Getting the best results
from your Weber Q
COOKING Frequently Asked Questions
What can I cook on my Weber Q?
Your Weber Q is an incredibly versatile barbecue. Using Weber’s cooking system, you can cook perfect steaks, chops and sausages. It is more than just a barbecue though, by using a roasting trivet and convection tray, you can turn your Weber Q into oven and cook magnificent barbecued roasts, pizzas, cakes and desserts. Add a hotplate or breakfast plate and you can cook eggs, pancakes and onion rings. Head to our website for more recipe ideas.
Should I use a baking dish in my Weber Q when roasting?
We don’t recommend that you use a baking dish in your Weber Q. Apart from the fact that you’ll have healthier, better tasting roasts if you use a roasting trivet instead, you’ll also help to keep your Weber Q clean and tidy.
When using a baking dish, fats and juices collect and boil inside the barbecue. This spits fat and grease all over the inside of your Weber Q. The next time you heat up your barbecue, you may find fat and grease dribbling from the edge of your lid onto the floor or other parts of your Weber Q. To avoid this, always roast on a roasting trivet as described in the handbook that came with your Weber Q.
Where does the fat and juice go when I’m cooking on my Weber Q?
The shape of the Weber Q grill greatly reduces the chance of fat dropping directly into the burners and causing a flare up. Instead, the fat drops past the burners into the bowl of the barbecue. From there it runs into the hole in the bottom of the cook box and collects in the disposable drip pan beneath.
Why do I cook with the lid closed on my Weber Q?
For over 50 years, Weber has been engineering barbecues with remarkable cooking systems. The Weber Q is no different. The Weber Q cooking system has been specifically designed to work with the lid closed. By using the barbecue with the lid closed you can achieve a unique barbecued flavour you can’t get any other way. You’ll also save gas and money because your Weber Q will be more efficient and you’ll keep your barbecue area clean.
By cooking with the lid closed, you’ll find you get amazing flavour in your food. With the lid closed, barbecue smoke created by fats and juices vaporising on the hot grill bars or hotplate will circulate the food and give it a unique, smokey barbecue flavour. Cooking with the lid open lets all that delicious smokey flavour escape straight into the atmosphere. By cooking with the lid closed your barbecued food will have that famous Weber flavour that you just can’t get with the lid open.
Because the cooking system in your Weber Q is specifically designed to be used with the lid closed, it’s extremely gas efficient, using less than half the gas of a traditional four burner barbecue. You might hear some people say that a barbecue needs a high gas output to sear a great steak or cook an Aussie barbecue. That just isn’t true. More often than not, higher gas output is required to compensate for a poorly designed, inefficient cooking system. With the lid down on your Weber Q, you’ll find your barbecue hot enough to sear a great steak, your food will cook more quickly and more evenly and you’ll save gas and money.
Cooking with the lid closed will also help keep your barbecue area clean. Because any fats or juices that spit from food are trapped inside the lid, you won’t have fat splattering all over your deck or veranda.
Will my food taste ‘stewed’ if I cook with the lid closed?
Definitely not. Weber has built its reputation on 50 years of helping people cook magnificent barbecues and roasts in their own backyards. When preheated and used with the lid closed, your Weber Q will cook beautifully seared steaks, perfect lamb chops and chicken breasts as well as those famous Weber roasts. Because of the patented grill design, you’re able to cook nearly everything straight on the grill, leaving fat and oil to fall away from the meat instead of boiling around the food like on a traditional flat-plate barbecue.
Can I line my Weber Q with alfoil?
You should never line the inside of your Weber Q with alfoil. Using alfoil can prevent fats and juices from running down into the disposable drip pan. If fat pools in pockets created by the alfoil, it can catch alight and cause a fat fire. Lining your Weber Q with alfoil can also interfere with the ventilation of the barbecue. Without proper ventilation, your Weber Q may not operate properly.
