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July 6, 2013 Featured

Brinkmann Gourmet Charcoal Smoker Grill – Review

One Good Reason Why You Should Consider Buying a Brinkmann Gourmet Charcoal Smoker Grill

If you’re a BBQ enthusiast you’ve probably used wood chips in the past to flavor the fish or meat on your BBQ grill and used marinades together with wood chips to produce many different and amazing tastes using fairly basic types of meat or fish.

If you’ve done this you’ve probably developed a taste for BBQ smoked food so why not extend your BBQ smoking skills by buying a dedicated smoker grill to compliment your conventional BBQ grill?

But although you might agree that you’ve got the space for an additional grill you may not be happy about the additional expense of buying it. (Maybe you’re already planning and budgeting to replace your current BBQ grill). But don’t worry. It’s possible to add a very inexpensive smoker grill to your garden cooking equipment without financial pain. The Brinkmann Gourmet Smoker Grill is currently available on sale on the web at a cost between $50 and $100 (depending on the model you choose).

You might think that a grill at that sort of isn’t going to be very good. You couldn’t be more wrong. The Brinkmann Smoker Grill is not only widely considered to be good value for money (by lots of different Amazon customers), but it will also enable you to produce a wide variety of different barbecue smoke grills that will wow you with their authentic smokehouse flavor.

In this article I’ll introduce you to the Brinkmann Gourmet Smoker and provide examples of how easy it is to use. At the end of my article I’ll also provide you with some tips on where to buy one at a good price.

How Does a Smoker Work?

The main idea behind a smoker grill is that the food is cooked by water (steam) and smoke not directly by heat from the charcoal (or gas burner). The fantastic flavor of the food produced on a smoker is obtained by using different types of wood chips or chunks mixed in with or replacing the charcoal.

Because of how a smoker grill works cooking is carried out at a temperature around the boiling point of water (212 degrees F), which is a much lower temperature than on a conventional BBQ grill. This constant temperature makes cooking times fairly predictable, but it’s important to remember that on very hot or cold days the surrounding temperature of the air can lower or raise the cooking temperature of a smoker that’s out in the open. These variations in temperature need to be watched because they can have a significant effect on the cooking times.

The Brinkmann Charcoal Smoker

As I mentioned above, the Brinkman Gourmet Charcoal Smoker has a tremendous reputation. It’s made of stainless steel, but it’s quite small (17″x17″x35″) and lightweight (around 30 lb.). It, but it can cook up to 50 lb. of food on two cooking grills mounted one on the top of the other inside the main smoker box.

The Brinkmann Gourmet Smoker is made of three parts

Base Pan for charcoal
Smoker Box which contains the water bowl and cooking grills/grates
Smoker box lid

The charcoal base pan can contain enough charcoal for 4 to 5 hours of cooking, but if more is needed it can be replenished through the side door of the smoker box.

The smoker box sits directly on top of the charcoal pan. The water bowl is situated towards the bottom of this box and can contain enough water for 4 to 5 hours of cooking. The two grills are situated in the box above this bowl. The smoker box has a side door through which additional charcoal and water can be added during cooking, and two insulated handles so that it can be removed safely when hot.

The lid has a temperature indicator and an insulated handle, but the lid shouldn’t normally be removed during cooking.

Using the Brinkmann Smoker

As mentioned, the Brinkmann Smoker is very easy to use. Here are the main steps involved in cooking a typical meal:

Remove the lid and the smoker box
Add charcoal to the base pan
Insert the water bowl into the smoker box and fill it with water
Insert the bottom and top cooking grills into the smoker box stacked with the food you want to cook.
Light the charcoal in the pan, and when it’s burning strongly (white ash over surface) fix the smoker box on top.

During cooking keep the charcoal and water replenished until cooking is complete. You don’t need to keep a permanent eye on the smoker grill, just pop back to see it from time to time.

A Typical Recipe for the Brinkmann

Here’s a simple smoked pork tenderloin recipe that works well on the Brinkmann Smoker. It’ll produce the most delicious pork which is great for cold sandwiches:

– Use 1.5 to 2 pounds of pork tenderloin (sufficient for 2 – 4 people)

– Prepare a marinade using ingredients such as:

Apricot nectar – one cup
Apple cider or apricot brandy – half cup
Soy sauce (two tablespoons), Vinegar (two teaspoons), Hoisin Sauce (one teaspoon)
Minced garlic (one clove)
Brown sugar (one tablespoon)
Allspice (1/2 teaspoon), ground ginger (1/4 teaspoon)
Whole cloves (one tablespoon)

– Combine these ingredients in a saucepan and heat until the sugar is dissolved, then cool the mixture and use it as your marinade

– Pierce the meat with a fork in several places. Place it in the marinade in a suitable dish or a heavy-duty plastic bag. Refrigerate overnight.

