Spritz your meat with water or fruit juice to introduce moisture to the meat cook chamber, this can be done as often as every half hour. Water in the pan will act as a temperature limiter, if your fire is set up well, and you have water in the pan, your smoker won’t run over 110°C/225°F. The top vent acts as a brake to the airflow, closing it will slow the movement of air through the smoker, and reduce temperature drastically. You now have bacon! Cut a few slices and cook the way you like it or cold smoke it for 24 hours - which is just the way we like it! Grilling is a timeless method of cooking – just food & fire. It’s defined really by direct heat as there is no baffle or barrier between the fire & the food.

Using good quality lumpwood charcoal or briquettes is the key to a good fire. We recommend our premium Cocoshell Briquettes, restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal, or a combination of the two. Open all the vents in the base. Take 2-3 fire lighters (or a couple sheets of scrunched up newspaper), place them in the charcoal basket light them. ProQ smokers are the ultimate in outdoor cooking equipment. They specialise in making barbecues and smokers that are considered among the best on the market. ProQ barbecue smokers are used in international barbecue competitions, but the portable smokers are just as well suited to home cooking. The ProQ Excel is the largest BBQ smoker in the ProQ family. The Excel provides a massive 30kg of cooking capacity. Loaded with excellent functionality for all of your outdoor cooking needs. Our ProQ Excel will not disappoint enthusiastic patio cooks either, it is our only smoker with a wok shaped water pan fully equipped with a removable handle, fantastic for live-fire stir frying.

Setting Up For Grilling

Once you see flames and your coals are turning white, top up your charcoal basket with unlit fuel & give the fire 5 more minutes to catch before setting up the smoker to cook. There are a variety of options for what to put into the water pan (if anything), and it really comes down to personal preference, so try a couple out and see what works for you.

Good lumpwood is 100% natural carbonized wood, it lights & burns faster than most briquettes, making it ideal for shorter cooks, but it works ok for longer ones too. During handling it can easily break down into small pieces and dust that can reduce airflow resulting in a slow burning fire. Sometimes these unevenly sized pieces can create spikes or drops in cooking temperature which can lead to varying results. Once your charcoal or briquettes are caught nicely and your smoker is assembled, you can start to adjust the vents. Closing the vents will reduce air into the fire, and slow the burn of the fuel, reducing the temperature.Adjust your vents slowly, a little tweak can have a big effect. Once you set your vents wait 10 minutes to see a true adjusted temperature. Measure the depth of your pork joint in inches, making a note of it - you'll need this to calculate the correct curing time. Step 2 If you are using water in the water pan, your BBQ smoker won’t run any hotter than 110°C/225°F. The water in the pan will act as a heat sink, so as long as there is water in the pan, it will keep the temperature around 110°C/225°F. Using the best features from different BBQ fuels can be advantageous, for example, you can light some lumpwood (faster lighting) and then add Cocoshell Briquettes as the main fuel for the fire (longer burn time).

The water in the pan will act as a heat sink, and as long as there is water in the pan, it will stop the temperature rising much over 110°C/225°F. After the 40 minutes test the internal temperature of the cauliflower with a probe thermometer, you’re aiming for 152°F/67°C – this will ensure the cauliflower is cooked but not too soft. If it’s not quite there, replace the lid and cook until done and if you prefer it softer, cook for a little longer. When you’re finished cooking, you can put out the fire by putting the lid on and closing all 4 vents on the smoker – you can reuse the charcoal that’s left for your next cook. When the curing process is up, remove the pork belly and rinse under cold water, gently rubbing it to remove any excess cure. Step 7

Choosing Your Fuel

Roasting on a BBQ is a fantastic way to cook anything you’d normally cook indoors. Try pies, large cuts of meat or even desserts! The classic American BBQ setup, perfect for cooking cuts like pork shoulder, brisket & ribs low’n slow style. This method allows meat to become perfectly tender and some real smoky flavours to develop.

Burning charcoal creates carbon monoxide, which has no odour. Extinguish coals and ash after use and close all vents before leaving the smoker unattended. Even a smouldering fire can create carbon monoxide. The analogue temperature gauge gives you a good idea of the internal temperature of the smoker, it is fully adjustable for ease of calibration. Put the pork into a food safe bag and seal well - removing as much air as you can. Place the bag on a food safe tray and place in the fridge on the bottom shelf. Its a good idea to write the date on the bag with a marker pen. Step 4 Take 2-3 fire lighters (or a couple sheets of scrunched up newspaper), place them in the base of the BBQ beneath the charcoal basket & light them. Open all the vents in the base. We highly recommend our ProQ Cocoshell Briquettes which are an all-natural, high-performance fuel suitable for all outdoor cooking. The quality of available briquettes can vary hugely, which can lead to varying results depending on brand. The same applies to lumpwood charcoal, we’d avoid anything that’s labelled “instant light” due to the accelerant chemicals used.

Grilling - Long Distance Direct Heat

Light your fire using one of the fire lighting methods we described above, adding unlit fuel to top the charcoal basket up & open all the vents in the base of the smoker. Give the fire 10 minutes or so to catch.