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BeefEater 101 >
Operating Your BBQ >
BARBECUING PARTS
Barbecuing Parts
Preheating Your Barbecue
Before you put any food on the plate or grill, you should
preheat the barbecue for a few minutes so the cooking surface
and the vaporizer grid reach optimum cooking temperature. |
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The first thing you should do is lightly oil the cooking surfaces.
Turn on the burners as follows:
- Flat top barbecues (without hoods) - Turn all burners onto high for about 10 minutes. Then reduce the burner settings to achieve the desired degree of heat and flame before cooking.
- For barbecues with roasting hoods - Turn the outside two burners onto high, and leave on for about 8 minutes with the hood down. Then reduce the burner settings to medium to commence cooking.
- For safety reasons, you should not leave the barbecue unattended during this time.
Test the surface by placing a small amount of food on it.The times given are approximate. Extra time should be allowed for cold or windy conditions. |
The Hot Side Of The Grill
You will notice when cooking that some parts of the cooking
surface are hotter than other parts. This design feature will
help you control your cooking better. |
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The BeefEater is designed so that the outer edges of the cooking
surface, especially the right and left sides, will have a lower
temperature than the centre when all burners are on identical
settings.
When cooking various cuts of meat and different types of food,
most of which will be different thickness, size, texture, some
will cook quicker than others.
By moving the thicker pieces to the outer edges of the cooking
surface, which will be cooler, they can continue to cook by the
indirect, slower method. This allows greater control and also
helps to control flare ups.
Technical: The difference in temperature is called a
temperature gradient. It depends on the number of burners used,
their settings, the type of cooking surface (plate or grill),
whether the hood is up or down, as well as outside wind and
temperature conditions. |
Direct Cooking - The Simple Alternative
There are two different ways to cook on a barbecue - Direct or
Indirect. As the name implies, Direct Cooking is where the heat
or flame is directly under the food being cooked. |
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Direct Cooking on the Plate (Griddle)
The plate, or griddle is ideal for cooking foods...- that contain a great deal of fat, such as sausages and hamburgers
- that are either very small, thin, or hard to control on the open grill, such as bacon strips, tomatoes, thin steaks, some fish fillets, or pineapple etc.
- that would traditionally be cooked on a fry pan, such as onions, pancakes, pizza, flapjacks, or eggs.
It is advisable to cook all foods on the plate (griddle) slowly and on a moderate or medium heat. This helps to retain the foods natural juices and consequently
flavor. If the heat is too high, your food could be cooked, or even burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. Remember, it is the heat in the plate that cooks the food, rather than the flame below. As such the plate will retain the heat for some time after the flame is reduced - so make allowances
for this when cooking.
You can cook using the direct method with the hood up, or down - the choice depends upon the taste you are trying to achieve. But remember, if you do prefer to cook with the roasting hood down, never cook with the burners on high. Best results can be achieved by keeping the burners on low to medium heat within the desired cooking area.
If you are cooking without a hood, or with the hood in the open position, heat will be lost, therefore you can use any burner configuration that suits the recipe, or your personal taste.
Direct Cooking on the Grill
This method of barbecuing is probably the most common Australian method of barbecuing meat, chops and steak, for the food retains the true barbecue taste and
flavor. Generally thinner cuts of meat, fish and poultry that cook fast, are more successful with this form of cooking, whereas thicker cuts are best cooked by the indirect method, or a combination of both.
Firstly, lightly oil the grill before lighting the BBQ.
Then pre-heat and when the BBQ is hot, place the food directly on the grill to quickly sear it and seal in the flavour and juices.
If your BeefEater has a roasting hood, there are a number of ways you can combine both direct and indirect cooking.
- You can quickly sear both sides of your food on the grill, then transfer the food to a non-lit portion of the BBQ, lower the hood and continue cooking in an indirect manner.
- Or, you can leave your food cooking over the lit grill and lower the hood. However, it is advisable to reduce the flame so that the convection heat created within the hood can complete the cooking process. Because this method of cooking circulates the heat, there is less need to turn the food.
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What Gives Food that Unique Barbecue
Flavor
Surprisingly, it has little to do with the fuel you use. Many
people believe you need wood or charcoal to have a real
barbecue, but the experts definitely disagree. |
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It's a simple three step process:- Food cooks on the open grill.
- Juices fall onto the flame or coals below.
- The juices burn or evaporate, sending flavor filled vapor back up to the food where it came from.
In other words, it's the vaporizing of the cooking juices, not the smoke from the fuel that does the trick.
How Vaporizer® Bars help:
The problem with too much juice falling on coals is that it can build up and burn with a full flame. This is called flare up. A little is okay, but too much tends to leave your food charred and unattractive.
Vaporizer® Bars are designed to prevent juices from building up, by causing them to spread out and evaporate faster. More of the
flavor from the cooking juices finds its way back to the food instead of falling through to the drip tray, or building up and burning in a full flame.
A Roasting Hood makes it even better:
By trapping the vapor inside an "outdoor oven", the cooking vapor will fall back on the food on all sides, not just from underneath. The food stays moist while it's cooking. |
Indirect Cooking - Far More Versatile
Indirect cooking is where the heat circulates around the food,
cooking by convection. Little or no heat is directly underneath
the food. This method of cooking applies only if you have a
roasting hood. |
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Indirect cooking is similar to an oven and is recommended for:
- Rotisserie cooking,
- Roasts, poultry,
- Casseroles
- Vegetables
- Whole fish.
The indirect method of cooking can also be used to cook such items as thick meat and fish steaks that have been quickly seared on the grill by the direct method (to seal in the natural juices) then completed by the indirect method.