– Remove the meat from the marinade and place it on the smoker box cooking grid and pour the remaining marinade into the smoker box water bowl.

For cooking use 5 lbs. of charcoal, 3 quarts hot water, 2 wood sticks (cherry, hickory etc.) and smoke for 2 and a half – 3 and a half hours.

Smoker Grill Cooking Times

As you would expect, one important consequence of the lower cooking temperature on a smoker grill is that cooking can take a long time (frequently many hours, as in the recipe above), especially if you’re cooking large joints of meat. For this reason BBQ smoking requires more patience and advance planning than is necessary with a conventional family BBQ grill.

Should You Buy One?

If you’re contemplating buying a smoker grill like the Brinkmann Charcoal Smoker Grill, I recommend reading Amazon’s customer reviews. You’ll find that most customers were impressed with the quality of results they obtained using the Brinkman grill. It’s regarded as a good entry-level smoker that’s very easy to use, and it will make a great companion for your existing BBQ grill.

So yes, if you’re a fan of BBQ smoking you should consider buying a smoker grill like the Brinkmann.

Read a comprehensive review of the Brinkmann Gourmet Charcoal Smoker on our website at www.barbecues-for-sale.com.

When you visit you’ll also find lots of other reviews of BBQ smokers and other BBQ grills and you can sign up for our FREE “Barbecue Secrets & Tips” emails.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Les_Fenton
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July 4, 2013 Featured

Best Hot Dog – Cosmic Dogs

If you ever make a visit to Charleston (or are planning a drive between Myrtle Beach and Mount Pleasant) pull over on Hwy. 17 and try Carolina’s Best Hot Dog. Jack’s Cosmic Dogs is a super fun retro hot dog joint that offers hot dog variations as funky as the great decor.

Don’t let the giant missiles and gravel lot scare you. Jack’s Cosmic Dogs serves up fun and fast counter service hot dogs with super toppings like sweet potato mustard (their specialty) and blue cheese slaw.

The sweet potato mustard is in such high demand they bottle it up and sell it right in the store.

Location: 2805 U.S. 17, Mt Pleasant, SC 29466

Phone: (843) 884-7677

Hours:

Thursday hours 10:30 am–8:00 pm

Hot Dog lovers can can you TOP THIS? Comment below and tell us where to find the best hot dog.

July 2, 2013 Featured

How To Make a Beer Shake

No. This isn’t about pranking your pals and and shaking a beer to an overflow of foam and wasted brew. This is a quick how to on making a Beer Shake as in an Espresso Porter Beer Shake. Our friends at Joe Riley Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina give us a walk through of the super easy recipe and technique. The home of the Charleston River Dogs is known for some fantastic grub and this this creative taste treat hits the mark during a 90 degree summer ball game.

Start with two and a half scoops or 7 oz. chocolate ice cream

7 oz. beer (we used Palmetto Espresso Porter)

One scoop or a quarter cup of malted milk powder

1 tablespoon chocolate syrup

Full recipe at https://barbecuetricks.com/make-a-beer-shake

Chocolate Beer Shake

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 4 minutes

Cook Time: 1 minute

Total Time: 5 minutes

Yield: one shake

Serving Size: 14 oz.

Chocolate Beer Shake

Ingredients

Two and a half scoops or 7 oz. chocolate ice cream
7 oz. beer (we used Palmetto Espresso Porter)
One scoop or a quarter cup of malted milk powder
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup

Instructions

Combine cold ingredients in a blender and mix until thick and smooth.
Serve immediately.

More Recipes at BarbecueTricks.com

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July 1, 2013 Competitions

Award Winning Chicken for BBQ

If you’re a first timer trying your hand in a big time BBQ competition you’re in luck. Our weekly podcast at http://GrateTV.com has put together a few quick videos to help you get started smart. Save yourself some time and money and watch how to present competition chicken here.

The Kansas City Barbecue Society is the world’s biggest sanctioning organizations and a few skillful pit masters attempt to make a living traveling from contest to contest (some call it a circuit) trying to win the most prize money. Some of the contest pay thousands. But it’s not a very cheap barrier to enter. Contest fees, travel, food costs, and yeah beer, all add up. Especially if you don’t walk to get a trophy.

So here’s a few ways to jump ahead of the pack in chicken. Our latest video walks you through the “presenting” or appearance of Chicken for BBQ. Dig deeper for a really nice Chicken skin prep primer.

And here’s our YOUTUBE playlist for all things chicken.

