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Food Snobbery 101. Episode 1, Barbecue
For most things in the food world, there is lots of room for interpretation, lots of things people have different opinions on.
For the most part, I’m perfectly okay with people doing things that I generally wouldn’t.
You insist on letting your pizza dough rise for 24 hours like in Naples? Go right ahead. You want to add the onion, garlic and ginger to that stir fry before the pork? Knock yourself out. You want to put zucchini in your chili? Hey, that’s fine with m….okay that’s just wrong.
Anyway, one of the things I have a very strong opinion on is barbecueing.
First off, let’s define the terms. Propane grilling of any kind is grilling and is never in the same room with barbecueing. A propane grill is just that, a grill. People pay huge amounts of money for really big shiny ones with seven million btu’s and a beer fridge built in and that’s fine, but it’s no barbecue.
Gas grill company’s like using the term barbecue because that’s what helps it sell. They add bells and whistles because that also helps it sell. Gas grilling is far more popular because it’s slick and convenient. Not exactly a great thing for your food, but man, do we love laziness as a society.
No one’s every said: “Hey, these ribs are great. They taste like they came from a product that’s slick and convenient.”
Who are you monsters that want barbecueing to be fast and convenient? Maybe doing a six pound brisket on your lunch break is not a good idea.
I started out with a gas grill back in 1996. I was barely out of the womb, 27, and just didn’t know any better. Years later, after many trips to the gas station around the corner to get even more propane, mmmmm delicious propane, I finally discovered charcoal. I put my delicious propane grill at the curb (see photo above) and never looked back.
Many would view this as a step back, an old method that thankfully got replaced by delicious propane. I thought it was a step forward and everything I’ve cooked over charcoal since has backed up my theory. Everything’s better over charcoal. Everything.
Take a trip down to the best barbecue joints in the southern U.S. and you’ll find food cooking over wood charcoal. Is it because they can’t afford delicious propane? Of course not, it’s because of flavour. Period.
You simply can’t beat the flavour of cooking over wood, especially with long-cooking applications such as with a brisket or racks of pork ribs. Real smoke, real wood flavour and not just smokeless fire that you get from delicious propane.
After a few years now of charcoal barbecueing, I actually find the process to be – call me a monster – convenient and efficient. My Weber 22-inch Kettle barbecue, a design that’s been around for decades and for good reason, is super easy to cook on, very easy to maintain and clean, and seals up after cooking to preserve coals for the next time I barbecue. Highly efficient, while delivering exactly the kind of cooking method I want: real barbecueing.
Not having to replace rusting burners, igniters, hoses and delicious propane tanks is just a bonus.
So if you’re thinking about improving your outdoor cooking this summer, don’t just go for a bigger, shinier delicious propane grill. Go for some real barbecue and get yourself knee deep in charcoal.
A Weber 22-inch kettle barbecue. Only $129.99. Combine with a $30 Weber chimney starter and you’re set for life. So to speak.
Weber chimney charcoal starter. Cold coals to 1500 Farenheit in 14 minutes.
Indirect cooking with an added pack of wood chips for extra flavour. Slow and low.
Weber’s dark side. This grill is only $2,049.00 plus tax at a local mega store. Wow, they’re practically giving it away. I hear natural gas tastes more natural too.
Hey Andrew, sorry I didn’t see this earlier. Yeah, I’d suggest holding off until you can swing $145 (tax in) for the Weber grill. There are cheaper charcoal grills but they just don’t have the proven design of the weber. I actually started out with a $60 charcoal grill from Kent and it lasted for only a couple of years before the ash-collector at the bottom rusted right off, forcing me to move up to the Weber. It was then I realized I should have bought the Weber in the first place. I got much higher temperatures for searing meats and the ample cooking area means you can put coals on one side and do indirect cooking (for slow and low cooking like with brisket or ribs) on the other side. As mentioned, it’s a design that’s been around for decades and for good reason. Get the good one. Weber 22-inch Kettle. Both Home Hardware and Home Depot have had them recently for $129.99 + tax.
I saw a charcoal barbecue at the Sobeys here in Halifax and it was like $37, looks kinda like the one you have, though it obviously isn’t as nice. Would it be worthwhile for me to pick one of those up or should I hold off until I have little more cash and get a slightly more expensive one?
I actually do fire up the charcoal even if for the smallest thing as it’s usually the end product, not the speed that I’m going for. That said, I can have a chicken breast on a plate that was cooked over charcoal in about 25 minutes. That’s pretty fast.
I guess my point is that I don’t get why people need grilling to be fast and convenient. It’s like trying to make an afternoon at the park fast and efficient. Shouldn’t it be enjoyed? Isn’t it better if it takes longer? Barbecueing certainly is!
I’ve got four pieces of chicken on my barbecue right now. I could have fried them up inside about 15 minutes but I’m going to slow-roast them on the coals for about an hour and a bit instead to soak up all that flavour. Yum!
I love me a nice smokey BBQ. I prefer to use lumpwood charcoal, as I find it lights well and burns easily, however I don’t think that the only reason we use propane grills is laziness. A desire for a quick grill doesn’t neccesarily mean laziness; sometimes it is just efficient. As a single person I don’t light the coals for one chicken breast, but I will light the gas grill and get as close to summer living as possible!
Ooh nice!! I’ve drooled over a big green egg. That thing is the ultimate!
And yeah, there’s nothing like doing the big cuts over charcoal. I’ve done pulled pork many times and have only done a brisket once, but it was fabulous. I got a six pound brisket cut fresh at Dean’s Meats in the City Market, gave it a good rub of spices and slow-roasted it for hours with hickory chips. Thin slices of brisket were piled on homemade hoagie buns with barbecue sauce and cole slaw. Insanely great. I think I’ll do another this year, now that I’m remembering that again!
I just entered the world of charcoal last weekend when a friend gave me a Big Green Egg. Only used it a few times so far and am loving it. the Chimney starter is easy and it gets up to heat almost as fast as the Propane one. I can’t wait to really start using it and seeing what i can do. Only chicken Steak and Sausages done on it so far but going to do some ribs this weekend. Pulled Pork and a Brisket are the ultimate goal this summer.
I totally agree, charcoal grill is the best for me. Others may find it really complicated to start a charcoal burning, but all you need really is a good old chimney starter. I actually don’t have one of these before, what I do is I simply put my charcoal right on top of the grill and light up a newspaper underneath it. After a few minutes your charcoal is burning already, I just give it a little nudge by using a hand held fan.