Rotisserie

We were really pleased when Outback 365 lent us the Rottiserie attachment for the Monolith. Alan just loves Roast Chicken on the BBQ. Rubbed with some oil and a seasoning of your choice and stuffed with half a lemon and some butter, the chicken self bastes as it spins.

The good thing about the Monolith Rotisserie is that it is battery operated so there is no need to drag the extension lead into the garden either. The Rotisserie is well made and with 4 prongs it holds the chicken securely with no slipping as it turns.

We have also used a basket we bought to make wings on the rotisserie, Recipe can be found here and a porcetta that we bought from Lidl. The porcetta was moist with some perfect crackling. For it as it was a denser piece of meat than a chicken we set up half a basket of coal and put it to one side of the meat.

This ensure that it was cooked through without burning.

Below are some pictures of the cooks, what is really good about the rotisserie and bbq-ing at this time of year is you put the lid down and forget about it.
Both the chicken and the porcetta cooked in just over an hour. For some reason roasts on the bbq seem to taste much better than in the dry heat of an oven

Ozpig BBQ

For those of you who know Alan and I you will know that BBQ for us is not just Sausages and Burgers, we have a lot of different bits of kit, including Kettle BBQ’s Ceramic BBQ’s a pizza oven, an acusa parilla, even a paella burner
We were really pleased when Ozpig UK asked us did we want to test drive the Ozpig series 2.

With its smaller more compact size than the Big Pig, the S2 is easy to pack up and take with you to the beach or camping. It comes with a carry bag.

The Ozpig can be used as a patio heater or to cook on. It is so much better than the terracotta patio heaters.
Its well made and the adjustable door allows air flow whilst stopping the embers falling out.

The range of accessories means that when it comes to cooking it is very versitile. You can burn logs or there is a charcoal basket.
Everything we have cooked so far has been over wood. In my opinion real wood just brings a great flavour. We get silver birch logs from our local stove supplier. but they do offer a starter box with wood, charcoal, and wool starters too.

We have cooked quite a bit on the Ozpig, everything from rotisserie chicken, to Chicken Stew, to planked salmon to T-Bone Steak, even beef in oyster sauce with a wok and lets not forget the Smores.

We were also given the smoker attachment to try, the pulled pork was so good. We had to keep an eye on the logs, throwing another on every hour or so but that’s part of the fun and a good excuse to have a beer.

We have a few more cooks planned including Taco Al Pastor and as the autumn comes in Chicken Paprikash and Goulash in the dutch oven.

All in all, the ozpig is well made and if you want to enjoy cooking over live fire, and keeping warm when the evenings start to get cool I can definitely recommend the Ozpig.

I have added a few pictures to this review to allow you to see for yourself.

Ultimate Eggs Benedict

Ultimate Eggs Benedict from Mini_Grate_Smokin.
Another great recipe from another young, up and coming BBQ stars. Check out her Instagram page @ Mini_Grate_Smokin. Heres whats she’s got too say about her recipe’
.
Have you tried eggs Benedict? I hadn’t until I made them my way, I really love them now. I hope you love them too, enjoy’
There are two main parts to the eggs benedict, the first is the hollandaise sauce. The second part is preparation and cooking of the main ingredients needed for my eggs benedict.

Here are two top tips.
Tip one) When you make the hollandaise sauce keep it warm in a pre-warmed insulated container, until you need it. Make this first so its ready

Tip two) Get a square of cling film (30cm x 30cm) spray it with a little spray oil, crack your egg into the centre of the cling film then bring all the edges together, twist (into a string) and tie a knot
50mm away from the egg (this will help your poached egg to stay together when poaching) and it allows enough room, to cut the away the cling film without damaging the egg. Put to one side for
later.
I cooked this on Dad Kamado Joe Big Joe, with the cast iron half-moon grate (at 180ºc- indirect heat).
We made our English breakfast muffins from scratch cooking them on the half-moon griddle.

