Non Essential Accessories
The Essentials and Non-essentials
I wrote an article recently about 4 pieces of equipment I felt are necessary when you BBQ. However, what I have found is loving BBQ is proving to be an expensive pastime. There are LOTS of non-essential BBQ accessories which are definitely not required to produce great food but can really help make your cooking experience that little easier and help with the end results.
Below are a few of my favourites which is a list I can see continuing to grow.
(1) Russian Skewers
Russian Skewers are long, thick skewers that easily span the circumference of the 57cm Weber Kettle BBQ. They are 70cm long, flat-bladed, with twists towards the handle loop so that it is easy to position them exactly how you want them. They are commonly used in cooking across Russia, the Baltic and Scandinavia, often in Shashlik restaurants.
These are a great quality item and will really help you in cooking any food you want to skewer. They help in the overall cooking process and will help guarantee a better end result. A complete bargain for the price.
(2) BBQ Vortex
The BBQ Fuel Dome (Vortex) is a BBQ accessory that claims to enable you to cook on your BBQ in a variety of different ways:
- Indirect: low and slow cooking
- Indirect-Direct: High Heat Indirect Cooking
- Direct: High Heat Searing
- Infrared: Radiant Heat
The BBQ Fuel Dome is primarily designed for a kettle BBQ. To-date I have not tried all the methods above but I have primarily used to cook BBQ Chicken Wings on an Indirect-Direct heat and also Beer Can Chicken using Infrared.
The BBQ Fuel Dome is made from high grade brushed stainless steel. I have had mine for 9 months and much of the time it is exposed to the elements but still looks and works great.
I have used this multiple times for chicken wings and chicken thighs and am never disappointed with the results.
(3) Rotiserrie
I have owned the Weber Rotisserie since December 2016 and I have to say it is my favourite BBQ accessory. I have completed a variety of cooks and I would say it is an almost full-proof way of cooking great tasting succulent food on the BBQ.
The Rotisserie for the Weber 57cm comes in quite a large box. It basically contains 3 main pieces:
- The Rotisserie Ring that sits on top of the Weber BBQ;
- The Electric Motor;
- The Spit Forks to hold your meat in place.
As you would expect with a Weber product the build quality is excellent. It is extremely easy to put together (without instructions) and is quick to set-up / take-down for each cook.
You need to be aware that it is electric so if you decide to purchase one of these you will need an electric power source near to your BBQ to use it.
(4) Padamo Quick Starter
The Padamo Quick Booster is a BBQ accessory that works in conjunction with your chimney starter. It is designed to help light your briquettes and charcoal quickly by blowing air up the chimney starter which significantly accelerates the time it will take to light your briquettes or charcoal.
Where I see this product coming into its own is lighting briquettes. I frequently use Australian Heat Beads which give a consistent temperature for your cook and will last at least 3 hours. However, using a chimney starter, they can take 30-35 minutes to get to the desired temperature. This is not a huge time considering the cook length they will give, but midweek when you may want to get cooking quickly, it may put you off lighting the BBQ.
Overall, I think it is a good product and definitely delivers what it was designed for. However, I would definitely put this in the ‘luxury’ BBQ accessory bracket rather than being essential. It is also fairly pricey especially when you add in the cost of batteries and/or the mains unit.
It won’t improve your cooks but it will certainly get you cooking quicker.
The List Keeps Growing
I think this list of non-essential accessories is going to keep growing. I have just got the Flame Boss but have not used it yet (review to follow). I have a funny feeling that won’t be the last luxury accessory item added to my BBQ collection.
Let me know what your favourites are.
