BBQ's
So what's your preference and why Gas or Charcoal ?
Does the food taste any different with either method, can't say I have noticed any difference ☺
I have only asked the question as I have just bought a small cheap gas one with lava rocks in it to connect to the caravan and up until now have always used a small charcoal one when away and have very large charcoal one at home in the garden ☺
Comments
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My preference would always be for gas. For one thing you just have to light it and you are ready to cook almost immediately for one. As to tasting different that might depend. BBQ cooking has got more sophisticated over the years with the use of marinades and other flavourings so is a bit of smoke going to really make a difference? At the risk of being shot down in flames (sorry about the pun
) I find charcoal BBQ's a bit anti social for those not immediately involved be that on a campsite or at home. I always notice when a camper sets up a charcoal BBQ they always position to cause them the minimum disruption from the smoke for them but leave the rest of use to enjoy it!!! Perhaps the attraction of Charcoal is that it is a relatively long winded affair and usually by the time its ready to cook so much beer and wine have been consumed but maybe that is the point?David
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Or a "Man-Fire" thing
I take your point about the smoke and always try to keep it to a minimum.0 -
We have a Cadac and love it. It cooks the food very well and you can use it to cook a variety of things. It does burgers. Steaks ex very good. People will say it is not a proper BBQ but it works for us as we got fed up with our old charcoal one which took ages to light and most of the time burnt the food. We also have a big gas BBQ at home and use that on a regular basis too.
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At least my next-door neighbour had the courtesy to let me know they were about to start preparing their BBQ -- gave me ample time to bring in my newly washed/dried goodies off the line
. All nicely dried, sun - bleached and fit for folding & packing away. ( and NO that was not the neighbour just the washing !! )1 -
Cadac v Weber or similar.
BBQing has a long history and functions by heating food on a grid over the heat source, so that marinades, oil, juices drip onto the heat source, creating smoke which infuses into the food.
Cadacs use a hot plate much like any fast food vendor,. There’s no smoke infusion so the food doesn’t take on a BBQ flavour.
Charcoal BBQs, by and large, create more smoke than gas, with the addition of a lighting ritual which you either enjoy or find to be a chore. A lid is essential for heat control and safe internal temperatures for the food.
Gas BBQs are hugely more convenient to light than charcoal, and will suit frequent users. BUT in most cases they don’t create the taste enhancement that charcoal does. High end products like Weber are designed to catch drips and generate smoke, so make a good substitute. As above, a lid is required for safe cooking.
Good BBQs tend to have thicker lids than their cheaper cousins, helping to maintain safe temperatures. The Rolls Royce of this type is ‘The Egg’.
In consequence of our weak £ against the $, Weber prices are eye wateringly high. Egg BBQs always were very expensive.
People speak well of Cob BBQs too.
High quality BBQs have strong but heavy grates/ hot plates, which are cleaned by heating and brushing prior to use. A lid is essential for this. We never wash our Webers, Cadac hot plates need periodic washing, particularly when packed away for travelling. If configured as a direct heat BBQ, they are next to impossible to clean. Weber sell iron plates to sit on theirs, to allow eggs to be fried, pancakes to be made etc, but they are heavy. Cadacs are lighter. Charcoal ash is messy and has to be disposed of, though this aspect isn’t necessarily troublesome. Sourcing good quality charcoal can be tricky, but it’s much easier than in the past.
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I like open charcoal cooked food, the smoking process gives the food a certain taste.
That said we did a BBQ for friends when we were away in the Lakes and we were conscious of the smoke going everywhere and OH, as head chef, managed to burn everything due to feeling he ought to get on with it rather than wait for the smoke to die down. So that wasn't so good.
We take a portable small open barrel shaped BBQ, we can fill it with charcoal or charcoal bags or balance a cheap one on the top.
If you look up the meaning of the word it came from a Caribbean type of open fire cooking (perhaps that's already been mentioned?)
I see Cadac set ups are very popular and they are certainly much easier to manage.
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Your problem with burning and smoke is one reason why a lid is needed. When the lid is in place the vent can be entirely closed to starve the charcoal of oxygen, or left slightly open to moderate the flames. Any cook, however experienced, will struggle with the heat of an open grate. Too much heat will burn the outside while leaving the centre raw. Once again, replacing the lid will reduce scorching while allowing the centre to cook.
Your poor friend has good reason to blame his tools.
