• Community Banner
Home » Community

Community

Community

Welcome to the Grill Academy™ Community, the place to share your barbecuing experiences, send us your photos or just get in touch - we would love to hear from you.
Check out the Grill Academy™ Blog for top barbecuing tips from the Grill Academy™ chefs and to get all the latest news from the Grill Academy™.
Sort by....

  • Posted by Tom Spinks /
    Hi all
    I can not wait to attend the Festive Barbecuing course on 7th December with my brother and Dad. Great opportunity to combine our love of barbecue, his Father's Day present, and the best time of the year!
    Less than 4 months to go so see you all soon
    Tom, Ben and Chris Spinks
    Comments (0)

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by Clare Edwards / Jan, 2014

    Q Guild of Butchers Competition held at the Grill Academy

    The Grill Academy was the venue for the finals of the Q Guild of Butchers National BBQ Awards 2013 held last week when winners were announced for Best Sausage, Best Burger and Best Steak categories.
    Martin Player’s High Class Butcher in Cardiff win Best Burger, Cranstons Quality Butchers in Penrith win Best Sausage with its Cumberland sausage and Robinsons Butchers of Tettenhall in Wolverhampton win Best Steak for its top quality sirloin.
    The heats were held initially in the seven regions – East, South, South West and Wales, Midlands, North West, North East and Scotland – and the regional winners in each of the three categories – Steak, Burger and Sausage – qualified for the finals.
    Each finalist brought their winning cuts of meat to the Grill Academy to be cooked on one of the Weber grills by a Grill Academy chef. Clare Edwards, BBQ expert and Grill Academy Manager, Jeremy Fowler, renowned BBQ chef and Keith Fisher then judged the three meat categories to select the best products. Each of the finalists took part in a barbecue Masterclass session, showing them the best way to grill traditional barbecue meats so that they can give better advice to their customers.
    The Q Guild represents the highest quality butchers and independent meat retailers in the UK. With 120 members from Shetland to Cornwall, they serve £3 million worth of outstanding meat and related products to over a quarter of a million discerning UK consumers every week.
    Comments (0)

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by David Mills /
    Hi Clare, Jamie & Jordan
    Tomorrow my wife and I are going away for a few days with friends. They asked that I do some Oak Planked Salmon to take with us as it is delicious cold as it is hot. So to day in absolutely atrocious rain I have fulfilled their wish and as a consequent am dripping wet. Of course as soon as I had finished the sun came out!!
    Nothing changes for enthusiastic barbequers!!
    Have a good summer (if we ever get one)!!
    Regards
    David Mills
    Comments (1)

    Comments

    Wow! Great to hear from you

    Wow! Great to hear from you David, a true dedicated barbecuer in action! I hope that everyone enjoyed the salmon and it was worth the efforts!
    Town: 
    Weber Grill Academy, Oxford

    Clare Edwards

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by Clare Edwards / Jan, 2014

    Barbecue Twins!

    Meet Steven & David Briggs who attended the Grill Academy recently! Our first twins to brush up their barbecue knowledge!
    Comments (1)

    Comments

    Know the boys well from rugby

    Know the boys well from rugby days, like them I concentrate on fine food and wine now, looking forward to booking a day soon after talking to them about their fantastic day!

    Pete Sherliker

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by Clare Edwards / Jan, 2014

    It’s all about ‘low and slow’!!

    We have all heard about the great method of cooking foods ‘low and slow’ on the barbecue! It’s a technique we know and love at the Grill Academy, but with the visit of the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) we ‘know and love it’ to a whole new level!
    Six of the KCBS members joined us at the Grill Academy. How great to be on the other side of the cooking class table! We started early, 7am to be precise, to ensure that all would be cooked by the end of the day…little did we know at this point, that by the end of the day we would be trying to squeeze that last bit of food into our mouths! You can safely say that the Grill Academy team received their weeks’ worth of protein, in one day!!! On the menu included:
    • Pork shoulder
    • Beef Brisket
    • Ribs
    • Cowboy Beans
    • Burgers and Bun’s – with a difference!
    • Chicken thighs
    Not only were we learning tips off the team and honing our skills, but learning the techniques required to compete in barbecue championships!! Several of our hosts were barbecue champions several times over! How lucky were we!?!
    The best parts of the day were, and always will be, the surprise elements. When the KCBS team announced that we would be cooking burgers that would include the ingredient Coca-Cola and the final product would be surrounded in a toasted doughnut…and that we would be cooking ribs in one hour, not three, we were all in shock! The food was amazing…even the doughnut buns and there will be tips and tales to share on our courses, at the Grill Academy, for a long time! Great day had by all!
    Comments (0)

