Fire Up Your Confidence: Everything You Need to Know for Your First BBQ Adventure

Thinking about firing up the barbecue but feeling a bit intimidated? You're not alone. In this practical, no-nonsense guide to barbecue basics, Dan and Owen demystify the essentials that every beginner needs to know before approaching the grill.

The cornerstone of successful barbecuing isn't expensive equipment or complex techniques—it's understanding a few fundamental principles. First and foremost: invest in a good meat thermometer. This simple tool removes all guesswork from your cooking and ensures food safety. For chicken (a fantastic starting point for beginners), remember "75 stay alive" in Celsius as your target internal temperature.

Two-zone cooking emerges as perhaps the most valuable technique in your arsenal. By arranging your coals on one side of the grill, you create both a searing hot zone and a gentler indirect cooking area that functions like an outdoor oven. This simple approach transforms everything from chicken to sausages, delivering restaurant-quality results with minimal effort.

Beyond meat, we explore the incredible world of barbecued vegetables—from stuffed peppers and charred lettuce quarters to jacket potatoes that develop an almost magical nutty flavor when nestled among the coals. Vegetarian options abound, with Dan even accepting a challenge to barbecue seitan for an upcoming event!

Throughout our conversation, one theme remains constant: don't be intimidated. Even professional establishments sometimes serve subpar barbecue (as evidenced by our "cooking in the wild" horror stories). The difference is that you're cooking for pleasure and continuously improving your skills with each session at the grill.

Ready to transform your outdoor cooking game? Subscribe now for weekly tips, techniques and inspiration to help you become a backyard barbecue hero!

Transcript

Welcome to Meat and Greet BBQ

Dan 0:00

Today's episode of the Meat and Greet Barbecue Podcast is brought to you by AOS Outdoor Kitchens. They are the South's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Meat and Greet Barbecue Podcast with myself, dan and with Owen. How are you doing?

Owen 0:27

Yeah, that was weird. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, not bad, mate you.

Dan 0:35

Yeah, all right, pretty much exactly the same as I was 20 minutes ago.

Owen 0:40

The magic of recording. This is another week, a week ahead, and I just happen to be wearing the same shirt as I was last week. Wouldn't make Continuity. That's what people say, isn't it?

Dan 0:51

Why change the habit of a lifetime right?

Owen 0:55

This is literally the only thing I own, so yeah, exactly.

Dan 1:00

So, yeah, this episode, this week we've done one episode already which is kind of like discussing things for beginners, almost like kind of lessons. We're not going to claim that we're experts on barbecuing, but we have been barbecuing for a while and we've had the privilege of speaking to what we would suggest would be big experts in the field. So we wanted to say say, look, you're a beginner in the pit exactly experts in the pit experts in the pit.

Chicken: The Beginner's Best Friend

Dan 1:32

Yeah, oh, so cool. Um, so you've bought all your new apparatus and where do you start? What was kind of the first cooks that you can do that are gonna be nice and easy? Um, you've got your meat thermometer. I would say that off the bat, that's the thing that we think is essential. Um, how do you start your kind of barbecuing journey? Uh, we've spoken to a fair few people and I don't know if you'd agree with this, owen but people quite often say that chicken is a great place to start with barbecue. I don't know if that's like a British thing, because we eat lots and lots of chicken over here, or if it's just that people feel comfortable doing it, but it's an interesting place to start, I think.

Owen 2:21

Yeah, mainly because I don't want to say sausages or burgers. Um, yeah, mainly because I don't want to say sausages or burgers, even though I do think they're a great choice because they are fairly easy to do. But I think I think people get more nervous about chicken and it being undercooked and cooking on a cooking chicken on a barbecue. As we know and I'm sure there's still people we both know that still either pre-cook it in the oven and then slap it on the on the grill, or vice versa I have a story for that later in the episode.

Owen 2:56

Oh, okay, so I think chicken is is a good area, even if it is just something like a chicken kebab, even doing something like a job, you know before going to cooking a full chicken as an example. And also chicken goes with everything. In my opinion, it's the vegetable of the meat world. It might be.

