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Covered cooking (continued)
Cooking with the Hood Closed:
Using the roasting hood traps heat, moisture and flavour that is normally lost on an open top
barbeque. For covered cooking, there are two basic ways to cook: (A) Direct Cooking and (B)
Indirect Cooking.
(A) Direct Cooking Method:
This is when you place the food directly over the lit burners, either on the grill or the hotplate.
This method is great for frying, searing and grilling, especially with thinner cuts and foods that
require shorter cooking time. Cooking takes less time than with the hood open, and the results
are more tender and juicy.
Preheat the barbeque with all burners on HIGH and the hood closed for 5 to 10 minutes. Once
the barbeque is pre-heated and the hood is closed, heat is trapped around the food, so the
burners need to be on LOW and in some cases, some of the burners OFF. Heat from the lit
burners will circulate all through the hood cooking quite evenly. Quite close attention needs to
be paid to the food, and the burners frequently reset to LOW or OFF as required to prevent
overheating.
Don't be afraid to open the hood often to check progress. You are in control of the temperature
by turning burners higher, lower or OFF as required. The gas burners will respond instantly and
powerfully to your control. Most importantly, use the hood thermometer as a warning guide that
the barbeque is too hot. For grilling most foods, aim to keep the thermometer below 200ºC to
avoid burning.
NEVER let the hood thermometer temperature exceed 250ºC or the barbeque can dangerously
overheat and burn your food. A separate probe thermometer is available as an accessory from
all Barbeques Galore stores. This takes the guesswork out of knowing when your food is
cooked.
(B) Indirect Cooking Method:
This is when you place the food only above burners that are OFF. The other burners are adjusted in
combinations of LOW and OFF to maintain constant lower roasting temperatures.
This method is ideal for thicker cuts of meat, legs of lamb, pork, shoulders of beef, whole
chickens and whole fish. Moist, hot air rises from the lit burners and circulates around the food,
trapping juices and flavour. Even cakes and breads can be cooked in your barbeque this way.
Cooking low and slow allows the food to cook completely through without burning on the outside,
yet remaining juicy and tender on the inside. Best results are achieved by placing your roast in a
rack and that rack in a drip pan. The roast is elevated to allow heat to circulate all the way
around, and water, wine, juices, herbs can be added to the drip pan to help flavour the roast and
make a baste or gravy.
Preheat the barbeque with all burners on HIGH and the hood closed for 5 minutes. Importantly,
once the barbeque is pre-heated and the hood is closed, heat is trapped around the food, so
normally some of the burners will need to be turned OFF or to LOW. Heat from the lit burners
will circulate all through the hood cooking quite evenly.
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