As so often happens in these British climes, it was raining. I had just delivered to Ted Magnum the final bits of steel and we had finished off the Parilla. It was a work of art worthy of a Tate Gallery exhibition. Surely If Tracy whatsername could exhibit an unmade bed, then TM and me could exhibit an example of rustic British engineering and win a prize? No it was never going to happen but we were both proud of what we had managed to knock up on a budget that was both functional and reasonably good looking and cheap to boot. (click here for pics)
Several hours later me and Roger Moor are sat in the grounds of Château Ghastanbury looking at the grey skies and dark clouds overhead when RM announced he had some Porkinsons sausages and did I fancy a sausage butty? I figured it was a sign that we should roll out the Webber and spark up a Barbie while we still had some daylight and the outline of the sun could still be seen through the leaden skies. Several beers later, much cursing, plenty of matches, some petrol and lots of smoke and we finally had some flames to be proud of and the sausages were thrown onto the greying coals.
I rang Bean Counter to see if she wanted to join us but she had a better offer and declined and so I contacted Little Miss Sunshine who had nothing better to do than come and join us for an hour or two. She brought her dog which made the day for Genghis, well not exactly! Genghis and Angel stared each other out with some intensity which would have been a lot worse had Angel not been tethered to the ground. Some chilli burgers a few beers and some sausages later and The Beast turned up, at my invitation of course. The football season in theUK has started and so we watched my beloved LFC play Standard Liege on the TV with a few beers and then we had a brainwave.
It was one of those moments when you think why has no one ever thought of this before? Who ever said pizza could not be cooked on a barbecue? I can’t think exactly who but I have never known any one cook a pizza on a Barbie before. So RM, TB and me looked at each other said why not? More coals were added to the Webber kettle grill and we waited until the heat had built up so much that you could not put a hand over the coals for more than a few seconds. At this point we threw a frozen pizza onto the grill and stood back. It took 25 minute to cook and the base was slightly more crispy then we would of liked. We decide more heat was required to cook the pizza faster. Our next attempt saw a pizza shrivelled in less than five minutes as the heat was too much. That one went into the bin! A decision was made to cook the next pizza on a grill in a baking tray so that no heat was in direct contact with the pizza.
15 Minutes later and we had a success, crispy base but not burnt a topping that was cooked but not crispy or raw and a smell to die for. A combination of charcoal and pizza toppings of pineapple and ham and some smoke, success on a plate, or a Findus as I like to call it. After cooking joints of meat, spit roasting some large animals and cooking a myriad of fast food, I can now add Pizza to the list of foodstuffs I have successfully cooked over open flames.
As for Tedstock 2008 and the new grill I can hardly wait.