Barbecue - not just a guy thing!

You may have noticed I like to barbecue. On average now I barbecue 3-4 times a week (and not just in summer, all year round), not to mention using my Kamado Joe to hot smoke meats and fish. Even before I switched to Kamado style barbecues I used to barbecue pretty regularly.  I wouldn't say I'm fanatical but I love the depth of flavour you get out of meat, vegetables and fish and being able to play with different types of woods to either smoke or accentuate what you put on the grill.

I've signed up for a few forums, followed a few podcasts and live Instagrams associated with barbecue and it seems to be a mostly male preserve, even all the advertising is aimed at men. There is very little in the way of diversity when it comes to advertising.  All the barbecue tools are quite large (man sized) and for a woman with small hands not easy to handle. 

Good heat proof gloves are a nightmare to find in small sizes and when I did find a good brand they only colour for women was hot pink! Thankfully now Grill Heat Aid have expanded the colour choice and I now have some nice black ones, but I did have to order these from the US as no European brands seem to stock anything other than "one size fits all". We don't need pink barbecue tools just possibly ones that are of a manageable size. 

This isn't a feminist rant, but a comment from a friend of mine got me really thinking about this. We were discussing inviting people over for a barbecue at some point and she mentioned that I'd get a break from cooking as my other half would be doing the barbecuing. I replied that it wouldn't be the case as I was the one who did the barbecuing in our house. She was genuinely surprised at this and her reply inferred that it was strange for me to do so. Even more so when I pointed out that my other half has never cooked on the barbecue, it's always been me. 

I started off with a weber barbecue over 25 years ago and even then I cooked on that BBQ and not my other half, even my male housemates were happy for me to do all the grilling. My preference is if I've gone to a lot of trouble to prep certain dishes, I really don't want someone else to cremate it. Also my housemates attempts at barbecuing ended up with a bout of food poisoning, so I thought best to take over. 

Now I'm no stranger to all male environs, I grew up with four brothers. My first job after graduating in the city of London was pretty male dominated. In some kitchens I worked in I was the only female chef. Not to mention a stage as an assistant sommelier in a Michelin starred restaurant, which is not exactly renowned for being a female dominated profession.

When I lived in the Netherlands, I bought the Pitt Cue cookbook in Dutch mainly because the meat cut charts would prove useful for my next trip to the Butchers (names for meat cuts differ big time in the Netherlands and the UK and Ireland). I know my meat cuts well but the names do vary from country to country, so best to know that I'm getting the right cut when I order. The book in English is called the Pitt Cue Co cookbook, in Dutch it's called  "Het Mannenkookboek". I'm not inferring it should be called the "Vrouwenkookboek" but you see where I'm going with this. 

I've spoken to many women who grill as well and they find barbecue books or advertising off putting. In barbecue magazines, there are little if any pictures of women actually doing the cooking, maybe sitting nearby or eating the food. 

I was recently interviewed for a barbecue edition of Entree Magazine in the Netherlands and I was the only female in the section out of 20 chefs. Is it too much to ask that women are included more in the advertising and the magazine interviews both online and in magazines? It's inclusion, not feminizing that we are looking for. There are quite a few women who do barbecue out there and maybe its time that companies started to target them too and I'm not talking about a token picture of a woman wielding tongs. 

For those of you who enjoy BBQing and want to take it that one step further, do consider a Kamado Joe. I've been using Kamado style barbecues for over 10 years now and of all the ones I've had, the Kamado Joe is the best option for quality and price, you get a lot more accessories with the barbecue itself in comparison to other brands where you have to buy them separately. 

The engineering and thought that has gone into how you use it is fantastic. The heat control is one of the best I've encountered. 

They may be expensive, but you won't be buying another barbecue ever again as it's a lifelong purchase, you also get a lifetime warranty with it too on certain parts. It is so versatile as you can grill, slow cook, smoke and make a really great pizza on it.

If you do buy a Kamado then consider getting the following accessories:
Deflector plates - great for indirect cooking and long slow cooks
Long handled tongs and turner
Cast Iron griddle - gets a good char on steaks and burgers
Pizza stone - don't buy a cheap one, it will only crack in the high temps needed for cooking pizza
Meat thermometer - essential to ensure the meat is cooked properly, thermapen is a good reliable brand
Grill cleaning brush - only takes a few seconds to clean the griddle down after BBQing
Silicone brush for basting your meats

If you do take the plunge and have got the accessories you now need to arm yourself with some good cook books:  

Hangfire Cookbook by Sam Evans and Shauna Guinn

Rodney Scotts World of Barbecue - Rodney Scott

Goat - James Whetlor
Serious BBQ by Adam Perry Lang 

Hot Coals: A User's Guide to Mastering Your Kamado Grill ( a great beginners guide to Kamado cooking)
Pit Cue, the cookbook by Tom Adams and Jamie Berger

More importantly get to know your cuts of meat, what cooks slow and what cooks quick, what does and doesn't work on the barbecue. 
You'd be surprised at simple things like the variance in cooking different types of steak. Some steaks only work best cooked medium rare, any further, and then it's like chewing shoe leather. Find a good butcher or local farmer that sells direct and make friends with them, they will be happy to give advice if you're not sure what cuts are suitable for what type of cooking.

