Weber Q

Hey Al,

I have a Q and also love it.

Always be sure to let it warm up (lid down) for 5 mins at least when first cooking.

Food sticking to the grill plate isn't ready to be turned yet. It may seem counter-intuitive, but the process of caramelisation in the meat will make it easy to turn when ready. Keep the heat up for steaks and similar as the steak absorbs plenty of heat. Barbecues are smoky and oily and food can appear ready to turn when it isn't. If it sticks, then leave it a bit longer. It'll give you those black stripes you pay so much for in a restaurant!

Don't over-oil the bbq. It will need a seasoning after liquid cleaning (annual) and occasinal light olive oil spray between uses, but nothing more.

Smoke is an inevitability of bbq cooking and will depend on what you're cooking. The only things which smoke a lot on mine are snags. The more fat (usually coarser pork varieties) and larger, the smokier. On the first blast, the appearance of smoke also shows when they're ready to turn.

I'm guessing here, but I reckon you've got some lovely sausages that you're pricking and putting on the bbq. If they're pricked as I reckon, they create a fat sprinkler system under the grill which no bbq can avoid lighting.

Even if you don't prick them, they'll squirt, but less so in my experience. (Modern sausage skins don't require pricking and in moderately controlled tastings I've found pricked to be drier and hence less tasty)

*Keep the lid down* and don't be tempted to look under, except when turning food at planned intervals - ie 5 mins. Constant fiddling loses the heat under the lid that is cooking everything so beautifully. Over-turning buggers up your cooking and can lead food to sticking and becoming messy because it isn't getting cooked.

Finally, leave all cooked meat from a bbq for at least 5 mins to "rest" and allow the moisture to stabilise itself in the meat before cutting or serving. This means the difference between a watery mess and a firm cutting piece of tender meat.

Hope that helps and your next bbq is a ripper.

Cheers,

Tim

ps - a roast works a treat under a Weber Q!

Sounds to me your over oiling trying to avoid your sticking problem.
I use spray oil on mine and have no sticking problems or smoke.
Just pre heat to 450f( about 10 mins) and only open to turn.

Great thing the Q mine gets a daily work out

We have a Q and I think we are all in agreement that they're an awesome unit.
When we bought ours we also bought a stone to clean it.
About the size of a bar of soap and looking like pumice stone it wears down to the profile of the grill, cleaning the top and sides of each bar.
Two passes seems enough to clean the grill, quick and easy.
Got ours at BBQ's Galore.
Can't help with the smoke as it's never really been an issue for me.

Cackles

I've had the BabyQ (100) for over two years now and do the majority of my cooking on it - everything from BBQ to the good old roast.

I bought a trivet for mine



which instantly solved the first problem you mentioned.

I never BBQ at full heat because the book I've got says not to. It asks you to preheat on full for 10 minutes then turn it down (this is for the 100 only). I'd suggest that you do turn it down at least a quarter turn for BBQing as it will give you a better result anyway. This should get rid of the smoke. My 100 will smoke if I leave it on high.

I use the trivet for both roasting and BBQing and it's probably the best accessory you can get for your Weber.

I started off with a charcoal Weber which got me into the idea of cooking meat slowly to get the best results. I apply this principle to the Q. You can always finish it off on high at the end.

Just out of interest, what did you guys pay for your Q.

Was at our local hardware last week having a look at one [not sure of the size] when I spotted the price tag....$362.00.

Put the top down and smartly walked away.



Cheers.....Lionel.

Hi Al
everyone has covered everything, just with the cleaning- after cooking leave it on and then come back with a dish of water and a bbq brush, making sure the marinades and or juices are charred and then dip bbq brush in water and rub the grill this will clean it very easily keep dipping brush in the water as the water is doing most of the work, watch out for the steam and flaming if using a short handled brush.
If u use it often i would not bother to oil the grill unless you leave it out in the rain, we have not had ours go rusty.
As everyone has said the smoking is part of how they cook instead of the meat laying in the fat and then running down into a tin under neath the flat sheet the fat is dipping off the meat and some is being burnt and it is this that is giving part of the flavours that u are enjoying.

Mattie

HI
We have the babyQ for the caravan, and the 200 for home use. We love ours and use one or the other most days.
As said above you need to leave the food alone for a little longer before trying to turn.
I have a friend who loves to toss and turn his food all the time and the lid spends more time open than closed! and he cannot understand why his results are not that good. He has actually just sold his 200 and gone back to a flat plate type bbq! as he cannot be told, and blames the unit!
Aother tip I got from the Weber rep at a local store demo, was when finished cooking, close the lid and turn up high for 10 mins, then turn off and leave to cool without opening the lid.
When cold use the Weber brass brussh to gently remove the carbonization easily, then a light spray with any cooking oil.

Brian

Thanks everyone, I am sure with all these tips that I won't have any more problems.

Thanks again, appreciated.

AA

Can definitely reccomend the Olive oil spray on the BBQ plate.
With our Baby Q I generally let plate get hot then just prior to putting food on give plate a quick spray with the Olive oil.
Food doesnt stick.
However be careful you dont spray onto the actual gas flame as I did and frightened myself and thought I had hold of a Flamethrower!!! I Still do it but now very carefully!!

Don't know if it was said before...

After heating up my BBQ, I put the meat on and then LIFT it again in a few seconds. This helps the meat not to stick and I never cook on high.