Starting the BarBee

Yes, definitely. I agree. Burnt wood makes the smokey taste of BBQ. These boys got some plenty of fun time, chit chat on the fire.

Good video and the recipe I will b e trying out when the weather gets warmer for sure.

The "Cook" was MOST wasteful with his veggies though! Did you see him throwing large pieces of onion on the ground behind him? Probably because he cut it too thick, also, getting the Paprika seed mixed up in a dish is a huge "NO-NO" for me personally....I was always taught that is a negative taste for cooking....so I have always been careful not to get any in the recipe, any!!

AND THEN HE COOKED WITH GAS!!!!

He should have had a "wood gas" stove for that, or used all that great heat on the "Bar Bee" grill that was suddenly going to waste.

I may sound ungrateful, I am certainly not, I am very happy to now know the recipe, but I think most of the men here could do it better than he did.....probably all of them!!

Many thanks

O, I'd like the narrator's expression the most. Yes, you're welcome Andy!

I really dislike starter fluid and the presoaked charcoal because I feel like I'm getting ready to eat it when the food is cooked.

These will get the charcoal ready in a few minutes with nothing more than a single sheet of paper or a paper towel.

However, like Lyn, I think the pleasure comes in sipping a beer and enjoying the outdoor moment with my beloved grill

Yes, they work well.

Living in Arizona where Mesquite wood is plentiful (and free to me) I usually start a charcoal fire then when the coals are hot and all the fluid has burned away I use Mesquite wood for the cooking.

Yes, it takes longer, but I don't care.

What tool did you find that starts a grill in 55 seconds?

A flame thrower from the local military surplus store?

I was thinking a small Tokamak reactor would get that charcoal cooking in even less time.

And the winner is...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjPxDOEdsX8

Maybe in your budget, but not in mine....

That would be the 30,000 Btu weed burner kind of torch. I have to watch out for the incendiary fragments that get blown out of the grill.

Oh. Yep, I've got one too. I used it once just for grins.

Too much fire power for me.

There's a new starting fluid that can have your charcoal grill up and ready to go in 11 seconds (I believe this does require the use of an entire litre/quart).

Best of all, it's naturally derived, odourless, entirely biodegradable and any spilled product will evaporate with no residue or contribution to global warming! The diluted product (at approximately 20%) is also completely non toxic, and contributes no more toxins than you would get if you didn't use it.

By the way, it goes by the brand name LOX......

What about the bagels?

Well starting the charcoal is sort of like combing your hair, everybody does it a little bit differently, although from the casual observer point of view the pyramidal stacking of the charcoal seems common amongst backyard culinary experts....the type of wood flavoring is where it gets complicated...

I use the hot coal in chimney cold beer In hand meathod. The shape of the coal stack varries with the content and size of the grill I'm using.

Please file this under the "Really Bad Advice" column due to the dangers, but it does work.

Make up a batch of "Special" charcoal by soaking them in Potassium Nitrate based stump remover from the hardware store. The Potassium Nitrate should be mixed in hot water until you can't dissolve any more. Dip the bricks in, shake off the excess and set them in the sun to dry. Make sure they are VERY dry before you use them. DO NOT store these in large quantities or with the rest of the charcoal. Heck, don't store them at all.

****Dangerous Advice Warning**** The resulting charcoal is literally one ingredient away from being gunpowder. I have never seen the resulting bricks explode, but I am in no way guaranteeing they won't. They do however burn vigorously and very hot. A few of these special bricks mixed in with your regular ones speed things up considerably.

I am only posting this because it was something I used to do in my younger, more reckless years and it fit the forum question so perfectly. Any perfectly sane person would probably choose to not do this. (On the other hand it is fun playing with chemicals.)

Firstly, probably one of the single most dangerous gases around is Oxygen. If you have to ask why, you have never worked with it!!

Its given to old people to take home for problems with breathing. The cylinder used here, could easily take out a few houses in unlucky circumstances......

I personally, having tried firelighters and other chemicals, feel the same way as several others here, never again....I don't want that in my food!!!

In a rush (sadly), I have used alcohol, both to calm me down and to light the charcoal! Ethyl not Methyl!! As even if it is not all burnt/dissipated, I have it in my body anyway!!!

The best and safest method that I like, and is relatively rapid, is to use a chimney like this one:-

Which you can view here:-

http://de.pinterest.com/pin/527132331357376114/

I have used newspaper underneath, works fine, but a dish of alcohol works MUCH faster.....and I prefer that especially if speed is required.

But still time for a beer or three......

My BBQ, well actually an oven, took 3 hours to get to temp, but can be fast tracked to 2 hours using banana cartons (parafin soaked cardboard).

Once hot, though it can cook two whole sheep (or pig or goat) in around 3 hours with no additional fuel and still do eggs and bacon next morning for breakfast. (or will maintain around 190 Deg C for 24 hours with less than 10kg of additioanl wood.)

I wanted to build a prototype first, around 500mm square, but wife said "Just make the real one". I said how big? response "Oh, around 1200 square inside." I drew that on the kitchen floor and sat in middle so she could see it!! Response "Looks about right!"

It has been good!!

