Backyard barbeques - 'member them?

[shopgirl61]

THIS is the Barbeque I grew up with! it was a terra cotta red in colour and Dad would wear his tall white chefs hat and full apron bib and cook up the best steaks and burgers! I don't recall him making chicken on the rotisserie as chicken was expensive back in the day, and considered a luxury. But he made the best kabobs with chunks of meat and green bell peppers :eusa_clap
As a kid, I loved watching the warming oven lite heat up as the smell of dads famous loaves of italian bread wafted through the air!

The irony about this grill is that it is still in my parents garage, covered up and unused since the early 70s. I will be taking it when I am back in Cali

Lets all share memories shall we!

Sonia

 

[Mike K.]

Great outdoor topic!

Last weekend being Memorial Day Weekend, one of the great grilling/bbq events of the summer, who has some stories to share?

Does anyone grill on the classic design derived from a harbor buoy?

In 1952, George Stephen, a metalworker by trade and a tinkerer by habit, had grown frustrated with the flat, open brazier-style grills common at the time. Once he inherited controlling interest in the Weber Bros. Metal Spinning Co, a company best-known as a maker of harbor buoys, he decided the buoy needed some modification. He cut it along its equator, added a grate, used the top as a lid and cut vents for controlling temperature. The Weber grill was born and backyard cooking has never been the same.

 

[Mid-fogey]

Indeed...

...we have used the same Webber grill for eight years and it has gone through two covers and it still looks farily new. We use it a lot throughout the year and it always works great.

 

[Puzzicato]

I love my Weber. I am currently saving for the rotisserie attachment. http://foodycat.blogspot.com/2010/06/chuck-another-bird-on-barbie.html this is the most recent effort on it!

 

[jamespowers]

I think I might trump a few on the age of my grill. It is the same grill that my grandfather used and my father after him taught me to grill on this old GrillMaster or some such thing. The name tag is too old and blackened to read very well. I still use it for my steaks and such. it is likely from the early 60s, it still works just fine. Fill it with Kingsford Competiton grade and with the glowring in it and you are set. I still have the rotisserie and fish basket thing but I have never used them---yet.
I suppose the family has been using it now for over 40 years.

 

[Chainsaw]

MMmmmmm..... Bar-b-QQqqqqqq.... Fire good..

 

[scottyrocks]

Technically, what we're doing here is not barbequing. Its grilling.

Anyway, to me, the downfall of backyard grilling came with the popularity of gas grills. A gas grill is just an oven/broiler thats outside instead of inside. Ya needs CHARCOAL!

We have an gas grill that needed a complete rebuild last year. Everything but the outer shell and stand was rusting away. I bought new grills for the cooking surfaces, and then stopped in at the local market to get a package of appropriately-sized aluminum roasting pans, some charcoal, and lighter fluid. I removed the grill's tanks and regulator, and now I have a charcoal grill again.

It takes a little extra time and effort to setup and cleanup but the taste of the food is worth it.

 

[Smithy]

We have a Weber Kettle barbie and use it about once a week even in winter.

Now we actually mostly do all our roasts on it as it does a fantastic job. Have even done Yorkshire pud in the drip tray in it when doing roast beef. And roast pork always comes out with perfect crackling.

Absolutely brilliant barbie. You can even smoke fish in it, so next time I've got a couple of rainbows they'll be going in there.

 

[Puzzicato]

Technically, what we're doing here is not barbequing. Its grilling.

Only if you are speaking American!

Smithy - last night we did a seafood barbecue on the Weber! Snapper, razorshells and oysters. Gorgeous! Didn't smoke it, but we've done hot-smoked rainbow trout before and it has been gorgeous.

 

[Charlie74]

I grew up in the deep south. Between the heat, the gnats, and the flies, I was never a big fan of outdoor barbeques. My brother built a big brick grill and enjoys cooking out, and I must admit a hamburger tastes so much better off the grill but I prefer to dine inside with the air conditioning

 

[scottyrocks]

Only if you are speaking American!

Thats true. Even within the US, different regions define it differently.

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

My mother still uses the BBQ she and my father purchased in Malaysia in the 60s. I had friends over last night for a backyard Barbie and it was lovely to mix up dressings and marinades.

(Even nicer to have BBQ weather here in Blighty!)

 

[Yeps]

Thats true. Even within the US, different regions define it differently.

It is a ridiculously confusing word.

For me Barbecue can be:
1: Pulled pork
2: A type of preparation i.e. barbecue chicken or barbecue ribs.
3: Any number of different variations on a sauce.
4: An verb meaning to cook on a grill or to cook with barbecue sauce.
5: A grill.
6: A cookout.

Nothing beats a barbecue sandwich.