Ultimate Eggs Benedict

  • Prep Time20 min
  • Cook Time20 min
  • Total Time40 min
  • Yield1 Serving

Ingredients

Portion for a single person

  • One chicken skinless and boneless thigh (sliced in two)
  • Slice of bacon (smoked is better)
  • Slice of American cheese
  • 1/2 english breakfast muffin
  • 1 fresh egg (for poaching) as above

Dredge (enough for 20 mini thigh fillets) Marinate in buttermilk + rub for 6-24hrs)

  • 125g potato starch or corn flour
  • 25g rice flour
  • Oil for deep frying
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • Tbsp of your favourite rub
  • 1 small pot of buttermilk (+ another tablespoon of your fav rub added to the buttermilk)
  • Pot for deep frying the chicken (until it probes 75ºC or 165ºf internal temp)

Hollandaise Sauce (make first) enough for 5-6 eggs benedict

  • 125g butter
  • 2 egg yolks
  • ½ tsp white wine vinegar
  • squeeze of lemon juice

Method

1

Set BBQ up for direct cooking and when ready slowly melt the butter in the pan

2

In a separate pan, bring water to a rolling boil, place the bowl over the top of the saucepan (don’t let the water touch the bowl) and add the egg yolks, white wine vinegar and whisk gently until combined, then slowly add the melted butter whisking all the time, don’t stop! When combined and thick, remove from heat, add a squeeze of lemon whisking in, then pour into your pre-warmed insulated container. Warning, if you stir too slowly or the water is too hot or you over cook the eggs, your egg will split and go like scrambled eggs (you’ll have to start again)

3

After your chicken fillets have marinated in buttermilk and rub combo, combine the potato starch/cornflour and rice flour (found in the free from aisle of supermarket) with salt and pepper in a bowl

4

Now, remove your fillet dropping it into the flour mix bowl and coat thoroughly (you don’t want any wet spots). Remove from the flour mix and place of a wire cooling rack, then place in fridge until you are ready to fry them.

5

Heat your oil to a temperature of 170ºC, your chicken is cooked when it probes 75ºC or 165ºF internal temperature. Once cooked, remove the fillets from the hot oil and drain fillet on kitchen paper and keep warm until they are needed. You can fry the chicken fillet for 1 min, remove then cook indirect on the bbq until crispy (180ºc indirect), make sure the grate is oiled first to prevent stick and losing the coating.

6

Cook the smoked bacon (1 rasher), boil your water in a clean saucepan and when boiling gentle place in the egg into the boiling water and boil for 3mins, then remove the from the boiling  water. Toast the 1/2 muffin, when toasted butter and place on a plate.

7

Now, place chicken fillet on top of the muffin, followed by cheese slice, then add the bacon. give it a light drizzle with a little bbq sauce, now snip the top off your poached egg (cling film) gently place on top of your stack, now the last part, gentle pour over enough hollandaise sauce so it pools a little at the bottom of stack on your plate.

8

Now, go dig in and enjoy this amazing creation.  Hope you have enjoyed my Ultimate Eggs Benedict

BBQ-Toro Stainless Steel Rib Rack Holder

I’ve been cooking ribs various times for a few years now and when I need to cook 6 racks, it takes up virtually all the space in my Weber Smokey Mountain 57cm, so no room for any more meats.

I’ve tried a few things over the years to act as a rib rack, a rib roast holder upside down, the IKEA pot lid organiser but they weren’t up to the job.

A quick search on the internet I found the BBQ-Toro Stainless Steel Rib Rack Holder. This looked sturdy and ideal for my needs. Ordered from Amazon (check availability) end of May 2020 it arrived a few days later. Looking at the reviews on Amazon, some people complained that the edges were razor sharp so be careful when using. I must admit some edges were a bit sharp but nothing I really worried about and not as bad as the reviews claimed.

I prepped 6 racks of baby back ribs (sourced from Costco), applied some French’s mustard to them and sprinkled my favourite rub over them. I let them sit for 20 mins whilst the smoker was coming to temperature. Then on goes the rib rack holder followed by all 6 racks. The racks slotted in perfectly with a little overhang at each end. I was worried at first that it maybe too big to close the lid with all 6 racks in, but I didn’t need to, as it closed just fine.

