[Closed] Camping BBQ - Smokey Joe or Go Anywhere?

I have a Go Anywhere as rectangular BBQs 😀 are easier to pack in the car!

Weber q gas. Does everything very well and much cleaner for the car.

I have a Go Anywhere as rectangular BBQs are easier to pack in the car!

Good point.

Weber q gas. Does everything very well and much cleaner for the car.

The gas-powered grill thread is thataway ------------------------->

[img] [/img]

lidl are selling those* for a tenner or so. look alright.

*something like those, image may not be exact, charcoal separate.

From experience:

- The bucket style ones are terrible
- The fold flat type ones are great:

http://www.charliesdirect.co.uk/outwell-cazal-portable-grill

[img] [/img]

Fold flat ones are amazing and fit in my van great. The problem is the halfords one I have warped quite badly on holiday this year the outwell one any good above?

BR
jeZ

I've got a no-brand fold flat one that I got from Go Outdoors years ago, seems fairly unkillable and cost about £20.

Weber go anywhere, great lockable lid also, really easy to cook on, never really used a bar-b with a lid on before but seems to cook things nice and even. I use the pre assembled bags of lumpwood in it which fit just great once riddled out after lighting. Went from my much loved son of Hibachi to the weber and not disappointed.

If you're happy to save your pennies, I just got one of these:

http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/jumbuck-portable-round-charcoal-bbq---red-405847

(half the price of the same thing in Argos http://www.argos.co.uk/product/3451656 - I was relying on the positive Argos reviews!)

Works great and appears to have the same functionality to the Smokey Joe - after finishing cooking I locked the lid and you can then move it using the handle.

Go Anywhere

might want to check your french campsite allows charcoal bbqs.

many ive been on dont. mainly because you smoke out the other residents for a few hours.

one of the main reasons i ended up with a gas powered grill as the blinkered call it.

mean while its pouring down out side and ive had a brisket smoking on the Q for about 4 hours.

After many years of hit and miss BBQing I invested in a Weber Go Anywhere a couple of weeks ago, in advance of our trip to Beautiful Days.

Brilliant investment. Especially with a chimney starter. I also went for Weber briquettes and lighters to ensure reliable starting.

We've used it a load of times, and never a failure. Both direct heat cooking and indirect (for chicken on the bone).

Main advantages are it's very quick to get really hot for cooking; it gets cool enough to touch in about 20 minutes (I guess you could put it back in the car in 30 mins) and it's economical - a dozen briquettes will do for 2 or 3 lightings, maybe add a couple of new ones 2nd time).

We've done steak, chops, chicken, whole peppers, sweetcorn on the cob (straight on the heat and in foil) asparagus (fantastic) and it all tastes great.

Rectangular things are far easier to pack than round things and take up far less effective space. This is the reason I want a GoAnywhere and not a Smokey Joe.

I've had the fold flat ones - alright for grilling stuff, but not slow cooking it with indirect heat. I love indirect heat, hence wanting a GoAnywhere.

I've had the fold flat ones - alright for grilling stuff, but not slow cooking it with indirect heat.

I've managed it with some success; have the coals at one end and the food at the other, the V-shape of the bbq seems to trap the heat quite well. Certainly good enough to finish off burgers/sausages/steaks/chops that have been seared at the 'hot' end

It's not as good as having a lid and the all-round-but-indirect-heat you get from that though, admittedly

IHN - Member

From experience:

- The bucket style ones are terrible
- The fold flat type ones are great:

Exactly my experience too 😀

might want to check your french campsite allows charcoal bbqs.

Just checked and they hire the bloody things so might just go with that instead. 🙂

I have a GoAnywhere highly recommended, I keep it in the original box so any ash and grease is contained with-in

We were caught out a few years back when a BBQ was not provided with the caravan we rented.

Considered hiring a BBQ onsite but then saw one of these in the local Carrefour

which we purchased for about €30 and have used every since. In fact it will be used for some steaks this evening.

And the Carrefour near us this year had them in stock this morning.

Enjoy your trip!

Yep, Go anywhere. Putting my Jumbo Joe in the back of the van takes up a silly amount of space because of its 'roundness'. Irritates me every time.

