Over Christmas I bought a Big Green Egg I read all the marketing blurb in the brochure and it captured my imagination, I’ve already written about how good it is and published some kamado barbecue recipes but I was still intrigued to find out more about the origins of such a versatile piece of cooking equipment

“Going out to Spain again How wonderful

The technique of indirect cooking is essentially a slow roasting process which guarantees a tender result When you think about it it’s pretty logical

I’ve seen many lists about wood chips and what meats best accompany them and it’s always struck me that this is approaching the problem for the wrong side The wood chip is choosing the food and in my book it should be the food choosing the wood chip

The first meat that I ever wanted to cook on a barbecue was a chicken using the rotisserie and I’ve never really stopped to think about why I guess it’s down to “the boy with a new toy” mentality in that the BBQ spit came in the pack with the grill and a rotisserie cooking process adds dynamism

Before firing up the BBQ smoker, many chefs will either cure or brine the fish or meat as a way of adding extra flavor Curing and brining however have been traditional methods of preserving food for donkeys years and in today’s refrigerated society the techniques and skills have been on the wane

Writing a website full of BBQ Smoker Recipes is a time consuming business even at the best of times I take pride in ensuring that the pictures I put up on my site are of food that I have cooked and not some glossy template purchased on the internet and I also want my recipes to be innovative

It’s interesting to note that before Henry Ford made the BBQ grill popular by link selling it to his cars with the vision of day trips and pic-nics, charcoal was nothing but a waste product left over from the recovery of acetic acid and methanol In the early 1900’s after more efficient and less expensive methods were developed for synthesizing acetic acid and methanol, charcoal production declined only to be revitalized by the development of the briquette for recreational cooking

Many friends and work colleagues have phoned in sick because of food poisoning and followed it up with something like “I had a BBQ at the weekend, and I must have eaten something not properly cooked” To be honest I think some of them probably just drank too much but clearly there’s enough of a belief out there that food hygiene is a problem at a barbeque for either a genuine day off work or a cast iron excuse

Clay vessels have been used by humans to cook food for many thousands of years Clay cooking pots have been found in every part of the world and some of the earliest dated by Archaeologists to be over 3000 years old have been found in China

It amazes me how many great chefs can cook fantastic dishes yet fail to be able to write recipes in a clear and concise way that makes for easy reading and understanding Many could do with working in manufacturing industry for a number of weeks and learn the skill involved in preparing a bill of materials for a product because in this way they would get to understand how certain ingredients can be grouped together to make a “sub assembly” before the preparation into the final assembly