The physical barbecue

[Questor]

What kind of device to you use for barbecuing?

I learned on a cheap charcoal grill, then used a hibachi, and then a Weber charcoal grill. The Weber is the finest of charcoal grills.

I've also used the Cuban method of digging a hole in the back yard, lighting a hundred pounds of charcoal in the hole, burying a banana-leaf-wrapped pig in the embers, and covering the embers with soil for about 10 hours. Now that's a good technique! Yum!

Today I use a two-burner gas grill and just switched from using lava rocks to those new-fangled pyramid-shaped bricks. Those little buggers are a real imrovement over lava rocks because I get very few flare-ups. I can even barbecue chicken right on the grill without having to put any foil under it to protect it from burning. I think I'll stick with the gas grill because after I learned to use it I get really good results. (IT IS DIFFERENT THAN A CHARCOAL UNIT!!!)

What do you use? What works for you and what doesn't?

[Heavy C]

Mine is a homemade number made out of 3/8" pipe casing.  My dad made it when I was a youngster and that thing is still going strong.  For fuel I prefer to use mesquite lump charcoal - it is a whole lot better than briquets although those will do in a pinch.

I've toyed with the idea of buying a small gas grill for fish or something quick.  But on weekends when time is not an issue the old pit is the way to go.

[Questor]

Ramos1212:

I use a grilling basket (about $5 to $7 at department store) for grilling fish and vegetables. A great tool for use with a gas grill.

You'll think it's crazy, but try it anyway: I brush the fish with mayonaise after I put it in the basket. It gives it a nice color after grilling. Another tip for grilling fish is to "overcook" salmon. I wait until it's brown around the edges and firm. If I use the traditional "cook it until it flakes" method, it's too soft and mushy. Cooking it "well done" like that makes a huge improvement.

[Heavy C]

Thanks Questor, that sounds really good especially with the lunch hour fast approaching!

My favorite is grilled trout brushed with garlic butter.  When your serve it, garnish with some pico de gallo and one wedge of lemon and one of lime.  Unberlievable!  I'm thinking it might be time to fire up the pit!

[Matt]

I've also used the Cuban method of digging a hole in the back yard, lighting a hundred pounds of charcoal in the hole, burying a banana-leaf-wrapped pig in the embers, and covering the embers with soil for about 10 hours. Now that's a good technique! Yum!

thats no stinking cuban method... we round these parts call that a hobo dinner... mighty fine too might I add...

but for me I just use a cheap wal-mart grill... after all I think it is the cook not the cooker that really matters... This is based on the fact that my other half burns everything she puts on the grill and mine melts in your mouth... same cooker just different cook...

btw. please dont tell her I said that or I might not get food for a few days...

Matt

[rockbilly]

I have a 600 gallon propane tank that has been converted to a smoker/grill.  It is mounted on a utility trailer so it can be towed.  I have a place of a large amount of wood (Mesquite) on the rear, a 40 gallon water tank on the front that is pressurized for dish water, etc.  THe water is run through the cooker to provide hot water.  It also has a full length propane burner (homemade) in the bottom to help maintain the right tempature.  I can cook about 120 pounds of meat at a time. The grill level is adjustable to grill steaks, chicken, hotdogs or hamburger if I need to.

I used this for many years in chili or briskit cook-offs, use it once in a while for parties, or functions at the lodge, and for family reunions.  The rest of the time she just sits.

It is funny how by-pass surgery makes a man stray away from smoked meat.........Oh, I still love it, and love to cook it, I just can't eat too much.

I have also done some cooking in the ground. I learned to cook goat (deer and feral hogs too) in the ground.  We start by digging a 8x8x five feet deep hole.  Fill it heaping with mesquite (wood, pecan, oak or fruit wood) light it off and let her burn down to coals.  Several peices ofmetal are placed over the coals, the meat which is wrapped in foil with the spices, etc is then wrapped in wet burlap bags and placed on the metal, another peice of metal goes on top, then cover it with dirt and walk away for 12 hours or so.  Dig it out, be careful the coals are usually still hot, take the foil off and enjoy.  My mexican friend does a whole hog and deer in the same pit around the end of November, then his wife and her family make tamales from the meat.................They are sooooo good you would slap your sick grandmother if she reached for the last one.

[williamlayton]

The traditional method I learned on was the ol hole in the ground, well, Pit cooking.
We generally covered it with corrigated tin roofing.
The first real ones were brick.
I saw my first metal (pipe) in the early sixties.
There was a BBQ stand on the highway between Kilgore and Tyler that was a big old brick affair.
That man put out some fine BBQ.
I now have a gas grill but there are some nice---and smaller---steel units being done by a fabricator out north of Houston on I45.
I have a perfect spot on the patio of my shed which seems to call one too it.
I have a friend who uses the propane tank pit--smaller than your Rockbilly--and it does real good.
These boys around these parts have some fancy dancy rigs--they could cook for an army, and do when there is a rodeo-- on some large trailers. One, this year at the Pasadena rodeo, was using a fifth wheel to pull it.
Pipe is expensive.
Blessings

[Brett]

Propane?!  You fellas out to be ashamed of yourselves. Everyone knows real BBG is sloooow cooked over hardwood coals.   

[rockbilly]

Brett.  Every tried to cook for 200-300 people..............I rest my case on the propane.

I do the actual cooking (smoking with wood, the propane is used to maintain a temperture to preven the meat from getting cold before serving.  It also help tenderize the meat by continuing to cook after the coals are gone.  Some people would add more wood to the fire, but once the coals have burned down and I put the meat on, I do not add any more wood as it would burn the meat while burning down. 

[williamlayton]

Good advice and explanation Rockbilly.
While I have never been a production cooker I have seen/noticed/been around/cooked with folks who do this. It is a necessiety.
We who do this around the house would be aided greatly by a little butane/propane to keep things running smoother when we have a larger than usual gathering.
It is hard to get it all together in the same space in time.
Now if i am doing only one at a time----which is the vast majority of the time---do it the easy way without all of this.
These 15 foot cookers are a lot to handle.
Blessings

[Brett]

Not if you make your hot coals in a separate burn barrel and distribute them as needed under the cooking racks to maintain the proper temperature.  Our church does an annual BBQ where we serve between 200 to 250 people.  We BBQ pork shoulders for approx. 12 hours.   We start making coals around 7am on a Friday morning and start the pork shoulders around 11am and cook them all day.  When the shoulders come out of the cooker around 11pm or midnight they are wrapped in foil while they are still hot and placed in large foil lined coolers where they will continue to cook in there own juices until we are ready to chop them the next afternoon.  The chopped BBQ is then served with red slaw, brown beans and fresh bread.  Talk about tender, mouth watering BBQ!!   I will try to post some pic's of our BBQ pit.  I think you will like it. 

[Questor]

I'm sold on gas grills now that I've figured out how to use them. They are conveient enough to use for daily cooking. Maintenance is minimal too. Cleanup is a breeze.

[jhm]

It used to be one of the most important things to take to the deer camp was your rifle, now you will find more gas grills at the deer woods than in a suburb, their must be a good reason for it, yes the camp fire is still there for the nightly B S sessions but the gas grill gets a good parking spot in camp and everyone seems top know when to arive at it.    JIM