my late husband only to come back and find that he had let things get a little too Hot!

6. Name a dish you have never cooked but would love to try?
I’ve never cooked true Wagyu Beef and would love to try it one day, however sometimes you have to weigh up cost versus reality.

7. Who is the person you would most like to cook with?
I have cooked informally for the late Michel Roux in his back garden and was quite surprised when Heston Blumenthal and Alain Roux turned up too. These days I enjoy cooking with the people that come to my BBQ School … but if James Martin invited me around to cook with him, I wouldn’t say no!

8. What is your favourite song to cook to?
Anything from Queen is a good start for me as it drowns out my singing!

9. Best toppings for a BBQ burger?
Slow cooked caramelised red onion and decent ‘melty’ cheese

10. What’s your favourite non-BBQ food guilty pleasure?
I absolutely love to bake, so anything that involves cake!

For more information visit  Jackie’s website at – www.bbqworkshop.co.uk

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The Men and Women behind UK BBQ – Richard Holden BBQ

Richard Holden BBQ is on a mission to bring brilliant barbecuing skills to more people across the UK. He travels  the country leading live product demonstrations, hosting bespoke hands-on masterclasses and catering for private events, with the aim of educating and inspiring others to get creative with food and give barbecuing a go themselves.

1. What got you into BBQ’ing?
I had my eyes opened to home barbecue when I first had roasted meats and vegetables cooked outside. It was around 2004, I’d just moved to Canada and with the stonking hot summers they get out there my sister was buying all the barbecue cookbooks she could get her hands on and fast became a BBQ Ninja!!
I started to take barbecuing seriously in 2012 when I took a job working for Weber as an in-house chef. I began travelling the UK and Ireland with their amazing Land Rover and Airstream exhibition unit hosting mini masterclasses at retailer locations and big food shows such as CarFest, Grillstock and Jamie Oliver’s BigFeastival. I loved how people gather around the barbecue and along with creating great food together the barbecue inspires newly treasured memories and life moments!

2. How many BBQ’s do you have at home and what is your favourite method of cooking?
HAHA At last count I had 15 barbecues of various descriptions. These are working grills and go on the road with me to the events I host. There are charcoal, gas and pellet barbecues as well as dedicated smokers and portable styles in there too.
My favourite method for cooking has to be roasting as it opens up the endless possibilities of what you can cook on your barbecue. Roasting also allows the barbecue to take the strain while you have time on your hands to do other things be it things around the house or actually catching-up with the people you invite to your home.

3. What is your favourite piece of BBQ equipment? This can be a BBQ or an accessory and we want to know why.
In the same way as The Complete Work of Shakespeare and A Religious Book are automatically given in Desert Island Discs I’m going to assume we already have a chimney starter, a good toolset, IO Shen knives and a Thermapen!!
This being the case I would have to say my cast iron Dutch oven is something I could not be without. One of the best things about cooking on a barbecue is that for grilling and roasting you don’t really need anything to put the food on like you would in the kitchen as food goes straight on the cooking grate. This is fantastic when it comes to washing up, but there are times in the year where I want to be able to cook something outside the norm. Chilli con carne on bonfire night or moules mariniere with crusty bread and a glass of white on a warm summer evening are just 2 dishes that instantly spring to mind. The Dutch oven is in my Top 10 pieces of barbecue kit for sure!

4. What was the best BBQ food you have ever eaten?
I’ve been lucky enough to judge twice at the Jack Daniel’s International BBQ Championships so it goes without saying I’ve eaten some of the best barbecue food in the world.
The other worthy mention though has to be the first time I ever ate low ‘n’ slow brisket! It was July 1997, I was visiting Canada with my parents for the first time and we were at the Calgary Stampede (google it!). As we walked around the park grounds I caught the very distinctive aroma I’d later come to know as hickory wood smoke. This was a taste revalation and if I ever think of hickory smoked brisket now I’m straight back at the Stampede that summer; Fantastic!

5. Tell us about your worst BBQ disaster?
Easy! Grillstock Bristol 2014. I was heading up the weekends 30-minute demos in the Weber marquee and someone asked me a thought provoking question that got me off topic! My school reports always said “easily distracted” so I went in feet first and forgot what I was supposed to be doing. What I was actually cooking was a Tarte Tatin, which had had the puff pastry lid put on and was on the barbecue to bake off. Mid conversation someone asked if the barbecue behind me was supposed to be smoking. I said it wasn’t possible as I was just “baking” but true enough when I turned around I saw heavy black smoke coming from the grill. I’d baked it too far long and not only had the pastry “over-baked” but the caramel in the bottom of the dish had burnt to smithereens.
I don’t believe in hiding your mistakes as they can show that if you take your eye off the ball, as had happened in this case, anyone can burn something! I wanted to post a picture of the charred remains but was told by someone higher than me that the photo should go nowhere near the internet, which means you now have an exclusive!! ?