Dan 3:24

So a few ground rules for this vegetable of the meat world. It might be so um a few ground rules for this vegetable of the meat world. Um cooking temperature, so that there's a rhyme that's really easy to remember. If, using celsius, 75 stay alive, um, I think it's like 72, 73 is the like. If you cook it to that level that all bacteria is, it will be killed in it. So you've got a meat thermometer. If you take it to 75 degrees, you know it's going to be safe.

Dan 3:53

Um probe in the thickest parts, um, I would say probe in multiple places, depending on if you're cooking a whole chicken, if you're cooking a spatchcock chicken, if, if you're doing like breast, if you're doing kebabs, but the easy rhyme to remember is 75 stays alive. And that's still something that I kind of cook to today. I would say that people also have a preference on how their chicken is done and finished. My wife likes her chicken drier than I probably would. So if I'm cooking for steph, I probably take it to like 80 um, and in the uk at least, if you cook to like supermarket um suggestions, um in an oven and I've checked it quite often it's even further than that, it's like 90 degrees because they're covering the backside right, but general rule of thumb or just a rule to stick to 75, stay alive and use that meat thermometer. So very important.

Owen 4:57

Read.

Dan 4:59

And cross-cut contamination as well. If you're going to be doing any prep with the chicken, I'd use either a smear. Smear it everywhere. Yeah, smear it everywhere.

Dan 5:03

Wipe it on as well, if you're going to be doing any prep with the chicken I'd use either everywhere yes, smear it everywhere, wipe it on as many surfaces as you can other foods that you're doing and then, when everyone has a bad stomach afterwards, just blame society. You know that seems to be the main cause of blame for everything, but we jest, right. Um, wash your hands before, afterwards, before handling anything else. Ideally use a separate chopping board. Make sure you wash that chopping board as well. Um, in america there's different food standards, so there's lots of conversations there about whether you should wash your chicken or not. Being in the uk, we have different food standards, so I'm not going to jump into that debate. But if you are listening abroad, that's something that you can look into yourself. But it's more about making sure you limit the chance of the cross-contamination, right? Yes, thank you, owen, for those words of wisdom, but there's lots of different ways you can cook chicken, right? It's more exciting now. What ways do you like to cook chicken?

Owen 6:06

Chicken is exciting, I think. Well, is it exciting? I think it's a staple on the barbecue. I think there's more exciting things that you can cook. But you know, if I had my, if I was coming to barbecue for the first time now, I think probably the things that I would be looking at would be cooking some sausages, cooking some burgers, some chicken kebabs or pork steaks, or actually a steak, or actually a steak. I think those would be, but I'm interested to know what would you accompany them with and what would you that's not meat, what would you be cooking on the barbecue as a beginner or that's good for a beginner to try on the barbecue.

Essential BBQ Safety and Techniques

Dan 7:01

Well, I'm going to put a caveat in before I answer that question about chicken. The reason I've gone back to it is when we've spoken to genevieve in the past, when we've spoken to marcus, when we've spoken to quite a few other people. I don't like the term real barbecue because that suggests you're taking away from what other people are doing. But they've quite often said once people are trying to flex their skills a bit, that's where chicken's a good place to start. That's why I've suggested it at this first point. But what sides and things would you look at as a beginner? I think a mac and cheese where you can prepare things like you boil the pasta, you make the cheese sauce and then you smoke it or you do it indirect to get that extra charred flavor in there. I think that's really good.

Dan 7:44

I think something fairly simple. It's really overlooked. But if you're flexing your muscles as a beginner barbecuer, if you get something like a lettuce quarter, it put some oil in there, char it up on the grill. Fantastic side to steak. If you have like a chunk of iceberg lettuce that you've kind of really scorched, crumble some blue cheese with it. It's so easy to do and it's so gorgeous. Asparagus again so easy to do Direct over the flames. I like a stuffed pepper. Oh, I bet you do you, naughty boy. How are you doing that? Tell me how you're doing the stuffed pepper. Oh, I bet you do you, naughty boy. How are you doing that? Tell me how you're doing the stuffed pepper.

