20% Off A More Civilised Way to BBQ from Le Creuset
Andrew Bluett-Duncan
Director
The Preamble
Some days I sit here, wondering what on earth I’m going to talk about and on others, how on earth I’m going to fit it all in. This week it’s the latter case. This week, in fact, I want to get you thinking BBQ, as the weather has been quite clement of late.
Specifically, Le Creuset have come up with a new and rather smart range of mainly cast iron BBQ pots and pans of seven or so pieces to make cooking food on the BBQ a more pleasant and edible experience.
But before we get there…
Company Meeting
Two weeks ago we held our mid-year company meeting, which turned out to be great fun. I gave a brief overview of where we are, just past the halfway point of our financial year (year-end 31st August), and then Martin Turner, our Riedel account manager, led us through what he described as a “cut-down” tasting. This still somehow involved two wines and four glasses.
Remarkably, we got through the whole thing without a single mishap, no small achievement given we were using the rather gorgeous Veloce range with its alarmingly fine stems, balanced largely on laps or un-safely between our feet. Once again, the impact of bowl shape and size was laid bare. It’s one of those things you think might be marketing fluff, until you try it yourself and it very clearly isn’t.
We rounded things off with food from COOK (Jeanne, our usual cook for these evenings, whilst present, was otherwise engaged during the day…working), and a very good evening was had by all.
I feel these get togethers are an important part of what Art of Living is all about, fundamental to creating the best workplace we can, for everyone's wellbeing. Building on our ethos that good relationships help build good relationships, as a result, we work together better, knowing each other better.
Early music
The weekend before that, I had visited one of my oldest friends, Francis, now resident in Crewkerne, Somerset. We’d been talking about getting to one of the West Country concerts, run by a charity "Concerts in the West". These are held several times a month in Crewkerne and neighbouring towns. We settled on an evening with Ensemble Augelletti. The programme featured early music from Bach, Telemann, Pisendel and others, much of it unfamiliar to me. No matter. Like theatre, live music has a presence that even the best recordings can’t really touch. It was, in every sense, a lovely evening.
To Business
And then, earlier this week, a rare visit from my friend, and occasional sparring partner, Nick Squire and his wife Laura. Nick, as regular readers may recall, has long been the subject of my gentle ridicule for his unshakeable devotion to a succession of BMW X5’s (the 2nd ugliest car in the world). Apparently, the current one has chilled cup holders that the poor thing found comforting on his drive back down from Scotland the other day. Clearly no one told him you need cup warmers for that journey. On this occasion he had parked outside the shop and insisted I come out to admire the latest example.
Reader, I did as I was told. Photographic evidence exists.
The official reason for the visit, however, was that Nick and Laura are leaving George East (Dayes) to start their own venture*, and to introduce me to his replacement. Dayes' new commercial director is Iain Stuart-Crush, a name I feel that would be quite at home in a P.G. Wodehouse novel. Quite how it came about, I failed to ask him (Iain, not the novelist).
*More on that in a couple of weeks
More importantly, Iain had clearly done his homework.
He’s been reading these very emails (poor fella…the things people have do to get an order out of me) long enough to understand that cake is the currency of goodwill in these parts.
He arrived bearing a 10-inch homemade fruit cake, one that he had made himself (extra points for effort, please note Lee**), which now sits neck-and-neck with last week’s effort from Jayne of KitchenCraft.
To Product.
Which brings me, in a slightly roundabout but entirely justifiable way, to barbecues.
Because, having eaten rather well over the past few weeks, indoors, outdoors, and in quantities that suggest poor decision-making, it does feel as though the weather has turned. It’s been for once, on its best behaviour, my thoughts, and may I presume yours, naturally drift towards cooking outside. Not the hectic, smoke-filled, slightly anxious sort of barbecuing that leaves one juggling sausages, self-doubt, peppers, courgette and mustard covered chicken, all arriving at different times, but something a little more considered.
Enter Le Creuset.
They have, for the first time, produced a dedicated outdoor collection, proper cookware designed specifically for use over an open flame.
Although you may be interested to hear that last night I tested the Rectangular Griddle on our induction hob at home and it heated up fine. But please note that the bottoms of these pieces, inexplicably, have a small ridge around the circumference of the base and some arty farty work in the middle (Em tells me it is a mountain range. I thought it resembled antlers), so they won’t work very well on a standard electric hob or Aga (where a completely flat surface is required)
No doubt the Le Creuset marketing dept getting their misplaced way again.
Anyway, that’s not their primary purpose in life, but it’s good to have multipurpose cookware and, caveats aside, these will work well in the garden and in your kitchen. Not gimmicks, not accessories that look good and then quietly disappoint, but a range of solid, purposeful pieces in their familiar enamelled cast iron, subtly redesigned with extra-large handles for life beyond the kitchen.
Please note, this is enamelled cast iron and NOT a nonstick surface (see my opinion later on).
Here's my view on four of these pieces:
The Square Grill is perhaps the most obvious starting point, ribbed, weighty, and designed to give you proper searing while allowing excess fat to drain away. In other words, it behaves like a grill should, rather than a hopeful suggestion of one.
The Rectangular Griddle is the more sociable piece, pancakes, eggs, smash burgers, the sort of thing that turns a barbecue from an event into something approaching a meal. It has a generous cooking surface and just enough lip to keep things where they should be.
Then there’s the Grilling Basket, which neatly solves the age-old problem of smaller items making a bid for freedom through the bars (this isn’t suitable for your kitchen hob as it has holes in the bottom to let the searing heat do its thing), and a Pizza Pan for those who like the idea of stretching things slightly beyond sausages and into something more ambitious.
What ties the range together is the material. Cast iron, properly done, holds heat beautifully and cooks evenly, meaning fewer flare-ups, fewer disappointments, and a far greater chance that what you serve will be both recognisable and edible. The enamel coating develops a natural patina over time (meaning food will stick to the surface less with use), improving as you use it, which is one of those quietly satisfying things that never quite makes it into the brochure.
It’s also worth saying that this isn’t about turning your garden into a professional kitchen. It’s about making outdoor cooking a little less hit-and-miss and a bit more… intentional.
Which, after two or three weeks of cakes, concerts and questionable restraint, feels like a step in the right direction….
This week you may take 20% off your bill by using code LCBBQ20 when shopping on line, just tell us who you are if coming into Cobham or Reigate.
May I wish you a very pleasant and peaceful weekend.
Warm regards
Andrew
P.S. In a piece of almost "joined up thinking", on The Riedel Shop this week Andi has written about which wines work best for all your al fresco soirees
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