By Paul Yates
If you're new to barbecue than you might not know what indirect heat is so let's first of all make that clarification. Indirect heat is where the food is not sitting immediately over the heat source. To give you an everyday example of direct heat then think of a broiler (or grill as they're described in the UK) whereas an everyday example of indirect heat would be cooking in an oven.
So how does using indirect heat on a barbecue differ from the traditional oven? Well it's all in the speed of the cooking process and the opportunity to add flavor with the use of smoke. Below you'll find my tips for making the best of indirect cooking, they're not all related to the barbecue and some can be applied to traditional cooking in the oven but if you are looking to start barbecue smoking food for the first time then there's something here for you.
Low and slow is the name of the game. In other words, low temperature cooking and generally between 225 Fahrenheit and 240 Fahrenheit - that's about 110 - 120 Celsius for the Europeans among us. Slow cooking over a long period of time. Dependent on what you are cooking it could vary from 30 minutes to one hour cooking time for every pound weight of meat
This low and slow process gives the sometimes chewy connective tissues in meat the opportunity to break down and so produce a much more tender result. Many use the term "fall off the bone" tenderness to describe the end result. My personal preference is not to go that far with my cooking but it still gives a good description of where the low and slow process takes you.
Given the fact that the low and slow process breaks down the connective tissues so well, indirect barbecue cooking is ideal for cooking some of the less tender cuts of meat such as brisket which is great because it means that you don't have to spend a fortune on raw materials.
Considering the long cooking time it's important to take steps to make sure that the meat remains moist and there's a number of ways to do this. Firstly marinading the meat overnight before cooking is a great vary to prevent food from drying out, it's also a good way to start the tenderization process too. Technically a marinade contains some acid and a good balance flavor wise to an acid is sugar - sugar is a great tenderiser of meat. Just remember to steer clear of salt in a marinade because salt will serve to toughen the meat.
Next try a mop or baste. This is something that you can add during the cooking process at regular intervals, the only thing to be careful of however is every time you open the lid of your barbecue to apply the mop, you let all the heat out. Apply a baste or mop regularly but not too often.
Finally, use a water bath. This need only be an oven tray sited underneath the cooking grate, nothing more complicated. The water bath will gradually steam through the cookout effectively meaning that your complete cooking process is done in humid conditions. During the cookout, check that there is sufficient water in your bath to maintain the humidity and if it does dry out, refill with hot water otherwise your water bath will act as a heat sink and absorb heat from your barbecue until it is back up to temperature - this makes internal temperature control so much more difficult and the problem is so easily avoided.
If you're new to barbecue than you might not know what indirect heat is so let's first of all make that clarification. Indirect heat is where the food is not sitting immediately over the heat source. To give you an everyday example of direct heat then think of a broiler (or grill as they're described in the UK) whereas an everyday example of indirect heat would be cooking in an oven.
So how does using indirect heat on a barbecue differ from the traditional oven? Well it's all in the speed of the cooking process and the opportunity to add flavor with the use of smoke. Below you'll find my tips for making the best of indirect cooking, they're not all related to the barbecue and some can be applied to traditional cooking in the oven but if you are looking to start barbecue smoking food for the first time then there's something here for you.
Low and slow is the name of the game. In other words, low temperature cooking and generally between 225 Fahrenheit and 240 Fahrenheit - that's about 110 - 120 Celsius for the Europeans among us. Slow cooking over a long period of time. Dependent on what you are cooking it could vary from 30 minutes to one hour cooking time for every pound weight of meat
This low and slow process gives the sometimes chewy connective tissues in meat the opportunity to break down and so produce a much more tender result. Many use the term "fall off the bone" tenderness to describe the end result. My personal preference is not to go that far with my cooking but it still gives a good description of where the low and slow process takes you.
Given the fact that the low and slow process breaks down the connective tissues so well, indirect barbecue cooking is ideal for cooking some of the less tender cuts of meat such as brisket which is great because it means that you don't have to spend a fortune on raw materials.
Considering the long cooking time it's important to take steps to make sure that the meat remains moist and there's a number of ways to do this. Firstly marinading the meat overnight before cooking is a great vary to prevent food from drying out, it's also a good way to start the tenderization process too. Technically a marinade contains some acid and a good balance flavor wise to an acid is sugar - sugar is a great tenderiser of meat. Just remember to steer clear of salt in a marinade because salt will serve to toughen the meat.
Next try a mop or baste. This is something that you can add during the cooking process at regular intervals, the only thing to be careful of however is every time you open the lid of your barbecue to apply the mop, you let all the heat out. Apply a baste or mop regularly but not too often.
Finally, use a water bath. This need only be an oven tray sited underneath the cooking grate, nothing more complicated. The water bath will gradually steam through the cookout effectively meaning that your complete cooking process is done in humid conditions. During the cookout, check that there is sufficient water in your bath to maintain the humidity and if it does dry out, refill with hot water otherwise your water bath will act as a heat sink and absorb heat from your barbecue until it is back up to temperature - this makes internal temperature control so much more difficult and the problem is so easily avoided.
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