Hi

We're about to let ourselves loose in the January sales and want to buy a barbie cos we've been here nearly a month and feel that somethings missing...what would you guys recommend? Go for the gas ones or do they do charcoal ones here too?...don't know too much about them at the mo. We had a tiny charcoal one in the UK that you could fit about 5 burgers on!! Don't know which ones are best...can anyone shed any light??

Charcoal: These take time to get going, but they do cook very well. So, for flavour, a charcoal BBQ is best. However, during Total Fire Ban periods, you cannot use it.

Gas: Very fast to begin cooking, just like Kitchen stove. You may find you use this very often, especially during hot weather when you dont want to heat the house up further by cooking inside.
Make sure you get one with a side burner, as you may find it invaluable, once you get used to cooking outside instead of in the kitchen. Especially for those foods that create a smell that you would rather not have working itself around the entire house, more so with the open plan houses.

Ideal solution....... get both and use the charcoal for special occasions, and the Gas for day to day use.

You'll find gas is more popular here than charcoal/wood. While this at first might go against your Aussie image of the only real barbecue being a fire one, the risk of bushfires means there are total fire bans on certain days and I think this applies to charcoal bbqs as well (no open flames - and you need flames to get it going).

That said, I roasted the turkey on a Weber (kettle bbq, charcoal) on Christmas day, but this was only after I heard on the news that the NSW fire ban had been lifted - I suspect the fact that it was Christmas day had something to do with this.

Anyway, the missus was more than happy for me to sort out the turkey, so I set it up in a shaded part of the garden. All you do, once the charcoal has the grey ash around it (after about 30 mins), is separate it using tongs into two piles on each side, put a drip tray in the middle, put the grill on top and slap the turkey on top of that. I put a few slices of bacon over the breast to keep it moist, put the lid on top and let it go. Delicious, even if I do say so myself.

As for buying one: We went to Barbecues Galore determined to get a basic one that was easy to use. Of course they tried to sell us the huge thousand dollar ones, but we stuck to our guns and ended up getting a two-burner with gas bottle (you have to fill it separately at a garage, about $30) for $300. They sell them usually in two, four and six-burner sizes, depending on the number of people you want to cook for. If the first question they ask you is 'how many are you going to cook for?' think usually rather than maximum, otherwise you end up with this trailer-sized thing on your deck/garden. Also, they usually come packed, so bigger means more assembly.

We've found we don't need anything bigger than the two-burner, even when we're cooking for guests. More often than not it's just for the two of us, but even if you were cooking for, say, 2 adults and 2 kids I'd still say 2 burner is big enough - you don't have to cook everything at the same time anyway. I'd also go for one with a hood so it can keep stuff warm - and a cover for when you're not using it so it doesn't rust.

Another big advantage of gas over charcoal is that you can get it going in a couple of minutes rather than messing around with firelighters and charcoal (and shouts of 'have you got it going yet?').

Hope this helps.

Big.

which ever suits your pocket

- Bart
I prefer gas but charcoal has its own taste...

Gas needs to be left to warm up to cook. I wait 20mins and I'd like to wait more.

I reckon a 4 burner is good, 2 for a grill, and 2 for a plate.
I think you're right about 6 probably being overkill.

Both Aldi and Bunnings are doing New Year specials on 4 burners (120 bucks) but they don't have hoods - only a lid which probably serves the same purpose.

cheers

Thanks for the advice guys..sounds like we should go for the gas one then. I think we'll need to practice with it first before any of our family and friends come over! We need to look like professional aussies don't we??!! Cooking the turkey on there sounds like a cool idea!
Hadn't thought of the fire ban thing so thanks for that too.
So do you just turn up at a garage with your empty gas bottle and they'll fill it up for you??

your username is quite appropriate

You meant charcoal I hope....

Yes, most garages, hardware shops etc will do them, and the price can vary depending on where you go. I pay $17.00 for a 9kg refill.

No mate. You can cook from the start with gas, as ABC says, but ideally, you need to wait for it to heat up to get good cooking. (In the same way you do with charcoal). So in my books, with respect to this, they are both fuels which are similar and one is not better over the other. This bizo with cooking meat and turning it 100 times is all wrong I reckon as has been said a few times, and gas may encourage that.

we bought a cheapie from bunnings for 48 bucks! 3 reasons for this
1 there are only four of us
2 we`re skint
3 it`s portable
sorry should have added that it`s gas with a 2 kilo bottle costs $4.10 to fill

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...&highlight=bbq


Have a look here, some people posted some crap but there is some useful advice.

Thanks for all this info. I looked at the previous thread about barbies too - the bbqblue site was good. Cos i've got no idea how to cook on it either so i expect everything will end up burnt to start with! But from what everyone's saying it's a bloke's job anyway, so maybe i'll leave it to him We're off to Bunnings today i think to have a good look round, so hopefully tonight i can tell you that we've got some steaks sizzling outside! Better get some of this too !!