27.06.08
Straight from the horse’s mouth: Steven Raichlen’s BBQU firsthand
BBQU
Originally uploaded by Auschar
This week we have a special blog post written by Lee Gilmour, Managing Director of Auschar, about his fantastic experience at this year’s Steven Raichlen BBQ University.
The class schedule was demanding, and all in the beautiful surrounds of the Broadmoor Resort, Colorado Springs. We were taught to grill at least 8 different dishes a day and the body of knowledge obtained from an expert like Steven, even after such a short period of time, was astounding. Some of my favourite recipes from the experience include: Tucson T-Bones, Kansas City-Style Ribs, Pit-Roasted Pork in the style of the Yucatán, Grilled Vegetables in the style of Santa Margherita and the Holy Grail, Bacon-Crusted Texas-Style Brisket with Spicy Apple BBQ Sauce (these will be placed on the Heat Beads® website in the weeks to come).
On Wednesday evening, the BBQU kicked off with a welcome reception dinner at the Broadmoor Golf Clubhouse, where we sampled food from the menus of each of the six restaurants at the club.
From Thursday June 5 to Saturday June 7 we spent from 9am to 12pm fine tuning our grill skills. We then got the chance to eat our delectable creations for lunch, before retiring to a range of relaxation and recreation activities available at the Broadmoor Resort. 24 grills and smokers were used to cater for the 50 students. We shipped a pallet of Australia’s finest BBQ fuel, Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes over to the US, especially for the event. This allowed my fellow students to experience grilling Aussie Style!
On the final day of the BBQU, we endeavoured to take on the challenge of Steven’s infamous two-part (oral and written) exam. Although it was somewhat difficult, I’m pleased to say the entire class passed, just in time for the graduation!
Here is one of my favourite BBQ recipes from BBQ U, that you can try at home:
Morton Bay ‘Bugs’ with Ginger-Mint Butter
Source: The Barbecue Bible by Steven Raichlen (workman Publishing, 2008)
Method: Direct Grilling
Serves: 4
You will need:
Bugs or Lobster tails
Butter, fresh mint (chopped), fresh ginger (minced), lime zest (grated), fish sauce, fresh limejuice and salt and pepper to taste.
Method:
Pre heat the grill to high.
Chop the lobster tails lengthwise and set aside while you prepare the ginger-mint butter.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat and then add the mint, ginger, garlic, and lime zest. Once the mix is fragrant but not brown, stir in the fish sauce and limejuice.
Find the lobster tails and brush the cut sides with the ginger-mint butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Place the lobster tails onto an oiled grill grate cut side down for 6-8 minutes and then repeat the process for the other side, all the while basting the lobsters with your remaining ginger-mint butter.
Serve immediately.
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30.05.08
All the Ingredients for a Great BBQ
The third part of our art of char grilling series is all about the perfect ingredients to a triumphant BBQ.
The recipe for a successful BBQ is as follows:
Ingredients
Suitable BBQ accessories such as long-handled tongs, a fork, a spatula, a sharp knife, a basting brush, serving platters, a grill brush, good quality protective gloves for handling live coals, and Heat Beads® drip trays.
To help you light your BBQ, 1 part of each - a Heat Beads® BBQ Quickstart Chimney, long matches, and Heat Beads® Firelighters.
To learn how to light your BBQ using these three simple ingredients, click here.
1 part of wood chips
Due to the neutral flavour of Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes, professionals and enthusiasts alike usually use wood chips to provide their BBQ food with a distinct smokey flavour. Woodchips are available from Barbeques Galore and should be soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes before being placed on top of your Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes, once they are fully ashed over and ready to cook.
1 part of drinks for the guests and chefs alike
Perhaps a cold beer or glass of wine to aid the chef, or as the cool weather closes in, perhaps even a steaming hot cup of soup!
1 part of guests ready to taste test your BBQ sensations (the lucky people!)
And finally, one 7kg bag of Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes, of course!