The ribs held perfectly over the duration of the cook and left me with a whole rack on the lower part of the WSM free so I could cook other meats if I needed to.

Overall this rib rack holder is a great solid piece of kit and I will be using it a lot now when cooking baby backs. I haven’t tried with spare ribs, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to get 6 racks on the top shelf. I would probably cook on the lower rack shelf and remove the upper, which should do the trick.

Unfortunately at the time of writing this review it seemed to be out of stock on most places online, if you can find it and are looking for a rib rack, I highly recommend this rib rack holder.

BBQ Stu
Twitter  –  @bbqstuuk
Instagram  –  @bbqstuuk

Note: I was not paid to review or gifted this rib rack holder. I purchased it full price from Amazon.

ProQ Excel – Smoker

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.

Way back to their original models of the classic ‘bullet shaped’ smoker (so named because of the shape), it was clear that ProQ wanted to offer their customers more. More flexibility, more options, more cooking styles and more enjoyment out of their products. But in the last few years, the guys behind the ProQ brand, looked over their models from top to bottom to see what could be changed to make their smokers even better; the result is a stronger than ever product offering with a host of new features. So, let’s have a look.

The smallest of the ProQ line up is called the Ranger with a 37cm wide circular cooking grate; next up is the Frontier with a 43cm circular cooking grate; and finally, the largest in this range, the Excel, with a 50cm circular cooking grate. The Excel is the model we will focus on but most of the features discussed span the whole range, but please check the ProQ website for full information www.proqsmokers.co.uk
I’ve been cooking on a ProQ Excel for around 8 years now but the guys at ProQ kindly offered me an upgrade to the latest version for review. That said, I am still free to give my own and honest opinion on the products in the article.

One of the biggest changes is to the main construction of the unit and the high-grade porcelain coated steel that is used. Heat retention in these units is key and whilst some manufacturers are saving money thinning the metal and coatings they use down, ProQ have gone the other way, meaning the units are more efficient and less fuel is used for each cook. Who doesn’t like saving money?

These range of smokers all break down into 4 sections giving several different set up styles, depending on the type of cook you are looking to do. This is one of the major advantages of the ProQ models over similar bullet style smokers, who only usually have one way they can be set up. The 4 sections on the ProQ working from the bottom up, are the base with the legs and 3 air vents, this is the part that holds the fire basket; then stacker 1, which would usually hold the water pan and have your first cooking grate and side handles for moving around; then stacker 2, which holds your second cooking grate and also has side handles; and then finally the lid with the hanging bar inside, the top vent and handle on the outside. Each of these stackers comes with the new and improved spring-loaded clips for a tighter seal.

So, as I mentioned above, these smokers come with a water pan; if you are not familiar with these, the idea is that for long cooks you fill the pan with water and it creates a nice moist environment inside, to help the meat during the cook, but to also help the smoke get onto the meat too. It also helps to keep a more even temperature as energy is used to heat the water, so less swings up or down in temp.  Just make sure the water pan doesn’t boil dry else you may see that temp change pretty quickly. A mistake we’ve all made.

Hanging meat in a smoker has become way more popular in recent years, and whilst the ProQ models (Ranger excluded) have always had a hanging bar tucked away in the lid it has mainly been used for cold smoking. But now more and more people are hanging racks of ribs and legs of lamb, as well as many other cuts in their smokers. And with the water pan removed, any fat drips go straight down onto the coals, creating an unmistakable smell and flavour that is one you just have to try. And once you do you’ll literally be…. hooked.

Vents! How many times have you burnt a finger adjusting a vent during a cook, well it’s no longer a problem with the cool touch tabs on all of the vents and handles. This covers the 3 daisy vents at the bottom, the exhaust vent at the top and also the chamber door and lifting handles on each of the stackers. No more burnt fingers for any changes needed during a cook.

