I never use an oven – I cook on my BBQ all year, some might think I smell of meat but nothing beats the flavour
AS soon as the sun starts creeping through the clouds, BBQ-loving Brits are in the garden firing up in a heartbeat.
But for some foodies, cooking outside isn’t just confined to the summer months.
That’s certainly the case for grill expert Kirsty Redden, who cooks on her BBQ come rain, shine – or even snow.
“My oven is absolutely appalling so I cook all year round on my BBQ,” she exclusively tells Fabulous.
“We’ve got a covered area outside so I’ve been out there in the snow and pouring rain – none of it really bothers me to be honest, it’s all about the flavour.”
The self-confessed BBQ Queen, 44, fell in love with the method of cooking and the flamey flavour in her thirties after her brother-in-law encouraged her to join Instagram to post her food posts – leading to a lightbulb moment.
“Around four years ago, I went on Instagram and found this massive community of food people and couldn’t believe there were loads of people just like me,” Kirsty continues.
“I found one person in Canada and another in Australia who were really into their BBQs and kept seeing all of these big slabs of meat and ribs, and I thought, ‘I need to do that.’
“I got a Traeger BBQ and the first thing I cooked on it was brisket. After the first taste, I thought, ‘Wow! That is unbelievable.’
“Doing something low and slow for that long meant the results were just insane, it didn’t taste like anything I’d cooked before. And that was it – I was hooked.”
Since then, the mum-of-four, who lives in Cambridge, has branched out from just mouth-watering meats to cook a whole concoction of things on her garden gadget – from Christmas dinner to a quiche inspired by the recent Coronation celebrations.
Kirsty tells us, “It’s a really strange mixture, but apparently King Charles asked for it. It’s broad beans, spinach, cheddar and tarragon.
“I also bake on the BBQ and I’ve steamed a whiskey and salted caramel sponge pudding just to show that you can. It tasted amazing.
“And I cooked our entire Christmas dinner on it for thirteen people – it was so good. Traeger does a turkey pellet which is infused with rosemary and inside it there’s a brine kit and a rub kit,” Kirsty explains.
“I brined the turkey for two days and then dried it off, put the rub on and cooked it low and slow for the first two and a half to three hours at a 100 degrees to get it nice and infused with a bit of smoke.
“Then I whacked it up to 190 degrees until it was crispy. I took it off and rested it and then everything else went on – potatoes, pigs in blankets, stuffing carrots, bread sauce and everything.
“When I sliced the turkey, I said to my husband, ‘you need to take this round by itself because everyone needs to taste it by itself. There were lots of wows.”
It didn’t taste like anything I’d cooked before. And that was it – I was hooked
Kirsty Redden
And she admits there’s just one thing that didn’t quite reach the heights she had in mind.
“The only thing that I’ve had that failed was meringue,” Kirsty reveals, “I just couldn’t get it right, but everything else has been amazing on it.”
Now Kirsty – who is a brand ambassador for Traeger and an advocate for cooking to temperature, not time – is taking her obsession one step further and recently founded and launched her own BBQ cooking school in her hometown.
However, it’s not just the foodie community who can’t get enough of Kirsty’s dishes. Her love of outside cooking has also earned her brownie points with her kids – quite literally.
She shares, “my son is 21 and when he was at university I sent him some brownies down for him and his friends that I’d cooked on the BBQ.
“They all said, ‘Oh my God! These are the best brownies I’ve ever tasted.’”
“When I first started, I think a lot of my family thought I was a little bit crazy because women don’t really BBQ in this country.”
But Kirsty, whose recipes can be found via her Instagram account @lovetocook4ppl, is keen to get out the message to her kids and others that BBQing isn’t just for men and so much simpler than people think.
“It’s crazy, you go to a garden centre and see signs that say ‘dad’s BBQ’,” she recalls.
“Sometimes when I’m doing cooking demos my husband comes with me and it’s so funny because all the men go up to him and say, ‘Oh, mate, is it you doing this?!’
“He’s like, ‘No, it’s my wife,’ and they all go, ‘Oh… ok!’”
When I first started, I think a lot of my family thought I was a little bit crazy because women don’t really BBQ in this country
Kirsty Redden
She also explains that while it’s often the men that want to come to see how she BBQs, it’s the women she’s keen on encouraging.
She says, “I think me being a woman already doing it, they think it’s not as intimidating.”
