Which BBQ should I buy for Summer?

[TCIB]

I have a Weber kettle which I have used for the last 10 years. I am considering purchasing the Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Centre. Its expensive but a beautiful bit of kit.


Air-insulated double-walled lid & bowl
Rapidfire Lid Damper
Smoke / Low-and-Slow vent setting
Two-Position Fuel Grate
Hinged Diffuser Plate

It does everything an American ceramic grill can do. With its double walled Kettle, temperature control is very easy and if you are into cooking low and slow its the dogs danglers.

That looks spot on mate, would love to see how that does a pork shoulder with minimal intervention, i assume you barely need touch the beauty for at least 4 hours?

Just made the dogs a proper full on huge flame grilled bacon cheeseburger, not even done my own yet. Chopper is sleeping it off lying on his back grunty snoringly reliving the beefy delight no doubt.

The griddle pan indoors during winter is ok but it's just no substitute for a proper pit with lumpwood is it.

 

[Saddleworth2]

That looks spot on mate, would love to see how that does a pork shoulder with minimal intervention, i assume you barely need touch the beauty for at least 4 hours?

Just made the dogs a proper full on huge flame grilled bacon cheeseburger, not even done my own yet. Chopper is sleeping it off lying on his back grunty snoringly reliving the beefy delight no doubt.

The griddle pan indoors during winter is ok but it's just no substitute for a proper pit with lumpwood is it.

Nice one mate. You paint a great mental image of a cheeseburger full Chopper!

Haven't bought the Summit yet as I'm still trying to find a supplier that can let me see and touch it before I buy. There are loads of You Tube films about it and it does look very good. It has a two level grill capability, so if you want to cook low and slow, you fill the base with charcoal, put a deflector in place, bring it up to the low temperature setting and leave whatever it is you are cooking - very little intervention required. Some of the films claim it stays lit for over 24 hours! Certainly it comes out well in comparison tests with the big brand ceramic grills. I have been v happy with my Weber kettle for the last 10 years, but since I retired I find myself getting a little more ambitious with what and how I bbq. Although I have used the kettle for slow cooking, I feel it needs a lot of intervention and watching and fiddling with the vents. Now thats probably my inexperience and lack of skill rather than a weakness of the kettle, but the Summit does look to be very simple to operate. Cost is a factor - its going to be thick end of £2k with all the bits and pieces, but it will give me a great deal of enjoyment and its built so well it will see me out no problem. I use the grill a couple of times a week at least - sun, rain or snow. So i should get my moneys worth!

 

[jonmcity]

• The monstrous Kalamazoo Hybrid Fire Grill from Michigan weighs 42-stone

• It is the only one of its kind in the UK and at £13,500 is the most expensive

• Temperature dial can reach 750C (1,382F) using wood, charcoal or gas

• It even cleans itself at 500C as fat and grease oozes off the gleaming bars

If you with the lottery tonight

 

[NeilYoungIsBack]

Apologies for going off on a bit of a tangent, but I made these Armenian kebabs last weekend and they were a huge hit.

So much so that a few days later I made the recipe again, but this time did them as a burger and used beef instead of lamb. The family are clamouring for more this weekend, so as they've been a success I thought I'd share the link to where I got the basic recipe.



As I say, for a burger I swapped lamb for beef, and also I cut back on the suggested amount of salt as I seem to be sensitive to sodium and I am trying to minimise my intake as much as possible. Basically I used 1 teaspoon.

I think this will become my standard (beef) burger recipe...

 

[BimboBob]

Did the Op enjoy using his BBQ in the summer we just had?

 

[oakiecokie]

One thats got a big canopy to keep the rain off.

 

[TCIB]

Nice one mate. You paint a great mental image of a cheeseburger full Chopper!

Haven't bought the Summit yet as I'm still trying to find a supplier that can let me see and touch it before I buy. There are loads of You Tube films about it and it does look very good. It has a two level grill capability, so if you want to cook low and slow, you fill the base with charcoal, put a deflector in place, bring it up to the low temperature setting and leave whatever it is you are cooking - very little intervention required. Some of the films claim it stays lit for over 24 hours! Certainly it comes out well in comparison tests with the big brand ceramic grills. I have been v happy with my Weber kettle for the last 10 years, but since I retired I find myself getting a little more ambitious with what and how I bbq. Although I have used the kettle for slow cooking, I feel it needs a lot of intervention and watching and fiddling with the vents. Now thats probably my inexperience and lack of skill rather than a weakness of the kettle, but the Summit does look to be very simple to operate. Cost is a factor - its going to be thick end of £2k with all the bits and pieces, but it will give me a great deal of enjoyment and its built so well it will see me out no problem. I use the grill a couple of times a week at least - sun, rain or snow. So i should get my moneys worth!

Sorry for the late reply!

I find your choice of fuel almost rules the cook on a kettle. If you use the stuff at a petty station i agree more than i can express in words about the fiddling. The best coal i have found here in the uk is this stuff...



Get a sack of that and i will refund you personally if you do not find it the most even stable burning wood you ever used. A fine second which is also decent for some direct grilling is...



What do you use currently for heat and smoke?

 

[Saddleworth2]

Sorry for the late reply!

I find your choice of fuel almost rules the cook on a kettle. If you use the stuff at a petty station i agree more than i can express in words about the fiddling. The best coal i have found here in the uk is this stuff...



Get a sack of that and i will refund you personally if you do not find it the most even stable burning wood you ever used. A fine second which is also decent for some direct grilling is...



What do you use currently for heat and smoke?

I had the summit delivered today. It’s currently sitting on my drive waiting to be built. In terms of fuel, I only use the Weber charcoal briquettes. I migrated to that from supermarket lumpwood charcoal. For smoke I use the Weber wood chips. You can see I’m an imaginative kind of guy. I have to admit to the mindset briquettes good, lumpwood bad which looks wrong based on the research I did on the summit were most of the demos featured lumpwood. Have you used briquettes and discarded in favour of your recommendations. What do you use for smoke? I’m keen to learn!