The fire basket has now been improved to incorporate grooves, so one of the grills will fit securely in place if you are using it for high heat direct grilling, and there is also now a stand holder so you can attach one of ProQ’s other accessories, their Flip N Grate. Also handy and giving you huge versatility on the way you can cook from one single BBQ.

Each stacking level has a single silicone probe eyelet so you can easily feed through 2 wires for meat probes or grill temperature probes. These come in handy when you are cooking multiple meats on different levels in the BBQ. As they are silicone it means they won’t damage your cables and you don’t have to worry about feeding cables in through a vent or trapping them between the lid and potentially breaking a cable. A simple thing but really does help.

Whilst most of these ideas have focussed on the ProQ being a smoker one of the best tricks it has up its sleeve is by removing the middle stackers and leaving but the base and the lid. Now you have a super portable grill you can take anywhere with you for a picnic, to the beach camping or wherever you need to. How many other BBQ’s have that as an option?

All of these features and ways of cooking really give you a sense of why the ProQ offers such excellent value for money. All of this is backed up by a level of customer service that is second to none. Should you ever need to, the team will be happy to help via email or over the phone which can be a rare thing these days.

So I’ve owned a ProQ smoker in some form for around 8 years now and there is a good reason for that, they just work and they give you so many cooking options at a very reasonable price. And that price does not mean a compromise on quality. It has taken me from an absolute beginner cooking my first ever pork shoulder smoker overnight, through to the variety of cooks we now enjoy and with a lot more confidence in using the smoker. You can see from some of the pictures here and on many more of my social media feeds how much I enjoy cooking on my Excel in various different set-ups. And there are now more options too with the new plancha, rotisserie and Smartfire attachments, some of which we will discuss in later reviews so please keep checking back.

Please check out the ProQ website to see their full range of products including accessories, large commercial style smokers, cold smokers, BBQ controllers, charcoal, smoking wood, as well as recipes and tips.

Follow ProQ

Twitter : @ProQSmokers

Instagram: @proqsmokers

Website: www.proqsmokers.co.uk

Artust

Twitter : @ArtustBBQ

Instagram: @artustbbq

Outback Jupiter 4 burner Hybrid BBQ Review by ArtustBBQ

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.
Now as a big BBQ fan, my heart always leads with charcoal, but you forget that for the majority of folks out there the convenience of a gas grill is right for them and their situation, hence why they always were, and still are, so popular with many backyard grillers.

    But what if there was the option to have a grill that could do both? The convenience of a quality gas grill, but also the opportunity to really drive some charcoal flavour into the food you cook too? Well that option now exists through the Outback BBQ’s range of Hybrid grills. New for 2020 is the Jupiter 4 grill from Outback and that’s the one we will focus on for this review, however you can see the full range on their website, and you’ll find the link at the bottom of this article.
    For total clarity, I was sent the grill to review and I have also worked with Outback for content creation for social media. This does not mean, however, that I must give this grill a good review, my account and uses below will be honest and detailed. The grill was delivered to me disassembled as it would be delivered to a customer, this gave me the opportunity to get hands on with the nuts and bolts of the grill and understand the build quality. In a real world situation it took 2 of us around 1 hour and 20 minutes to build the Jupiter 4. This was with a few refreshment stops along the way.

    Thankfully for me and anyone buying this grill, large sections are assembled in the box ready for you to just build the main base stand and then bolt together. The instructions are pretty clear and easy to follow and we had no missing parts. There may be some re-sellers of the Outback range who will assemble them for you for a small additional fee.

    Let’s start by discussing the basics of what a hybrid grill is. The name Jupiter 4 is linked to the fact this is a 4-burner gas grill, meaning essentially, they are 4 stainless steel tubes underneath the grates creating heat from gas. They get super-hot very quickly which is why people love the convenience of this type of grill. Switch the burners on, shut the lid and within a few minutes the grill is up to temperature and you are ready to grill. Wait a few minutes more and you’ll be up to super-hot temps ready for searing steaks etc. Remember the bars of the grill always take a touch longer to catch up heat wise and really absorb all the heat for searing etc.

