Wood - the original barbecue fuel

Lets face it, when compared to the other barbecue fuels, wood is way out ahead of the pack when it comes to maturity and seniority. It has been with us for about 1 million years after all, so I think we pretty much know the ins and outs of cooking with it.

cavemen cooking over wood fire

A significant fact that is well know but somehow forgotten is that the unmistakeable smokey flavour of barbecue can only really be achieved with wood fire. It is the complex aromas contained in the smoke of certain woods that create that mouthwatering flavour.

It is true that adding wood chips to charcoal or even gas grills can reproduce these tastes, but something intrinsic is lost in the translation.

There is a quite revolution taking place. Passionate grillers are switching off their feature packed gas grillers and turning to simple and effective wood fired barbecues.

So at one end of this movement, and I'd say these people did not move anywhere, is the home made grillers. These people show an amazing level of spontaneous ingenuity, and are masters of the reuse and reinvent tradition.

shopping trolley barbecue

Probably not the best for results, but in the hands of experience could well turn out a pretty tasty steak, but pushing the envelope just a little is the most significant and, I dare say the only real innovation, from 1 million years ago till now for cooking directly with the power of wood fire.

The heavy steel cookplate.

This protects the meat and other barbecue goodies from the intense and erratic heat of a raw wood fire. As soon as this erratic behaviour is tamed, it becomes a real pleasure to cook the way our distant forefathers did.

For those serious about trying to step away from their gas grillers and experiencing the taste of wood fire barbecue is the Barramundi BBQ from Yagoona. Designed around the fat cook plates, this barbecue takes most of the fuss and guesswork out of cooking a fantastic steak over wood fire. Models like this compact, award winning barbecue are winning over more and more converts to wood fire.

Yagoona design Barramundi barbecue with the Goanna firepit

And then there is the taste! Wow, no charcoal grill or gas griller can touch the result from a wood fire using the right wood. Try it yourself!

Tips for success with a wood fire barbecue:

• Always use dry wood.
• Never use woods that contain a lot of resins (pine or cypress for example) a full list here.
• Prepare a bucket full of small pieces - about the size of wood chips. These are ideal to throw on your base of hot coals allowing you great control of the heat and prevents overly smokey fires.
• Never, and I mean NEVER use wood from construction sites or pallets. This is poisonous!
• Avoid grilling with wood fire on a windy day.

This article has some more info on cooking with wood.
And remember have a great time. Barbecue is what it is all about.

Your fuel choice

The 4 fuels

If you take your barbecue seriously, then you will know that the question of  what fuel you choose is a fundamental issue in everything you will do in Grilling.

Apart from the more exotic, there are only 4 fuels to consider: Wood, Charcoal, Gas and Electric - in order of age.

Since this is a blog devoted to wood fire barbecuing, I guess I will be bias, but if I admit it from the start, then you have nothing to complain about I guess.

The subject of fuel preference is very controversial to serious grillers. Once settled on their favorite, they will argue and defend their choice until blue in the face.

I'd like to stand apart from this argument and take a look at some facts.

I read a study which showed that back in 2005, Gas grills had taken over from Charcoal grills in sales volume in the US, with that trend going further. How accurate that study was I have no idea, but considering that generally speaking, Gas grills are more expensive that Charcoal grills, this represents a big shift in the market.

Wood

The original fuel. Man kind mastered wood as a cooking fuel about 1,000,000 years ago.

Barbecue firewood

Considering that this was the only fuel used by man until only a few hundred years ago, it has an amazingly deep history.

I think the main reason most do not consider wood as a fuel when barbecue shopping is convenience, or lack of it with regards to wood.

Wood is the most difficult of all the fuels to start. It takes the longest time to be ready for cooking, and it is the most difficult to control.

Since everything in our lives is now push button, a grill with no button to start, and no knob to control it is just not considered.

Convenience vs taste

I owned a gas grill for a time, and I admit, turning the knob and pressing to light it is quite convenient. It was a pain in the neck to clean, and being spontaneous backfired several times when I ran out of gas, but apart from that it was a reasonable barbecue.

But lets be honest here. Cooking with gas is just missing something essential about barbecue. It is like going out for the day and forgetting your underwear.


I have since gone back to wood and love the intimate feel. Seems that the less tech between me and my meat, the better the taste.