These are all the ingredients required for a successful BBQ, which will hopefully add to your BBQ skills acquired over this series. Stay tuned for our last part of this series, which is our top 10 weird and wonderful BBQ recipes.
22.05.08
Top 12 BBQ Tips from the Experts
Part two of our art of char grilling series is all about those fantastic BBQ tips from the experts in the industry that may just turn your next BBQ into the best you’ve ever had!
1. According to Steven Raichlen, storing your Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes in a metal can with a tight fitting lid prevents them from becoming damp.
2. If you can’t leave your Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes in your BBQ to cool (if you’re camping etc), they can be lifted with a metal spade into a galvanised iron can with a tight fitting lid to cool.
3. According to Vlado Gregurek of Vlado’s - one of Australia’s most renowned steak houses, instead of using a spray-on oil to grease your grill plate a piece of beef fat is perfect. This can be stored in the freezer and rubbed over the grill before you begin cooking for a more succulent, natural taste. Being Greek, Stavros from Stavros Tavern, suggests you can also use lamb fat, which is, ‘natural, cheap and available’.
4. Vlado also suggests after cleaning your grill with a steel brush, to continue cleaning with a clean cloth and warm water (with gloves on of course!).
5. When using wooden skewers for BBQing soaking in water first can minimise burning. They are best soaked overnight.
6. Allan Campion suggests that as well as being fantastic for everyday BBQing – if you have a lazy Sunday or a special event coming up – Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes are perfect for slow cooking. This allows interaction between the flavours of the food or your marinade/rub and the heat from Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes to create succulent meals that will literally melt in your mouth.
7. Keep portable metal BBQs under cover when not in use or they will rust. Cover brick BBQs to keep out rainwater and remove metal parts. A rubbish bin lid will do, but make sure it is securely anchored or it may blow away and cause damage. Scrape down and clean the grid frequently for best results.
8. French breads and vegetables to accompany meats can be wrapped in foil and heated on the side of the BBQ. Skewered vegetables are also easiest to eat outdoors. Also score the fat off chops and steaks to prevent curling.
9. To give a pleasant aroma to barbecued food, burn a few sprigs of fresh herbs in the briquettes while the food is cooking. Rosemary, marjoram or thyme are very aromatic.
10. According to Julian Wu, Asian-style BBQ expert and well-known BBQ grill-master, using two bricks to elevate skewered fish and seafood kebabs off the coals prevents the common problem of fish burning on, and sticking to the grill plates.
11. When cooking steak on a BBQ, seal it on both sides. Beads of juice on the uncooked side indicate that the meat is ready to turn. Do not turn the steak more than once; too frequent turnings result in dry, tough steak.. It is best not to cut into a steak to see if it is ready – it will lose its juice that way. Instead, press the surface of the steak with tongs. Rare steak is soft to the touch with the outside cooked and brown, and the inside red. Medium steak is firm to the touch, well browned on the outside and pink in the centre. Well-done steak is very firm to the touch, very well browned on the outside and evenly cooked through the centre, but not dry.
12. Honey or sugar in marinades are likely to burn if cooked on a high heat. It may be necessary to cook the meat on a lower heat immediately after sealing.
If you would like to view a short video on all the fantastic BBQ Tips from the Steven Raichlen BBQ, click here
Stay tuned for the third part in our series next week, on all the ingredients needed for a successful BBQ!
08.05.08
Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes Guest Appearance at Steven Raichlen’s BBQU
Coming up! Heat Beads® will be represented at Steven Raichlen’s BBQ University (June 1 to 4 and June 4 -7) in Colorado Springs, by Lee Gilmour, Managing Director of Australian Char, who will spend two days with the famous grill master, learning the secret art of char grilling, the American way.
What’s more, Steven was so smitten with Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes that he will be cooking over Australia’s best solid BBQ fuel during the weekend, and demonstrating all its delectable abilities.
Lee has already promised to throw a BBQ soon after his return to wow us all with his newly found char-grilling prowess.