    Each of the dials on the front of the grill is linked to a burner and as the dial is turned, you’ll hear an ignition click and the burner will be alight, it’s then fully adjustable through the heat range from low, medium then to high. So, if you were only cooking something small and quick, then you may only need to light one burner and so you use less gas and keeping the lid down through any cook makes the grill even more efficient and helps to stop flare ups too. Above the main grill there is also a removable warming rack which is there to help you find a cooler area for food that is cooked whilst you wait for others to finish. In addition to the four main burners this grill also includes a side burner gas ring that you can use independently of the grill itself. This is perfect for warming sauces, melting a garlic butter for basting or boiling some new potatoes, or anything else you need.

    So, we’ve covered the gas side of the Outback grill, here is the hybrid part. You can lift out the grills and then take off the v shape covers that sit over the gas burner bars and insert what Outback call their ‘Charcoal basket’. This can then be loaded with specially produced Outback briquettes laid out in a grid pattern (shown in the pictures of the review). You simply then light the burners underneath the charcoal basket, set to full and shut the lid. When you return 15 minutes later the briquettes should be alight, ashed over and ready to cook on. So simply turn off the gas burners and then all your heat comes from the coals. Now you are ready to get that lovely charcoal flavour onto your chosen food and it’s great for things like steak and chicken. I used the charcoal basket for my rib cook in the pictures using the indirect method.
    So, I had the charcoal basket off to one side and the ribs away from the heat over an unlit burner, I then placed some small wood chips on the bars above the coals and shut the lid to let the ribs smoke away. I added more wood chips every 15 mins or so, and after 45 minutes turned the ribs 180 degrees so the other side of the rack was now facing the heat. After 90 minutes I wrapped the ribs in some foil with a dash of BBQ sauce and some apple juice and let them run. The briquettes stayed producing the heat needed for about 2hr30 minutes and then I just kicked the gas back on at the end to maintain heat. Once foiled, the ribs weren’t going to take on anymore charcoal flavour so using the gas again was fine.
    Once the ribs were tender, I then unwrapped them, brushed on both sides with a little more sauce and left them unwrapped for the sauce to set for another 10 minutes. The pictures speak for themselves and I was left with a nice lightly smoked rack of tender ribs in just a few hours. Clean up is then made easy by sweeping the briquettes down between the bars into the pull-out drip tray accessed from the back of the grill. There is a handle on the tray, and I have lined mine with foil for easy clean up.

    Having the 4 burners and bigger grill space gives you more options around your chosen cooking methods and range of temperatures too. As mentioned above you can set up zones in your grill for either direct cooking where the food is directly above the heat, or indirect where you set the food off to one side away from the heat for slower cooks making more of an oven effect with heat convection. All of this is a good thing.

    So, what are the interchangeable multi cook grills inserts? Obviously, the grill style centrepiece comes included in the grill, but for a small additional cost you can buy additional inserts for the centrepiece to help you cook in different styles. Outback kindly sent with my kit the pizza stone and the double-sided porcelain griddle featuring a flat top surface perfect for fried eggs or pancakes, and grilled side with ridges for those perfect grill marks, and there is even a wok too. I used the pizza stone for well… Pizzas and I have to say as an owner of a pizza oven I was genuinely surprised by the results, just some super high heat from all four burners and within 5 minutes I had perfectly cooked home pizza. I did use some homemade dough to really make sure you got the best crust possible, but I would definitely get this insert and have a go. I also used the flattop as part of a full English breakfast cook up I did and It couldn’t have gone better. Perfectly cooked eggs with runny yolks and the whites just crisped at the edges, sausages, bacon, beans, mushrooms and some hash browns for good measure.