Owen 8:27

So I'd probably halve them direct over the grill just to char the outside a little bit. And, sorry, do the char the inside a little bit to get some of the kind of moisture bits out, then turn it over, stuff it, and I quite like to go with like a uh, like a mozzarella and pesto, um, and then turn it back over direct on the grill, uh, sorry, over the coal again to get the char on the outside. So you've got the kind of pesto cheesy mix in the middle but the kind of charred flavor. Uh, I always think that's quite. Again, it's fairly. It's fairly simple. It's not groundbreaking in any way, shape or form, but it's just jack, even if it's just jacket potato like, even just doing it, wrap it in tinfoil and just putting, putting them. Uh, not obviously what you were talking about in your in the last episode, where you leave it for two weeks in the in the actual thing, but even if you're cooking it in tinfoil, right, and just leaving them oh, they go nutty.

Dan 9:46

They go so nutty. There's something about doing it that way, in the fire that I don't know how, what it does, the sugars maybe, compared to if you're doing it in like an oven. But you know, olive oil, stab it with a fork salt pepper, wrap it up and just lob it in those coals and leave them. Leave them for as long as you dare, maybe turn them every so often. Absolutely glorious and simple to do as well.

Owen 10:12

Yeah, I agree, I quite like doing a loaded skin though.

Dan 10:15

Yeah.

Owen 10:16

So you're cooking them up and then you're halving them, mashing the potato a little bit, cook some streaky bacon on the barbecue so that's nice and crisp. Cut it up, mix it in a bit of cheese on top, back on the grill.

Dan 10:30

I like a bit of sour cream in there as well. What in the potato? Yeah, in that little mash mixture you've done a little bit of sour cream in there as well. Chuck it in there. A bit of moz aszzarella, just melt it. Melt it all down. Absolutely glorious Potato wedges.

Side Dishes for BBQ Beginners

Dan 10:48

So if you're cooking quite hot but indirect at like 180, 200, say you're doing a whole chicken, you're almost using the barbecue like you would an oven like 180, 190, something like that chicken on the other side. If you get like a cooking tray or like a tinfoil tray or 90, something like that Chicken on the other side, if you get like a cooking tray or like a tinfoil tray or something cut up, like you would potato wedges, bit of olive oil, salt pepper, maybe some whole cloves of garlic, or even cut a bowl, a whole, yeah, the bulb of garlic and lob it in there. It goes really sweet and that's a great way to serve potatoes. It's so easy.

Dan 11:32

I think sometimes people think barbecuing can be a bit intimidating, but I think if you try and flip your mindset and just think of it as an outdoor oven, to people who barbecue a lot that might seem obvious, but there's no need to be afraid of it as an outdoor oven. Um, to people who barbecue a lot, that might seem obvious, but there's no need to be afraid of it and frankly, particularly if you're cooking a few different things, what's the worst that's going to happen? One thing's not going to be nice.

Owen 11:54

Just go for it, play with it, because the extra flavor that you get from the coals or the wood if you're smoking is so great it's worth experimenting in that way sometimes you, because you know all of the great people that we know, that you know we've spoken to along the way or we've met or we follow or whatever, and you know some of the incredible cooks. Sometimes you and and just kind of you know the own level of what we do again disclaimer, we're not experts but you do kind of take for granted just the type of stuff that we do and how other people think that that's, I can't believe you can do that. On a barbecue, I was having a conversation with someone today actually and we were just having a catch up at work and sort of talking about the weekend and he was like, oh, actually I'm going to do a barbecue and you know, I'm potentially looking at a new one, had like a barrel style one and also a kettle and also a kettle. And basically he wanted to buy a new barrel one because it rusted out long and short of it was. And I said, well, look my go-to and we spoke about this in an episode a few weeks ago my go-to would be just getting a Weber kettle. Yeah, quality, build, reasonably priced, lasts forever. Mine's nearly 15 years old, still an absolute workhorse.

Owen 13:30

But his response was yeah, but the reason I've got a barrel one is then, because I can cook on one side and then move things over to the other side and keep them warm. And I was like, but you can do that on a kettle, yeah, you can, no, you can't. And it's like no, you can't. It's called two zone. You literally just put the charcoal on one side, put the food on the other side, put the lid on it and actually cook it for itself, you know, and then you can just finish stuff off or whatever. And it was just like oh, I didn't realise you could do that. So it is interesting sometimes you just take the stuff that we do for granted, that you assume everyone can do it.

