Artists can make the best use of scrap items. Being a culinary artist myself, I know how important it is to make the best use of items or objects near you. Barbeque has a special place in culinary history. Since the beginning of mankind, when people learned how to start a fire, they also discovered that grilling their food in the fire makes it more edible than eating it raw. Thus grilling food or making BBQ has been an ancient trend still followed by many people.
If you think you need a huge backyard or a massive space for grilling, I would suggest you think again. There are many ways in which you can just do fine barbeque at your place. You can make a DIY (Do It Yourself) grill with tin cans.
Here I will talk about 6 things you need to know about BBQ and some other stuff about tin BBQ to keep in mind.
1. Collect A Tin Can According To Your Preference:
First of all, you need to collect a tin can. The size of the tin can depends on the availability and your preference. This tin can will be the base of your grill.
For this, you can take an empty oil tin can. You can also take an old tin can. Oil tin cans are comparatively bigger in size. You can also use soda cans. Soda cans are more available around and need lesser things to turn themselves into a barbeque grill. But the only catch is, it is very small in size.
2. Making A Lid For The Grill:
We know a grill needs a lid. It is the most crucial part of grilling as it helps to maintain the heat.
For that, you need to cut the tin in half, in lengthwise. The shape should like a folding case. This will help to make the lid. To make a handle for the lid for your convenience, you can screw a small knob into the lid and join both parts of the can together with a hinge. It will help in using the grill.
3. Make The Stands With Some Screws or Bolts:
After making the lid, it’s time to make the grill stand on its legs. It is also an essential part of making the grill. Without stands, the grill would be useless as it will not be able to operate as per requirement. It will not be possible to put coals and cook in such a grill with no stand with it.
To make the stands, you will need one drilling machine and four screws or bolts. Make four holes in one part of the half-cut tin can. Then, attach the screws into the holes so that they can work as stands of the grill.
4. Collect Some Charcoal to Fire:
Likewise, you need to find some good quality charcoal in a regular charcoal grill to fire up your grill. Depending on the size of the grill, you should determine the amount or number of coals to be used in the grill.
Usually, small tin cans need two, three, or four pieces of charcoal at best. If the can size is big enough, you might as well need around 1 pound of charcoal. The charcoal can either be charcoal briquettes, natural lumps, or a mixture of both. The flavor will not vary much here as the amount of the charcoal is significantly less, and the size of the tin can be very tiny. It’s not that we will be making any beef steak on such grills.
5. Tips on What You Can Cook With Tin Can Grill:
Grilling is such a form of cuisine that delights the heart from within. The spice mixture, the juiciness of the meat cannot be compared with any other thing or food in the world. There are various kinds of dishes you can make in a tin can bbq. Such as-
Small Pieces Of Chicken:
You can take small pieces of chicken at a time, for example, leg piece, breast piece, or thigh, and mix them with spices and herbs. Then place them on the grill and barbeque them. After some time, you will get your desired smoky chicken.
Hot-dogs:
You can barbeque the sausage inside the hotdog in a tin can grill. It is easier as the sausages are small in size. You can take a sausage at a time, mix them with desired spices and then put them on the grill.
After a few minutes, your hotdog will be ready to serve.
Vegetables:
Barbeque gives food a smoky flavor. It feels burnt at times but in a good way. Whenever we hear someone say barbeque, we only imagine meats. Here is a pro tip from me, from my personal experience, you can grill vegetables too!
You can take small pieces of your desired vegetables first. I would suggest to take tomatoes or egg plantseggplants. Put them on the grill and let them barbeque for a few minutes.
The coal will transfer the smoky flavor into the vegetables and make them taste super delicious.
You can add some onions and chilies with them after mashing them. This will give off a great taste.
6. Things You Need To Have Before Cooking In A Tin Can BBQ:
To cook in a tin can barbeque, you first need to complete the above mentioned steps. Then you need to collect the ingredients to cook as per your desire. You can make various kinds of dishes in a small amount.
There are some basic ingredients or things you need to have to use a tin can bbq.
They are-
1.Gloves:
Gloves are one of the essential parts of cooking. Especially, when you are cooking or dealing with stuff like grilling, staying safe from heat is what you need to stay careful about the most.
2. Apron:
No matter how small the dish or how minimum the quantity of the food is, you always need to stay clean. A fresh, clean and most importantly comfortable apron can always make a great change.
3. Utensils:
Basic utensils like a spoon, plate, fork, knives, dish, etc., are important to keep at your arms’ distance. They are needed every now and then while cooking any dish.
4.Some Bonus Tips:
Being in the profession of cooking, I have learned many hacks and tips. Unlike others, I don’t want to keep secrets up my sleeves. I will share some knowledge I gained over the years on this topic with you all –
- You can use bricks to create a base instead of tins.
- You can use a liquid gas lighter to light up the charcoals.
- You can add sticks and dry leaves to the fire.
- Use a plus to remove the sharp edges.
- Using a hand fan helps to keep the fire.
Final Verdict:
Barbeque food is one of the most liked and cherished food all around the world. It has been with us since the very beginning. The juicy, smoky flavor that we get from a barbeque shakes the core of our heart and satisfies our belly too. It is full of protein which is beneficial to our health as well.
Typical charcoal grills can be costly at times, and as well as they need much bigger space to keep them. Not every one of us has a massive backyard at our residence. Some people don’t have any at all as they live in apartment buildings. To the rescue of such people comes the tin can barbeque.
Tin can barbeque is the savior of those in need who want to taste the super tasty grilled food but cannot manage enough space to put a grill.