Don't get suckered into buying cheap charcoal either, some brands will have accelerants in them to help them light and please don't use lighter fluid, it will taint your food. There's nothing worse than eating meat or veg that tastes of lighter fluid. Try and aim for sustainable brands or if you are lucky to have a local charcoal producer them look at the range of charcoal you can buy. Every type of wood has it's own cooking characteristic so you can tailor your cook a lot better. 

Sign up for groups in Facebook which are good communities with good advice and tips. Follow people on Instagram that inspire you. 

If there are any women (or men who haven't tried BBQing yet) out there who want to try their hand at barbecue then go for it, you never know, you might enjoy it!

Kamado Joe - Joe Junior review

Many of you may have been wondering about the sudden change a few years back that happened in my outdoor kitchen. The change from a certain green brand of Kamado style barbecue to Kamado Joe was not a snap decision, but one that had been weighing on my mind for a few years. I attended a hospitality trade event a few years back here in the Netherlands and I spotted the Kamado Joe stand. When I lived in the Netherlands you didn't see them in many of the outdoor outlets or kitchen shops sadly, so it was an opportunity to have a closer look at the kit. I walked away from that stand very impressed and with feelings of regret that I hadn't bought a Kamado Joe all those years ago when I first made my foray into Kamado cooking.

So it's been several years now with both my classic III and Junior and I've been putting them though their paces on a thrice weekly basis (at least). I thought It would be a good idea to share my experiences and thoughts on the kit for those of you who might be considering investing in a new barbecue. Please note this is not a sponsored post in any way as I bought my KJs myself. In this article I will review the Joe Junior as it turned up first when I ordered them. The Classic III will be reviewed in another article at a later date. 

I bought this model for smaller cooks for myself and my other half. It's a lot taller than some of the smaller kamado models from other brands, The height gives it the advantage that it has better airflow underneath and therefore enables better temperature control. The 34cm diameter width will quite happily hold about 6 burgers, 2 sheets of ribs a 2kg chicken or roasting joint. So you can quite happily cook for a small group of people for simple barbecue. It comes with a cast iron stand, a stainless steel griddle, a deflector plate for indirect cooking, an ash tool and a grill gripper as standard so unlike other brands you do not have to purchase other accessories to begin with. It's a complete starter package from the get-go and comes in at a lower price than other similar models.

It weighs in at just over 30kg, so a little heavier than other brands. It also comes in at half the price of other brands that are the same diameter, so is a great bargain. Its a well put together study piece of equipment, the ceramic interior is very high quality as are the vent and daisy wheel. After a year of outdoor use in all weathers, there is no sign of rust on any parts. 

Dimensions for the Junior are as follows: Width - 50cm, Height - 69cm, Depth -  53cm this includes the stand which comes as standard. 

So what is it like to cook with?

The temp control with any smaller Kamado model will take some time to get used to. It's very quick to get up to temperature and will hold well, it does take some time to figure out what your daisy wheel and lower vent settings should be for the various temps, like any kamado. You do need to watch for temperature drops when putting in ingredients but it comes back up to temp relatively quickly. 

I tend to use the Junior for simple cooks that don't require long slow cooking or complicated temperature changes. Unlike the other brand I used to use, it doesn't get stuck at certain temps and then not budge for quite some time, the temperature adjustment is easy. Cooking direct it's a great little number. 

Cooking indirect, I have found you need to keep an eye on the underneath of whatever you are cooking, because it's so close to the deflector plate it gets a little more radiated heat if cooking for a lengthy period of time. The only accessory that I bought for my junior was the kick ash basket, which makes it easier to clean out and empty ash. If I was to buy other accessories it would probably be a cast iron griddle for steaks, kebabs and burgers, but you still get a nice char with the stainless steel griddle. 

In late 2023, they brought out an upgrade to the Junior, in the form of the chariot with wheels and side tables similar to that on the classic III. It's a great addition and raises the height of the junior and makes it easier to cook on and move around. I would say the only downside is that the side tables could be a little higher in line with the band around the edge similar to the design on the Classic III, but that's a personal preference.