June 23, 2013 Competitions

Rib Cook Off

Rib cook offs are plentiful during the summer months. There’s not a big thrteshold to entry. Pay the fee and cook. However if you REALLY want to have a chance at winning a Rib Cook off you need to know how to correctly present your ribs to the panel of judges to insure a top score on appearance.

Rib Cook offs usually are judged by the categories taste, tenderness and appearance. Taste is the the toughest to nail. Tenderness can be perfected with a disciplined and scientific approach to the cook. The judges want the bite to come off the bone clean with a gentle tug and have the bone quickly turn white underneath leaving a perfect half circle bite mark (not fall off the bone as most people think).

The appearance criteria and rules differ with different sanctioning organizations (in KBCS you can us garnish – others do not allow).

The weekly podcast http://GrateTV.com took a deep dive into boxing BBQ ribs for the perfect Appearance score and Jack Waiboer walked us through the method to his Rib cook off madness.

“Appearance is the easiest category to get right,” he says and shows us a real KCBS box at a competition at Sams Club in South Carolina.

Also remember you can’t mark the box in any way. You are not allowed any pooling of sauce and please make sure there are no hairs in the box. Even basting brush hairs will kill your appearance score at a rib cook off.

Other common mistakes include late turn in (submitting your rib box after your allowed time) and not including enough samples for each of the judges on a table. Waiboer talks about six or eight in this video. Your specific contest will tell you an exact number of judges you’ll need to feed. Just one bone short will knock you out of the running to win.

Remember for appearance judging the taste of the ribs makes no difference to your score. Too many times a great tasting submission will lose a competition due to just being dumped in the box. It happens in almost every professional judged rib cook off.

Waiboer also says one barbecue trick to help see any imperfection in the final minutes is to take a close up photo of the box and scan it for something you may have missed. It helps take a step back from the table and also serves as a nice piece of research history when reviewing scores or planning your next competition.

Taste and tenderness can be perfected over time but appearance is something you can nail down in your first rib cook off or competition. Watch the video and tell us in the comments if you have a trick to winning a rib cook off.

June 18, 2013 Featured

Bessinger’s BBQ – South Carolina

Lately I’ve been documenting a few BBQ journey’s and South Carolina joints. Here’s a quick look at Bessinger’s BBQ in Charleston, SC.

The Bessinger’s story is well known in South Carolina starting over 50 years ago when legacy beganmore than half a century ago when Joseph (Big Joe is one of the retaurant’s special sandwiches) Bessinger who is the father of owner Thomas Bessinger, opened his 1st joint in Holly Hill, S.C. back in 1946.

Once he became a teenager he worked athis dad’s place called Eat at Joe’s, which sat on the main highway connecting Orangeburg and Charleston. He after school time cooking and prepping tasty barbeque sandwiches, and learning the family’s secret recipes, which he would later reintroduce when opening his own restaurant.

Take a look at Bessinger’s on Savannah Highway in Charleston at 1602 Savannah Hwy Charleston, SC 29407 or call them at
(843) 556-1354.

If you go make sure to try the authentic Carolina Mustard sauce (some could argue they invented it) and have a giant onion ring for me.

Had better? Comment below.

June 16, 2013 Featured

Watermelon Keg

Time for a cool summertime beverage. This one is cool and ice cold delivered in a chilled watermelon keg! It’s a cocktail recipe that can be served spiked or not and we make it a bit more special by tapping the keg with an affordable spigot from our local home brew craft shop.

More on this cocktail recipe at our podcast site http://gratetv.com/cocktail-recipe-watermelon-keg/

May 27, 2013 Featured

Portable Gas Grills: How to Choose Between the Char-Broil Tabletop and the Weber Go Anywhere

How to Choose Between the Char-Broil Tabletop and the Weber Go Anywhere Portable Gas Grills

By Les Fenton

Portable Gas Grills -Two American Classics

If you are thinking about buying a portable gas grill for use on the beach or for a countryside picnic there are lots of different types and brands or portable gas grill to choose from. However, two of the most popular of these grills have been around for many years. They are “classics” that have proved themselves in action at lots of outdoor party events where a barbecue grill is an essential piece of equipment.

These portable gas grills are:

– Weber Go Anywhere Gas Grill

– Char-broil Gas Tabletop Grill

On the face of it these two grills don’t look so very different, and so which one do you choose? Is one of them significantly different from the other?

Although no comparison that doesn’t set out to run these two grills head to head is going to be perfect, this article will hopefully help you choose the most suitable grill for your barbecue parties.

Factors to Consider

Whenever you set out to select a new barbecue grill there are at least three important factors to consider:

– Overall Construction – How well it’s made and the materials used

– Operation – How well it works in action

– Maintenance – How easy it is to clean and maintain

– Price & Popularity

I’ll now compare the Weber Go Anywhere Gas Grill and the Char-Broil Tabletop Gas Grill under each of these headings.