Dan 14:09

But on that point have a look at different accessories available, because you get the fire baskets from Weber that literally take up half of the barbecue that you put on the one side and you just load up the charcoal that way, so you don't even have to worry about loading, of loading it up in it and pushing it all to one side. Just put it in the basket, drop the basket in, it's all done on one side. Fire lighter off, you go, you know, um, and it'll do that for you. And going back to chicken, because I mentioned it earlier, there's so much you can do once you two zone, you know you can spatchcock the chicken. Just cut out the spine, put it directly over the top of the coals three minutes one side, three minutes the other to get some char on there. Stick it in like so it's no longer directly over it, indirect, just to make it easier for terminology if you've not done it before. And then just you check it 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes with the meat thermometer until you hit your temperature. That looks mind-blowing to people who don't barbecue and the extra flavor that you will get from that bird from doing it that way amazing.

Dan 15:17

And then you start thinking about rubs. Then you start thinking about well actually, should I put a bit of wood in there to get different bits of flavour? There's so much that you can do. Should I put sauce on it while it's cooking? Should I mop it? Should I pretend I'm at Nando's?

Dan 15:35

The wife loves Nando's right. Let's put a load of the Nando's sauce on there and you can get far better results than you can from a mediocre chain restaurant. There's so much that you can do. And that's just looking at that piece of meat. You know steak you mentioned earlier as well um, sausages and burgers. As soon as you're looking at two zoning, that opens up worlds of like reverse searing. And you've got a meat thermometer so you can take the meat to exactly where you want to. You know it's going to be perfectly cooked every single time, but the fact that you're next to the barbecue and you've got the control of opening it, looking at, closing it, staying on top of it the whole time you've got 100% control and the added flavor of that. There's no reason to be intimidated at all.

Owen 16:28

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Dan 16:34

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Owen 16:38

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Dan 16:54

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Owen 17:07

They stock and supply everything that you're going to need for outdoor cooking, including barbecues, kamado ovens, pizza ovens, outdoor fridges and every accessory that you would need to become the ultimate outdoor chef.

Dan 17:20

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Seitan Barbecue Challenge

Owen 17:32

Visit aoskitchenscouk. So I know we're supposed to be talking about beginners stuff, but I am going to be in a beginner situation so I think it's appropriate. I'm talking about intimidation. So someone has challenged me to cook a vegan meat substitute and make the best barbecue out of it. I've never even heard of it before. It's called Seitan.

Dan 18:09

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that is hot. Are you going to buy some stuff? Are you going to make it from scratch with the flour and water and washing it and doing all that stuff?

Owen 18:20

Truth is, I don't know, it was one of these things that they challenged me, they did me a favour and they would kind of it was a bit of joking around oh well, you'll have to cook me some vegan barbecue. And I went yeah sure, that was ages ago. And then when I spoke to him a couple of days ago, he was like so how have you gone? Have you practised? And I was like damn, I've actually forgotten. He's expecting me I'm seeing him in a few weeks time and he's actually expecting me to come up with some, some food. So have you ever? Have you ever, cooked seitan before? Have you ever made it?

Dan 18:53

I've looked into how you make it because I've cooked for vegans before and every time isn't it?

Owen 18:58

Yeah, isn't it? Yeah, vegetable broth or something.

Dan 19:00

I've just said so I'm gonna bastardize it now.

Dan 19:03

I'm probably saying very much wrong, but effectively, in the simplest form, it's basically flour and water, um, and yeast, and you stretch it out and you wash it and you stretch it out and you make the gluten longer and longer and longer, and then you kind of tie it and wrap it on itself and you wash it more and you do it, and you do it more until it becomes almost like a knot, and then you can cook it and wrap it on itself and you wash it more and you do it, and you do it more until it becomes almost like a knot, and then you can cook it and work with it and use it in different ways, but, rightly or wrongly every time I've looked into it.

Dan 19:31

There's so many other options that you can do for vegans, and I'm obsessed with aubergines and cauliflower when it comes to that type of cooking. Like if you smoke an aubergine or roast an aubergine, cut it in half, scoop it out, baba, ganoush it up, or just like mash it up with different flavorings that will blow anyone's socks off as a dip um, there's so much you can do with it. Or if you get like a whole head of cauliflower and you can cut up, cut it up into steaks and you can marinate it in stuff and then you can just like cook it off directly and it works like a steak mushrooms. There's so much you can do with with mushrooms and you can do like but then you don't have mushroom for anything.

