How to BBQ Perfectly: Techniques, Temps & Timings
Thomas Joseph Butchery — The Complete BBQ Guide
How to BBQ Perfectly: Techniques, Temps & Timings
Great meat is only half the story. How you cook it is the other half. This is TJB's definitive guide to BBQ technique — everything you need to get consistently brilliant results from every cut, every time.
At Thomas Joseph Butchery, we put enormous care into sourcing and ageing the finest beef, pork, lamb and chicken available in the UK. But even the very best cut can be let down by a rushed cook, an incorrectly set up grill or a steak served straight off the heat without resting. The good news is that great BBQ technique isn't complicated — it's just a handful of rules, applied consistently. Master these and you'll never serve an overcooked steak or underdone chicken again.
"Buy the best meat you can, learn a handful of rules, and the grill will do the rest. Great BBQ isn't complicated — it just requires care."
Step 01 Set Up Your Grill Correctly — The Two-Zone Method
The single biggest mistake most home BBQ cooks make is treating the grill as one uniform heat source. It isn't — and it shouldn't be. The two-zone method is the foundation of every technique in this guide, and once you've used it you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.
The Hot Zone — Direct Heat
Pile your lit coals to one side of the grill (or turn on one side of a gas grill). This is your searing zone — high heat of around 230–260°C. Use it to build crust, colour and char on steaks, burgers and skewers. You want the grill grate screaming hot before anything goes on it.
The Cool Zone — Indirect Heat
The other side of the grill, away from direct coals or flame. This is your finishing zone — lower, ambient heat of around 150–180°C. After searing, thick cuts like our Dry-Aged Tomahawk or whole Poulet Jaune chicken move here to come to temperature slowly and evenly without burning the outside.
🔥 TJB Tip — Lumpwood Over Briquettes
Always use lumpwood charcoal rather than briquettes. Lumpwood burns hotter, cleaner and imparts a far better flavour to the meat. Briquettes contain binders and additives that can taint the taste of premium cuts. For special occasions, add a chunk of oak or cherry wood to the coals for a subtle smokiness that takes things to another level entirely.
Step 02 Before the Meat Hits the Grill — The Prep Rules
Bring to Room Temperature
Take your meat out of the fridge at least 45 minutes before cooking — up to 2-3 hours for thicker cuts like a tomahawk or fore-rib. Cold meat hitting a hot grill cooks unevenly, giving you a grey band under the crust and a cooler centre. Room temperature meat sears properly and cooks through more consistently.
Season Generously — and at the Right Time
Salt generously with good flaky sea salt immediately before the meat goes on, or at least 45 minutes before to allow it to draw moisture back in. Never add pepper before a high-heat sear — it burns and turns bitter. Add cracked black pepper after the cook, at the resting stage, when the heat can no longer damage it.
Oil the Meat, Not the Grill
Brush a light coating of a high smoke-point oil — beef dripping is ideal, or a neutral oil — directly onto the meat, not the grill grates. This gives you better coverage, reduces flare-ups, and helps develop the crust more evenly. For our grass-fed steaks, good quality beef dripping is the only choice.
Step 03 Internal Temperatures — The Only Guide You'll Ever Need
Forget the finger-press test. It's inconsistent, unreliable and entirely dependent on variables no two people share. A good instant-read meat thermometer is the single most important tool at any BBQ — and the difference between a perfectly cooked Galician Ribeye and an overcooked one is just a handful of degrees. Always remove meat from the heat 2–3°C before your target temperature — it will continue to rise as it rests.
| Doneness | Remove at | Rested Temperature | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 44°C | 48°C | Deep red, very soft. For the adventurous only. |
| Rare | 48°C | 50°C | Bright red centre, soft with a warm core. |
| Medium Rare | 50°C | 53°C | Pink throughout, juicy. The TJB sweet spot for most cuts. |
| Medium | 55°C | 58°C | Slightly pink centre, firmer texture. |
| Well Done | 68°C | 71°C | No pink. We'd rather you didn't, but we won't stop you. |
| Chicken | 72°C | 74°C | Non-negotiable. Always cook through completely. |
| Pork (standard) | 68°C | 71°C | Cooked through with no pink. |
| Iberico Pork | 60°C | 63°C | Slightly blush — safe and far more delicious. |
| Lamb | 54°C | 57°C | Pink and juicy. Perfect for koftas, burgers and kebabs. |
Step 04 Cut-by-Cut BBQ Timings
Timings are always a guide rather than a guarantee — thickness, grill temperature and starting temperature of the meat all play a role. Always use your thermometer to confirm doneness. These timings assume a well-set-up two-zone grill at the temperatures above and meat brought to room temperature before cooking.
| Cut | Sear (direct) | Finish (indirect) | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ribeye / Bavette / T-Bone | 2–3 mins each side | 3–5 mins | 5–8 mins |
| Tomahawk (on bone) | 3–4 mins each side | 15–25 mins | 10–15 mins |
| Burgers (250g) | 3 mins each side | 2–3 mins | 2–3 mins |
| Poulet Jaune (spatchcock) | 4–5 mins skin side | 30–40 mins | 10 mins |
| Chicken Skewers | 2–3 mins per side | 5–8 mins | 3 mins |
| Lamb Koftas / Kebabs | 3–4 mins per side | 3–5 mins | 3 mins |
| Lamb Burgers | 3 mins each side | 2–3 mins | 3 mins |
| TJB Pork Sausages | — | 18–20 mins, turning | 2 mins |
| Belly Strips | — | 20–25 mins, turning | 3 mins |
Step 05 The Rest — The Step Nobody Skips Twice
Resting is non-negotiable. When meat comes off the heat, the muscle fibres are contracted and the juices are pushed to the centre of the cut. Give it time to rest on a warm plate or board and those fibres relax, allowing the juices to redistribute evenly throughout the meat. Cut into it too early and they run straight out onto the board. Rest it properly and every slice stays juicy to the last bite.
As a rule: rest for roughly half the total cook time, loosely tented in foil but not wrapped tightly. A well-rested Tomahawk is a fundamentally different eating experience to one served straight off the grill. Use the resting time to add a disc of one of our Sublime Butters — it melts into the crust beautifully as the meat relaxes.
🔥 The One Rule That Covers Everything
High-quality meat from TJB + room temperature before cooking + two-zone grill + thermometer + proper rest = the best BBQ you've ever made. Every time. Without exception. The variables change; the principle doesn't.
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