    Let’s talk about the cool bits this grill has built in that Outback feel make life at the grill a little easier. The built-in bottle opener kicks things off, neatly built into the side of the grill it’s tucked away but there when you need it. The opener also has a magnetic base meaning no more bottle caps on the floor hiding in the grass ready to pounce when the flip flops are off. My favourite of all the features has to be the built-in chopping board on the shelf on the right side of the grill. I love this little touch. So handy as it pops out of its location easily with a finger hole for grip, meaning it’s also easy to remove for cleaning after you have been chopping or even better to serve your finished dishes on. Open the doors to the storage area underneath the grill you’ll see a very handy stacking rack for all the inserts for the interchangeable multi cook grill.  Perfect for keeping them all in one place by the grill and out of sight too. The amount of times I have searched around looking for grill bits before in the shed or garage, this just seems so obvious and it’s so useful.

    Along the front of the right hand shelf there is also a hanging bar for you to keep your BBQ tools, hot gloves and even a tea towel on etc. They have provided 3 movable hanging hooks for you to hang any items from too, again just a neat and handy feature. The grill sits on casters so you can it can easily be moved around the garden or out door cooking area. And when you want it to stay in place, 2 of the casters lock to ensure the grill doesn’t move around. As with most grill now, on the lid of the Outback there is a temperature dial to really help you dial in the perfect temperature for your cooks. The dial on the grill feels premium over some and I would describe it as oversized (in a good way) to make it easy to read with a quick glance. Another additional item that Outback sent with the grill was the premium outdoor cover.

    We’ve had all the weather in the last few weeks and the grill has been kept safe and dry from the rain and the cover has stayed in place thanks to the Velcro straps at either end. A must have item for anyone leaving a grill outside and uncovered. The grill also comes with a pre-installed regulator to fit your gas canister.

    Wrap up. So far, I have cooked on this grill over 12 times and have been happy with each and every cook. It’s easy enough to build with 2 people, looks great when you have it built too (this model comes in a few different colours so as well as the red I have you can also get blue, green and then stainless steel), it has a lot of well thought out extras that other manufacturers in this price bracket do not include, and most importantly it’s able to cook a whole range of different food using both gas and charcoal and most importantly of all it does it well. To make sure I was giving the grill a fair review I have tried cooks of all different types using both gas and charcoal and I did not encounter any issues. I obviously cannot vouch for the longevity of the grill, but a good cleaning routine and the outdoor cover will help massively. In this hybrid range there is also a smaller 3 burner and a larger 6 burner model should you require more or less space.

    The retail price of this Outback Jupiter 4 grill is £599 and comes with a warranty of 2 years for the hood and body, and 12 months for all other parts.

    About Outback taken from their website. “Since its formation as a family business in 1979, the Outback brand has stood for quality, innovation and total customer commitment, providing a comprehensive range of cutting edge British-designed barbecues, spare parts and accessories that leads the way in quality and value.

    Linked with the world class Chinese manufacturer TPA for the past 35 years, Outback is able to respond to the latest market trends and developments quickly and efficiently – simply click on to any of our comprehensive range of charcoal and gas barbecues to see how we stand out from the competition.

    The Outback factory has been ISO9001 approved since 1995 and has been awarded safety certificates from testing authorities worldwide. We have built our reputation on taking your alfresco dining experience very seriously. From the initial concept and design stages, to choosing the most up-to-date and sustainable materials, right through to our shipping and handling systems, we pay particular attention to every last detail to make sure the product delivers you 100% satisfaction each and every time.”

    Outback and all their range of BBQ’s covers and accessories can be found on their website https://www.outbackbarbecues.com/

    Instagram: @outbackbbqs

    Artust
    Twitter :@ArtustBBQ
    Instagram: @ArtustBBQ

    BBQ Dragon and Chimney of Insanity

    The BBQ Dragon and Chimney of Insanity have been around a few years in the states and not really available here until now. Here’s a review from Mark Quigg (@Markie_q_bbq)

    Those of you that follow me on social media, will be aware that I am a big fan of plancha cooking and have a great relationship with Smokerig and their sister site Totally BBQ. A few weeks ago, we were chatting about a new kettle BBQ they will be stocking when it is released in the coming months. They mentioned a new product that they had just managed to get hold of from America.

    That product was the BBQ Dragon and the Chimney of Insanity. I must admit I had never heard of them, but they very generously offered to send them to me to play with. Just to clarify, they have at no point asked me to review the products, or promote them in anyway. I am free to give my honest opinion.