Dan 20:18

Oh, you are a fun guy. You're a really fun guy, but that is a shit. Oh, you are a fun guy. You're a really fun guy, but that is a shit. Take on this conversation. Look, the world's our oyster. We just got to keep going.

Owen 20:32

Oh God.

Dan 20:33

But don't button it up.

Owen 20:36

Close cup.

Dan 20:43

But going back to it, do you have to cook with it?

Owen 20:46

I know you've gone on a monologue about other things, but I've been specifically challenged to do a seitan recipe you weren't challenged to vegan BBQ.

Owen 20:55

You were challenged specifically to seitan so it was specifically to do seitan, make a BBQ recipe and cook him. Some basically make seitan and do barbecue with it. So I'm interested to know actually any listeners, have you ever cooked seitan, have you ever made seitan and therefore cooked with it, and have you ever barbecued with it? I'd be interested to know if you've got any recipes, because I don't know where to start right now. But having a very brief flick through you, couldn't I assume you could just make it into something that looks like a chicken and then, going back to the chicken conversation we were having a minute ago, make it into something that looks like a chicken and going back to the chicken conversation we're having a minute ago, and maybe just do some grill seitan steak type things that looks like chicken, I suppose well, the glory of modern day devices means that we can quickly as you so elegantly put it flick through google.

Dan 22:01

Normally, when people are on the internet on their devices, they flick to other things. But I'm going to be flicking through google right now and I've come across a recipe that talks about using vegetable broth to give extra flavor when you're kind of washing it and cooking it, garlic powder, and that apparently, with just seven ingredients, you can create seitan satan, I don't know how you want to call it um in just 15 minutes. So there's options out there. You know, um, and this is just steaming it to get it through, and then you can make it look like um, kind of like breaded chicken that you'd get in like a Chinese takeaway. Oh, that's what you should do. That'll blow their mind, right?

Dan 22:49

I would like you to do this Cook it on a barbecue, but present it and serve it like a Chinese takeaway. So you're in two in one. So you can make like a sweet and sour sauce from, like you know, vinegar, pineapple juice I have no idea if ketchup's vegan, but you can probably see that way but like so, but do it on the barbecue, right? So like, cook it, smoke it indirect to get those flavors in. But you know, baste it or cook it in that. So you're doing two in one. You're, you're up, you're upstaging the challenge. You're not just doing it as one, it's almost like a barbecue bingo and serve it like it's a chinese. That would be glorious. Yeah, yeah, in in a full or a lazy susan, the little bowls. And every time they go to it you just spin it away and then laugh, and how people think you were funny. Oh, that's gorgeous. And it gives you the advantage of being able to do pineapple on the barbecue, which I love so much. I keep going back to it, but it still blows my mind.

Dan 23:54

The first time, was it? Sizzle Fest Was the first time we had that done over live fire. Was it Jürgen that done over live fire? Where was it? Jugan just hung the pineapple over the live fire. Fire for hours and hours is phenomenal. Um, I'm interested. I want you to take photos and put it up on the podcast. Now you've talked about it on the uh instagram page meeting great yeah, well, look, we'll see how we get on is there a date date?

Dan 24:21

Is there a date for this?

Owen 24:23

So we've got a kind of company event in mid-July, so I've basically got between now and then to actually learn how to make it and cook it and of course, try at least a couple of times just to perfect it.

Cooking in the Wild Experiences

Dan 24:40

I'm really looking forward, really looking forward to that. Before we go on to sausages and burgers, because we've mentioned them a few times, and before I forget, I want to talk about my cooking in the wild experience that I foreshadowed earlier in the episode about the chicken before you put it on the barbecue, cooking it beforehand. So this was down in New Milton in Dorset, I think it's on the barbecue cooking it beforehand. So, um, this was down in new milton, um, in dorset, where I think it's on the dorset hampshire border. Yeah, yeah, um, yeah, that joke's today absolutely love it.

