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Looks like your getting to grips with the ProQ already 👍

Thanks Wade, clearly what works well on one type of fish fillet, doesn't works so well on another. Will try another cure for the trout and less time on the next go. Will probably try the wine and juniper version.

Hi Joe and welcome, looks like your just up the A5 from me

Surely with your Mac'n'Cheese as well 😀

Gammon is a very underrated meat to cook lo&slo or even roast on your grill. Not many people seem to talk about it out there. But very simple and tastes great imho

Kelly Bab is cooked on a Rotisserie recipe here and a picture of one I did further down, if you have a rotisserie or thinking of get one, it tastes great cooked on it Jacobs ladder is a full rack of short ribs that haven't been cut singularly, i just add BBQPit boys SPG homemade rub to them and leave them cook themselves. I use this Scotch Egg recipe but soft boiled eggs can be a bugger to work with, I have 50% success rate I would estimate. Was on the look out at Sainsburys for some quail eggs to try before the Covid shutdown. Hopefully I will get a chance to pop in there to get some in the near future.

With lockdown still in force and no chance to cook for family friends for many of us, on what would have been a large scale celebratory weekend . I thought an Imaginary BBQ/Smoker get together this weekend for your family and friend to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of VE Day on the Bank Holiday Weekend was in order. With the equipment you own what would you have cooked and done as mains & sides for say 6-10 people and you were allowed free reign on what to serve up I thought I would go with a small bone in pork shoulder with some pit beans underneath for the drippings as well on my ProQ and on the Smokefire 2 x Jacobs ladders, a Kellybab and 2 x racks of Spicy Ribs with a tray of @Mick Mac&Cheese and some homemade smoked scotch eggs. For the sides some homemade Chipotle Slaw and maybe some roasted cherry tomatoes in balsamic vinegar.

Just finished slicing it up, I am quite sensitive to the taste of salt and where this cure works very well with salmon over a period of 36 hours, the finished trout fillet took on way more finished salt taste than the salmon does at the same weight and time cured. Definitely will do it for probably only 24 hours next time or look for a more suitable cure for it. Still very edible and will use it in warm pastas rather than standalone in a salad or something due to the saltiness for my tastes. The fish is still very tasty and has a very pleasant milder flavour than salmon to it though, i think and it hasn't put me off, trying this fish again in the future

Did this today, it was originally a whole gammon bought for a family Easter, but due to covid had to shelve those plans. So cut it into 2 quarters and a half piece. Cooked a quarter piece today and froze the rest. I removed the rind and soaked the gammon overnight and patted dry before putting in my pre-heated Smokefire at 215F with Hickory pellets. Cooked to an internal temp of 172F and rested for 15 minutes, it took just under 7 hours . I basted in it mix of an equal amount of honey & marmalade, stirred together, 4 times during the cook. It produces a lovely sweet orangy flavour to the finished gammon along with the smoky taste to the meat. I also did a baked potato alongside it for just over 5 hours at that temp, it was soft enough, but think it could have gone even longer without overcooking it tbh The only thing missing was the parsley sauce, but couldn't get any on my last visit to the shops. I think gammon is a fabulous piece of meat to smoke and can be roasted at a much higher temp like 300-350F if time is short, but I prefer mine lo&slo.

Looks good, the coco shell burn for a long time, but take a while to heat up. @Mack posted a video showing the way they recommend to light them on here. How long do you all cook jackets for at 225F. I have had them on for 3 hours or more and they are still firm in the middle. Can get them soft at higher temps, but when doing lo&slo can never get them soft in the middle?

Most supermarkets sell already flavoured spatchcock chickens now, for about a £1 extra than a normal one. They're always good for learning on new equipment and are a very forgiving piece of meat to cook with, if you don't want to mess about with rubs and marinades and cutting it yourself. If your in Morrisons I noticed the Pork Shoulder was on offer at about £2.70 a kg this week, at the butchers counter and if a butcher is on duty, they will cut the rind off for you, if you don't want to do it yourself. Their chicken wings they sell for about £3 a kg on the shelves aren't too bad either and easy enough to cook on a kettle.

The Government are due to make a big announcement about easing of lockdown on Sunday. Will have to see what the Government advice is, as it will need to be followed, but hopefully a smaller scale version may still be possible, for fewer people, so social distancing can be maintained more easily, and for people who live reasonably local to the venue . If not maybe something later in the year could happen. We will have to have a chat about what is and isn't possible between us and the campsite in the coming days and weeks based on the easing of restrictions and what it means for the general public and events like these. But even if this event doesn't go ahead this year, then there is still the National and Northern later in the year, that are still possibilities.