    The BBQ Dragon is a stainless steel, battery powered variable speed fan on a flexible neck. At the other end is a heavy-duty rubber lined bulldog clip to fasten it, so it is completely hands-free. It has a variety of uses, from lighting fires, increasing temps, to recovering smouldering fires.

      The Chimney of Insanity’s design from the outside looks like most chimney starters, apart from the protruding hole on one side, towards the bottom of the chimney. When you look inside, the charcoal grate is not conical, but flat and you can see that the hole that protrudes for the side, is actually a 90-degree elbow joint. The concept is that you place a firelighter in the elbow joint and this causes a large draw of air up through the coals.

      But this is where they come into their own. The hole is the exact size of the BBQ Dragon fan head, which slots into the hole on the chimney and transforms it into more of a rocket stove. On my first use, I lit a chimney full of new Weber briquettes in 4 minutes and 32 seconds. No mean feat. It’s capacity is slightly less than a Weber chimney starter, probably around ¾ the size. This isn’t an issue for me as I rarely used to light a full chimney.

      Since then I have been experimenting with them both and having a lot of fun.  I have used the BBQ Dragon at the end of cooks to bring the temperature of the coals up, so I have an intense sear zone. This is great with a Slow N Sear. It’s worked well with my Kadai Fire Bowl, on some Oak wood that has always previously really struggled and always smouldered. It has also worked with my Ooni 2S, to fire up the pellets quicker and in between pizzas to keep the temperature up. All of which it has handled with ease.
      I’ve used the Chimney of insanity with a grate across the top, with the BBQ Dragon on and cooked some proper flame grilled steaks. On YouTube others have also used them as a Wok burner.

      I am very impressed with them so far. The build quality seems great. It’s the first chimney starter I have used where the handle doesn’t even get slightly warm. The BBQ Dragon runs on 4 x AA batteries. It does have a micro USB socket on the handle, so you can trickle charge rechargeable batteries if you like.

      So do you need one in order to be able to BBQ?  No.  But do you want a quicker method of lighting your BBQ, that’s portable, handsfree and can help searing, fire management, pizza making etc? Then I would recommend checking it out. It’s one of those gadgets that once you have it, you wonder how you ever coped without it. The BBQ Dragon and Chimney of Insanity are available separately or as a bundle on www.tbbq.co.uk.  Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or Instagram (@Markie_q_bbq) if you want any more information.

      SNS Grills – Slow ‘N Sear

      What is a Slow ‘N Sear I hear you ask. Basically it turns your kettle bbq into a smoker to allow you to cook food at a low temperature. Pulled pork is a great example. Normally cooked at 110°C (225°F) over many hours which is not easily achievable on a kettle without a lot of baby sitting.

      I bought this a while ago from Totally BBQ after watching a load of YouTube videos and being initially attracted by how easy it looked. I’ve seen numerous basket set ups and snakes etc in the Weber that will do a similar job but this seemed a lot easier to use, so the Slow ‘n Sear 2.0 was ordered.

      Arrived and unboxed, first impressions were a well-made sturdy piece of stainless steel which fitted perfectly in my Weber 57. The coals obviously go in the back and the water baffle is filled with hot water.

        The instructions said to start a few coals in one end of the basket as shown above. (I now just start some in my small weber chimney and stack in when hot). Once initial coals are going, fill with more fuel and then I filled the baffle with water from a boiling kettle. Add a couple of bits of your favourite wood on and your good to go.

        The baffle can be removed if you just want to use it with charcoal for a sear zone of for indirect cooking.

        Once the  lid was on it didn’t take long for it to approach the desired temp of 110°C (225°F) and then just cracking the bottom vent and the top vent slightly open, it didn’t need much tweaking for it to stay around there for the next 8 hours.

        Just for information I was using Cococabana Grillbriketts

        Here’s them at 3 hours, 6 hours and 8 hours respectively. The temp was easy to maintain with just a little vent tweaking now and again.

