BarbecueGeeks

I found this chart whilst doing some digging around on the net, really good information so I thought a quick share wouldn’t go a miss:

Interesting how foods can affect our lives and health, eating properly really does boost the body, more energy and overall a better feeling within. So much talk goes on around the world regarding eating and how it can affect your body when you don’t eat properly, when you look at less advanced corners of the world you can see why our diet can have such a huge impact, along with our lifestyle. In tribal communities cancers are unheard of, open cooking is how it’s done, so with that in mind and the chart above, get the BBQ up and running, relax and get cookin’!

So it’s taken a while but the built-in Swiss Grill is nearly complete, all but a couple of small jobs left. When all the block-work was complete I started to look at what I could use on the top as a work surface, ideally a granite top would be the best option, however this would have cost more than the BBQ itself so this had to go on the pass list, next was the option of a Stainless Steel surface, great for keeping clean, would stand the weather OK, but would need to be made as a custom project, not impossible but would again be at some cost, the sheet would need to be a good thickness and that’s not cheap either.

My final thought was tiles, although not my perfect solution it was the one I settled with, for now it will do the job and to be fair it looks nice, a little discussion with the wife was involved, my thoughts were on a dark tile, black ideally, but my good wife one with a natural stone mosaic, with the patio due to be laid and being light, it will all tie in together nicely, also being lighter it does kind of make it feel warmer in a funny way.

Tiling the top was a bit of a job to be fair, I had thought of using a ply wood board on the top, then tile over that, but after some thought it occurred to me that wood next to a hot BBQ could very well be a bad idea, so what to use a solid base to tile to? slabs, big ugly concrete slabs, perfect, diamond blade on an angle grinder in hand I set to work on what became a jigsaw puzzle, cementing the cut slabs in place on the top, then over that added the tiles. I have done a lot of tiling but never have I used natural stone and probably never will again, if you go down this route do take care when grouting, you must seal the tiles before you grout and again after, but even then the grout is hard to polish off the tiles, so do it bit by bit and take your time, plenty of cloth both damp and dry.

I think if I ever do this again, I will look at costing it properly to have a Stainless top of solid single stone work-surface, the key here to keep costs regulated is to build the BBQ to a standard size first, keeping it within a standard “off the shelf” work-surface size, this way you have a wider selection of tops and at better prices, mine was odd in both shape and size as I had not planned the top or even looked into what sizes of worktop were available before I set to work with my trowel! lesson learned

All I left to do is tile the bottom cupboard, perhaps put a shelf it as well, then get the door on…… then cook!

The only problem for me now is that I don’t want to get it dirty! Swiss Grill currently offer two built-in BBQ grill heads in the UK, both are available to buy online or in-store from Bedfordshire Barbecue Centre.

After digging some small footings, nothing major, but enough to support the BBQ area, I started on the construction, personally I am not a lover of faced brick or stone work, I like clean lines and sharp corners so I opted for a block and render approach, this was also faster to erect and meant that I could do it myself, not being a bricky but have done a spell at plastering, so my guess was my block work could look rough and I would cover it with some clean crisp render!

The Block-work:

So, this is the result of my superb block work! originally I was going to leave the whole space open and put a door on the front, but to the far right on one side I have left an opening to put the gas bottle in, so putting a door at the front would be a bit pointless in terms of being able to use it as a cupboard for storage etc, animals and unwanted would still be able to get inside the built-in area, I didn’t want to have to mess around with a door at the back, trying to mess about with a bottle and door would be a pain, so I opted for an internal cupboard and set to work with my brick trowel again!

At the front opening I built in a one block deep area to use as a cupboard, this will also serve as a secure rest and fixing point for the BBQ to sit on. Inside the cupboard I will either tile the floor area or use the same material as I use on the top (not settled on that part yet!) The front will either be left open, or will have a set of Stainless Steel doors, that bit can be left until last.

The Completed Base:

So with all the blockwork completed, it was time to render, and as with all good plans the weather changed and down came the snow but, like a man on a mission, this didn’t stop me, I put all the corner strips and render stop beads on in the snow, then the next day with some old duvets to protect the render from snow and frost I made a start on the rendering. Making sure the mix had plenty of waterproofer, the whole job was done in a few hours and the final result is below:

Fully rendered and now complete with internal cupboard

Now all that needs to be done is fit a top and bolt in the Swiss Grill. Now the top is a really frustrating thing, I thought that with all the materials available today someone would make a resin or composite exterior worktop, a counter-top that was specifically made for use outside, build-in barbecues are getting really popular and yet finding a top is either really expensive or in my opinion not very nice looking, sure I could ply board it and tile, but really that’s the last thing I want to do, I can just see it looking bad and worn out in a few years. Granite is the first choice, but I had this priced at about £900! :-0 way too much for me and many other’s I’m sure, so now I am looking at reclaimed slate from snooker tables, it’s nice and think, looks OK with a polish, but only really looks great when its wet, plus I am caucus about it chipping etc. My last option as an ex welder fabricator is to go with an all Stainless top, I only fear that it will look a bit too silver given that the Swiss Grill Z460 is also 100% Stainless Steel.

Thoughts on the top would be greatly appreciated here, and if anyone has been in a similar position and found a good product please do let me know.

Thanks all

Lee

So for some time I have been swaying from one BBQ to another, never sure what to go for, but one always stood out, just from a visual point the Swiss Grill Zurich Z460 build in, perfect size for me, with what seems to be a good build quality etc, so I went for it, the down side is that now I have to now build it in

So I guess i’m lucky in that we have not long had an extension so the patio has yet to be laid, with the spot found I set to work, digging a small footing and laying the foundation, nothing major but enough to provide a good solid setting for it, as the picture illustrates this is step one.

The shape is deliberate, the return will be open at the back to take the bottle, this will be away from the grill but also out of sight so as not to spoil my splendor!, for ease I will be building out of block and rendering, I am not a great lover of brick built build-in’s as I feel the brick takes the eye away from what is a feature – the BBQ itself, so with week one done, bring on the weekend for wall building, just not sure what to do with the top, ideally a big lump of granite would be perfect, but I don’t have that much money! any thoughts on that would be welcome.

More pics to follow after the weekend with the next part!

So this was posted on my wall a couple of days ago, now we all hear about saturated fat and how butter is high, and margarine lower, however butter is actually a much healthier option for you, and this post tells you why, read on and share with everyone you know….

Pass The Butter … Please.

This is interesting . .. .

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back.

It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavourings….

DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end…gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.
Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

• Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
• Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added!
• Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods.
• Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .

And now, for Margarine..

• Very High in Trans fatty acids.
• Triples risk of coronary heart disease …
• Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)
• Increases the risk of cancers up to five times..
• Lowers quality of breast milk
• Decreases immune response.
• Decreases insulin response.

And here’s the most disturbing fact… HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC… and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT.

These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

Open a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:

1. no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)
2. it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.

Why? Because it is nearly plastic . Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends…..(If you want to butter them up’)!

Chinese Proverb: When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.