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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

BBQ Fuel



One of the advantages of having a BBQ fire place in the backyard is being able to burn a lot of the rubbish the garden seems to produce. When I say rubbish, I mean organic rubbish like tree trimmings, the odd gorse bush that needs pulling and branches that snap off in high winds. The advantage works both ways because there's always plenty of fuel for the wood fired BBQ.
A lot of the wood is Titree which is perfect for the Barbie. Being a hardwood means it retains the heat well. The bigger stuff will produce large glowing coals and it will also give a nice flavour to the food – Ti tree's often used for smoking fish.
I've been gathering up all the wood over a period of years as the BBQ was still in the pipeline, which meant I had stacks of wood in various places around the garden, sometimes getting in the way. So I finally decided to get serious about storing it properly. 
Using bits and pieces I had lying around the property, including some old wet-wall lining out of an old bathroom, I knocked together a handy storage area under the trees only a stones-throw from the BBQ. I kept it nice and open so it gets plenty of blow-through, which helps to dry out any of the wet stuff.

4 comments:

  1. It's 10:50pm but all this talk of barbies is making me hungry. I may have to do a night raid on the kitchen...

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  2. I notice any mention of food gets your attention. I'll be sure to post a blog about some of the amazing things my wife does with the vegies from my garden. I might see if she can make me some salsa...

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  3. It's nice to see people making a BBQ fire with just wood these days. If you have a yard here it's possible but most people use charcoal. Some do use wood, especially when they use an imu (Hawaiian for underground oven) to cook. Unfortunately I live in an apartment so I gotta use a gas grill with those lava rocks or heated stones then maybe put some wood chips on it to give the food a smokey taste. But nothing beats a good old fashioned wood BBQ.

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  4. Unfortunately even in New Zealand we seem to have forgotten about the good old wood fired BBQ from yesterday. I'm sure it's the increased pace of life that's caused people to find a quicker, more convenient way to BBQ.
    But you're right Antone, there's nothing like the smokey taste from cooking with wood and in NZ nothing beats Manuka (or Ti Tree). Interestingly the same tree is well known for it's medicinal properties, from which we get Manuka honey which is often used for hot lemon drinks when you've got a cold and Ti tree oil which is good for treating insect bites.

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