*****Official BBQ Thread - Suns out, Buns out!*****

PixieLandGirl said:
Belgium .. at least for now :p.

I was just thinking about chips or chunks, so that's good to know! :D
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Well, give me a shout if you end up back in the UK sometime :p

I guess that UK source for wood chunks isn't so great if you're not here. The Weber chunks/chips are decent enough though expensive for what they are. Still, given the whole present setup they're probably a sensible choice :)
 
This weekend was my Dad's 70th birthday so my mum planned a family gathering and asked if I would provide some meat for it. Always happy to help out and loving the smoking I naturally agreed. I decide on pulled pork, pulled lamb (a first for me) and brisket.

Knowing that we wanted the meat for lunchtime on Saturday and that we were going to a radio controlled model show in the afternoon I decide to do the meat in advance to make life simpler for me. As such I cooked the meat last weekend, vacuum packed it and froze it. This really seems to work well and I have to say I was quite pleased with the results, and none of the meat was left over so it was quite a success!
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Pulled Pork:
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Pulled Lamb (I'll definitely be doing this again):


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Beef Brisket:


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I'm really enjoying being able to cook something that everyone is enjoying like this, it's very satisfying!
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Looking at picking up a Weber in the end of summer sales. Think a Master Touch may be a bit out of my budget, but seen the Original Kettle Premium on BBQ world for £144, is this a good price, or should i be waiting a bit longer?
 
Earlier in the year Homebase weer doing some clearance prices on Weber BBQ's as they are stopping selling them. Might be worth keeping an eye out in case they do any end of summer complete price crashes. We got the Master Touch for £122, although had to drive a fair distance to get it. Totally worth it.
 
SoliD said:
Looking at picking up a Weber in the end of summer sales. Think a Master Touch may be a bit out of my budget, but seen the Original Kettle Premium on BBQ world for £144, is this a good price, or should i be waiting a bit longer?
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Master Touch is quite a bit easier to clean. Personally I'd wait till you can stretch to that but if you want to get something now the original is still great.
 
Despite the rain, my brisket turned out pretty good, really juicy and full of flavour. That along with a few pork breast ribs have been enough to keep me going in lunches this week! :D
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Looks really rather yummy, nice beginnings of a smoke ring there too. Only thing I would say, on the right there, looks to be a big lump of fat, personally I would have trimmed that off as it's not going to add any thing to the meat and just serves as an area that isn't going to benefit from the rub or the smoke as most people will just trim that off and not eat it. :)
 
FrenchTart said:
Master Touch is quite a bit easier to clean. Personally I'd wait till you can stretch to that but if you want to get something now the original is still great.
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Happy to wait and thanks for the advice as I wasn't sure on the exact differences. Would prefer something easier to clean to be honest, mean it should last longer in my head too as I'll be inclined to keep it going.
 
valve90210 said:
Looks really rather yummy, nice beginnings of a smoke ring there too. Only thing I would say, on the right there, looks to be a big lump of fat, personally I would have trimmed that off as it's not going to add any thing to the meat and just serves as an area that isn't going to benefit from the rub or the smoke as most people will just trim that off and not eat it. :)
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Annoyingly I'd ran out of oak chunks and only had a few little chippings left to use for smoke, they burnt off pretty quickly and I didn't want to keep opening the lid to add more. I love the parts with fat on so left that on, it got gobbled down right away. :D
 
I'd really look second hand on ebay and gumtree for a second hand weber mastertouch, some real bargains out there, often only used once or twice or occasionally still in the box. Especially at this time of year.
 
Just heard that a parcel has arrived at home for me, it's a QMaster Lite, an automatic temperature controller for charcoal smokers.

Basically a temp probe, little unit upon which you set the desired temperature and a fan which you mount on the smoker air inlet. If the smoker needs to be hotter the fan is activated and blows more air in, once temperature is reached the fan cuts off.

As fun and satisfying as it is to control the temps manually with the inlet vents, this will make life much easier for those times when I want to be smoking something but need to also have my attention else where.

Will try to get some pics up when I get a chance.
 
My next smoker will likely be an electric pellet smoker so I can set and forget, just enjoy great smoked meats. My gas smoker is good but the temperature will vary when water boils off and moisture form the meat evaporates for example.
 
D.P. said:
My next smoker will likely be an electric pellet smoker so I can set and forget, just enjoy great smoked meats. My gas smoker is good but the temperature will vary when water boils off and moisture form the meat evaporates for example.
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Pellet smokers are pretty good to be honest. Just avoid the cheapest ones. Most of the negative comments I read are borne of ignorance.
 
Got some pork shoulder and some brisket to go on tomorrow. The pork is the easy part but I didn't buy the brisket so it's only 1.5kg! Can't imagine it'll take very long on a hot smoker?

I was going to get started about 8am until I learned about it's weight. It's also rolled so likely trimmed of all fat (because fat is bad, yeah?) so no idea if it'll even be worth eating at the end of the cook!

I shall update once I've checked the fridge!
 
The problem wit small brisket is it will cook quickly, then dry out. Like cooking steak. a veyr think steak just need seconds on a very hot flame, very easy to overdo. A nice 1.5" ribeye take much longer, will remain juicy and is easy to cook just right.
 
Well the brisket was a mess! It was a rolled joint which when opened out pretty much fell apart as lots of little chunks - very poor and won't be using that butcher again!

Luckily there is layer of fat on top so it's been salted and placed fat side down on a hot shelf underneath a pork shoulder that's had a head start.

Forgoing grill temp to get a read on both meats instead so we'll see how it goes. No pics because covered in blood + phone is a bad idea :P
 
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