Since his visit to Australia in early February, Heat Beads® has made a great friend in Steven Raichlen. If you wish to find out more, click here
02.05.08
Win with this year’s annual BBQ Lovers Survey
Terrific Winter Warmers to be won! Have you all received our eNewsletter this month and participated in our annual Heat Beads® BBQ Lovers Survey? If not, you can become a subscriber by clicking here and be in the draw to win one of ten Winter Warmer packs of the latest DVD’s and CD’s.
Get cosy warm while you watch four of the latest blockbuster movies on DVD - Atonement, Southland Tales, American Gangster and Golden Age, and four of the latest CDs from popular artists such as Brian McFadden, Vanessa Amorosi, Mika and Rihanna!
To be in the running, subscribe to our newsletter and complete our quick Heat Beads® BBQ Lovers Survey click here. When you complete the survey, you will automatically enter the draw. Winners will be notified by email by 10th May 2008.
* Remember: you must be a subscriber to our eNewsletter to be in the draw
Information collated to date shows that 51.5% of respondents are BBQ’ing more than this time last year, and 59.3% are using Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes for more than just heating up the barbeque in summer! It seems they are a popular choice to warm cool winter nights, in braziers and fire pits.
Join the fun, warm up for winter, and help us provide you with a better BBQ experience!
24.04.08
Anzac Day – A great time to bring everyone together around the Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes
There will be thousands of BBQ’s fired up across the country this weekend. What could be better after an early start at the dawn service or watching the Anzac Parade on TV?
Our Anzac Day weekend kicked off a day early, with a feast of succulent BBQ delights cooked on an innovative little unit we discovered recently. Called the Little Wombat, this compact portable char grill - which also doubles as a cosy fire pit - worked a treat. It also stood the test of time! As with any product we mention, we need to know how it performs. So to make sure it could pass the Heat Beads® quality test we fired it up with Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes at 8AM this morning, and have kept it stocked all day. It is now 4PM, we’ve gone through four bags of Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes (just to make sure Little Wombat could go the distance), the food was cooked to perfection, the briquettes are still glowing, and the whole adventure seemed rather effortless with fantastic, succulent shaslicks as our reward!
In its most compact form, the Little Wombat is only 51cmW x 22.5cmH x 36cmD, making it perfect for those 4W’ding weekends with the boys, a ‘grey nomad’ six month wander across the outback, or a family BBQ in the hills or park. Just pack your Heat Beads® inside the unit, throw the Little Wombat in the boot and take off for the great outdoors – or perhaps just to your friend’s inner city courtyard?! Doubling as an outdoor heater Little Wombat appears to be another great way to enjoy Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes all year round!
Hope you can pick up a bag of Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes today on your way home and enjoy the Anzac Day weekend surrounded by family and friends.
Find out more about the Little Wombat by clicking here
11.04.08
Nothing like it… goat, lamb and beef BBQ recipes for a master of the char grill!
John Ryan and his family will soon be off to hit the huge BBQ circuit, in where else but Kansas City, US of A of course! Although John will be working in IT part-time, his main passion will be learning to be a certified judge for the Kansas City Barbeque Sanctioned Events Circuit. If you wish to aspire to Master Judge level, like John, the certified judging course takes about a year. The training is currently only provided by the Kansas City Barbeque Society in which participants take an oath to uphold the principles of BBQ, and is taken very seriously indeed:
‘I do solemnly swear to objectively and subjectively evaluate each Barbeque meat that is presented to my eyes, my nose, my hands and my palate. I accept my duty to be an Official KCBS Certified Judge, so that truth, justice, excellence in Barbeque and the American Way of Life may be strengthened and preserved forever.’
-The Kansas City Barbeque Society Website
Last Saturday was the perfect time for some of John’s friends, and passionate char grill aficionado’s, to come together. A perfect reason to gather around the Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes warmed Kettle, and enjoy some great taste sensations with that distinct, succulent flavour, in a fitting farewell to John.
