Sizzling BBQ Masterclasses at Bents #Blog

Briony Wilson
16th May 2018

Last week I had the pleasure of attending one of the Weber BBQ courses at Bents Garden & Home. I must confess before last week I was happy to throw burgers and sausages on a disposable BBQ in the sunshine and have done with it. But now I am definitely a BBQ convert, there is so much you can do on these grills it certainly isn’t a piece of kit to get out 3-4 times a year when our English weather allows. These grills are so versatile you could use them every week of the year.

The courses are £60 per person and they are great value for money. You spend 3 hours learning tricks, tips and techniques of how to use your BBQ in the best way to suit you and your style of cooking. And even better you get actively involved in cooking and then get to eat what you make. On arrival you receive a welcome pack including; a copy of the Weber magazine with some great ideas and tips on how to get the most out of your BBQ, a copy of the spring summer menu, with some great recipes and a Weber apron, so that you can look like a true professional.

Our session was lead by Andrew Dickens, one of the Weber grill chefs who tours the country showing people how to make the most of their grills and encouraging people to be more confident with the grill menu than just the traditional burgers and charred meat.

The advantage of these sessions is you get to experience cooking on the different types of Weber grills in the range; so whether you are looking for what grill will be best for you or you want to make the most of the grill you already have these sessions are the perfect opportunity. Across the session we used the Smokey Mountain Cooker Smoker,  Bar – B- Kettle Charcoal grill,  GEnesis Gas, Spirit Original Gas and Weber Q Gas. We also took advantage of certain accessories in the range including the pizza stone, sear grate, rotisserie, iGrill and smoker boxes.

We started with a Porchetta cooked on a rotisserie for a few hours, the meat was wonderfully succulent with an amazingly crunchy crackling. For this dish we used the charcoal grill with the rotisserie set, you can cook the porchetta without the rotisserie accessorise pack but it requires you to manually turn the meat on occasion. The exact recipes for all the dishes we made are on the Weber website along with cooking times and directions.

We used the Smokey Mountain Cooker Smoker to make some amazing pork ribs, with a fabulously deep smoked flavour which using these products is so easy to achieve. Depending on your BBQ there are different ways to introduce smoked flavour to your meat or protein.

2.5 hour slow smoked Pork Ribs

Next we made pizzas, which surprised me how simple and quick they were, this would make a really fun pizza party as you could knock the pizzas out so quickly. We put the gas BBQ on and left it to reach the optimum temperature this happens very quickly when you leave the lid down. It is important to do this to not waste gas or heat and use your kit most efficiently. Whilst it warmed up the pizza stone we had time to roll out our dough, make a homemade pizza sauce and decorate. Use plenty of flour to get your base on and off the paddle and on to the hot pizza stone. The pizzas came out amazingly, so thin, with a great flavour considering so few ingredients were used.

What I found most interesting was due to the heat of these BBQ’s they all require very little cleaning, as germs cannot survive in the temperatures we are cooking at so once you scrape off the worst bits of char and ash there is no need to spend hours cleaning, just a simple scrub with a T brush and scrape off of the excess fat after every couple of uses. Again there is a lot of advice on cleaning and looking after your grills on the website or pop in to store and Bents’ grill specialist has a wealth of knowledge. Bents has a massive range of Weber and other BBQ products and always have people on hand to give you advice and information about the products.

Once we had finished off the pizzas, we moved on to the grilled chicken thighs, some with a seasoned rub and some just with a light seasoning, Andrew explained to us how it is best to use an oil like rapeseed to help the rub stick.  You should give the meat plenty of space so that the heat can get around each piece otherwise it will boil and steam rather than sear the flesh, always start with the skin down. The meat will tell you when it is ready to turn as it will pop of the grill, no need to pull at it as this just creates a messy BBQ. Once we had the colour we wanted we moved it off the direct heat and on the the roasting rack at the top of the grill so the meat could continue roasting, without taking more colour, this is referred to as cooking on indirect heat rather than on the flame as we did to start to get the colour. Once cooked and rested we toasted some bun and shredded the meat to have with sliced pickled cucumber and tomatoes, a great summer favourite.

We had a lot of meat like all good BBQ’s should, but thought it was time for some side so chopped up, courgette, peppers, fennel, celeriac and green beans and tossed in some rapeseed oil. We added this in to one of the grilling baskets and put on the grill for a few minutes. It is important to cut all vegetables to a similar size so they cook evenly. Whilst doing this we had some full corn cobs, also on the grill.

Then it was time to smoke the salmon, we used a filleted side with no bone, which we cooked skin side down on top of a piece of parchment paper. We had already setup a smoker box in the BBQ as it heated so that we could smoke the salmon , as it cooked it developed a wonderful colour and we kept track of the temperature and process using the iGrill a temperature probe that connects to your phone so you could be in the house doing jobs and just leave it to do its thing. After cooking we took off the skin, salted it and put it back on the grill to crisp up, which makes a lovely salmon crisp. This was possibly my favourite dish we made as it was so simple and could be done regularly, so you never have to make the house smell of fish again, just cook it outside.

Now it was time for the steaks, we used rump cap a cheaper cut and sized our own steaks, we cooked some on the charcoal on a cast iron sear plate and the others direct on the grill, just so we could see the different effects of the grill lines, we seared the outside then moved to indirect heat to finish them off getting to the required temperature as we were aiming for a medium rare.

We finished off with sweet pizzas made of a tortilla base, with mascarpone mixed with honey, topped with blueberries and pears. We barbecued the pears separately and they cut them in to small pieces to add the sweet pizza which cooked in 2 minutes on the pizza stone. Such a different idea but packed with flavour and so simple to do.

We also melted some white chocolate down and as it carmelised took it off the heat to cool down and reform to a solid, we then cracked this and sprinkled it over the sweet pizza, it reminded me of caramac and went perfectly with the pears.

If anything this course is to give you inspiration and the techniques to go off and cook what you like to eat, we all enjoyed everything we ate, and I can’t wait to make it all again.

Here are a few of the Top Tips I came away with;

• Keep the lid down, prevent wasting energy and cook quicker
• Always use a temperature probe, there is no need to guess and you don’t need to take the chance of over cooking
• Your grill doesn’t have to be spotlessly clean, it isn’t in a show room
• Always remember 75- stay alive! Nothing needs to surpass a temperature of higher than 75 degress, and if you cook to 70, whilst your protein rests it will continue to cook.

Also if you are anything like me I would highly recommend purchasing a pair of the Weber premium gloves, they are so heat resistant the give you the confidence to get involved with your BBQ and change your setup as you go along, as you know you are protected. All the products are available in-store and on the Bents websites; click here to see more.

This was a simply outstanding experience and one I would recommend to everyone. It was a revelation. Well done Weber and well-done Bents.