Hooded BBQ Recipes - Roasting & Baking on a Charcoal Grill

Covered or hooded barbecues are wonderful for roasting and baking. Roasting meats on the BBQ is pretty common, but many people have never tried baking - even though the results are delicious! We have many tasty hooded BBQ recipes on the site (listed below).

Lots of people are familiar with the sight of someone standing over the barbeque, grilling burgers or steaks with the lid open. Why bother to cover the BBQ?

• Covering the barbecue allows the use of indirect heat, perfect for items that take a long time to cook. Indirect heat means that food isn't placed right over the coals. Instead, coals are placed to one side and the food on the other (or the coals are pushed to the perimeter of the barbecue, and the food placed in the middle). The lid is closed, and the heat circulates throughout the barbecue, cooking the food more evenly. And because the food isn't directly over the coals, it's less likely to burn before the food is ready.

• The hood is important when adding smoke flavours to food. Wood chips of various flavours can be soaked and then used to infuse foods with that beautiful smoky essence. Keeping the hood down allows the smoke to circulate over and around the food.

• The lid helps the food to retain moisture, especially for foods that take a long time to cook.

Here are a few recipes that make use of the barbecue cover/hood. Basically, any food that needs to be roasted, slow-roasted, or baked will usually benefit from using the lid of the BBQ.

• How to Bake a Potato in the BBQ
• Grilling Ribs on Charcoal
• Barbecue Brisket Recipe
• Barbecue Pizza
• Flavor-Infused Barbecue Pork Roast

• Pulled Chicken BBQ Recipe - Barbecued Whole Chicken
• Recipe for BBQ Pulled Pork
• Garlicky BBQ Meatball Recipe
• Sausage Recipe - Grilled Sausage Sandwiches

There are many, many excellent hooded BBQ recipes. Anything that needs to be cooked "low & slow", or that is prone to drying out or leaking juices, or needs to be baked... these are all great candidates for using indirect heat & covering the barbecue. Remember that it's not necessary to keep opening the lid to look at the food (as tempting as that is). Check out more BBQ tips here.