How are you using your chips?
***** Official 2015 BBQ Thread - Sun is out, time to broil!! *****
- Thread starter Maccapacca
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Man of Honour
Apple is good though I really love cherry. Shame I'm completely out of that - only have a small amount of apple dust and oak chunks left.
Associate
Picked up a nice pork shoulder from the local butchers this morning, all "rubbed up" and ready to smoke with some hickory tomorrow as my fathers day treat. Shall be making my own slaw to go with, along with jacket potatoes and sweetcorn.
Any suggestions for an 'affordable' bbq? Basically I probably wont be using it much, and seeing as I live in a shared house with communal garden, nothing expensive.
Would I be best off just grabbing a £15 supermarket jobbie for the time being? I can see owning a Weber or similar in a few years, but right now I want to play about with taking my cooking outside more than anything!
Charcoal as well, of course... My parents have a gas one with a cast griddle and, honestly, it seems pointless, no different than using a stove top one.
Would I be best off just grabbing a £15 supermarket jobbie for the time being? I can see owning a Weber or similar in a few years, but right now I want to play about with taking my cooking outside more than anything!
Charcoal as well, of course... My parents have a gas one with a cast griddle and, honestly, it seems pointless, no different than using a stove top one.
Soldato
I always point out the Argos oil drum BBQ for 40 quid, has all the basic things you need - lid and vents to control temperature and is big enough to have decent size cooking zones for entertaining when needed and even comes with a cover which'll be useful if you only use it occasionally. Grab that with a 10 quid chimney starter to get it going and refresh the coals when needed and you're pretty much set.
Associate
So it begins 
Looks like a game of dominoes. Also looks nom nom nom.
Perfect timing with the BBQ last night..
Cooking started - needed an umbrella for light rain but no biggie, finished BBQing and then serious heavy rain (enough to add a couple of cm to the pond!).
Chicken, sausages, beef burgers and a large chunk of silverside cut into 1in thick steaks. Although silverside isn't really meant to be roasted it came out great!
Cooking started - needed an umbrella for light rain but no biggie, finished BBQing and then serious heavy rain (enough to add a couple of cm to the pond!).
Chicken, sausages, beef burgers and a large chunk of silverside cut into 1in thick steaks. Although silverside isn't really meant to be roasted it came out great!
Associate
So had the lid temp reading around 120-140c however somehow the pork has hit ~90c already but not planning on easting for another 2-2.5 hrs. What to do! Save my La Cuisine, you're my only hope (just closed the top vent fully for the moment)
Associate
I would take the meat off and wrap in foil, then return to the grill. That way it will retain its moisture bit still take of extra Smokey flavour.
I've had similar problems in the past and foil saved it.
Associate
Just took it off now, it only came up to 93c so should still be good, felt very very soft when moving. Double wrapped in foil and in the oven at 50c to keep it warm and will shred in about an hour. Slaw and sauce all made up, just the potatoes and corn to BBQ.
Associate
Sounding great. Looking forward to pictures of the finished article.
Associate
That was nomtastic! Just waving the fork in it's general direction it fell apart.
This was the receipt from the BBQ book people mentioned earlier on, it's incredible.
(Ignore the almost burnt sweetcorn hiding in the corner)
This was the receipt from the BBQ book people mentioned earlier on, it's incredible.
(Ignore the almost burnt sweetcorn hiding in the corner)
Brisket 8hrs just salt and pepper and hickory chips
Soldato
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Giner beer chicken for my Fathers Day - rubbed with paprika, fennel and coriander seeds and some other bits and then ovened (CBA to BBQ!) standing on a can of ginger beer, last 20 mins with a ginger beer glaze. V good!
Pics to follow
Pics to follow
Soldato
Me and the boys made the beer can burgers filled with caramelised red onions, bacon and pulled pork.
Associate
I had a first go with my ProQ Elite yesterday. Cooked a 2.4kg lump of Boston Butt for about 8 hours (should have been 10 but I was delayed starting) and the results were pretty good, the pork was delicious and was just about pulled pork. I think the main problem was that I had trouble getting the temperature high enough for the first part of the cook.
So I have a few questions for the more experience smokers:
- I used a water bath and I suspect that this (combined with under-estimating the amount of fuel needed to get it going) could have contributed to my problems getting the temp up. I have seen people here recommend sand, is that because it's superior at balancing temperature fluctuations? And if you use sand what else do you do to keep your meat moist?
- How much fuel do you generally use? I got through about 7kg of Cocoshell briquettes.
- Any tips on getting the most smoke into the food? I used a steel smoke box filled with chips directly on the coals but thought they burned very quickly. Since it's then quite difficult to get the box out and refill it without removing the stack and losing temp I didn't get as much smoke as I would have liked.
Thanks, I'd love to get some tips to improve my next cook. I'm thinking a large piece of Goat next because why the hell not?
So I have a few questions for the more experience smokers:
- I used a water bath and I suspect that this (combined with under-estimating the amount of fuel needed to get it going) could have contributed to my problems getting the temp up. I have seen people here recommend sand, is that because it's superior at balancing temperature fluctuations? And if you use sand what else do you do to keep your meat moist?
- How much fuel do you generally use? I got through about 7kg of Cocoshell briquettes.
- Any tips on getting the most smoke into the food? I used a steel smoke box filled with chips directly on the coals but thought they burned very quickly. Since it's then quite difficult to get the box out and refill it without removing the stack and losing temp I didn't get as much smoke as I would have liked.
Thanks, I'd love to get some tips to improve my next cook. I'm thinking a large piece of Goat next because why the hell not?
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Man of Honour
The evaporation from a water bath will keep the temps down even if you're burning fuel too quickly so it's really a crutch for new smokers. Using sand/pottery and learning how to use the vents properly will allow you to smoke at the same temperature using less fuel and allow for higher temps if required.
If you're stuck using wood dust/chips I'd recommend bundling them up quite tightly in tin foil (poke 1 or 2 very small holes) and throwing them on as required.
Also...try to time things so your meat finishes a few hours early so when it overruns you still have time to let it rest.
If you're stuck using wood dust/chips I'd recommend bundling them up quite tightly in tin foil (poke 1 or 2 very small holes) and throwing them on as required.
Also...try to time things so your meat finishes a few hours early so when it overruns you still have time to let it rest.
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Associate
OK, thanks. I'll go sand in the future and try your trick with the chips. Tbh I was suprised how small the chips came, when they run out I'm going to look for something la bit arger.
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