[Food] Pretentious outdoor cooking equipment advice

[Poojah]

Well, whilst the weather forecast for the next couple of weeks looks decidedly dogy for May, I've decided to embrace social mobility and my newfound middle class-ness and invest in some premium garden cooking equipment. And where better to go for some advice than the sages of NSC? You've not let me down yet...

First up, obviously, is the BBQ. In my 36 years, I've never owned a decent barbecue and I've decided its time to change - but what do I go for? Now, I've always been a charcoal man because I like the smokey, flame-grilled flavour that you get with that and I've always assumed that you're not going to get that with a gas grill, but is that fair?

As much as I love the satisfaction of a charcoal barbie, they can be a bit of a ball ache - they take time to get going, can be a bit unpredictable in terms of heat and are a bugger to clean out afterwards. Is there a way to get the flavour of a charcoal BBQ with a gas one? I know some allow you to use smoker pellets to give a degree of that, but are they any good? I think Outback and Weber do a dual fuel uption - are they worth a go? I've seen something called the 'Big Green Egg' which seems popular yet bloody expensive, for reasons I've been unable to fathom thus far.

Moving on from BBQs, for some time I've quite fancied a pizza oven but don't really want to build one into the garden. I've seen these bad boys which look nice, fairly portable if not necessarily cheap:

https://uk.ooni.com/products/ooni-koda-16

Anyone tried something similar? Are they good for non-pizza based food, like a nice steak?

Any other recommendations for my suburban summer soirees?

 

[Barham's tash]

If I had the money it would be big green egg all the way. Ceramic so has longevity and versatility plus it’s charcoal. Saw some fakes out there recently but suspect they won’t cut the mustard.

Don’t care what anyone says about gas it’s not for me Clive, and it’s certainly not BBQ as I know it.

 

[um bongo molongo]

I have a Big Green Egg (yes, we really are a middle class club). I use it every weekend and literally never cook meat inside now. I even do Xmas dinner on it. They can also double as a pizza oven, so if you’re considering one of those you could save that cost (though they are still damn expensive). I do steaks on it (they’re brilliant for those as you can get it really hot) pretty much everything in fact. Also great for low temperature slow cooking (I’ve become addicted to doing ribs on it). If you’re in to your food and cooking (not just a few BBQs in the summer) and are prepared to think of it like a high end kitchen appliance rather than a BBQ then I recommend it. Also, they don’t take a huge amount of upkeep - I only really clean the tools and grill, nothing else.

 

[Bodian]

https://trangia.se/en/choose_the_right_trangia_stove/

 

[Goldstone1976]

Big Green Egg all the way. Very versatile, ranging from 400C to 90c - the latter for 15 hours without refuelling.

Also got a big, round, wood-fired teppanyaki plate/fire pit: Ofyr. Bloody excellent,

 

[Poojah]

Big Green Egg all the way. Very versatile, ranging from 400C to 90c - the latter for 15 hours without refuelling.

Also got a big, round, wood-fired teppanyaki plate/fire pit: Ofyr. Bloody excellent, View attachment 136393

Lots of love for the Big Green Egg, it does look pretty solid having looked a bit deeper. Just watched a couple of videos on your tepanyaki fire pit, that looks cool as f**k. How much did that set you back if you don’t mind me asking?

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Cook it in your kitchen under controlled temperatures and timings, then, if it isn't freezing or pissing down, eat it in your garden.
If you need a heater on you then it's probably too cold to be outside anyway.
Ever wondered why outdoor eating in Australia is so popular, its called outside eating weather.
Get a grip folks.

 

[clapham_gull]

I cook a pizza most weeks (and bake bread) and you struggle to get the same effect in a domestic oven. I'd argue unless you know what you are doing, you'd struggle with a pretentious outdoor "solution".

However, a number of years ago of years I invested in this bad boy.

https://pizzasteel.com/

And sorry to inform you, they don't import at the moment because of Brexit. But keep an eye....

There are alternatives available, it's not like you can patent a rectangle of solid steel that sits on a shelf but takes up the whole area,

Pizza stone ? Nah...