Charcoal

BBQ charcoal

Before the rise of the Gas grill, this was fuel the fuel of choice. Charcoal is basically wood that has been heated in an oxygen free environment. This process has concentrated the combustable properties of the wood making it more convenient to transport and use. Charcoal has the great quality of smoldering for a long time without giving off much smoke.

Charcoal has the disadvantage of needing some effort to startup, though this can be overcome with the use of a chimney starter or some lighterfluid.

Even though many will claim otherwise, blind taste tests have been inconclusive in proving the superior taste results of charcoal grills over gas and electric grills. But then so many variables are in play that proof either way is disputable.

Nice thing about charcoal is it is very easy to add some aromatic wood chips to your pile of coals to get that unmistakable wood fire taste to your grill.

Gas

Looking for gas

Seems that if gas were not the fuel of choice for grilling, then it would be able to claim the crown in shear choice of grills available. Despite this plethora of choice, seems that there is not much separating different models and makers of gas grillers.

They seem to all be in a race for either ease of use or in shear size. Some of these barbecues are truly monstrous in size. A bit of a 'mine is bigger than yours' race out there.

Gas barbecues are spit into the bottle models and the mains gas versions. I think that this is in fact an interchangeable option. Would like to know if the actual gas would be different in either case, if there is anyone who can shed some light on this.

Gas in general is a very convenient, and this is what it comes down to.

Gas grillers will swear by their gas barbecues mainly on the point of convenience. The turn button control over heat is undeniably attractive in a world of complexity. The true barbecue taste is what  the gas griller has sacrificed for his convenience.

Electric

Electricity

Anyone worth his barbecue salt, would not credit an electric grill with the name barbecue, but lets take a look at it for a second.

Electric barbecues are not much different to gas barbecues. They push the convenience an extra step, but give up some aspects of the gas griller that probably leaves the equation deficient.

Electric cannot match gas for speed and temperature control. Where electric grills make up for it is in compact size. Both feature the same push button convenience otherwise.

Depending on models and design, I may venture to say that electric barbecues are easier to clean.

Conclusion

In the end barbecue is about cooking with your loved ones in the outdoors. Bonding with your friends and family around a meal is such a vital part of what makes us human that keeping this process as simple as possible has its merits. For this then go gas and electric barbecues.

If you really want to explore what barbecue tastes like, then the solid fuels: charcoal and wood are your bet. They need not be less convenient, especially when you factor in the cost of the equipment, and the cleaning overhead. It is the taste that is really the winner.

In this regard then wood is king, just as I always believed. And as with everything, practice has taught me to tame this fuel and get it to cook exactly the way I want. A good firepit, a nice heavy slab of steel to cook on, and off you go.

Social Grilling

the new barbecue phenomenon.

The Ringryll from Yagoona

Ring grilling is probably the most interesting and profound innovation in the barbecue world of recent years.

Instead of the grill being tucked off to one side of the outdoor area, over which the barbecue chef works his magic with a cold beer in hand and his loyal mates around (with their beers in hand as well off course), in ring grilling, an open wood fire is prepared in a circular firepit, and inside the pit, resting on it’s edge, is a donut shaped or “ring” made of thick steel plate. The fire burns in the center of this ring and heats the plate. It is on this ring that the social grilling happens.

The concept could not be more simple, but it in the simplicity that the magic lies. The ring barbecue by its nature is social. Just like a round meeting table, there is no barbecue chef or pit boss any more. Everyone joins in and cooks what they want, when they want, and how they want it. All the while standing around a cozy fire and getting to know each other. The feeling is so primeval. One can image a similar scene around the tribal fire in our dim distant past - minus the metal ring.

 

Performance pressure

Our culture of barbecue is now a hard wired thinking in terms of a grill boss (usually the man of the family) and his domain around his chosen barbecue on the deck in the backyard. For many men, it is their culinary bastion and jealously guarded. The idea of cooking meat outside over fire resonates deeply within us men.

In a world of shifting norms, this activity of ancient origin, is a link to a long lost past. I am one of the many who has donned the outdoor apron and baseball cap, taken position at the barbecue, beer in hand and prayed with my mates at the altar of fire and meat, while the women folk sip their white wine and discuss the latest sales.

