TexasDave

I have now used both the Green Olive Briquttes and Heat Beads and still prefer the Heat Beads. Dawsoms has them back in stock. Not cheap but I really like the Heat Beads. I plan on mixing the Heat Beads and Green Olive Briquttes going forward.

I tend to do my smoke/pack/freeze routine about once a month and do a ton of chicken breasts and thighs, lamb, Gammon, pork chops and salmon. I tend to like to serve the traditional smoked meat (brisket, ribs) on the day along with sauasage and chicken. CLassic four meat platter. 🙂 I just use the Anova Sour vide vacuum sealer due to the size. It works well but I tend to refirgerate the meat so that juice is not an issue as the vacuum sealer does not do well with juicy meat.

Howdy!! I am original from central Texas and moved to the UK in 2006. I also lived in Glasgow from 1997-98. We became dual UK / US citizens in 2012. I am in the Haslemere area southwest of London. I was really missing my central Texas BBQ (do make a road trip at some point for some awesome BBQ) so had to start doing my own. Like most folks in central Texas, I have tried all the best purveyors and pits in the area and used to enjoy traveling around with friends and family to try different offerings. I have two larger Weber Smoky Mountains that I have totally "pimped out". I cook for friends and family and frequently do decent size cooks for my Vets Football Team (soccer) that I play on. I also do some cooks for folks in the areaI have done several larger cooks for 80+ folks and even had Vanessa Redgrave compliment my brisket as I did a "sampler" in our village square with my local village butcher over Xmas a few years ago. I like to do large smokes once a month and then vacuum seal and freeze. I then use my sous vide to make dinner prep easy during the week. Besides the usual brisket, ribs and chicken I like to do gammon, lamb and pork roasts which when slice, frozen and sous vide are really nice during the week. I love seeing the passion the folks in the UK have for this type of cooking and have been impressed with the uptake here. I am also a "sous vide" user and will soon be picking up the new Gozny Dome to do pizza, meat and bread...And I have a Weber gasser that I use on a regualr basis for sausage, burgers, steaks, chops, chicken, etc. I dig cooking meat.... 🙂 Now if I could get decent TexMex and a margarita I would be in heaven 🙂 Thanks!!

I am going to try the Green Olive Briquettes and will report back. Wonder what the issue is in getting the Heat Bids in the UK. Maybe C19 releated? No clue but sad... My technique is to use the briquettes, a bit of lump and wood chunks. I hate to have to start again but may have to switch to lump but will see how the Green Olive ones are. Thanks!!

I am a long time WSM user. I like to use a mix of mostly Australian Heat Beads plus some lump. Heat beads have been getting harder and harder to get - so I guess I need to find an alternative? Any recomendations would be welcome. I found heat beads to be expensive (I am originally from the USA) but they worked really well and were worth it. Thanks!