So all in all I'm very happy with my "Wee Beastie" as he has come to be called. 

Vanilla and passionfruit martini

This is my take on the famous porn star martini which is one of my favourite cocktails. Every bar has their tried and tested version normally served with a shot of champagne on the side. Sometimes I like to serve this cocktail as a base topped with champagne on special occasions. There's been many versions of this cocktail chez kitchen exile over the years, this one is my favourite. I prefer to use a citrus heavy gin and cachaça which compliments the tart notes of the passionfruit. The vanilla rounds it out quite nicely adding a good base note to the drink.

5ml vanilla extract
30ml gin
30ml cachaça
20ml passionfruit liqueur
5ml sugar syrup
10ml lime juice

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes
Pour in all the ingredients and shake for 30 seconds
Serve in a traditional martini glass

Harissa wings

Since it's Kitchen Exile's 10th anniversary I thought it would be a good excuse to bring you a new recipe or two! Hard to think it's been a whole ten years already, they certainly have flown by. Looking through the website I've managed to write 400 recipes, I never thought there would be so many. I certainly hope you've enjoyed them and it's always good to get feedback from you. I'd like to thank you all for your support over the past 10 years. 

Many of you know I'm a big fan of chicken wings and I wanted to try something a little different rather than old school barbecue style. The rub is very summery in style and complements the harissa quite nicely and you also get a nice kick from the piment d'Espelette. 

Recipe
8 chicken wings
10ml oil for cooking

Rub
2g tomato powder
2g piment d'Espelette
1g oregano
1g celery salt
2g smoked paprika
5g dried onion flakes

Mix all the ingredients together and rub all over the chicken wings.
Cover and place in the fridge and allow to marinate for at least 12 hours

Harissa paste
2 red peppers
2 cloves of garlic
3 red chili peppers
5g cumin seeds 
2g coriander seeds 
2g fennel seeds
50ml olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

I like to first chargrill the peppers on the BBQ, direct heat at 200c, keep turning until you get an even black char all over

Then setting the BBQ up for indirect cooking at 160c place the peppers chilies and garlic on a cast iron roasting tray and cook for a further 30 minutes

Place the garlic to one side

Put the peppers and chilies in a plastic bag while still hot and close the bag, it makes it easier to peel and de-seed

Once they have cooled, remove from the bag and peel and de-seed the peppers

You can also peel the chilies, but up to you if you wish to remove the seeds too

Toast the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds in a pan on a medium heat for 5 minutes

place in a mortar and pestle and grind to a rough powder

Place the peppers, chilies, garlic, oil and spices in a blender and pulse until you get a smooth paste

Season to taste with the salt and pepper

Pour the harissa into a sterile jar and place the lid on, it will keep for two weeks in the fridge

Cooking the wings
Set your barbecue up for dual zone cooking (direct and indirect) at 200c, or oven at 190c fan or 200c normal for those wishing to cook using this method
Oil the wings lightly and place on the griddle on the direct side for 15 minutes, turning halfway through

Baste the wings with the harissa on both sides and then place back on the griddle on the indirect side and cook for a further 20 minutes

If cooking in the oven, place the wings on a baking tray and cook for 35 minutes

Smoked Chicken and sweetcorn soup

Kitchen Exile is 9 years old today, so it's happy birthday to me. 

A lot has happened in the last year the main big change was my move to Poitou Charentes in France. I'm certainly getting inspired by all the wonderful produce in the region. Like any move to a new country, there's always the element of finding your new butcher, grocer, baker, cheese monger and wine merchant and getting to know them and their products. Here in Poitou Charentes there's no shortage of quality ingredients and each new season brings plenty of surprises. The markets here are amazing and it's lovely to see lots of local farmers trading their wares. 

We've got some big changes coming up with our house in the form of renovations and me finally having a decent kitchen. The reason for not posting regularly is that I haven't had a proper kitchen to use and am reliant on a one hob induction plate and my barbecues for cooking. Which has meant getting very creative! The kitchen here is tiny so I haven't been able to unpack a lot of my kitchen equipment. 

Once again a big thank you to all those who have supported me over the past nine years and to all of you who follow me and read my recipes. I hope you've enjoyed them so far and I promise next year I'll be back to posting recipes on a more regular basis. 

So here's a simple recipe celebrating sweetcorn as it's now coming into season, there's certainly plenty of it in the fields in the area. 

Chicken and sweetcorn are a marriage made in heaven, add a little bit of smoke and it amps up the flavour significantly.

