You’ll never burn barbecue food again with the clever new Weber Connect
Transform any old grill into a barbecue for the 21st century with this genius gadget
Let’s face it, typical British weather doesn’t lend itself to year-round barbecuing. Usually when the sunshine shines, we hone our grill skills to perfection only to completely forget them all over the winter months, leaving us starting from scratch as soon as she sun shows up again in spring.
Related: Best BBQs 2020 – the greatest grills for all your outdoor cooking needs
Are you a serial banger burner, never mastered how to cook a medium rare steak or longed to roast a chicken on the barbecue like a pro? The Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub is your key to alfresco head chef status.
Buy now: Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub, £109, Weber
Basically a virtual barbecuing assistant, the Connect is a device that communicates with your phone and doing everything from giving you recipes and inspiration, to alerting you when to turn your food.
That's whether you’re roasting a joint of meat, grilling burgers or searing veggie kebabs or a delicate fillet of fish.
How does it work?
You start by downloading the free Weber smartphone app and pairing it with the Connect. This will literally connect your barbecue with your phone, sending you real time information that it receives via the device’s temperature probes.
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It comes with two probes, one to gauge the ambient temperature, the other to put into the food you’re cooking. You then choose from a wide range of programmes which will give you step-by-step cooking assistance, ranging from what temperature the grill needs to be at, when you need to season and flip your food and when it’s ready to serve.
The Connect has the capacity for up to four probes which are available separately, costing £18.99 each. This is great if you’re grilling different foods at the same time as you’ll get alerts for each, allowing you to kick back with a chilled drink in the sunshine, instead of sweating over a hot grill.
Pro grill skills at your fingertips
Via automatic updates, Weber will regularly add new recipes and step-by-step info to the app so consider it your ever-expanding barbecue recipe book.
What’s more, the clever Connect works with any barbecue, from charcoal to gas-fuelled and it doesn’t even need to be a Weber barbecue.
Related: Outdoor kitchens – ideas, designs and tips for the perfect al fresco space
Pretty much anyone can finesse their barbecuing skills with the smallest of effort. More importantly, all the newly learned skills will be there on the app, ready for you to use every summer for years to come.
Ginevra Benedetti has been the Deputy Editor of Ideal Home magazine since 2021. With a career in magazines spanning nearly twenty years, she has worked for the majority of the UK’s interiors magazines, both as staff and as a freelancer. She first joined the Ideal Home team in 2011, initially as the Deputy Decorating Editor and has never left! She currently oversees the publication of the brand’s magazine each month, from planning through to publication, editing, writing or commissioning the majority of the content.
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