Just checked and they hire the bloody things so might just go with that instead.

Sorry - philistine question coming - what's the idea behind these chimneys and why do people use them instead of a few lighting cubes?

Cadac Safari Chef.

They produce a Grenfell Tower effect. The heat rises, causes a convection current which causes the coals to burn hotter without any extraneous flapping and blowing. They reach a very high temp, very quickly.

You just stick some scrunched up newspaper and/or a couple of lighter cubes under the bottom of the chimney.

Go anywhere, get the travel bag too. It's a great design.
The chimneys allow you to have coals ready to rock in 10-20 mins. No guesswork or coaxing, just light it and let it go.

Did you go for one?

I've had a Weber Go Anywhere for a few years now and it's great. Really well made.

I also have a Cadac Safari Chef for those times I need to use gas which is decent but I prefer cooking on the Go Anywhere with real fire!

Good comparison here [url= https://www.cookbakeeat.com/best-portable-bbqs/ ]https://www.cookbakeeat.com/best-portable-bbqs/[/url]

Met some folks this summer who had the Weber - they lined it with a couple of layers of foil (and one underneath to protect the grass) and used it as a firebowl after they'd cooked on it. Very pretty flicker effect from the foil with only a small bright fire.

We've used a Weber for a few years now, great bit of kit and far nicer than disposable BBQ s. It's good enough to not bother using the main BBQ if it's only the two of us

Did you go for one?

Nope. Had to be persuaded not to stop at every Decathlon we passed on the way down - well, to be fair, that's any trip throug France for us. 😆

Anyway, when we got to the campsite, there was a large sign on the desk at reception saying that charcoal barbecues were strictly forbidden on site. So just as well we didn't get something specially for the trip. trail_rat's advice was pretty sage on this one. I think he was the first (and maybe only) to say that charcoal might be a problem in French campsites.

We just hired one of the campsite things - similar to the Cadac - which did the job just fine. I'll probably still pick up a Go Anywhere at some stage seeing as comments were so positive but will not be taking it to France next year.

I didn't know that it would be a problem to use Charcoal in France, good to know!

I didn't know that it would be a problem to use Charcoal in France, good to know!

Nor me!

Not saying it's [i]every[/i] campsite - might be ok with some of the smaller independent ones. Ours wasn't one of the giant jobs - it was a Huttopia site so a mix of pitches, cabins, pre-pitched "Canadienne" etc but I can see their point if you get a bbq in a neighbouring pitch smoking heavily it could be a PITA. Definitely worth checking with the campsite before travelling I reckon.

I is confuzzled; you can hire barbecues, but you're not allowed charcoal? Are you allowed briquettes, or are the hire ones gas?

The hire ones are gas IHN.

aaaaaaaah, gotcha.

EDIT to last post:

V. similar to this:
[img] [/img]

I checked the manufacturer* and it's an Irish company ([url= http://www.uigroup.ie/ ]Universal Innovations[/url]) so the pic above is their UK version hitched to a 5kg Calor Gas cylinder. Ours was the French version (hitched to a 5kg Primagaz cylinder - which I [i]think[/i] has a different collar so would require a different clamp). It was really nice to use actually.

They also make* this little jobbie which I might well buy as it doesn't require marrying oneself to a certain cylinder.
[img] [/img]

I don't fancy dragging a 5kg Calor cylinder around in a car - both for safety and logistical reasons. But I want something for UK and France use. 😕

I may be wrong, but I'm led to believe that campsites in France that allow them have pretty stringent H&S (flaming) hoops to jump through. The sites that I've been to that allow them have permanent bbqs in clear spaces and even then, if the wind is up and it's too dry, they're quite rightly off limits.

I'm guessing a regional thing - I've been to 5 campsites throughout France this summer (Western Midi-pyrenees, Dordogne, Limousin, Loire, St Malo) and none of them had stringent restrictions in place.

That said, the majority were booked or sourced through Cool Camping, which possibly alters the stats compared to pulling onto a Municipal.

Yeah, it's probably down to département/municipal laws and the location of the site. I'm always drawn to campsites in forests, which are unsurprisingly rather sensitive about these things