Charcoal Webber Cooking For Xmas

[jamieh]

Hi all,

going to be cooking lamb, beef, pork and turkey on 2 webbers for xmas dinner and possibly lunch...ive used the charcoal webbers numbers of times all with great results...this time im going to use wood chips and smoke the meats, make separate gravies from each roast juice and slow cook them for around 6-7 hours over the charcoal beads....does anyone have any good tips with pork crackling and cooking times for the kettle webbers(straight charcoal) im thinking for the pork to do both the day of xmas(all other meats the day before hand and let them rest in gravy overnight....so the meat becomes more tender and will be infused with its own flavour(wether it be pulled meat or i try and leave the meat intact as a whole in its own gravy and pull it apart christmas day or try and cut it up which wont happen...will be too tender) but to reduce stress on xmas day i think the better idea is to cook the meat on the webbers on the monday, and maybe light a dozen briquettes on xmas morning and sit the roasts over the coals to gently warm them?

a couple of weeks ago i did cook for my mother in laws side of the family(40-50 people i guess were at my brother in laws)...got both webbers going early morning (meat on by 830....lunch was at 2:30-3pm) the thing that i hated was i had to go around there...set up both webbers and meat...then go back home....so i didnt have control of heat and cooking the meat, etc, we had 2 large beefs, 2 lambs and 2 porks, the pork crackling turned out well, one of the beefs was charcoal on the outside but tender and juicy on the inside ( i over did the heat beads at the start...used a shit load and im thinking the kettle cooked the meat too fast rather than using less beads and slow cooking all the meat..would have done things differently if the meat was done at my joint...would have had full control) the other beef and lambs and porks fell apart...the heat from the webber penetrated the meat very nicely

so my choice of beer for xmas...possibly bluetongue premium lager .....

gas weber Q...side note is that a 6kg turkey on indirect heat takes 2 hours...trying to figure out if a charcoal webber will be the same?

 

[Cube]

Go the long and slow snake method with the coals. Works a treat. Controls temp for you really.

Use a digi wireless temp probe. $20 odd at Bunnings.

Do the crackling in the oven if you want to be assured of good crackling.

Smoking is great on a coals.

 

[jamieh]

snake method?? ive got 4 charcoal baskets and a charcoal starter...works pretty well in both webbers with smaller amounts of meat...interested in snake method though..

 

[Hammer]

on the aussiebbq forum it discusses the charcoal snake method. Essentially u make a long snake around the webber. you then light only one end and it slowly burns around the charcoal. I add different woods on the snake at the start to smoke the meat. You use the vents to control the temp. WOrks a treat!

 

[donburke]

Hi all,

going to be cooking lamb, beef, pork and turkey on 2 webbers for xmas dinner and possibly lunch...ive used the charcoal webbers numbers of times all with great results...this time im going to use wood chips and smoke the meats, make separate gravies from each roast juice and slow cook them for around 6-7 hours over the charcoal beads....does anyone have any good tips with pork crackling and cooking times for the kettle webbers(straight charcoal) im thinking for the pork to do both the day of xmas(all other meats the day before hand and let them rest in gravy overnight....so the meat becomes more tender and will be infused with its own flavour(wether it be pulled meat or i try and leave the meat intact as a whole in its own gravy and pull it apart christmas day or try and cut it up which wont happen...will be too tender) but to reduce stress on xmas day i think the better idea is to cook the meat on the webbers on the monday, and maybe light a dozen briquettes on xmas morning and sit the roasts over the coals to gently warm them?

a couple of weeks ago i did cook for my mother in laws side of the family(40-50 people i guess were at my brother in laws)...got both webbers going early morning (meat on by 830....lunch was at 2:30-3pm) the thing that i hated was i had to go around there...set up both webbers and meat...then go back home....so i didnt have control of heat and cooking the meat, etc, we had 2 large beefs, 2 lambs and 2 porks, the pork crackling turned out well, one of the beefs was charcoal on the outside but tender and juicy on the inside ( i over did the heat beads at the start...used a shit load and im thinking the kettle cooked the meat too fast rather than using less beads and slow cooking all the meat..would have done things differently if the meat was done at my joint...would have had full control) the other beef and lambs and porks fell apart...the heat from the webber penetrated the meat very nicely

so my choice of beer for xmas...possibly bluetongue premium lager .....

gas weber Q...side note is that a 6kg turkey on indirect heat takes 2 hours...trying to figure out if a charcoal webber will be the same?

personally i dont use heatbeads, whilst they are an easy way to control heat, they tend to impart a 'kerosene' type odour when burning (i'm not talking about lucifers either)

heat beads in a weber used for roasting doesnt give much of a bbq flavour and you may as well just use an oven, its easier

i like to use wood charcoal, a sack costs $25 to $30 and can be had from local continental shops

the wood charcoal smoke heaps, and there might not be a need for any additional smoking chips

the wood doesnt last as long as heat beads so you'll find yourself having to top up the charcoal more often

thats how i do it anyway,

just an aside, have you considered spit roasting the turkey or pieces of meat ?