2 cloves garlic chopped
1 celery stick chopped

2 chicken breasts skin on

2 husks of sweetcorn 
50ml crème fraiche
1 small onion roughly chopped

1 litre stock
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying

Oak wood chips

Set your BBQ up for dual zone (direct and indirect) cooking at 180c

Add the oak wood chips and wait until you get thin blue smoke

Place the chicken breasts on the direct side and cook for 1-2 minutes each side to get a nice char

Transfer to the indirect side and cook for 15 minutes or until you get a core temp of 65c

Add the sweetcorn on the direct side and cook for 15 minutes turning every 2 minutes to get an even cook

Set the chicken and sweetcorn to one side to cool for a couple of hours and to allow the smoke flavour to infuse

Roughly chop the chicken up

Remove the husks from the corn and cut off the kernels

In a saucepan sauté the onion, celery and garlic until soft
Add the stock, chicken and sweetcorn and simmer for 10 mins
Place the soup in a blender, whizz until smooth and return to the pan
Add the crème fraiche and stir through
Season to taste

Grilled oysters with pickled apple and whiskey

I've always been a big fan of oysters and they work so well on the barbecue. When we lived in the Netherlands oysters were a rare purchase, on moving to France they are more readily available and not very expensive. That doesn't mean we are quaffing large quantities, we just get to enjoy them more often chez Kitchen Exile. This is a relatively simple, yet very tasty recipe, the pickled apples adding a sweet and sour kick in contrast to the saltiness of the oysters. The whiskey brings a subtle depth to the finish. 

Grilled Oysters with pickled apple and Whiskey

8 oysters unopened

Half a granny smith apple chopped into small cubes 10ml cider vinegar 20ml Teeling small batch whiskey

Method

Set your barbecue up for direct cooking at 170c

Place the chopped apple into a small bowl and pour over the vinegar

Mix well and leave for at least 1 hour

Place the oysters on the griddle and cook for at least 10 mins until they start to open slightly. You don't want them to open too much otherwise they dry out.

Remove the oysters from the barbecue and place to one side until they have cooled enough to handle

Open the oysters leaving the flesh inside

Place 10 or so cubes of pickled apple into each oyster

Pour 2ml of the whiskey into each oyster

And enjoy!

Corned beef, not as Irish as you think...

 For this dish, you will need to give yourself a week before you get to taste the results. I tend to use cheaper cuts such as brisket for my corned beef. In this article there's a little bit of history before you get your recipe.

Growing up in Ireland, this is one dish we never actually ate. My first experience of it was when I moved to London and came across salt beef bagels in Brick Lane. 

Corned beef is not and never was never an Irish staple, you may be surprised to hear. In the past beef was considered an expensive commodity and therefore pork, which was cheaper, was more commonly salted. It became popular in America with Irish emigrants as beef was cheaper to buy in the states. It was called "corned" because of the salt kernels used in the curing process. 

Corned beef was produced in some areas in Ireland, but only for export, so may have been eaten in those areas, but not so prevalent. So because of emigrant traditions, in America the dish is associated with Ireland and corned beef and cabbage is a traditional American dish for St Patrick's day. In Ireland however, we're still eating boiled bacon or spare ribs and cabbage. 

Enough of the history lesson and now for the recipes!

The brining is relatively simple as you make a 10% solution, which is 100 grams of salt to one litre of water, and add whatever aromatics you'd like to the brine.The amount of meat you wish to brine is up to you. This time I added cloves, peppercorns and bay leaves. Do make sure the brine covers the meat and it is a good idea throughout the week to turn the once a day in the brine.

One the meat has had at least a week in the brine, you have several options for cooking. The cut of meat is up to you what you would like to use. I tend to go for cheaper and tougher cuts such as brisket.

Slow poach
Cooking it in water and adding aromatics such as bay, thyme, rosemary, cloves etc...
I also like to add onions, garlic and carrots along with the aromatics for more flavour
Poach for at least 3 hours on a low heat
Allow to rest before serving.
Serve American style with boiled potatoes and cabbage or allow to cool and serve with mustard in a sandwich.

Or you can make Corn beef hash with fried eggs and beans

300g cooked salt beef  (I used brisket) - cubed
1 onion sliced
1 clove of garlic grated
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cooked potatoes cubed
1 tin baked beans
2  fried eggs
Oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onion and garlic till soft and remove to a plate
Next brown off the cubed potatoes and remove to the same plate as the onions
Brown the salt beef
Then add the spuds and the onion back into the pan
Add the Worcestershire sauce and stir
Last add the beans and heat through 
Season to taste and serve with fried eggs on top.