The pit boss has a heavy mantle of responsibility on his shoulders. So much can go wrong, The steaks can get burnt, the gas bottle can run out, the chicken undercooked. And the kids! they must be fed with something suiting their fickle pallets before they to turn nasty and sabotage the entire atmosphere. The pressure can be immense. Ruining the steaks can taint the barbecue host’s social reputation irrevocably. A man who cannot grill, is in the same social category with a man who cannot do a pushup. Luckily with pushups, the instances are rare to be publicly tested, and the mood of the hungry crowd will never hinge on your performance.

 

Hosting a ring grill party

The social tables are now turned with the interplay of a ring grill party. The guests all get a hand in the cooking. All the grillable goodies are pre prepared raw and ready to cook. The standard paper plates, and cutlery is there, and sufficient barbecue tools to allow everyone a chance at the ring. The firepit with the ring grill is placed centrally allowing a comfortable 360 degree access, and the fire is started.

Ring grilling is all about the fire. It is the giver or warmth, safety and... flavour. The dancing flames leaping out of the middle of the cooking ring is a spectacle no gas grill can match. The primeval allure is undeniable. The burning fire warms the ring grill from the inner edge out. This phenomenon is perfect for grilling. The inner edge is the zone of high heat to sear your steak, while the outer is a more gentle heat for delicate vegetables and poultry. The fat heavy steel cooking surface is a massive reservoir of heat. Just keep the fire going and the ring does the rest.

No explanation is required, your guests will automatically realize how this new paradigm works. The Ring grill has no knobs or dials to adjust, no gas bottles to run out, so the hosts are left to be on equal terms with their guests. And here lies the true beauty. The host is released from expectation and left to enjoy fantastic feeling of community and belonging that only a ring grill party can create. Wiling away the hours with your friends around the fire is the moment you realise it doesn't get any better than this.

 

Superior grill

In fact this type of grilling is in many ways superior to the experience of a thin grill over hot coals or gas. The thick metal ring once hot, maintains a very stable temperature characteristic which aids the grilling process in many ways.

Food never sticks to the plate. The reason for this is simple - the massive heat store contained in the cooking plate. The temperature differential between your cold food and the hot cooking surface undergoes almost no change when they come into contact. Your food begins to cook immediately. It is when the cooking surface cools rapidly immediately after coming into contact with the cold raw food that sticking occurs as the food and the grill surface heat up together. The same can be seen with thin cheap aluminium frying pans in the kitchen. There is a good reason cast iron, despite having no teflon coating resists sticking.

The ring structure protects your food from direct exposure over the hot coals of the fire preventing dripping flare ups. The grilling phenomena which in recent years has been associated with the imparting of carcinogenic properties onto our beloved barbecued foods, especially meats.

 

Plethora of possibility

Ringryll in action

The ring grill contains a surprising range of grilling possibility. The continuous heavy surface of the ring grill has opened a completely new vista in culinary variety. In addition to all the foods that everyone associates with grilling, the ring grill also allows unexpected new additions such as potato wedges, pancakes, pizza bread, and even that Swiss favourite, the fried cheese called ‘Raclette’ is all very easy to cook. Place a pot on the ring and now even soup is on the menu. Or maybe you just want to make yourself a cup of tea. This is all now possible on the ring barbecue.

 

Products

Ring barbecues are rather simple in construction and require no skill to use. Just get firewood and a spark and you are in action. Their simplicity lends them an undeniable aesthetic symmetry and beauty bringing an unexpected function from your barbecue - a garden sculpture. On the whole, those who have discovered this new trend have placed their Ring barbecue on center stage in their gardens.

Today there still only a few different products on the market for the budding social griller, though this is likely to change as Social Grilling catches on.

Kookaburra Barbecue from Yagoona

The Feuerring from Switzerland. These units are huge and rather pricey starting at around US$3000.-

Yagoona design, also a Swiss company has the Ringryll and Kookaburra barbecues available which are smaller and in a more affordable price range starting at about US$600.-. The interesting advantage of the Yagoona ring barbecues is that unlike the Feuerring, the rings are separate units from the firepit, allowing you to enjoy your firepit without the ring, or taking your pit and ring and enjoying a ring grill party down at the lake or the beach.