The barbecue, everyone does it in their own way. And everyone has their techniques, sometimes judicious, sometimes less so. Faithful to its mission of hunting down “fake news” – see our Fake Off section on this subject –, 20 minutes felt the obligation, while the French barbecue championship made a stopover in Paris for the first time, to flush out misconceptions about cooking over the embers.
For this, and as we are neophytes, we called on Guillaume Fourcade, the king of the barbecue. In the literal sense of the term since he won the TV game in 2015 The Kings of BBQ presented by the incredible Julien Courbet on D8. And in 2017, this caterer-restaurateur from Puy-en-Velay also became French champion in the “vegetables” category. It is at the Weber stand at the Foire de Paris that Guillaume Fourcade demonstrates his talents as an ember tamer, where he works as a demonstrator. After having cooked financiers in the heart of a coconut, our barbecue king gives us his advice.
The wood fire is joy!
Obtaining beautiful embers, with real wooden sticks, is class! Yes, except that you will seriously damage your barbecue. “Burning wood can rise to 1,200 degrees and the heat will deform the barbecue and can even cause hard barbecues to burst”, warns Guillaume Fourcade. So please, for the well-being of your grills, choose charcoal. And for ignition, the use of a chimney filled with charcoal and heated from below with firelighter cubes is the best solution. “With that, it’s impossible to miss an ignition,” confirms our interlocutor.
Without a lid, it’s party time!
Admire the embers while grilling the merguez, there’s nothing better? Yes, put a lid on. Guillaume Fourcade cannot do without it. And for several reasons. “The lid allows an even distribution of heat and therefore less uneven cooking, explains the restaurateur. Thanks to it, there is 20% more humidity so the food is less dry and the oxygen supply is reduced and therefore the risk of seeing flames appear which burn the food in addition to the health risk. Finally, the lid allows indirect cooking, that is to say that a cold zone is created under the grill, by spreading the embers to one side. Then we close the lid, and the food is cooked by the general heat of the barbecue and not directly by the embers, a bit like in an oven. “For example, for the duck breast, we cook it on both sides over the embers then in indirect cooking like that, it does not attack the meat, advises Guillaume Fourcade. But, you can cook cakes or vegetable gratins. »
For the marinade, put oil!
Contrary to what sang a long time ago the Languedoc reggae group Regg’Lyss, it is important not to abuse the oil! “When you put too much oil, it falls to the bottom of the barbecue carrying all the condiments with the added risk of flames”, denounces Guillaume Fourcade. On the contrary, he recommends a dry marinade or rubs in the tongue of the burger. “We mix salt, sugar, in a proportion of 1 and 2, garlic, oregano, in short, all kinds of condiments that you want. We put a little oil on the meat then we rub it with the rubs and we put the food to grill and that’s enough. »
The taste is charcoal
“Charcoal is burnt wood, so it doesn’t give off any taste,” says the barbecue king. The taste comes from the caramelized juices and those that fall to the bottom of the tank where they evaporate and flavor the food. » Little trick to give a smoked taste to your grilled meats, you must add wood chips to your embers, but moistened so that they do not burn.
The board, we are babas!
The craze for the plancha is strong in France. “We had to ask Weber to produce planchas for France, because in the United States, they hardly sell any,” explains Guillaume Fourcade. And if the country of the barbecue is not a fan of the plancha, there is a reason. “In fact, cooking a la plancha is like cooking with a frying pan, lance, a bit provocative, the grilling pro. I prefer the barbecue, and especially this grilled side. So forget your plancha and get your old barbecue out of the garage!