Home smoking/BBQ

[Cid]

If I am honest I don’t even know what I don’t know. I have tried to do bbq before with a cheap charcoal bbq and it was a disaster. As in it didn’t get hot. My thought was gas would deliver the outcome - cooking food outside - without the previous agony.

But perhaps there is a charcoal option out there for me. Something fairly compact that doesn’t take up much storage space and is idiot proof.

I doubt I’ll be buying anything for this summer due to other priorities. I’ll keep reading the thread, hopefully I’ll learn a bit.

Remember with a gas barbecue you, rather obviously, need gas. So you need to arrange refills, maybe have a spare bottle etc. I don't have one, but I do know that arranging gas in general is a bit of an arse. Charcoal for example I spent ±£100 (at Big K) at the start of the year, that will easily last the season, includes some specialist charcoals and was delivered free via standard couriers.

I think people tend not to use enough charcoal, and don't give it enough time to light through. A chimney starter can speed the process, and it helps if you throw in a bit of wood kindling and make sure you stack it in a way that allows enough airflow. It's not actually that hard, just do some practice runs in more low pressure situations. The other major factor is airflow control, the little doors you open on the barbecue. Or indeed injecting a bit of extra air via hot air gun.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

My garden smells awesome. 2.5 hours to get my pork from 70 deg to 95 and give it time to rest.

Pork, ribs, sausages, burgers and chicken drumsticks, mac cheese and pit beans. Oh and I made seiten for people who don't eat meat. Not tested it yet.

 

[spitfire]

I do my chicken wings with both direct and indirect, cook them first with only a dry rub, then when cooked, toss with BBQ sauce of your choice and give them a quick blast on direct to crisp up and get some char without burning the sugary BBQ sauce (too much).

Usually give my ribs a quick burn direct as well before serving.

 

[spitfire]

I'm doing sea bass for the French in laws on Thursday night. Any tips/ideas?

 

[Cid]

I'm doing sea bass for the French in laws on Thursday night. Any tips/ideas?

Keep it simple, king of fish.

 

[spitfire]

Keep it simple, king of fish.

Yes I think you are right, just found a Rick Stein recipe that has a pastis mayonnaise on the side, that may be the one.

Bit of lemon, some herbs, job done.

 

[Cid]

Yes I think you are right, just found a Rick Stein recipe that has a pastis mayonnaise on the side, that may be the one.

Bit of lemon, some herbs, job done.

One thing I used to do was wrap a whole one (gutted etc of course) in fennel and put it on the barbecue. Fennel taking the place of tin foil... The cooking action is mostly more like steaming, so the flavour from the fennel isn't too much (plus there's skin in the way of course), and where you get a flare up or hot spot you get patches of more caramlised crispy stuff. Very good. Just need a shitload of fennel.

 

[spitfire]

Some quick koftas. Sorry neighbours.

 

[Elpenor]

Hope they taste good!

Done some research into bbqs today and I think I might opt for a Weber go anywhere charcoal bbq as it’s compact and seems to be big enough for my needs - cooking for one. It’s roughly the size as the one you’re using I think spitfire

A few reviews suggest there is the option to do a little bit of indirect heat cooking too. Anyway I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to buy this summer - as got a lot of other demands on my cash going on at present - but hopefully I’ll get one sorted for 2024 at the latest

 

[spitfire]

Still haven’t done @friedaweed’s cold smoking guide. Sorry Frieda. Will try and get it sorted this week.

 

[spitfire]

Hope they taste good!

Done some research into bbqs today and I think I might opt for a Weber go anywhere charcoal bbq as it’s compact and seems to be big enough for my needs - cooking for one. It’s roughly the size as the one you’re using I think spitfire

A few reviews suggest there is the option to do a little bit of indirect heat cooking too. Anyway I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to buy this summer - as got a lot of other demands on my cash going on at present - but hopefully I’ll get one sorted for 2024 at the latest

I wouldn’t recommend the little round one. It gets very hot and then seems to stall as the air holes are too high up. But if you want to cook some thing easy and fast then it just about does the job.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Not exactly BBQ, but as this thread is place to talk about meat and curing and stuff I thought I'd throw it out there. Had some really nice gammon in the meat box, I suspect as it was from a proper cut, rather then the cheap reformed stuff you get in supermarkets.

As pork steaks are very good value in Aldi, I was thinking about curing a bunch of those to see if I could get close. I'm guessing they won't take long at all as they aren't very thick.

 

[spitfire]

Just read a thread on Facebook and they were asking the same question. Need to be an inch thick or you end up with replacement shoe soles.