It's a 6mm piece of steel that becomes a permanent resident of your oven. Heat the oven up to max, leave for half an hour and the results are superb.

Personally I've found the best result (recently) is to quickly blast the base without any toppings for a few minutes, then take it out and "dress".

It's amazing for home made pitta bread, possibly the easiest bread to make. Whack them on here and they puff up like a football.

Should be built into any domestic oven frankly.

The trick with pizza dough is a slow ferment in the fridge for a couple of days. Roll it out on some non stick baking paper then slide it in the oven. The pizza steel comes with a useful slider tray the same size as the steel.

Serious you won't go back.

 

[Chicken Run]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Goldstone1976]

Lots of love for the Big Green Egg, it does look pretty solid having looked a bit deeper. Just watched a couple of videos on your tepanyaki fire pit, that looks cool as f**k. How much did that set you back if you don’t mind me asking?

I can’t remember precisely, but it was under £1k, including the stand. £900?

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Big Green Egg all the way. Very versatile, ranging from 400C to 90c - the latter for 15 hours without refuelling.

Also got a big, round, wood-fired teppanyaki plate/fire pit: Ofyr. Bloody excellent, View attachment 136393

I've got something very similar from Grillo - a Cambridge company. It's a fire pit, bbq grill, and frying Station. I buy wood in, and spend 45 minutes burning the wood and generating coal. Been an absolute mental health life saver over the lockdowns. I would say that in the last year there have probably only been 4 weeks where I haven't used it

 

[Springal]

I’ve had an Ooni for 3 years. They are amazing, and pretty versatile. Good way to do other things like fajitas, tandoori type stuff as they get so hot

 

[juliant]

I own several bbqs and the most used of the lot is my Kamado Joe. Its a ceramic like the big green eggs mentioned but is just so versatile. much more than a bbq,I now think of it as an outdoor oven.

Have cooked curries, Chinese in a wok. Pizzas. You name it you can do it ! And the best thing with ceramics is the heat retention. Quite easily bake bread with the heat left after a cook and without using any more fuel.

They are not cheap but have a lifetime warranty on the ceramics etc and well worth it

 

[Surf's Up]

Just looked at the Big Green Egg prices ..... my eyes haven't stopped watering.

 

[boik]

I own several bbqs and the most used of the lot is my Kamado Joe. Its a ceramic like the big green eggs mentioned but is just so versatile. much more than a bbq,I now think of it as an outdoor oven.

Have cooked curries, Chinese in a wok. Pizzas. You name it you can do it ! And the best thing with ceramics is the heat retention. Quite easily bake bread with the heat left after a cook and without using any more fuel.

They are not cheap but have a lifetime warranty on the ceramics etc and well worth it

Just looked at their website. Anything using the expression "Lifestyle" is a no from me. ;-)

 

[WATFORD zero]

Obviously, you can only talk from your own experiences, but mine would be, spend a few quid on this for a week



And buy 7 disposable BBQ's. Never had any complaints yet

 

[dennis]

I built this cost me £100 ish

 

[Superphil]

BBQ is a hobby of mine, I have 8 different types, one from rural Turkey, another Cypriot, some from America as well as domestic types. I find they all offer something different (obvs) and allow you to cook different types of meals.

After attending a BBQ and Low’n’Slow course a few years back I just love setting one of them going to run all night cooking a brisket or pork shoulder, the results are epic. However, when I can muster up the cash I’ll be going for a BGE or Kamado Joe as that’s what we used on the course.

 

[Creaky]

We bought our son-in-law one of these to go on his Kadai fire bowl.

Makes delicious pizzas but does mean that you can’t use the bowl as a barbecue at the same time.



The wife had wanted a genuine pizza oven for some time, so a few years back I built one at the end of the deck outside the “man shed” next to the barbecue. The oven reaches a temperature in excess of 500c and cooks fabulous pizzas as well as being used for bread, roasts and as a slow cooker once the temperature drops.

I don’t think you can beat the flavour a charcoal barbecue or wood fired oven imparts on food cooked on/in them.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Got a Weber gas bbq, a brick built charcoal bbq and a fire-pit, so spoilt for choice.