Dan 25:16

That's, that's the spin-off, that is podcast um, shake, um, just go back on mushrooms again repeating, but yeah. So I went to a cafe place that was on the cliff face, literally beach, but had a big sign outside that was um, it was called expert barbecue. Today I was like I meant, walked in they had three barbecue set up. They had um, a brick barbecue, which is such a 90s thing you don't see anymore. I don't know if that was just a uk thing, but like building with bricks, with like the bits of metal you can put grills on and stuff. You just don't see that anymore, do you really?

Owen 25:56

uh, no, no, I don't think so. Maybe in some gardens right there kind kind of brick built into I'm expert barbecue today.

Dan 26:07

Yeah, that's what they're like. You know what the chalkboard that you have outside, yeah, and then they had this was maybe two years ago. I sent you photos when I was in there, but I didn't send you photos of the sign. They had like a huge Weber, like when the XL. Oh, one of the sign they had, like a huge webber, like when the xl um, the really big ones, and then they had a big barrel and you could see they'd set it up indirect. I was like this looks interesting.

Dan 26:33

Um, and the guide was even putting aromatics on the coals. So like on one way he had some lamb skewers and he's putting rosemary on the coals. He'd put some like wild garlic on other ones that I was talking to him. It's like a little perfume, blah, blah, blah and such pride. I was chatting to him for a bit. He's like I'm going to bring the chicken out. I was like great Love to chat to you while you're doing it.

Dan 26:58

The chicken they brought had been pre-cooked. So he's gone to the point of putting aromatics on the coals and everything and set out indirectly and they come out with pre-cooked chicken legs and chicken wings that he then flashes over the coals for like two, three minutes tops and then puts indirect and leaves them indirect to then serve to people. So if you came there like an hour later, some of that chicken had been sitting indirect on that webber for an hour because I didn't see them bring any more bits out. Must have been the driest thing ever at that that point. But I like they're advertising. What they're doing is expert barbecue and like I was really excited but I could see them actually thinking about right, there's rosemary on there, so let's pair it up we had a similar scenario, didn't we?

Owen 27:55

when we went to meet oprah a few years ago? Oh, yeah, yeah and uh, obviously you know it wasn't expensive. It was very expensive for what you got, but we went to that. I don't know whether it was not. I can't even remember what grill they used, but it was kind of like a. It looked like an offset smoker type thing, or at least like a Traeger did, the kind of barrel one that you lift up with a, and they have mountains of chicken wings on there. But, by God, were they the driest chicken wings you've ever tasted?

Owen 28:28

You know I think they'd just been cooked and no one was buying them. So they just mounted up and they were just left as the heat was decreasing. But of course they were just drying out. You know, if you bit into the bone you'd cough out dust.

Dan 28:42

It was that situation where we'd been there for a while, we'd said we wanted to try as many different places that was there as possible and there was no queue, and it wasn't until after we bought the things, started eating them, that we realized ah, that's why yeah, exactly and these things would have bounced like a squash ball, right.

Dan 29:01

That that's the sort of texture they were at. But on that point, that's the other reason not to be intimidated. People are doing far below subpar barbecuing and selling it for money. So don't be afraid to have a go of cooking something yourself. Half of the battles have the confidence to go out.

Dan 29:21

Um and on that point. So sausages, sausages, um, it blew my mind. No, that's a strong word, you know, like doing sausages indirect for the first time on a barbecue and the different color that you get out of them and the different flavor that you get out of them, compared to just cooking sausages in an oven or frying them off. They actually go like a different color, particularly if you're smoking, obviously at like 180 until you hit temp, compared to the, shall we say, classic British doing them direct and turning them and turning them, and turning them until they go charcoal, right. The extra flavour you get is so easy you just chuck them on the opposite side of a grill, compared to where the coals are Meat thermometer, make sure they hit temperature and the flavor you'll get is great.

Owen 30:10

And there's so many ways you can serve it as part of a barbecue, right, that's kind of your starter trick, as it were well, I wouldn't say it's a trick, but but but I think that just I don't is is it's not, that's not relevant to do it. That's not relevant. That's not exclusive. Just the sausages, though, is it?

Dan 30:30

No, no, it's not.