Other than that they said the cure is the same as doing gammon.

This looks like a decent guide to dry curing: Make dry cured ham yourself - The complete guide

And wet curing, (no nitrates though, be careful): Become a Ham Expert.

 

[spitfire]

Hello my new friend.

I'm looking at smoked trout. Stocked rainbow caught on the fly at a prime fishery and wild brown, sea trout and the occasional salmon caught on my local river. I've been researching candied salmon so yes any advice would be greatly appreciated.

How did you come by the dust dude?

friedaweed Finally got round to editing an old email to make all the links useful again. Any questions give me a shout.

Coldsmoking generator and box (lasts forever if you don't get it wet: http://www.smokedust.co.uk/store/product_info.php/cPath/25/products_id/96

Chef's blowtorch to light it.

This book is great, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Food-Smoki...f=sr_1_2?keywords=turan&qid=1569249431&sr=8-2

And this is a selection of dust and other bits and bobs: Collections

My favourite is Whiskey barrels, I think it is tastier than normal oak.

Loads of info and kit: Coldsmoking Digital Cookery School

A good facebook group here.CountryWoodSmoke - UK BBQ - CWS | Facebook

Smoking bacon (or salmon) is not massively difficult but needs to be approached carefully and with a little bit of training. Salmon is actually easier than bacon.

Good overview of bacon here, (although you can ignore the hot smoking bit): How to Make Bacon - Homemade and Smoked

 

[spitfire]

Well hello there!

Make Corn Interesting Again!

Honey Butter Grilled Corn Recipe

This technique for grilling corn uses a side pan of honey butter to thoroughly drench the corn in flavor while keeping it hot and juicy until you’re ready to eat If you are feeling creative, change the ingredients of the liquid bath: Add a couple of tablespoons of Korean gochujang and a few...

cooking.nytimes.com

eta: https://archive.ph/yI0io

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Little travel BBQ was out for weekends camping. Need to find some better fuel for it. Even for my very simple cook, I thought these briquettes were lacking heat. Could also do with a better way to light it. The starter on a camp stove works great, but seems a bit much to have to pack.

Little pork char siu kebabs I made and some piri piri pork burgers.

 

[butcher]

Late to the game here.

One of these should arrive by the weekend:

ProQ Ranger BBQ Smoker

The ProQ Ranger has all of our BBQ features packed into a compact BBQ smoker. Ideal for camping, cook restaurant-quality food with our portable charcoal BBQ smoker.

proqsmokers.co.uk

Anyone sous vide then hot smoke?

 

[spitfire]

Late to the game here.

One of these should arrive by the weekend:

ProQ Ranger BBQ Smoker

The ProQ Ranger has all of our BBQ features packed into a compact BBQ smoker. Ideal for camping, cook restaurant-quality food with our portable charcoal BBQ smoker.

proqsmokers.co.uk

Anyone sous vide then hot smoke?

Never tried it myself but good to see you on the thread. Look forward to what you come up with.

My local fishmonger posts some great meals that you can see he has made up from the shop. Cooks a pretty mean meat feast as well.

 

[spitfire]

I did bavette at the weekend but was in such a rush I forgot to get pictures, cheap cheerful and very tasty.

 

[butcher]

I did bavette at the weekend but was in such a rush I forgot to get pictures, cheap cheerful and very tasty.

Watch the cost on Bavette, cheap as a steak but it has gone up about a third in price in the last few years.

I might sous vide some short ribs then smoke, but probably just chicken thighs and sausages for the first go with the smoker

 

[spitfire]

Watch the cost on Bavette, cheap as a steak but it has gone up about a third in price in the last few years.

I might sous vide some short ribs then smoke, but probably just chicken thighs and sausages for the first go with the smoker

We got 1kg for about £16, we usually do rib eye when we have steaks but had some people round so I wanted to cook something that wasn't going to set me back £50+ for 4 rib eyes.

And I had to cook it all in an hour...

I cheat with ribs, low and slow cook them in the oven for a few hours before finishing on the BBQ. So essentially the same result as sous vide(ish).

 

[butcher]

We got 1kg for about £16, we usually do rib eye when we have steaks but had some people round so I wanted to cook something that wasn't going to set me back £50+ for 4 rib eyes.

And I had to cook it all in an hour...

I cheat with ribs, low and slow cook them in the oven for a few hours before finishing on the BBQ. So essentially the same result as sous vide(ish).