While the popular food influencer has got an answer for those who might think that firing up the barbie could mean you’ll smell of smoke and meat.
She reveals, “If I’ve done a food festival and I’ve cooked for the whole day, I can smell it on myself, but it doesn’t bother me, I quite like it.
“The Traeger wood smell is quite clean and nice, it’s not like a disgusting acrid smell.
“And you only really get a big waft of smell when you first turn it on and then it’s minimal after that.
“So as long as nobody pipes up in those two minutes, you’re fine!”
However, Kirsty’s not the only one who can be found cooking in her back garden from the bitter cold weather in January all the way through to the heat waves of July.
That was the day my BBQ eyes were truly opened
Jon Finch
Jon Finch is also a total convert – or in his own words “a BBQ geek.”
Jon from Gloucestershire is the proud owner of six different Weber BBQs, which he cooks all three of daily meals on five days a week.
He tells us: “There’s no such thing as ‘BBQ season’ in our house, every
day is BBQ day. And that’s year-round – wind, rain, shine or snow.
“The oven does get used but not all that often. More when the kids are home alone and need to reheat something or other rather than being used for the main event.”
He first caught the “BBQ bug” when a friend from California came to visit in 2005 and cooked up a bit of beef on the barbie.
The 49-year-old – who cooks up a storm on his machines from Weber’s classic kettle to the more recent Kamado style grill – recalls: “There were flames coming out of the side of the grill and smoke billowing out everywhere. I thought he’d ruined my lovely rump of beef.
“But an hour or so later, he took it off the grill, allowed it to rest for 20 mins and sliced it up for the masses. I still hold that as one of the tastiest bits of beef I ever ate.
“That was the day my BBQ eyes were truly opened and set the past 18 years of my life on an entirely different course, paving the way for countless fantastic experiences.
“It’s hard to think that a piece of beef can change someone’s life so dramatically!”
It’s hard to think that a piece of beef can change someone’s life so dramatically!
Jon Finch
But Jon maintains that that’s exactly what it’s done as he proudly states: “I’ve cooked lots of strange things. I often get a funny look when I say I’m grilling a salad, but giving a halved baby gem lettuce a quick char on the grill adds great flavour, texture and appearance to the end dish.
“Grilled ice-cream is another one that raises an eyebrow but makes more sense when I explain it’s a baked Alaska so covered in Italian meringue that just needs to be really hot.
“I even grilled kangaroo once but it really wasn’t good!”
Jon has also made grilling his career path, launching a BBQ and music festival called Grillstock, writing books including Grillstock: The BBQ Book, as well as taking on his current role of European Marketing Manager for Weber BBQ.
And he doesn’t regret his decision for a second – even if some people would worry that it makes his clothes smell of meat.
Jon, who also teaches BBQ lessons in the summer in his local village, explains: “I’m a full time BBQ guy and it goes with the turf!
“Generally speaking, though, it’s only if you are cooking ‘low and slow’ on the BBQ that you end up getting a bit smokey.
“Once it is lit and up to temperature (even with a charcoal grill) the fire should burn cleanly and with very little smoke, providing you are using good quality fuel and you have good airflow.
“The single biggest piece of advice I would offer to avoid plumes of smoke and flare-ups on the grill is to set up a 2-zone cooking area.
“So if you are using a charcoal grill, pile the briquettes up on one side and have the other side clear. Or on a gas grill have one side nice and hot and the other side very low, or even off. This gives you so much more control. You can sear food on the hot side then move to the other side to cook through.
“For me, a BBQ is much more than just a way of cooking, though. BBQ brings people together and I think deep down that’s the part I really love.
“Since caveman times we’ve all gathered around a fire, cooked a feast and shared special times with friends and family and that’s still deeply embedded in our DNA.”
BBQ TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
Kirsty says it’s never too late to fire up the barbie. Here, she reveals her top three tips for grilling outside – and why it doesn’t always have to be left to the men.
- Cook to temperature, not time. My family asks, ‘when will it be ready?’ and I say, ‘it’s ready when it’s ready.’
- Don’t be scared – just get out there and throw yourself in. The worst that can go wrong is that it doesn’t taste how you think it’s going to, but it will.
- Trust your own palette and don’t be afraid to throw in the ingredients and see. I’ve never been a cook to measure, I just threw stuff in and hoped it would taste good.