6. Name a dish you have never cooked but would love to try?
I’m dying to get my own house to be able to have space for an Asado and cook a butterflied lamb or side of beef on it! I’ve seen it done at events like Meatopia and spoken with people about it but haven’t had the opportunity or space to do it for myself yet.

7. Who is the person you would most like to cook with?
Australian cook and food write Donna Hay. There have been so many influences for me from Australia in the last year and Donna is just one of the people I’ve discovered along the way. Her food and knowledge are vast and to cook with her while discovering Aussie cuisine would be something pretty cool!

8. What is your favourite song to cook to?
I have music playing most of the day so this is tough but “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas will always remind me of a sailing trip I took around the Whitsunday Islands in 2010. In my mind it’s tropical blue waters, hot sunny days and barbecues off the back of the boat whenever I hear this song!

9. Best toppings for a BBQ burger?
I like to keep it classic with cheese, grilled streaky bacon, tomato and sliced avocado.

10. What’s your favourite non-BBQ food guilty pleasure?
I scream, You scream, We all scream for Ice Cream! I love it in all its’ glorious forms and over the summer months you may find the odd Magnum wrapper in the drivers’ door pocket of my van…….. lol

For more information visit https://www.richardholdenbbq.co.uk/

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The Men and Women behind UK BBQ – Emma Millest – Bunch of Swines

Emma is the prettier half of the competition team Bunch of Swines, (Sorry Ed) they have been competing and winning in competitions all round Europe and America in recent years. Emma was also a competitor on ITV’s UK BBQ Champ in 2015

1. What got you into BBQ’ng?
YouTube found some Texas guys cooking big chunks of meat on a Webber kettle and thought I can do that.

2. How many BBQ’s do you have at home and what is your favourite method of cooking?
Where do I start…at home we currently have a Yoder pellet cooker, a PK grill, a UDS and a Webber kettle. However, at our lockup we have a Jambo (stick burner), 4 gateway smokers, 2 WSM, 1 Backwards cabinet smoker, 1 meadow creek and several Kettles and much much more. My favourite method of cooking is hot and fast over a mixture of wood and charcoal.

3. What is your favourite piece of BBQ equipment? This can be a BBQ or an accessory and we want to know why.
For me it’s the Thermaq with mini needles are so small that they do not leave any needle marks in the meat and the leads are easy to wrap in tinfoil too. Also, and almost just as important my slippers! (especially when cooking competition, you are constantly on your feet and must be comfortable.)

4. What was the best BBQ food you have ever eaten?
At the American Royal 6 years ago, I was given a slice of brisket from an American team called Big T’s crew and it was the best brisket I have ever tasted. He then went on to win team of the year in brisket that year.

5. Tell us about your worst BBQ disaster? My BBQ disaster was cooking mussel, the mussels overcook really quickly and exploded across the room. They can get some serious air distance!

6. Name a dish you have never cooked but would love to try?
I would love to learn how to cook Dim sum.

7. Who is the person you would most like to cook with?
It would have to be my partner in crime Edward Gash, I know its soppy.

8. What is your favourite song to cook to?
Anything that has a good beat, normally drum and base.

9. Best toppings for a BBQ burger? Caramelised red onion and blue cheese.

10. What’s your favourite non-BBQ food guilty pleasure? Chinese food seaweed and salt and pepper squid.

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The Men and Women behind UK BBQ – Marcus Bawdon of Country Wood Smoke Fame

In addition to running multiple websites, which include food blogging, fantastic photography, reviews on BBQ Equipment and a U Tube Channel. Marcus produces UKBBQMag and runs BBQ courses.

1. What got you into BBQ’ng?
I’d recently started eating meat and had just moved to the countryside, I was cooking burgers and sausages for ever larger social gatherings, but realised I was missing out on a lot because I was stuck to the grill. I started researching other ways of cooking such as whole pigs on rotisseries, wood fired ovens and low’n’slow American style BBQ, I soon realised I was hooked.