16/kg is about right atm

 

[Cid]

I do it the other way round; smoke then sous vide. This is on the principle that raw meat absorbs smoke better, though information is conflicting. It's maybe a bit easier in temp control terms too (not necessarily in safe zone terms, but it's presumably low oxygen, and going in a sous vide for 24 hours+ so should be ok). Have seen both ways round recommended though. Last time I did it the brisket ran too hot I think, bit dry (everyone liked it, but whatever). That was at 74, which I'm sure I picked up somewhere. Dunno where though as 65-69 seems more usual. Maybe I'll have another go this weekend. Bake your own bagels and serve with wasabi mayo.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I've got my sister coming up in a few weeks and she loves food as much as I do. She does crazy amounts of exercise and so has an appetite also as good as mine, that makes her a pleasure to cook for. I'm going to get the smoker out and do ribs properly. Last time I had a BBQ I had a go with a single rack between lots of people (with other stuff) and they worked pretty well, I smoked them, applied home made BBQ sauce and the stuck them on the weber for a bit.

I'd like to have a crack at making "poor mans burnt ends". I've never made any burnt ends before, but from what I've read you use chump rather then brisket, which is what we call braising steak? Anyone else tried this? I think the main thing to work out is the few recipes I've seen you smoke the chunk then cut it up, whereas in the UK braising steak is normally thick slices.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I've a meat in the box delivery arriving today and I'm excited, which is silly really.

Their pretty good. Obviously nowhere near as good as the super fancy online butchers like Swaledale, but a fraction of the price and I can get things like decent sized racks of ribs which can be hard to get in the supermarket and their gammon steaks are awesome.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Seems bonkers to be cooking outside on a day like this. Luckily I've got a small covered space for the smoker and I think it will be dry later for the weber even if we eat indoors.

Ribs are going nicely and the pretty huge chunk of braising steak is doing its thing to become burnt ends. Amazingly the BBQ sauce I made ages is still good, but I guess when vingar and dark treacle are part of the ingredients, that's going to keep. Going to finish the ribs on the grill and got some burgers.

Mac Cheese with 4 cheeses is made and will be smoked in a bit, beans in the slow cooker with ample duck fat and about to make a tahini slaw. Hope everyone is hungry.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

So my burnt ends did not go as hoped. It's ok there was loads of food and the real star of the show was the ribs, which I'm now pretty happy with. One question though and that's when you read elsewhere on the net about ribs, they talk about different types, baby back, st louis etc. I guess these must be American cuts, but what would we call these other the just ribs? They're what seem to work really well for smoking.


I can't get ribs in Aldi and if I do find them in Morrisons they are much smaller. Great for chopping up and deep frying for Chinese takeout style stuff, but not what I'd want to smoke, no where near as big or as much meat on them.

 

[spitfire]

So my burnt ends did not go as hoped. It's ok there was loads of food and the real star of the show was the ribs, which I'm now pretty happy with. One question though and that's when you read elsewhere on the net about ribs, they talk about different types, baby back, st louis etc. I guess these must be American cuts, but what would we call these other the just ribs? They're what seem to work really well for smoking.

View attachment 387011
I can't get ribs in Aldi and if I do find them in Morrisons they are much smaller. Great for chopping up and deep frying for Chinese takeout style stuff, but not what I'd want to smoke, no where near as big or as much meat on them.

View attachment 387013

I think they are called belly ribs here but a decent butcher should recognise a request for a St Louis cut, (which is what I would call it, could be wrong though.)

You'll probably have to go to a butcher to get them tbh. butcher what would you call them?

eta: baby backs being the smaller ribs you get in chinese takeaways and TGI Fridays etc.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I think they are called belly ribs here but a decent butcher should recognise a request for a St Louis cut, (which is what I would call it, could be wrong though.)

You'll probably have to go to a butcher to get them tbh. butcher what would you call them?

I've been getting them here, where they are just called whole pork ribs. I'm curious though about the differences between them and the others I posted. Like we normally use pork shoulder for pulled pork, whereas butt is what's normally referred to, which I think is similar but cut slightly differently?

Whole Pork Rib - Meat in the Box - Fresh Meat Delivery

Whole Pork Rib from Meat in the Box, the only choice for butcher quality, fresh meat delivery. Next day and Saturday delivery available.

www.meatinthebox.com

I find the stuff pretty good, but unless I'm planning a huge meal, I don't normally have space in the freezers to buy £50 of meat at a time.

 

[butcher]

St Louis are square cut belly ribs, and a Boston Butt is a shoulder with the scapula left in but other bones removed.