        I’ve now used this on a quite few cooks and been more than pleased with it. To be honest it doesn’t really come out of the BBQ unless I’m using the Fuel Dome for wings. As there’s only two of us at home now, I even got rid of a couple of smokers that now just weren’t being used.

        There’s a few extras available for it like a griddle pan and a rotating rack with a bigger flip up portion for adding coals.

        For me, I really like it and if anything happened to it, I’d definitely replace it in a heartbeat.

        Available from Totally BBQ.

        Grilled Sea Bass

        Grilled Whole Sea Bass Chreime with ginger and coriander relish
        Chreime is a Tunisian fish stew but in this recipe bbq-ing the fish adds a depth of smoke flavour

        Grilled Sea Bass

        • Prep Time10 min
        • Cook Time20 min
        • Total Time30 min
        • Yield2 Servings

        Ingredients

        • 6 garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped
        • 1tbsp salt
        • 1 1/2tsp caraway seeds toasted in a dry pan and ground in a spice blender
        • 1 tsp cumin seeds toasted in a dry pan and ground in a spice blender
        • 100ml olive oil
        • 2tbs smoked paprika
        • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
        • 50g tomato paste
        • 1tbsp red wine vinegar
        • 1tsp sugar
        • 1 sea bass approximately 700gms scaled and gutted.
        • Juice of 1 lime

        Method

        For the Ginger and Coriander Relish

        1

        Combine all the ingredients in a bow, season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside

        For the Chreime

        2

        Crush the garlic with the salt, caraway and cumin and garlic in a pestle and mortar, add a table spoon of olive oil, the paprika and cayenne pepper and stir to combine

        3

        Heat the rest of the oil in pan over medium heat, add the garlic and spice mix and fry stirring frequently to avoid burning.

        4

        Bring to a gentle simmer then add the vinegar and sugar. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Keep warm.

        5

        Score the sea bass on each side and drizzle with oil, season with salt and pepper

        6

        Set the bbq up for direct grilling, once ready grill your sea bass for 3-4 mins a side, it should be opaque and slightly firm when ready.

        7

        Put sea bass into sauce and bring to a gentle simmer spooning some sauce over to finish the cooking.

        8

        Serve with the relish spooned over and straight from the pan.

        9

        Some toasty crusty bread and a green salad make great sides

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        Grilled Sea Bass

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        Dirty Scallops with Nduja and Wild Garlic Butter.

        Nduja is a soft spicy salami from Italy which melts and compliments the flavour of the scallops.

        If you’re cooking this on a charcoal BBQ please ensure you’re using Lumpwood charcoal.

        This is a recipe from Steve Johnson who is a passionate and experienced bbq chef from Brixham Devon , winner of PenGrille 2018, demonstrator and pop up bbq chef, specialising in fish and shellfish.

        Dirty Scallops with Nduja and Wild Garlic Butter.

        • Prep Time10 min
        • Cook Time10 min
        • Total Time20 min
        • Yield4 Servings

        Ingredients

        • 12 scallops in the half shell
        • Nduja approximately 80-100g
        • Wild garlic butter
        • Pastis such as Pernod

        Method

        1

        Ask your fishmonger to sell you scallops in the half shell. These may need to be ordered in advance.

        2

        I make wild garlic butter each spring using 80g of fresh wild garlic leaves to 250g of butter and half a tsp of sea salt. Portion and freeze for use later. If wild garlic butter isn’t available use normal garlic instead.

        3

        Have your coals hot and spread evenly. Add a knob of Nduja and wild garlic butter to each scallop shell.

        4

        Place the scallops directly on the coals. The scallops are cooked when the Nduja and garlic butter are melted an the internal temperature of the scallops is 50°C. Just before removing add a dash of pastis and flambé. I recommend the use of a protective glove for this.

        5

        This dish may be cooked on a conventional charcoal or gas bbq.

        6

        The scallops may be substituted for fresh oysters which are also delicious cooked this way.

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        Dirty scallops with Nduja and Wild Garlic Butter

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