***** Official 2016 BBQ Thread - Chucking it Down: Proper British BBQ Weather *****

The Maverick does both. It has two probes, one you plug into the BBQ port on the unit, and the other into the meat port. Then you obviously run the corresponding probe to the BBQ and the meat. That way you can monitor both.

I use the Thermapen for things like sausages, burgers, smaller pieces of chicken etc because it's an instant read thermometer, and you can't easily use the Maverick probes on small meats like these. The Maverick also isn't instant read, it takes a few seconds to get up to the reading.
 
I've got one like that in red which is well worth it for checking temps - especially on things like chicken when I'm serving it to people other than family!

I've also got one of those old style metal thermometers you can leave in the meat in the oven which is also very handy on the BBQ as well. Also I should BBQ some more! :D
 
And more I shall do!

More pork, skin off this time with my standard rub (paprika, pepper, salt, demerera sugar) and all set to go. The Maverick thermometer said the smoker was ready but the built in thermometer was showing 80F less!

Touching the probes suggested it was hot enough so I've thrown the pork on for now but what gives with the discrepancy? :confused:
 
Psymonkee said:
And more I shall do!

More pork, skin off this time with my standard rub (paprika, pepper, salt, demerera sugar) and all set to go. The Maverick thermometer said the smoker was ready but the built in thermometer was showing 80F less!

Touching the probes suggested it was hot enough so I've thrown the pork on for now but what gives with the discrepancy? :confused:
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Two things:

1) The built in thermometer is measuring the temp in a different area of the BBQ and there's often a variation.

2) Built in thermometers are known to be incredibly inaccurate.

Number two will account for about 90% of the discrepancy :)
 
Few jobs planned for the BBQ today. Going to drill a few more holes in the charcoal base to stop it getting clogged up and preventing air flow when the charcoal turns to ash towards the end using my new drill. And secondly going to try and seal it using some high temp resistant silicone so that I can get a consistent temperature while cooking, as my barrel style bbq isn't very well sealed at all.
 
FrenchTart said:
Two things:

1) The built in thermometer is measuring the temp in a different area of the BBQ and there's often a variation.

2) Built in thermometers are known to be incredibly inaccurate.

Number two will account for about 90% of the discrepancy :)
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That's roughly what I thought but I'm showing a 100F discrepency between the lid (built in) and the grill temps (et733) which seems a lot considering the distance between the two! (maverick reading higher than the lid that is!)

Obviously will check the accuracy after this cook with some boiling water to see if i can find the truth :)
 
Found a second digital thermometer and held that in the top via the vent and matched the maverick at 330F! :eek:

The lid thermometer is calling that 240F which is massively off! Best guess for the height of the lid gauge reads about 290F! Seriously off!
 
Psymonkee said:
Found a second digital thermometer and held that in the top via the vent and matched the maverick at 330F! :eek:

The lid thermometer is calling that 240F which is massively off! Best guess for the height of the lid gauge reads about 290F! Seriously off!
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Yup, they're notoriously cack unfortunately :/

Good work on double-checking though. Best to know for sure :)
 
Psymonkee said:
Found a second digital thermometer and held that in the top via the vent and matched the maverick at 330F! :eek:

The lid thermometer is calling that 240F which is massively off! Best guess for the height of the lid gauge reads about 290F! Seriously off!
Click to expand...

There's no wonder my first brisket seemed to cook so fast when the built in lid thermometer had the temp bang on what I was after but it was probably doing the same as yours :p

Got myself a lovely set of bbq tools (in an alu flight case :D) and a Thermopro TP-6 for my birthday last week so looking forward to getting on with some proper cooking now!
 
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How do people go about getting decent cuts of meat, I assume get famiilar with your butcher?

I got a brisket from a supposed "Award Winning" butcher yesterday and having unrolled it last night to salt, I'm pretty disappointed with it! Had a ridiculous amount of fat on it and in the centre of the roll was a separate lump of meat. The large piece is very long and thin so I can only imagine my smoked effort will end up as dried out as the last one! It's advertised on their website as "highly trimmed point end brisket" but surely I've got flat if it no more than an inch thick?

All in all it's probably a worse cut than the Aldi one I got first time round and a heck of a lot more expensive :(

I will give it my best shot anyway, hopefully having a proper temp reading will help a bit.
 
Sadly no BBQ today due laziness but I did make some awesome pibil using a similar recipe to this one on Serious Eats:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/...atan-barbecue-mexican-smoked-pork-recipe.html

I also made the "super-hot" habanero salsa as per the recipe below, thinking "ah, it can't be that hot". Dear lord, it's got a kick. More of a kick than the peri I made with trindad scorpion chillies :eek: Utterly delicious though.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/05/extra-hot-yucatan-style-salsa-recipe.html
 
So much wind up here the BBQ (and garden for that matter) are pretty much no go areas! Gusting to 50mph and the bins are out for collection too! :eek:

Looking calmer towards the end of the week and I'm on holiday so I'll pay a trip to a local butcher I trust and acquire some tasty meat! :D
 
Saturday night BBQ for 2.

Rump steaks (criminally overcooked, temperature control not what it should have been. Only defence is it's my first time cooking steak on this BBQ :(
Flat mushrooms with cream cheese and peppers stuffed with orzo pasta.
Pretty damn good with exception of the steaks being overdone.
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Had parents and granny round on Sunday so did paprika chili chicken thighs, shrimp and corn. The chicken was a bit of a challenge using direct heat but trying to prevent flares, but they were really nice and juicy. The shrimp was an absolute doddle though, cook until it's pink! Will definitely do it again, this all went down an absolute storm.
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Not pictured, other salads including potato salad using potatoes brought by parents and chives from our garden.
 
Brisket turned out ok, better than the last one anyway. Cooked slightly slower, bbq temp was hovering between 225 and 250F, even with vents closed off it kept rising and I ended up having to leave the lid slightly ajar to keep the temp down which I think resulted in not as much of a smoke ring as I would have had. Rising temp was due to me putting too many lit coals at the start of the snake I think, had too much burning at once. Learning process :p Shame my thermometer only has 1 probe though, could do with a second so I can always have one in the meat and one outside.

Think I'll try something different next weekend.
 
I am going to do the other brisket I have, only a tiddler at 1kg so will leave it rolled and go for a low and slow via the slow n sear, aiming for 8 hours but will allow 10 such is the bbq way!

Now for the question, I am going for more of a roast than traditional brisket so thinking of going for a rub without any chilli heat (parents are over for dinner so going more traditional)

Pretty sure last time I used meat heads Big Bad Beef rub;

3 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons mustard powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chili or ancho powder
1 teaspoon chipotle or cayenne powder

Do you think just cutting the chilli out will give it a nice flavour or is there another rub I should try??

I will salt over night hence no salt in the rub!
 
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