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As I have said we like the Cadac as you can use it for a variety of things for instance I cooked pizza on it last weekend when we were away in the van. You do get smoke from the cadac and flame ups can happen if the temperature is too high. Cadac advice to cook with the lid off when using the BBQ part. 9 Times out of 10 the food is good and as I say we find it much easier and quicker although we did like our charcoal BBQ when we had it but found we didn't use it as much as we could have due to the 'hassle' of lighting it
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I favour gas (weber Q) for convenience and personally don't notice any difference in taste between that and a charcoal BBQ. Mainly the taste comes from the food and marinade enhanced by some smoke as bits drop on the heated grill, especially when the lid is in place.
As always, you pay your money and make your choice.
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I think we have tried a variety of BBQs, from a big gas one in the garden to the throw away types. Years of practice in burning food is a speciality of my OH, lid or no lid and I should add we've had some very good ones too. However we usually take the lid off our sense of humour and don't take outdoor cooking too seriously.
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Without exception all the commercial BBQ's I have seen in many restaurants and take away type shops that cook with charcoal don't have lids on their equipment, I have been recently (twice) to a very fine establishment that specializes in meats cooked over charcoal in SOHO and they certainly don't, as you can watch them prepare your meal. it's down to the skills and knowledge of the person cooking it I would suggest
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We use charcoal in our Cobb. Since getting the Cobb we've not used the cadac at all and should probably sell it.
There's little smoke from a Cobb. It uses 7 Australian heat beads or a specially shaped charcoal brick and cooks for ages.
I wouldn't use anything else now
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Do you have those professional chefs skills to cook without a lid Millie? We’re you aware that there’s a massive ramp up in food poisoning admissions to hospital during the BBQ season? Did you know that Egg style BBQs, which have lids are frequently used by professional chefs? Have you observed how professional chefs using open BBQs have air control below the heat and adjustable height grills. Things like carbon monoxide extractors and the above are part of professional chefs equipment, but the OP is just a caravanner wanting some advice on the sort of BBQs that a caravanner might use - not a chefs kitchen, and I’m not aware that he is a chef either.
lids are used to ensure that the centre of food is cooked safely on all BBQ types, and for controlling heat on charcoal BBQs. So I hope that you’ll forgive me for giving advice which is relevant to him.
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Food poisoning?, I can’t get my head around the concept of-‘folk who eat meat so rare it’s dripping’, then the-‘hospitalised for eating food not cooked properly’ where does it go wrong?, it’s that conundrum that has me in the-‘I don’t do BBQ food personally’ bracket🙁
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Intensive farming has brought with it higher levels of disease in meat. Chicken and pork need particular care in their preparation to ensure that any harmful bacteria within the meat is killed, unless the meat is farmed with levels of care greater than that exercised by supermarket suppliers. Beef and lamb aren’t susceptible to those bacteria, hence they can be eaten while still bloody, ditto venison.
If you read the packaging on very many raw chickens, you are instructed not to wash them because doing so is likely to spread bugs around your sink etc.
i have read, and I leave you to make your own deductions re the validity of the claim, that NHS sources attribute much of the rise in BBQ related food poisoning to the observation that men, who don’t cook regularly at home, are less aware of good food hygiene practice than their wives.
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Whilst lids / domes are very useful in BBQ cooking. Depending on the BBQ type, they are certainly not essential. Even fairly modest charcoal ones, that you might take camping have adjustable height grills. We used to have one we took tenting, which also had a variable height battery powered spit, on which we used to cook small chickens.
Plus as long as you don't try and fill the device with food, it is possible to layer the charcoal, so you have different temperatures at either end of the BBQ. Moving the food between the two will allow it to cook through without burning, whilst getting a good colour on whatever you are cooking. For thicker pieces of meat and particularly whole chickens a thermal prob is an essential bit of kit.
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Thanks👍🏻. Re Men cooking on the BBQ I’ve eaten lots of BBQ food & never suffered but I’ve always been intrigued by the rare/undercooked conundrum.
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For practical purposes, we use a Cadac.
This all started a few years ago when my charcoal BBQ bit the dust and we needed a new one. I particularly want a 'waist-height, stand alone BBQ', but because it was almost at the end of the season, I couldn't find one. Several weeks earlier, I saw an acquaintance of mine who had a Cadac. It was the right height, and as it was gas, so we could also use it on sites in the S of France, where charcoal BBQ's are often not allowed - I wasn't really in favour of taking two barbecues. It seemed like the ideal solution, so we went for it.
Nowadays, we can't imagine being without it - we use it most days. A few years ago we placed our Carri Chef (original) with a Carri Chef 2. Very happy with the Cadac.
David
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You’re welcome.
Perhaps if I publish some bug killing temperatures, you can be persuaded to take up the happy art. You’ll need a probe type thermometer to check the centre of the meat/ fish, preferably in two or three places.
All Temps in deg C
Killing bacteria
70 - 2 min
75 - 30 sec
82 - 1 sec
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