Celebrating the Josper

Summer is well and truly upon us and, with the long days and warm evenings, there is nothing better than some barbecued food to keep the summer vibes flowing.

The start of summer brings with it National Barbecue Week (5th to the 18th July 2021), a celebration of back to roots cooking over coals and flames in the great outdoors (although gardens may be more apt!). Each year, this wonderful awareness week gives us cause to stop and appreciate our own hardworking piece of Spanish-made barbecuing kit; our indoor fire breathing Josper charcoal oven!

It’s often the unsung hero of our kitchen, doing a full 15 hour day to keep your perfectly-charred-on-the-outside-yet-juicy-and-tender-on-the-inside tapas coming (though I guess we should give some credit to our hardworking and skilled chefs who tend it so beautifully throughout the day too!).

The History

Josper ovens are Spanish-made and one of the most well-renowned pieces of barbecuing equipment in the cheffing world. They have been producing these powerful, high quality and unique ovens for over fifty years, marking them as experts in the world of charcoal gastronomy.

The Josper was created in a little seaside town called Calella, close to Barcelona, and it has held fast with tradition and remained there. Josper’s Head Quarters, including their production factory, Masterclass school and product development department, all reside in Calella, keeping family origins, tradition and their ethos grilling over charcoal close to heart.

Take a tour of Josper HQ through our Chefs! They visited Josper HQ and took a Josper masterclass there a few years ago, bringing the excitement for cooking over coals and flames back with them. Watch the video below.

Josper Masterclass

The Dishes

Receiving a tapas from our Josper is often met with ‘oohs and aahs’ as the dishes sizzle and fill the air with the inviting, smokey aroma of what’s about to hit their table. Its dishes offer you all the charred, smoky and flavourful goodness you could want from a BBQ in the summer and the comfort of a sizzling hot, warming dish in the winter.

All the dishes cooked on our Josper lend themselves beautifully to being cooked over charcoals. Whether that’s a piece of premium meat, a tender chunk of fish or a vibrant vegetable. The Josper chars these dishes on the outside and ensures they’re juicy and tender on the inside.

We have a Josper oven in both our Leeds and Hull restaurant and you can view the dishes cooked on our Josper oven on our Leeds and Hull Menu and you can see a few of our dishes below!

Recipes

Looking for some Spanish-inspired dishes to cook on your barbecue at home? Look no further! Stoke up the barbie, get your drinks on ice and enjoy some Spanish vibes with our Spanish-inspired recipes perfect for a lazy summer afternoon with friends and family. Exec Head Chef Johnny’s BBQ recipes are perfect for a family feast and his Romesco sauce recipe is the perfect companion to any barbecue. No barbecue is complete without some summer drinks. Make it a Spanish hit and mix up our red, rose or white sangria!

BBQ’d Lamb Gyros

BBQ’d Butternut Squash

How to make Romesco Sauce

Red Sangria Recipe

Rose Sangria Recipe

White Sangria Recipe

Top tips from our chefs for making your BBQ a success

Light the BBQ on time

Once you have lit your barbecue, it will need time for the flames to die down and for the coals to come to an even temperature before you can start cooking. This can take around half an hour so make sure you light it on time and have nibbles to hand while you and your guests wait to start cooking.

Prepare
Preparation is key! Our chefs wouldn’t dream of starting the cooking process until everything is prepped, in the right place for ease and ready to go. It makes everything go smoothly and is much easier to handle multiple items cooking when you don’t have to think about anything else.

Avoid fridge chill
Barbecuing fridge-cold meat, fish or veg will make the cooking process much harder and will more easily result in an overcooked exterior with an undercooked interior. Bringing your food up to almost room temperature, about 20 minutes before cooking, will ensure it cooks more evenly.

Seasoning
And not just at the end! Seasoning your food before it goes on the barbecue will ensure that the flavour is enhanced throughout the cooking process.

Marinating
If you’re marinating your food, make sure you marinade it at least one hour before and, ideally, upto 24 hours in advance to make the most of all those flavours!

Test for ‘doneness’
Insert a small knife into the centre of the meat to check it’s done and that the juices run clear. For flakey fish, you can press the flesh with your fingers. If the flakes come apart easily. You know it’s done. If you have a meat probe, this is the perfect time to use it!

Take a rest
And leave your meat be for a moment when you take it off the barbecue! This resting time lets the meat reabsorb any juices and allows it to tenderise even more. Make sure you rest it on a warmed tray, covered with foil. If you can pop it on a top rack of your barbecue, away from direct heat, so much the better!

Our Jospers are the heart of our kitchen. They’re fast-paced and energetic and our chefs need to keep on the ball. It’s energetic and exciting, encapsulating rustic back to roots cooking over coals in a modern setting. The vibrancy around this cooking method is second to none and it’s an enjoyable performance watching our chefs create mouth-watering dishes on our Josper during a busy service. One we would highly recommend taking part in one evening while indulging in a Josper dish or two…

You can book your table for a Josper-fuelled tapas trip in our Leeds or Hull restaurant here