Got through 6 bags (2 of each) and we prefer the Hickory overall as an all rounder for the various types of lo&slo meats and grilling we have done so far. Agree the Apple is our least favourite of the 3 that we have tried, very little smoke flavour left on the meats. Wish the Cherry version was available to try over here, haven't seen it stocked anywhere yet. Anyone else tried any other brand of pellets yet? looking to put an order in for 10 bags soon to hopefully get me through the summer, just wondered if there is anything else I should be trying before I do? Haven't felt the need to use my ProQ yet except for cold smoking, but I am sure that day will come sometime in the future, still learning and enjoying many different ways to cook food that weren't available to me on the ProQ on it at the moment. I think I am likely to fire the Jumbuck Rotisserie up before anything else, think that is the thing I miss being able to do with the Smokefire at the moment and can't see anyway it can be added as a buy on at the moment, but hopefully something can be devised by the bods at Weber in the coming months. Hope your Pork leg turned out well, been soaking a gammon overnight, going to do it lo&slo on the smokefire today

Don't know if any of you Smokefire owners have seen Trendkills latest video. Funny, you could see he desperately wanted his wife to choose the Gravity fed ribs he did, compared to the ones done on the Smokefire. She was having none of it and loved the Smokefire one's. Even with the problems during the cook on the Smokefire, you could see he was gutted by the look on his face 😀 Same in our household, my wife loves the flavour from the smoked foods I have done on the Smokefire, compared to charcoal. I don't mind a strong smoke flavour from charcoal and wood, but my wife much prefers the smoke profile and food in general I am producing on the Smokefire now, compared to charcoal and happy for me to produce food 3 or 4 times a week on it 👏

Hi and welcome

Hi and welcome, my suggestion Buffalo chicken wings are always good for BBQ'ing and grilling, make a sauce, that contains something like Franks Hot sauce as part of the ingredients if you can get some. Not sure what the base of the callow is like and if you can fit a grill grate over the fire basket? if you can you could smoke them for an hour at 225F with the water bowl and them grill them off for 10-25 minutes depending how hot it gets over the coals on the grate over the basket, maybe? or put the hot coals left in the basket into a seperate BBQ if you have one, to finish them Enjoy whatever you decide to do, couple of nice days coming up, by all accounts

Left it in the cure for just over 36 hours, good amount of liquid came out of the trout fillet, washed all the cure off and left in the fridge overnight to form a pellicle and put it on the smoker this morning for somewhere between 6-8 hours using beech dust. Then leave in the fridge again for around 24 hours to let the smoke settle and then slice and pack.

Enjoy it and try to get some use out of it by Saturday, as seen forecasts for frosts in most places and wintry showers possible in the North from Sunday for a few days ( 12-15 degree drop in temp forecast between Sat and Sunday). Just as I have planted all my bedding plants and hanging baskets this weekend. I never learn

No issue it just goes solid, prefer the sand loose myself, but no reason not to break it up if you don't want too.

I do it with my ProQ, I fill the bowl about 2/3rds full of sand and cover with foil, so it doesn't contaminate the sand from the drippings. then just replace the foil after every cook. I used to just break the sand up before every cook, it can be used many times, but can end up being baked hard into 1 big clump if you don't break it up iyswim Also nothing stopping you putting a drip pan filled with some water to place on top of the sand in the bowl or on a spare grill rack if you have one during the cook, if you still want a bit of moisture in the chamber during your cook.

Hi Welcome Tony, lots of us cure bacon on here, so any questions you have should get answered. There is a good cold smoking section on here also

I already have a ProQ, Rotisserie, an unused 57cm Kettle and now the Smokefire. I have an understanding wife, but I know what she would say, if i asked if I can I spend £1500 on a summit after just spending 4 figures on the Smokefire 😀

Can only go my experiences, firstly hope rust won't be a problem, but I have invested in the cover for mine and have to say the rain just runs off it, very impressed with it. Cleaning I do mine every 2 weeks or so at the moment as I am using it 3 or 4 times a week so needs it. Between cooks I heat it up and scrape the grills with this brush (super stiff bristles) and a scraper. OOS at the moment, but well worth buying a similar qood quality steel brush like this and not the cheaper ones, it scrapes or rubs the grease off with ease between cooks. I bring the flavoriser bars and grills in every fortnight and clean them in hot soapy water in the sink and just run the brush over them to get the hard baked stuff off first and then just go over over it with one of those green and yellow scourers sponges to get the rest off in the sink (leaves a mess in the sink and needs a clean down afterwards). Just be careful with the brush in the sink not to run it over your hands/fingers it is like running a 1000 needles into your hand, quite painful 😀 Doesn't get them back to new, but they're clean and good to go after that. I miss being able to stick my grates in the dishwasher like I could with my old ProQ ones.

Hi Gizzard, welcome to the forum, plenty of us middle aged fogies on here.😃 The Summit is meant to be a lovely bit of kit, was deliberating between that and the Smokefire a couple of months ago. Went for the Smokefire in the end but it was a difficult choice and not sure I have made the right one. Time will tell.

Hi Jules, welcome to the forum. There is a second hand market, but mostly it's right place, right time. Worth checking Facebook market and Gumtree to see if anything local to you for sale. Alternatively if the budget stretches to £100 then something like the callow bullet smoker, may be a good starting point, to see if smoking suits you. Plenty of users on here who can offer advice on it for you. As with most smokers in the lower price ranges everywhere seem to be out of stock at the moment. But maybe worth contacting Callow directly and asking them when they expect further stock to become available, if it interests you and worth waiting for one to become available. I've never used one, but read lots of accounts of the cheaper offset smokers being very hard work and not all that efficient, unless your happy to do some mods to it yourself