To BBQ, we have cast iron plates that we pre-heat inside and then can cook on those, either inside oven or outside.

Have to build another one. We moved recently and a 2 ton brick structure just wasn't on the "can do" list for relocation.

Talking about a 1200mm square DIY BBQ, did you hear of the chap who wanted to build one in his garden?

He went to the brickyard to buy 12,000 bricks. "Blimey, mate!" They said "Do realise it will be it would be 165ft high. "Yes I know" he said "I live on the 20th floor!"

I went to the brickyard where the bricks are made. (Old fashioned mill with hand loading and stacking in the kiln.) and talked with the original brickmaker. A wonderful older gentleman who's standard apparel is bib and brace overalls, evento go shopping.

I asked him to give me the bricks, but he said that he would have to charge me for some of them. We came to a deal. I paid for half of them (the fire rated ones for the interior) and took the rest from their discard pile for free, provided I brought him one of the meals from the oven.

He really enjoyed the bread and the roast meat, but the apple dumplings were his favourite.

Over the years, I've probably got over 20,000 bricks from him for various projects.

Note: He also cooks inside the kilns when they are hot, but it takes them nearly 7 days to get up to temp. Wood fired kilns, manually stoked 24/7 as required using offcut flitches from the local hardwood sawmills.

An electric "heat gun" works fairly well.

Mine takes a while. Maybe an hour. Sometimes more. What the hell do I care. My beer and good friends are nearby.

jhammond

It takes a little over an hour to go from stacking the kindling and topping with my seasoned (ten years, minimum, off the tree) to some of the best BBQ/grill cooking the world has ever seen.

At home - a proper full sized gas BBQ. Cheating really - with wood sticks poked in the grill to give 'smoke' flavour.

When cruising, a simple portable BBQ. I always use clean natural charcoal or briquettes (not oil impregnated stuff - awful smell and taste) - with dry sticks to get it going - or I collect tinder and wood from the hedgerow and build up a fire and let that burn down to a bed of red hot embers.

If no sticks and tinder I use a gas torch to get the charcoal or wood going - then a mini face-fan cooler to blow air into the charcoal to make it blaze up - the again near the end of the meal, if necessary, to get the last bit of heat out of the dying embers.

To finish off, I tip the ashes into a wire basket to sift out what is left of the large hot embers - and dunk then in the canal to put them out for safety reasons before stowing away in the boat - and to re-use them.

This little fan, more than anything, is what makes it burn up. An absolute winner!

Why on earth would anyone want to start a BBQ quickly. The relaxation and enjoyment of a BBQ, (braai) is to wait, drink beer talk crap, get the coals just right, cook and enjoy the day, load the air with the smell of a barby and let the neighbours get hungry on the aroma wafting their way.

Definitely a gas fired barby is out, you need the mingled aromas of charcoal, wood and slow cooking meat soaked in Coke Cola, spices and sauces.

Forget charcoal

Fast forward to 2-20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWz4kl7laOE

Stan and Oliver could not have cooked those chickens better.

Mine's gas so I just follow the instructions and turn the starter knob.

I am revoking your Man Card for that!

Why, just because I've got gas?

The gas you have is to be expected..

It's the instructions you follow that could be misinterpreted.

I use the chimney thing but I usually use wood and not charcoal. I know it is not as healthy but I do try to give it enough time to burn off all the outer surface. It only takes about ten minutes to be cooking on charcoal. A little longer for wood. I used to let my gas grill burn off that long when I was using a gas grill so I don't think it is any slower using wood or charcoal.

Call me Old School, but the way I light my charcoal grill is as follows.

1. Fill the charcoal chimney with hardwood lump charcoal. (My charcoal grill is for lump charcoal only, not briquettes, "Nevah had it, nevah will, AH HA HA!" to quote the old 7-Up ads.)
2. Light the chimney with either newspaper (black and white, non-glossy section) or paper towels (either clean, or if the grates have just been reseasoned, doped with peanut oil.).
1. (I always use peanut oil for my 'outdoor' cast iron, it's long been considered one of the premium seasoning oils for camping cast iron, due to the high smoke point and being the one with the longest 'shelf life'.)
3. Wait about 15 minutes for the chimney to light all the coals, then dump onto the charcoal tray, add more charcoal as needed for the item being cooked.
4. Put the cast iron grates into position, add any secondary cast iron implements, close the grill lid, insure both air vents are full open.
5. Wait about 15 minutes, then open the lid, add more charcoal if a longer cooking time is expected, and start grillin'.

So about 30-40 minutes to get the charcoal grill ready for the food, but then again, my charcoal grill will never see lighter fluid, nor will it see the compressed and petroleum-impregnated briquettes.

I just love a thread that creates so many responses. It warms the charcoal of my heart... (or was that something else?)

Well, I'm a newbie here but I'm freakin love grill. I would recommend to read about charcoal grill smoker and go to website for more details. As for me, BBQ is a great subculture with its own rules and statements. Some folks even grill melons but its too extreme for me

I love to cook with my Star Manufacturing GX20IG countertop. The company selling it is making shippings to my city, so I decided to order one when my old grill got broken - I’m now happy it did.