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by Sam Rogerson /
    Dear Clare, Jamie and Dan,
    Hi Guys, it's been a while so I thought it was time to find out how you were all doing? I've had an extremely busy few months, as you know travelling around Europe and then going to Brunel a few days later. Europe was great, I went to loads of interesting historical places, wearing my Weber hat of course. It was great. Since then I've been at uni, which has also been really good. I've not failed yet, which is always a plus.
    I've found my time at the Grill Academy, and my qualifications aquired there extremely useful. I have had two jobs since the GA, one of which involved counting people in lecture rooms (alot of walking), and the other (don't laugh) was as a chef at Hadden Hill golf club, especially BBQ things for large parties. I did ok. I'm actually ok at cooking now, I can cook a '15 minute meal' in 18 minutes-ish.
    Anyway hope you guys are doing well, and sorry I've been so long in writing, you know how student life is. I've just ordered a Weber Kabab Set to improve my haloumi and mushroom kebabs :).
    Hope to hear from you soon.
    Sam
    Grill Academy Apprentice (2011-2012)
    Comments (0)

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by Clare Edwards / Jan, 2014

    Start them Young!!

    This picture was sent in by Bill Graysmark. It is a picture of his grandson, wearing his specially adapted Grill Academy apron that Bill picked up on one of the courses at the Grill Academy! He is right about starting them young, not so sure about the bottle of ale though ;-). Thanks Bill.

    Comments (0)

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by Clare Edwards / Jan, 2014

    Epic Picture!!

    Well...Christmas might have been and gone, but based on the weather we have had recently, one might think that Christmas is just around the corner! I know that it seems wrong to be posting a picture like this, but I have to say it made me chuckle and I just had to share it with you.
    This picture is of Steve Hughes, who is a great fan of the Grill Academy. He has been on several courses, the latest being our 'Festive Barbecuing' course. We learn how to cook an array of foods that you might wish to cook over this period, but the main feature of the day, is of course is all about how to perfect the tradditional christmas TURKEY! Although, he sent it through a little later than planned...isn't it worth it!
    Well done Steve and thank you for sending it through.
    Comments (0)

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by Malcolm /

    Looking forward to attending the Grill Academy next week as just purchased a new Smokey Mountain Cooker. Need some advice of best fuel to use and where to buy it from to get best price please?

    Comments (1)

    Comments

    Dear Malcolm.

    Dear Malcolm. Thank you for your post. We are looking forward to seeing you at the Grill Academy next week. We will definitely be covering the best type of fuel types, and how to control temperatures on the course. In the meantime, however, I would recommend purchasing Weber briquettes. They will last for 4 hours and contain no nasties. They can be used to top up the Smokey Mountain Cooker, without lighting them first. No acrid smells will taint the flavour of your food. In terms of the best place to buy the briquettes, if you click on this link and enter your postcode it will direct you where you can purchase your fuel. www.weberbbq.co.uk/where-to-buy
    Town: 
    Weber Grill Academy, Oxford

    Clare Edwards

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?

  • Posted by Clare Edwards / Jan, 2014

    Around the World in 80 Spices – Over 350 to be precise but who’s counting?!

    Our Day at Bart Ingredients where Not all Ingredients are Equal!
    Since our recent visit to Laverstoke Park Farm we have clearly got a taste for getting out and about to see our suppliers. This week the Grill Academy and Experience teams ventured over to Bristol for a factory visit at Bart Ingredients. The visit comes a couple of months after we played host to a team from Barts’ for a day’s cooking at the Weber Grill Academy.
    Our visit began with a plant tour and finished off with a history of spices through the millennia, and of course you would expect there to be a certain amount of taste testing along the way! One such taste test involved an individual taste test for the 5 taste senses of Salt, Sour, Sweet, Bitter and Umami. We were each presented with 5 medicine caps each containing a clear, odourless liquid. They were identified only by random numbers, yet despite their randomness, we were all screwing up our faces when we tasted the one we found out later was the Umami!
    It’s clear that the people at Bart look a lot at how the use of herbs and spices has played out over the millennia, which ones were favoured by certain civilisations and what may cause them to be almost banished from cuisine altogether! Fast forward to today and what’s interesting is how the humble peppercorn has risen above all other spices to effectively become the #1 spice in the modern home. How did pepper come to make up 50% of what we commonly consider to be ‘seasoning’ in the Western world?
    The answer to this, and many other questions on the topic, comes from the history of the spice trails and how they evolved based on which nations were more powerful at a given time and therefore better able to influence the palettes of its’ people. We can so often take for granted where our food comes from, and I think herbs and spices are no different in that respect. It’s only when you begin to scratch the surface that you find out how much more there is to know, and what fascinating stories are waiting to be discovered.
    It was a really captivating insight into another area of food that can be commonly overlooked. So the next time you reach for that jar of paprika or ground cumin from your spice cupboard, just stop for a second and smell the spice. Allow your mind to wander and think where such an ingredient may have come from and how it got into your spice cupboard!
    Comments (0)

    Add new comment

    CAPTCHA
    Enter security code
    More information?