Extremely new to BBQ'ing

[clairbare]

Hi, have just found this forum and needed to join instantly. The subject says it all!! So far all I have done is eat BBQ food, the idea of actually starting one myself filled me with fear. However, recently I have got into watching Triple D (Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) on TV and some of the food they do on their has made my mouth water so bad i want to jump into the tv to eat it

To cut a long story short - I want to make great bbq food like that - not your usual burgers and bangers. I have a kettle bbq currently that I paid £15 for in the sale, I now have an oven thermometer to poke through the lid and a meat thermometer to check temp of food.

Charcoal is my preferred heat source, and i have got some wood from the local woodyard for smoking but well let's just say my first attempt at smoking failed dismally (i did use a turkey leg from tesco as I figured try with cheap cuts first)

I am sure many of you will just look at this post and have a good laugh but we all have to start somewhere so any tips would be great (and don't worry I can laugh at myself too ) A field trip to the states might help

Cheers
Clair

[joker smoker]

Hi Clair, do not worry. We all enjoy our mistakes and failures as well as our successes. You will find almost all the information you require to cook good BBQ on this forum and everybody here will be happy to help you. Just enjoy!

[All Weather Griller]

Hi Clair,

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will be cooking some fantastic, ribs, butts and chicken in no time and the good news is that it sounds like you bought a semi decent grill, despite the price. One of the most important features on a BBQ is the lid.

Before you know it you'll be talking coal configurations - Two zone Direct, Three zone Indirect, two zone Ring of Fire etc Which woods to use with which meats and do you sauce before or after (Much debated).

Good things to post when asking questions would be size of the grill, it's also useful to know if you have any vents for air flow etc, but I reckon after two - three experimental cooks under your belt you won't be looking back.

As John says, we share everything including our mistakes, there is usually a word of wisdom that can remedy it LOL.

All the best

Adie

[Swindon_Ed]

Hi Clair,

I too started out on a cheap bbq a couple of years ago and was able to make great ribs and chicken with it.

I'd defiantly recommend reading up on the different cooking set ups for indirect cooking, and you'll be able to find some great rubs & sauce recipes which will help you get that flavour that your looking for.

If you do get stuck or are having any issues everyone on here is very friendly and i've found them happy to help and also very knowledgeable.

Finally get yourself well acquainted with a good butcher and have some fun.

good luck.

[Steve]

Welcome on board Clair,

I think the vibe of this board has been illustrated well already. There's loads of people on here with plenty of knowledge and every one of us is willing to help. We were all beginners once and we've all made plenty of first class cock ups along the way

Please ask as many questions as you like and share your experiences with us.

[MadCow]

Hi and welcome

There's nothing wrong with cooking on a cheap bbq ... you just have to learn what you need to do with it ... What it seems we forgot to mention to you was that you need to push your fire to one side of the bbq and cook your food on the side with no charcoal on (hence indirect cooking) ... If your Turkey leg tasted horrid, then you probably used too much wood or the wrong type of wood ... only use hardwoods, fruit or nut woods ... pine (which may be what your local woodyard gave you) will be horrid as it is a soft wood and is not suitable for use in cooking.

Give it another go, use some chicken wings or thighs to start with as they don't need as long a cook as a turkey leg and you can adjust your flavours accordingly ... good luck with it and let us know how you get on.

[clairbare]

Thanks everyone for your kind welcome

It definately wasn't pine wood i was given, i think i just used far too much of it - i will work on the balance

Yesterday I cooked a 2lb pork shoulder - i added a home made rub, but again i put the meat on before i got the temperature right - as you all say, learning from mistakes is how we improve, apart from the outside of the meat being slightly charred i could see a small smoke ring on the meat so we are getting there Also I cooked it too long and it became a little dry.

Onwards and upwards and thanks again for the posts, I know this site will take me on to make good progress and hopefully some tasty meat xx

Oh one question, if i am just using a small kettle bbq - how do you keep the charcoal hot for long periods ie if cooking ribs or larger joints - as soon as i open the lid, i am losing heat, plus i have to remove the meat to get the bbq back to the correct temp - thanks

[Steve]

Oxygen will govern how fast and hot your charcoal burns. An open grill burns through charcoal quickly, when you put the lid on there is less oxygen for the fire to consume and it will burn cooler and for longer.

With the lid on, you use the vents to control the airflow which in turn controls the temperature. Every time you take the lid off the fire will be fed with a flood of oxygen and you'll get a temporary drop followed by temperature spike. Managing temperatures on a kettle can be more challenging than with a dedicated smoker.

Top tips are

1. Only remove the lid when you have to, if the lid is off, it ain't cookin'
2. If you take the lid off and the temperature drops, don't remove the meat while it comes back up to temperature.
3. Use good quality charcoal.


When cooking large joints on a kettle, you're almost always going to have to top up the charcoal during the cook, the fact is that you can't put a lot of charcoal in the BBQ because you don't want your meat directly over coals. In a bullet smoker for example, there's a water pan between the coals and the cooking grate, so you can fill the charcoal basket full.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you "need" a smoker, you can cook amazing food on a kettle, and once you've got used to cooking indirectly it'll be a doddle for you but you will likely find that managing temperature and doing longer cooks will be more effort.

Hope this helps

Steve

[clairbare]

Thanks Steve

We bought this particular bbq just because it had a lid - and it was only £15
I know that when we master this we will want a much better system maybe we will come to the competitions and see how its really done to get more tips

[Swindon_Ed]

Hi Clair,

Following on from Steve's comment about vent control, i always keep the bottom vent fully open and then control the heat with the top vent and i have found i can keep the temp' steady between 225-250F, just adding more charcoal after a few hours but not too much.

Below is an example of an indirect set up that i used, I was cooking beer can chicken but this set up will work for any other meats your wanting to cook.



Also i'm not sure if you've seen chimney starters that are available as these are great for getting your bbq upto heat quickly. Weber do a good one which is quite cheap.

I hope this helps, sorry if i'm telling you things you already know.