Hi All
I thought I'd share a handful of photos of the smoking I managed to get done during a week off work which was largely spent doing DIY, who says men can't multi-task!!
The first weekend I found a reasonable looking pork shoulder in my local Morrisons and also decided to try a boneless rib of beef joint that I had managed to get in the reduced section (down from £18 to £2.50
) a few weeks ago and had stuck in the freezer.
I made up a couple of slightly different rubs (based on ones I'd been taught by Wade) and got them rubbed and wrapped over night.
I stuck both in my Callow smoker and pretty much left them to it bar a bit of spraying with cider every hour or so then wrapping them after three hours.
The pork just before wrapping (Sadly I didn't get any at the end of the cooking of after the pulling...oops):
The finished beef before carving:
The carved beef:
I was really pleased with how both joints came out. The pork could possibly have done with being a little more moist but it wasn't a particularly fatty joint and didn't give me much in the way of juices after wrapping. Also, I hadn't put in a drip tray to catch any juices and had let them fall into the foiled water pan which was a mistake in hindsight.
On the Tuesday I decided to do some cold smoking as I've only done it a couple of times, so I got myself some blocks of cheddar and feta and a load of garlic bulbs and smoked both over fruitwood pellets for about 3 hours for the cheese and about 5 for the garlic.
Cheese smoking:
Garlic Hiding below:
The finished items having had a time in the fridge to dry off before vacuum-packing:
Both of these have now been mellowing in my fridge for a week, ready for testing soon. From what I've read the garlic might actually need rather longer in the smoker to get a good flavour penetration but we shall see.
During the week my brother asked if I might produce something to make up part of a birthday bbq for my nephew's second birthday. I was more than happy to do so, despite being rather busy. I picked up a couple of pork joints and what turned out to be a pretty ropey piece of brisket. I didn't have much time to get photos as I was busy finishing off the scratch-building of a bed for my son but I did manage a couple as was carving the beef as I was quite chuffed with what I had achieved. Being a funny shaped piece of beef I decided to carve in two directions to show my brother the different in going with and across the grain of the meat. With this smoke I had remembered to put in a drip tray and managed to end up with a nice amount of juices to go over the pulled pork which dramatically improved it from my attempt earlier in the week.
With the grain:
Across the gain:
I was quite chuffed with the smoke ring I got on this piece of beef! The best part though was when the bbq happened and I got comments from almost everyone abut how amazing the beef and pulled pork where which Included it being described and "phenomenal" and a "bbq game-changer"! It was lovely to be able to spread the low-and-slow word and talk people through what I had done and hopefully inspire some of them to give it a try themselves!
Nothing like as good as food produced by others on here but as a beginner I'm quite pleased with how I'm coming on and I'm definitely gaining confidence with every smoke!
.