2. How many BBQ’s do you have at home and what is your favourite method of cooking?
I have around 40, and 8 wood fired ovens, I’m very fortunate to work with a number of brands and do a lot of reviews, photography and videos with them. I can’t really pick a favourite I love all forms of outdoor cooking.

3. What is your favourite piece of BBQ equipment? This can be a BBQ or an accessory and we want to know why.
I couldn’t be without a thermapen, not just for temps but for knowing by feel how meat is cooking and when the tougher cuts are ready.

4. What was the best BBQ food you have ever eaten?
I remember a grilled seafood platter and a cold bottle of white and watching the sun go down over the sea in Queensland very fondly.

5. Tell us about your worst BBQ disaster?
Back when I tried my hand at BBQ catering, stood in a sodden field, with thousands of pounds worth of sausages and meat at a supposed big event, where everyone stayed away due to a bad weather forecast.

6. Name a dish you have never cooked but would love to try?
A whole cow cooked slowly near a fire.

7. Who is the person you would most like to cook with?
Francis Mallmann

8. What is your favourite song to cook to?
A bit of dirty Blues, no song in particular.

9. Best toppings for a BBQ burger?
Amercian cheese, good bacon, gherkin and chilli jam

10. What’s your favourite non-BBQ food guilty pleasure?
Caramel crème pots

For more top tips visit his web site @ http://countrywoodsmoke.com/

Follow Marcus on social media
FB:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/CountryWoodSmoke/
You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/CountryWoodSmoke
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/devonwoodsmoke#
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/countrywoodsmoke/

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5 Top Tips for BBQ from Marcus Bawdon of Country Wood Smoke Fame

Tip 1 – Use a digital probe thermometer. E.g a Thermapen, this will give confidence to know that the food is cooked how you like it and is safe to eat.

Tip 2 – Set up the bbq for 2 zone cooking, more heat (i.e coals) on one side and lower heat on the other this way you can have a good degree of control over the cooking.

Tip 3 – Use your lid, if your bbq comes with a lid then use it, it’s not just to keep the rain off, it will turn your grill into a smoky oven.

Tip 4 – Make sure the lid vent is over the indirect side this will give more even cooking

Tip 5 – Keep well hydrated when bbqing, it’s thirsty work so make sure you have your tipple of choice chilled and close to hand.

For more top tips visit his web site @ http://countrywoodsmoke.com/

Follow Marcus on social media
FB:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/CountryWoodSmoke/
You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/CountryWoodSmoke
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/devonwoodsmoke#
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/countrywoodsmoke/

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Kadai Fire Bowl – Review by Chillin n’ Grillin

After cooking on a wide variety of BBQ’s and smokers including a pellet smoker we decided that we would like to go back to basics and try some cooking over a wood fire. A bit of research led us to the Kadai Indian Fire Bowl. We were lucky to get it in the end of season sale and as a result we also purchased the cooking tripod with chain and the cooking bowl. They recommend putting some sand in the bottom to protect the bowl, we did this along with a sheet of tinfoil.

We contacted our local stove supplier to see if we could get logs to burn and where lucky to get a barrow bag of silver birch for £35. A barrow bag is about the size of a wheelie bin. To light the Kadai, we use a flamer, a little charcoal and a few twigs from the hedge at the bottom of the garden, this makes the logs very easy to light. We have been starting with three logs and adding as needed depending on the length of the cook

Our first foray was to hang a chicken over the grill. We had seen Marcus from Country Wood Smoke cooking a leg of lamb in the same way. The chicken turned out lovely and moist as they normally do when cooked outside. We have since cooked a casserole using our dutch oven, a chilli using the cooking bowl and after purchasing a hacienda swing grill, spatch cock chicken, harrissa lamb and shawarma cauliflower.

All in all the Kadai is a great bit of kit and good fun to cook on, in the cooler weather I still prefer one of the bbq’s that have a lid to preserve the heat but we will definitely get good use of the Kadai.

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Thermaworks Smoke – Review by Marcus Bawdon

The Thermoworks Smoke is recently available in the UK. It is a definite upgrade for those looking for something a bit more substantial and easier to use than a maverick.

The main screen is a great size with large numbers…meaning a glance at the temperatures are often enough. But if you are moving further away from the bbq…then the range is impressive…easily a few hundred feet. The length of our garden and inside the kitchen. At £78 delivered it’s a real contender.