bunnings have a small spitroast bbq (up to 5kg) for $88 that works beautifully, would do a turkey just fine

shove heaps of butter under the turkey's skin (jamie oliver style) or get a basting syringe and make a mix 50/50 beer and olive oil with your favourite spices and inject it deep into the flesh

all this talk is making me salivate :icon_drool2:

 

[pmastello]

I did two legs of lamb last weekend using the snake method. It was my first time using the method, but it worked perfectly. 7.5 hrs all up, really thick red smokey edge to the meat. One leg was slightly on the dry side, the other was perfectly juicy. I suppose that was the salt rub that dried it out though. Next time I think I will brine them in beer.

 

[Charst]

maybe get yourself a little cut of belly of pork and do a test run to see how it proforms crackling wise.
not as a guide for the cooking of a joint but just to see if webbers temps give a good crackle.
Every cooking show ive seen he chef does they utmost to dry the skin as much as they can prior to oiling it a little.

water = shit crackling

hope your christmas is a cracker....

 

[Nick JD]

Secret to great cracking is salt - loads of it.

Just put the skin under a grill. Done in 5 minutes perfectly.

 

[Cube]

snake method?? ive got 4 charcoal baskets and a charcoal starter...works pretty well in both webbers with smaller amounts of meat...interested in snake method though..

http://www.aussiebbq.info/forum/viewtopic....f=19&t=4864

Snake method above. Join the forum. They do bulk buys of charcoal at times. Better for a webber but heat beads are a great alternative. I smoke with heat beads all the time. Weekly at least one chook and pulled pork with snake method.

Kerosine taste with heat beads is a myth. Some inferior heat bead knockoffs can do this due to the binding agent they use.

I haven't tried the 'robot turds' coal yet but will soon. They are nut/star shape looking coals made from coconut husks or something like that.

 

[donburke]

Kerosine taste with heat beads is a myth. Some inferior heat bead knockoffs can do this due to the binding agent they use.

if you dont notice it then fine, but i do, so it aint no myth to me

i'm pretty sure they also use an oxidising agent in them as well as a binding agent

msds anyone ?

 

[QldKev]

The ones you get the kero from, is that the Easy lite ones or the normal ones?

QldKev

 

[donburke]

The ones you get the kero from, is that the Easy lite ones or the normal ones?

QldKev

the normal ones, especially when they first light, never tried the easy lite ones

throw a few unlit heat beads on some lit ones and take a whiff, tell me what you smell

 

[goldstar]

Don't use the cheap heat beads. Many contain chemicals. Definitely don't use the easy light products. The Redheads Natural Wood Charcoals are easy to find and all work a treat.

http://www.redheads.com.au/fire.php

 

[jyo]

I am getting ready for my first cook in the webber and neither Bunnings, Masters or BBQ's galore stock those redhead charcoals, mate. Where do you get them from?

 

[Nick JD]

I light a fire with wood in my webber. My work generates a bit of offcuts, so it's untreated pine at the start and usually tassie oak once started.

Doesn't taste at all like charcoal. Tastes like wood smoke.

 

[donburke]

you psyched me up posting this stuff that i was reading early on a sunday morning ...

this is what i did this afternoon ...

best thing about the spit is you don't need to do anything during the cooking except drink beer :icon_cheers:

 

[Wolfy]

Kerosine taste with heat beads is a myth. Some inferior heat bead knockoffs can do this due to the binding agent they use.

It's also not a 'myth' for me, I can most defiantly smell/taste when meat has been cooked in the Webber over 'heat beads', not sure I'd describe it as 'kerosine' but it does not smell/taste nice/natural to me, which is why I cant/wont use any brand of 'heat beads'.

I also notice quantities of MSG in food almost immediately (I get a headache) ... but that's a different story.

 

[keifer33]

I am getting ready for my first cook in the webber and neither Bunnings, Masters or BBQ's galore stock those redhead charcoals, mate. Where do you get them from?

Masters has them listed jyo

http://www.masters.com.au/product/90243149...al-bbq-fuel-4kg
http://www.masters.com.au/product/90001479...bq-charcoal-8kg

 

[alcoadam]

I tried the redhead" charcoal recently but didnt really like them. They took
longer to get going and offered nothing more (in regards to flavour) than the heat
beads would. The Diggers charcoal is another story.proper campfire aromas n
flavours there. :icon_drool2:

 

[jyo]

Cheers, Keifer. My Googling failed!

Masters has them listed jyo

http://www.masters.com.au/product/90243149...al-bbq-fuel-4kg
http://www.masters.com.au/product/90001479...bq-charcoal-8kg