Albeit, the occasion was bitter sweet, the day was a great success with three wonderful dishes satisfying all, including a special new recipe from Julian Wu - Leg of Goat with a fragrant chilli marinade. Below is the recipe so that you can test out this new sensation for yourselves:
Roast Goat with a Fragrant Chilli Marinade
Ingredients:
A leg of goat
Marinade:½ tspn preserved tofu in chilli oil (available at Asian Grocery Stores)
2-3 tbls of the Chilli Oil the tofu is preserved in
2-3 tbls basic BBQ rub (see below)
1-2 Szechuan peppercorns (also available at Asian Grocery Stores)
Blend these ingredients into a paste and brush onto Goat leg, leave overnight to marinate.
Basic BBQ Rub:
Equal quantities of salt, pepper (white and black) garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika.
Method:
When the Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes have ashed over, add some hickory wood chips, that have been soaking in boiling water for about 15-20 minutes.
Rest a Heat Beads® BBQ Tray inside the BBQ, with a little water inside. Lay the leg of goat across the BBQ, and close the lid. Leave the goat to roast within its own succulent juices for about 1.5 to 2 hours (depending on the size of the leg). About 2-3 times during the cooking process, baste the leg with the marinade.
This recipe will work equally as well with Lamb, if you find goat is a hard find.
Julian also recommends the same base recipe with a marinade that contains equal quantities of:
Garlic paste, lemon juice, good quality olive oil and mustard.
Although we are incredibly sad to see one of the most passionate char grillers in Australian BBQ’ing leave us, we wish John and his family all the best in Kansas City!
03.04.08
Cooking up a BBQ Recipe Storm
It is an ill wind that blows no good… or so they say! After a false start to this year’s Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show when gale force winds lasted five hours and forced closure on the first day, it was business as usual on day two at the Royal Exhibition Buildings and Carlton Gardens in Melbourne.
From today until Sunday April 6 Heat Beads® BBQ briquettes will be keeping the hoards happy with delicious, mouth watering char grill recipes from Stavros Tavern. I had the Lamb Souvlaki, which really did just melt in my mouth. Meet the man with the moustache and the biggest smile in town, at Stavros Tavern Catering beside the entrance to the Exhibition Buildings. Just follow your nose - yum…does it smell good - and look for the Heat Beads® barriers.
It is no secret to us that Heat Beads® solid BBQ fuel is the best around and we are so pleased that so many of our wonderful subscribers feel the same way! Here’s what one of the three runner-up entrants in the Steve Raichlen Book Competition had to say:
That char taste is hard to replicate,
But with Heat Bead Briquettes I can create!
A BBQ that all envy and cheer,
Everyone’s welcome - but don’t forget the Beer!!
Peta Booker
20.03.08
Easter BBQ Recipe
In case you blinked after Christmas, Easter’s already here. It’s another great time to gather with family and friends around a Heat Beads BBQ® Briquettes fuelled barbecue.
A great recipe idea for Good Friday, for the traditionalist in all of us, is Stavros’ (Stavros of Stavros Tavern in Albert Park) very special calamari recipe from the Steve Raichlen Degustation BBQ. This makes a fantastic entrée or a delicious main meal when served with a salad or roasted potato!
Char-Grilled Calamari Steaks With A Beetroot Skordalia
Marinate calamari steaks in a touch of good quality olive oil, lemon juice and with a hint of garlic and dill. Leave to sit for around half an hour.
Char-grill the steaks on a hot grill, fuelled by Heat Beads® BBQ Briquettes, until tender. Stavros recommends serving with a beetroot skordalia (a garlic and potato dip). However, if you are no master chef like the man himself, a beetroot dip from your local supermarket would be a welcome addition to the meal!
Wishing you all a very Happy Easter and we hope that you enjoy this dish as much as we did and while you’re here – why not leave a comment with details of your Heat Beads® escapades over the break.
