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Cooking with the Hood Closed
Using the roasting hood traps heat, moisture and flavor that is normally lost on an open top barbeque. With the hood
closed and the barbeque pre-heated, its important to then turn some burners to
Low
and others to
OFF
in order to not
overheat the barbeque which could result in increased temperature hazards and burning your food. For covered
cooking, there are two basic ways to cook: (A) Direct Cooking and (B) Indirect Cooking
(A) Direct Cooking Method
This is when you place the food directly over the lit burners, either on the grill or the hotplate. This method is great
for frying, searing and grilling, especially with thinner cuts and foods that require shorter cooking time. Cooking
takes less time than with the hood open, and the results are more tender and juicy.
Preheat the barbeque with all burners on high and the hood closed for 5 minutes. Note that the temperature at
the cooking surface can be around 100ºC higher than the temperature measured at the hood thermometer.
Importantly, once the barbeque is pre-heated and the hood is closed, heat is trapped around the food, so the burners
will only need to be on
Low
and in many cases, some of the burners
OFF
. Heat from the lit burners will circulate all
through the hood cooking quite evenly.
Fatty foods like sausages, can be cooked completely above the
OFF
burners, retaining juiciness and flavor without
risk of flare-up that results only in burning. Quite close attention needs to be paid to the food, and the burners
frequently reset to
Low
or
OFF
as required to prevent overheating.
Don’t be afraid to open the hood often to check progress. You are in full control of the temperature by turning
burners higher, lower or
OFF
as required. The gas burners will respond instantly and powerfully to your control.