 

[John in Covina]

I have the medium sized Weber kettle, 2 smokey joes and a Kingsford grill that's shaped like a giant football. I grill at home now and again and when things are going well I like to do a Fedora Lounge Backyard BBQ. Hope to do so this year when the job situation reverses.

I grill direct and do indirect roasting as well as some smoking of various meats with these implements of epicurian cooking that leads to fine dining at home.

i usually use Kingsford Charcoal and like the one that has mesquite mixed in as that makes for a really hot fire. I use chunks of mesquite, hickory and also apple wood for smoking.

In a hurry I have bought pre-roasted rotisserie chickens at the supermarket to toss on the grill with a smaller fire adding wood smoke chunks. The more plain versions can be sussed up with rubs and sauces and will take the Smoked & BBQ aroma pretty rapidly yet render well done but juicy birds. Did this first for a friend that was on a restricted diet (no beef) so the steaks which were done in minutes for others did not have to wait an hour for the chicken to be done.

 

[shopgirl61]

Technically, what we're doing here is not barbequing. Its grilling.

Well if your going to get technical.. bar·be·que 
–noun, verb (used with object), verb (used without object),-qued, -qu·ing.
barbecue.


Grill:

–noun
1.a grated utensil for broiling meat, fish, vegetables, etc., over a fire; gridiron.
2.a dish of grilled meat, fish, etc.Compare mixed grill.
3.grillroom.
4.Philately. a group of small pyramidal marks, embossed or impressed in parallel rows on certain U.S. and Peruvian stamps of the late 19th century to prevent erasure of cancellation marks.
–verb (used with object)
5.to broil on a gridiron or other apparatus over or before a fire.
6.to subject to severe and persistent cross-examination or questioning.
7.to torment with heat.
8.to mark with a series of parallel bars like those of a grill.
–verb (used without object)
9.to undergo broiling.

I call it barbeque because that is what my dad called it. and in my profession, I grill on a daily basis lol

 

[shopgirl61]

I have the medium sized Weber kettle, 2 smokey joes and a Kingsford grill that's shaped like a giant football. I grill at home now and again and when things are going well I like to do a Fedora Lounge Backyard BBQ. Hope to do so this year when the job situation reverses.


QUOTE]

John, i'm counting on an invite if you do :eusa_clap

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Lord, I must go to an American BBQ!

Ours involve wanging some sausage onto a grill over hot fake charcoal and cremating them. Last night's BBQ involved a litre bottle of pimms, some mint ice cubes and half a ton of fruit, lots of swearing from my other half as he tried to light the damnable thing....much arm waving at wasps...

Ah.....Summer!

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Great outdoor topic!

Last weekend being Memorial Day Weekend, one of the great grilling/bbq events of the summer, who has some stories to share?

Does anyone grill on the classic design derived from a harbor buoy?

A gas grill's fine where the higher temperature isn't going to overcook or dry out the meat before it cooks through. Things like burgers & hot dogs & steaks, most vegetables...

But Webers are fantastic for lots of things - especially if it needs to be cooked low & slow, temperaturewise, with ribs, chicken and brisket being those that immediately leap to mind. Salmon's better, too. You just can't do those types of things right on a gas grill.

Grilling over well seasoned wood's great as well - we do about 400+ dinners a weekend out at the theater, and that's our own grown & harvested alder...and as you can see, it's mostly steak and salmon. I think we only had to do 15-20 chicken breasts all season last year (8 weeks).

 

[Mav]

Only if you are speaking American!

But we own the idiom. BBQ is Americana.
And, it's actually simple. BBQ= "Low and Slow;" everything else is grilling.

Glad I could lay that confusion to rest.

My outdoor kitchen consists of a Weber, a double chamber horizontal smoker (which can double as an oven), an open firepit, and...shudder...a gas grill. The latter is bitter in the mouth of a BBQ purist, but most propane grills will fit a cast iron griddle, which makes for a pretty spiffy range substitute in the summer months. Perfect for bacon and fried eggs on the weekend. And my indoor stove/ range is a '53 Wedgewood, so it doubles as a furnace. I shut off the gas pilots inside and cook outside all summer.

And, I switched from briquets to hardwood charcoal a couple of years ago. Better flavor, and it burns slower.

BBQ, BTW, is religion. And every American male is a priest.

 

[Smithy]

But we own the idiom. BBQ is Americana.
And, it's actually simple. BBQ= "Low and Slow;" everything else is grilling.

Glad I could lay that confusion to rest.

This is your definition based on where you come from, in much the same way as a biscuit where you come from is entirely different from what a biscuit is where I come from. Doesn't mean you "own" it - whatever that even means anyway.

Didn't smoke it, but we've done hot-smoked rainbow trout before and it has been gorgeous.

Something to look forward to when I go fishing next then