The portable receiver unit is well designed easy to read and solid. The whole thing reeks of reliability and long use. It’s a 2 probe thermometer. Ideally the option for a third or fourth probe would make a good upgrade. The probes themselves are robust and come with one ambient and one for the food. Alarms are easy to set and very loud.

This is my favourite thermometer at the moment and has been well thought through for the bbq market. A WiFi bridge is soon to be available here in the UK which will mean you’ll be able to monitor your cooking from down the pub…

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10 Days to BBQ – UK-BBQ-WEEK 2018

Friday 6th July

Steaks are probably the king of the BBQ. What ever steak you are cooking we would love to see it and remember to tag a mate that would be envious of it too.

Saturday 7th July

The 4th of July can be relived today, get your favourite American food on the BBQ, whether it’s a juicy burger or maybe some smok’in ribs. We want to see the stars and stripes of cooking on your BBQ

Sunday 8th July

Have you ever cooked breakfast on the BBQ?, If not now is the time to cook the full English outdoors. Or try cooking your favorite breakfast on the BBQ, post on social media with our hashtag  #ukbbqweek

Now you’ve warmed up the BBQ today, Cook your Sunday roast on the BBQ, Leg of Lamb, Chicken, rib of Beef or a big pork shoulder. Show us your Great British roast dinners all cooked outdoors. We would love to see some roast potatos and Yorkshires too…

Monday 9th July

Today its meat free Monday, get creative and cook a meat free dinner on the BBQ, how about a Cauliflower Shawarma or some Halloumi Skewers, whatever you want to cook on the BBQ today, let it be meat free. Check out our sponsors for some ideas too. Tag us #ukbbqweek

Tuesday 10th July

We all love tacos and with an almost infinite list of fillings we think today you can get really creative with your BBQ.

Wednesday 11th July

This is the peoples vote, you’ll find out more about this one nearer to the day.

Thursday 12th July

Bring the taste of the sea to your BBQ! Fish is so easy and quick to grill on the BBQ or why not try cooking Mussels or Oysters and who could forget some fat prawns. Tag us your cooks #ukbbqweek

Friday 13th July

Time to spice things up and a curry cooked on the BBQ not only has all the lovely spices but a hint of smoke too. We have some awesome recipes you can try or show us your own creations. Don’t forget the Naan bread!

Saturday 14th July

As we move towards to the football final, tonight its all about Pizza’s and flatbreads. So if you have a pizza oven or wood fired oven lets see you fantastic pizza creations. Alternatively make some easy flatbreads and cooks some of your favorite meat or vegetables as kebabs.

Sunday 15th July

Our last day of UK BBQ Week is also the last day of the football, so its Tailgate BBQ time. Cook what ever you love to cook and get your friends round and show everyone on social media your party.

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Meater Wireless Thermometer – Review by Paul Niland

When Matt from Meater approached UK BBQ week and asked if anyone would like to try the product I wanted to give it a go.

With the rotisserie, consistency in the setup; the fuel and the weather conditions are all factors that can make or break your Sunday roast or your game changing Turkey during the holidays. When you first start using the rotisserie you tend to increase your cook times or affect the temperature by lifting the lid of your BBQ. What I really needed was a probe with no wires! In comes the Meater “The First Wireless Smart Meat Thermometer”

So how did I get on with it? Overall I liked the product. I have been watching it for a while with anticipation that it would be great for the rotisserie and it was. I found the temperature accuracy to be good, sometimes the same as my Thermapen or 1-2 degrees different. The app was very clear and simple to use and consistent between Apple and Android devices. I found the setup simple (maybe because I work in technology) and using the combination of Bluetooth, WIFI and the Meater Cloud Feature, I found syncing devices worked very well. I did see a few tweets about range so for my setup I used an old IPAD approx. 2m away from the BBQ. My shack is more than 10m from my house, so I knew it would be outside of the Bluetooth range and may have problems if I tried without it. In the future, the mini block should certainly act as the bridge.

Setting up the cooks was very good and simple, though the presets were aimed towards the US market based on USDA guidelines. There were a great deal of support videos on their youtube channel that helped you get started with examples of how to use the product. Being from the UK, I did find these quite Americanised. Also as a BBQ fanatic, I tend to avoid using the oven at all costs so some of these videos did not appeal to me.

Monitoring the cook was very good, I tried a combination of Apple and Android devices and found them to be consistent. Randomly the connection would drop, I could not explain this though it was not frequent enough to affect my cook.