Overall Construction

Both grills are made from coated stainless steel to prevent the formation of rust. The Weber Go Anywhere grill weighs 15 lb. against the 10 lb. of the Broil-King grill, which suggests that Weber may have used slightly superior materials in manufacture.

However, the Weber grill is taller (14 ins.) than the Broil-King (10 ins.). This height difference is obviously going to contribute to a difference in weight. Both grills have folding legs which lock over the lid for travelling.

The fact that the Weber grill is a lot taller may also explain why some Char-Broil customers found the Tabletop Grill a little difficult to work with in extremely windy conditions, whereas this doesn’t seem to be a problem for customers of the Weber Go Anywhere grill. But I am only guessing here.

Both grills have handles on each side so that they can be carried easily, but the larger insulated handles of the Weber will undoubtedly make it easier to move the grill around when it’s hot (into a more sheltered spot perhaps!).

Both grills use 16 oz. disposable propane cylinders, but both Weber and Char-Broil provide Adapter hoses so that the grills can be connected to 20 lb. propane cylinders if required. Both grills also have push-button gas ignition and gas regulators.

Operation

The cooking grates on each grill are different in size. The Char-Broil grate is larger (187 sq. ins.) than the Weber one (160 sq. in.). Although this difference in size isn’t large it may be important if you have more than four people in your barbecue party.

Both grills also have flavorizer systems. A good flavorizer system will minimize flare-ups and improve the flavor of the meat, fish or veg being cooked. It does this by vaporizing the food juices that would otherwise drop down to the bottom of the firebox. The vapors produced permeate the food being cooked and improve its flavor.

There isn’t much difference in the BTU ratings of the two grills. The Weber grill operates at around 10,000 BTU’s and the Char-Broil grill around 12,000 BTU’s. In theory this means that it should be quicker to grill food on the Char-Broil than on the Weber.

Reviews by Amazon customers using both of these grills expressed overall satisfaction with how both grills worked, but a few grumbled about the length of time it took to cook food (on both grills!) This is really what you would expect from a grill that has only 10,000 BTU’s compared to the 20,000 to 30,000 BTU’s of a smallish home gas BBQ grill.

Maintenance

Both grills are cleaned in the same way, by scraping ash and food waste from under the burners after the BBQ is finished. Neither grill has a “catch tray” underneath the burners. Many customers use aluminum foil in the bottom of their grills to make cleaning easier.

Because both Weber and Char-Broil are established names it’s possible to buy spare parts and accessories for both of these portable grills. Many other inexpensive grills on sale are foreign imports and spare parts services are not available.

Price and Popularity

The Weber grill is almost twice as expensive as the Char-Broil Grill, so perhaps it’s a little surprising to discover that on the Amazon “Best Sellers” List the Weber currently stands at No. 9 and the Char-Broil at No. 56 (but bear in mind that these ratings are dynamic and can change dramatically during the course of a year).

The levels of customer satisfaction for these grills are similar, but in line with the numbers of each grill sold, the Weber currently has 320 customer reviews and the Char-Broil 32.

Summary

As we have seen the Weber Go Anywhere Gas Grill is the more popular of the two grills, but it’s almost twice as expensive. In terms of specification there’s not a lot to choose between them, but you might perhaps assume that the Weber Grill will last longer. This is quite a reasonable assumption, but if you read the Amazon customer reviews you’ll find Char-Broil customers that are still using their grills after 5 years.(Many people throw cheap grills away after 3 years because they have rusted and fall apart).

The Char-Broil Tabletop Gas Grill is slightly more compact and perhaps packs a bit more of a punch (i.e. higher heat rating), but overall there’s not much to choose between them. With barbecue grills as with many other products, brand preference may guide your choice rather than other factors.

Read full reviews (with videos) on the Weber Go Anywhere Gas Grill and the Broil-King Tabletop Gas Grill. And for lots more comprehensive reviews on the web’s best-selling gas, charcoal and electric BBQ grills and to sign up to receive regular email “Barbecue Secrets and Tips” go to Barbecues for Sale.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Les_Fenton
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May 25, 2013 Featured

BBQ Banana Recipe

Need something sweet but flashy to put an exclamation oint on your next cook out over coals? Try this Banana recipe that is super simple and fun.

We tested it out on the GrateTV BBQ and Grill show and can attest to the tasty results.

Take a look as Pit Master Jack Waiboer and Bill West match up banana against ripe plantain to see which one grills tastiest when split and roasted on live coals with your choice of candy bar mix ins. Spoiler alert: we LOVED banana and Almond Joy with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Check out the full banana recipe here and watch us in action HERE.