Owen 30:32

Anything that you don't cook on direct coal that you can bring up to temperature and then just get that kind of crispness on the outside. You can do that with anything, and that's ideal.

Dan 30:47

But that's how I always cook sausages on a barbecue, you know, for hot dogs, for anything that that's how I personally do it?

Owen 30:53

yeah, I always. I always bring them up and then finish them on the high heat rather than straight over the high heat yeah, because the flavor is so good yeah, because you've always got the challenge, haven't you with? And it depends on the quality of the sausage as well. In terms of the meat content, you know want some of the Lesser meat content. Yeah, size isn't everything Is it. But also, if you're cooking them Really hot, you can split the skins as well, can't it?

Dan 31:26

And that can be very painful and also, if you're cooking them really hot, you can split the skins as well, can't it?

Sausages, Burgers and Final Tips

Owen 31:30

That can be very painful. It can be very painful and I'm sure in the 80-odd episodes that we've done, I've mentioned that before where I've been cooking at someone else's barbecue and they bought lesser quality sausages and I had to take over mid cook so they'd already put them on and I was trying to get them to into a two zone but the coal was kind of everywhere so I didn't really have the option so I was literally flipping them like a madman and skin split, all the fat drips out and literally just the whole thing caught fire. You just don't get that if you create appropriate zones within your cooking area.

Dan 32:19

What about burgers? When it comes to burgers, how are you on a kettle? How are you doing that? Are you flipping between direct and indirect? Are you cooking to temp, or are you just flashing directly to, to a point that you're happy with?

Dan 32:32

I tend to flame, grill them so direct so I like to use a plancher or a flat if I'm on coals or like a flat top like the blackstone. You get the smash, but I find you could get a better crust. I know like people quite like the look of like the grill marks, but I think from like a bite and a taste perspective similar to a steak really, with a crust like just you're getting that crust either side. I think it gives you a better experience. And if you have got a kettle and you're going that way, I would highly recommend getting a half moon planter. I absolutely love cooking on them. I think there's loads you can do with it. You're still getting the flavour from kind of the charcoal, depending on how you're cooking it in there, but they're so fun to play with and it gives you the opportunity to be smashing them, putting them down, flatten them out, getting a proper crust on a steak as well love it absolutely love it.

Owen 33:32

So we've been talking now for probably 20 minutes or so. I think we've just waffled mainly nonsense in that. We've pretty much just said cook anything, cook any. If we're a beginner, cook anything. Yeah, I know, I know we haven't. I know we haven't in the sense that we've gone don't cook a brisket or don't cook a, you know, a full leg of lamb or anything. First time we have talked about some of the more basic stuff, but it's been quite a wide range of basic stuff, I think and that but that's my point, that's my point with entry barbecue.

Dan 34:08

There's so much you can do and it doesn't have to be complicated that people might feel intimidated by. But it's so easy. And there's other episodes that will go into much more complex stuff. We can talk about low and slow. We can talk about coal setups, like. We can talk about using like bris, like um. We can talk about um using like hot pots, cast iron pans. There's so much you could do from like a beginner inverted commas point of view on a barbecue. That I think maybe would intimidate people. But the biggest thing, just have a go. Just have a go. What's the worst that can happen? Set fire to the house or like a shack. You know that'd be quite bad. Don't do that. But have fun. That's what I mean. You're not going to spoil the food, that's the sound of cook is there anything else you want to add?

Dan 35:02

well, that's the point of a meat for the moment. Alright, definitely so. Before we wrap this up, is there anything else that want to add? Well, that's the point of a meet for the moment. All right, definitely. So. Before we wrap this up, is there anything else that you'd like to add? Mr Cook, no, I always find a prolonged silence is the best thing for a podcast, like, primarily, an audio feed. Well, I'd like to say Google us Meat and Greet BBQ podcast. Please do write to us. We'd love to hear if this has inspired you to try something you've not tried before. Let us know. Message us on Instagram, facebook, email us. Still want to hear more of your barbecue fails or anything that you've seen cooking in the wild. Other people do reach out to us. Let us know and we can discuss it in future episodes.

Owen 35:48

But until next time, keep on grilling today's episode is brought to you by aos kitchens, the south's leading outdoor kitchen design and installation specialists.