The bit that let me down was the battery, I cooked a whole chicken with some serious smoke and after washing the probe it did not charge too well. You have to give it a serious scrub between cooks to get enough contact for it to charge. There is a little LED battery indicator though I think this was just for the batteries in the block and not relevant to the probe. Also the app does not currently give an indication of how much life is left so if you like your low and slow it can be quite worrying. This in fact did happen to me and I was surprised after a quick 30 min charge I could not resume where I left off.

There has been some concerns in the UK BBQ community regarding the range, and temperature accuracy. I did not see these problems during my cooks though knowing the people who had these problems I believe them to be genuine and I have discussed these with the Meater team.

Overall, would I buy the probe? The short answer is yes. Is it the finished product for the general BBQ market? I will let the community decide as Its possible there are some factors that may affect your experience of using the product. Will there be some improvements? Certainly, speaking with Matt at length about the team, their vision and their approach to improvement, I see this being very good in the future as more people start using it for BBQ and provide their feedback.

If you would like to know more, you can find more information about the probe from the official website https://meater.com

What’s Good

What could be improved

  • Estimated cook time feature – A game changer

  • Temperature accuracy is good

  • Meater Cloud option for syncing devices and viewing temps on the move works well

  • Support for Apple/Android devices

  • Presentation of the app looks great and is simple to use.

  • Combination of Bluetooth and WIFI setup is simple to do.

  • Setting up the cook, naming them and changing temps during was easy to do

  • Customising your preferred settings such as C/F was easy to do.

  • The email, asking for your feedback after each cook is very innovative and great service.

  • Need for an intermediate device for this to be great for BBQ. – This should be the small block.

  • Connections to the device can drop intermittently.

  • If smoke is not scrubbed of the end it does not change too well.

  • The LED Charge light not relevant to the probe, so your not sure if it is charged well enough

  • With no battery life indicator in the app, long cooks are also a bit worrying.

  • When the battery runs out it does not preserve progress especially when the cook was on the cloud.

  • App use quite a lot of battery

  • Although I really like it, the estimated cook time takes a while to show. So you cant really leave a short cook.

  • Alerts can be annoying and re-appear after acknowledging them.

  • Temperate presets are US based

  • Product support videos are US based
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Looftlighter – Review by @ArtustBBQ

Without doubt one of the best BBQ gadgets I have ever added to my collection is the Looftlighter. Admittedly it’s an odd name but it’s one that will stick with you until you also own one. I was lucky enough to pick mine up at a festival around 4 years ago now and it’s still going strong to this day.

So what is a Looftlighter? Imagine a hairdryer that has been to the gym twice a day for it’s whole life. It’s essentially a very strong heating element with fan behind it in a handheld unit that wouldn’t look out of place as a weapon in a Sci-Fi movie. So if you have ever struggled with getting your BBQ lit quickly when you are under a little pressure then this could be the tool for you. I know the #UKBBQ week team have some articles on reasons against using quick lighting charcoal and especially avoiding using any kind of lighter fluid, and the Looflighter will banish those items to the bin forever.

Plug the Looftlighter in, touch the metal gauze on the end against your fuel of choice which can be charcoal, briquettes or even wood and push down the button. The heating element heats up within seconds and that heat is blown by the fan directly onto your chosen fuel. In under 60 seconds the fuel will be starting to smoulder at which point you can pull back the Looftlighter around 10cm and let the fan blow the flames until your barbecue is lit and ready to go. It really is that simple.

Briquettes will take a little longer to catch light so my top tip is add some charcoal in with them so it catches easier. Used in combination with a chimney starter you can really get the fuel for your BBQ raging hot in just a few minutes which makes it a seriously handy piece of kit. Being able to get cooking in under 10 minutes really takes out any excuses about how long setting up a BBQ takes. Just another tool to help you get outside and cooking more because your life has been made a lot easier.

The Looftlighter does have it’s limitations. It runs from the mains electricity so you need to have a plug socket available or at least be able to run an extension lead out to your BBQ or where you light your chimney starter. I have also seen some units suffering some melting on the metal guard around the heating element, but simply making sure the unit is only in direct contact with the fuel until it starts to smoulder will eliminate this.

The Looftlighter is on sale via various outlets in the UK and has an RRP or around £69.99, however the unit has been seen on sale via Amazon as low as £30.00. The cheapest we can see currently is around £48.00 which is still a good price for such a hand piece of kit. I know I will always have one in my BBQ tool kit.