Indoor Barbecues You don’t need to let poor weather interfere with having a barbecue. There are ways and means to serve up mouth-watering barbecue food even when it’s tipping it down outside. But wait! That doesn’t mean you can drag your outside grill indoors and relax on your sofa while your sausages cook. Absolutely not. You can’t use an outside grill indoors – both gas and charcoal barbecues produce carbon monoxide and if there’s one there you don’t want in your house, it’s carbon monoxide. It can be fatal even in small amounts and there have been a number of deaths from people attempting to do this. So, the good news is you can have a barbecue inside when the weather lets you down: spring, summer, autumn, winter – what’s the difference? And if you live in a flat without a garden, no problem. The bad news is you can’t use your outside barbecue inside. But there’s more good news on the way… Indoor barbecues are readily available and there are lots of taste-tingling indoor recipes to tickle the pallet. Types of Indoor Grill There are two types of indoor grill – the folding grill (also know as a contact grill) and the open grill. The Folding Grill: For the folding grill, think along the lines of sandwich makers or lean, mean grilling machines. The advantages of these are that they cook on both sides at the same time, they don’t require much attention and they clean easily. However, in terms of getting that ‘we’re having a BBQ’ feeling, it’s not really going to happen with a folding grill. And as for reducing fat, there are two schools of thought on that and the judges are out. The Open Grill: This is the grill that will bring a barbecue summer into your kitchen at any time of year. The open grill is similar to an outdoor grill, but with an electric heating element. Cooking food on this type of grill requires the chef to turn the food, creating a much more authentic barbecue experience and delivering food that is nearer in taste to its outdoor barbecue counterpart. Getting the Real Barbecue Flavour Along with being outdoors, the main reason that people love BBQs is down to the smoky flavour of the food. Unfortunately indoor barbecues do not produce these same flavours. But, there is a solution and it comes in the form of Liquid Smoke. This clever liquid is concentrated and made from burning hickory. Add a few drops to your food and you’ll feel Tennessee in no time.
What to Grill You can grill almost anything you grill outside, inside. But, indoor grills don’t drain liquids so well so if you’re marinating the meat, it’s best to make sure there’s not too much liquid on it when you place it on the grill. For a great grill flavour, add a few drops of Liquid Smoke to the marinade of your choice and let it rest overnight in the fridge or for quicker results, for 20 minutes before you cook it. Liquid smoke is pretty powerful stuff so you really only need a few drops. You can also buy off-the-shelf barbeque sauces or marinades which you can add or marinade the food with before cooking. Whichever meats or fish you choose to barbecue, try to use thinner cuts as these cook quicker and more evenly which results in tastier food. Fish such as trout is terrific, as are thin pieces of steak. If you use a folding grill, don’t push the lid down too much as you’ll squeeze the meat and force the juices out, which will reduce the flavour and dry the meat. Cooking meat on folding grills takes about half the time that it does to cook them on an open grill as they are being cooked on both sides at once. Side Orders Just as you’d serve up a host of delectable side dishes during an outdoor barbecue, so you should indoors. Coleslaw, baked beans, bread, dips, relishes and so on all work wonderfully indoors. You can always add your own twist to these favourite side orders and make them more ‘barbecue’. For example, why not try adding a drop of barbecue sauce or liquid smoke to the baked beans, then cover them in tin foil and pop them in the oven for half an hour. Grilling Tips To get the best from your barbecues, make sure the grill is properly heated before you put the meat or fish on. If you’re using an open grill, brush the grill with vegetable oil and put the food side on so that you get those tell tale barbecue grill lines. Don’t keep turning the food; just let it cook until you can see the sides are starting to look cooked. Lift the corner of the food gently to check that the underside is cooked, then turn it over and cook the other side. Enjoy!