| I went into my local garden centre recently to find | | | | barbecue, and to a confirmed outdoor cooking |
| that the whole place have been completely | | | | enthusiast. It was at this point that I decided to build |
| re-vamped and a massive area dedicated to | | | | my homemade brick barbecue out of 16 second hand |
| barbecues and smokers. What did this tell me?........Two | | | | bricks and two cake cooling trays. |
| things:- | | | | Not only is this a great low cost introduction to |
| 1. Barbecue grills and smokers continue to become | | | | charcoal barbecue grills it's also a wonderfully portable |
| more popular recreational equipment. | | | | system too. Simply lay 8 bricks on the ground in two |
| 2. There's money to be made! | | | | rows of four to make a square. On two sides place 2 |
| Let's face it; the smartest "in your face" displays | | | | bricks (on their sides) and place another 2 bricks on |
| have got to be for the products that carry the | | | | top so that in cross section you've now got a U |
| biggest margins, right? Having spoken to the manager | | | | shape. Throw the charcoal on the brick base a span |
| I think maybe it's the accessories where a killing can | | | | two cake cooling grids across the top and there you |
| be made but whatever the case, you can quite easily | | | | have it. |
| spend a serious amount of cash on a new barbecue | | | | The cake cooling trays are really cheap in the |
| grill and that will be completely wasted money if you | | | | supermarket and (as a true student has to) the |
| buy the wrong thing. | | | | bricks were acquired one night from a local housing |
| Consider the situation twenty odd years ago before | | | | development. So with the barbecue complete, how |
| modern manufacturing techniques, globalisation and | | | | did I get hold of some good free BBQ recipes? |
| low cost country sourcing, the situation was even | | | | Well that's where it all started to fall apart and a |
| worse for someone with no income and lots of | | | | process of enthusiastic trial and error began. I'm |
| leisure time (you guessed it, I was a student!). CD's | | | | pleased to say that those early formative years |
| had just appeared on the music shelves (a big drain | | | | have paid off handsomely; all my friends still love my |
| on cash compared to vinyl), I don't think the word | | | | outdoor cooking and so much so that smoker was |
| download was in our vocabulary and certainly the | | | | born to document mine and my friends' tasty |
| thought of getting free barbecue recipes off the | | | | creations. |
| internet could be nothing more than a dream. | | | | If you do give the low cost barbecue a try, notice |
| I was doing what students do best - having one long | | | | how the bricks heat up and create an "all round" heat. |
| party! But the opportunity to have a barbecue party | | | | Not only is it cheap, it's actually very effective too! |
| was nil because we simply couldn't afford to buy a | | | | |