The golden key to success in indirect barbecue cooking is to take your time and cook slowly.
Firstly pre-heat the BBQ as previously described, then:
- If your BeefEater has 2 burners - turn both burners down fractionally
below medium
- If your BeefEater has 3 burners - turn the central burner off
and reduce the two outside burners to medium
- If your BeefEater has 4 burners - turn the two inside burners
off and reduce the two outside burners to medium
- If your BeefEater has 5 burners - turn the three inside burners
off, leave one outside burner on high and reduce the other outside
burner to medium.
Now raise the hood and place the food on the unlit, center portion(s) of the cooking surface. If you are cooking a roast, it is a good idea to use the special BeefEater roast holder which not only keeps the meat away from the heat source, but sits neatly into a baking tray. This is essential in the case of the 2-burner barbecue where the meat tray will be sitting over direct heat. |
Meat Temperature Chart
A meat thermometer is the only really safe way to to test that
meat is cooked to your satisfaction. Use the chart below as your
guide. |
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Using a meat thermometer is easy, but you should keep a couple of points in mind:
- Insert the prong into the thickest part of the meat.
- Make sure that it does not touch any area of bone.
- For large sections of meat, check the temperature in more than one place.
- For easy reference, this temperature chart should give you a starting guide.
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Beef |
Rare |
60°C |
140°F |
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Medium |
70°C |
160°F |
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Well Done |
75°C |
165°F |
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Lamb |
Rare |
60°C |
140°F |
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Medium |
70°C |
160°F |
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Well Done |
75°C |
165°F |
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Pork |
Rare |
60°C |
140°F |
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Medium |
70°C |
160°F |
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Well Done |
75°C |
165°F |
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Veal |
Medium |
70°C |
160°F |
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Well Done |
75°C |
165°F |
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Chicken |
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85°C |
185°F |
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Poultry |
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90°C |
195°F |
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Cooking Times and Temperatures
Although there is no substitute for experience, we can give you
a guide to cooking times to get you started. The roasting hood
temperatures and cooking times given below should be used as a
rough starting guide only. |
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Unlike an internal oven that is being used under controlled conditions and is insulated - the very nature of outside cooking means that the barbecue is subject to a large and varied range of conditions, such as external temperature, wind, sun, humidity and altitude, all of which can affect the overall cooking temperatures, times and performance.
If the barbecue and hood are used in a cold climate, or in an exposed, cool or windy position, then the internal temperature under the roasting hood may be considerably less and your food will take longer to cook. On the other hand, if the barbecue is situated in a hot, sunny area, the temperature under the roasting hood could increase, speeding up the cooking time.
The best way to take the guess work out of indirect cooking and make sure that your food is cooked to your satisfaction is to use a meat thermometer, or meat probe.
Below are some examples of approximate cooking times. As a guide, two burners on medium with the roasting hood down for the 3, 4 and 5 burner barbecues, produce approximately 195°C (385°F). Two burners on medium, with the roasting hood down on the 2 burner barbecue, produces approximately 205°C (400°F)
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Beef |
45-55 minutes per kg (20-25 minutes per Ib) at
approximately 1800( (355°F) |
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Lamb |
45-55 minutes per kg (20-25 minutes per Ib) at
approximately 1800( (355°F) |
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Pork |
55-60 minutes per kg (25-30 minutes per Ib) at
approximately 1700( (340°F) |
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Veal |
40-50 minutes per kg (18-23 minutes per Ib) at
approximately 1600( (320°F) |
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Poultry |
40-50 minutes per kg (18-23 minutes per Ib) at
approximately 1800( (355°F) |
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Seafood |
20-30 minutes per kg (9-14 minutes per Ib) at
approximately 1500( (300°F) |
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Controlling Flare Up
Flare ups, when flame reaches over the top of the grill, are a
common, though poorly understood barbecuing experience. Luckily
your BeefEater BBQ is fitted with a unique Modular Vaporizer®
Panel System, that helps to reduce these flare-ups. |
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Grease and juices from cooking meat act as fuel. When this "fuel" builds up it can catch alight. It is quite common especially while cooking fatty foods like sausages, to have brief bursts of flame above the grill. Some flare up in these circumstances is inevitable.
This flare up, if it only happens occasionally and is controlled, can add to the outdoor
flavor of your food. If it happens too often it can spoil a good meal.
How to minimize flare up:
The BeefEater Modular Vaporizer® Panels go a long way to vaporizing grease before it builds up. This has the added benefit of sending
flavor back up through your food while it is cooking.
Other things you can do to minimize flare up include:
- Avoid the temptation to keep turning or poking the food once it starts cooking. Every time you poke, prod, or turn the food, valuable juices are lost, drying out the food and causing flare-ups.
- Try cooking leaner cuts of meat
- Trim excess fat from meats to be grilled.
- Par boil sausages before grilling to remove excess grease.
As mentioned, some flare-ups are inevitable. However, if they do occur, relocate the meat to the plate (griddle), or another part of the cooking surface until the flames subside.
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Using a Side Burner
Your BeefEater side burner turns the barbecue into an outside
kitchen. Combined with the roasting hood and rotisserie, you can
cook almost everything that can be cooked in a conventional
kitchen. |
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The BeefEater side burner is similar to the burner on a gas stove. As such you can use any conventional pan, including saucepans, fry pans, wok and cast iron cooking pots to cook any number of foods or recipes.
One word of warning. It is advisable NOT to use the side burner on very windy days as the flame can be extinguished. |
BeefEater 101 >
Operating Your BBQ >
BARBECUING PARTS
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