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Going to do my fortnightly clean today, not looking forward to it, done a few greasy cooks since the last clean 😔

Looks great, you can't beat homemade slaw, I don't half make a mess of the kitchen when I do it though. I use the Pitt&Cue Chipotle version. Find the slaw goes great with Pulled Pork etc and provides the heat for those who like a bit of spice with their meal and lessens the need to make the pulled pork with a rub with heat, for those that don't like it so much.

If it is the ProQ you have? I bought the 2 roll pack of this and it was enough to seal my ProQ Frontier Myself & Brian sealed the 3 sections up at the National last year and it is still going strong now. We ran a seal around the top of each section, the 2 seperate stackers and the bottom firepit one along with around the doors on the inside of them, on the outer edges, so they form a seal with the metal part of the stacker when they close. You just need a stanley knife to cut the lengths, then just peal the backing off and it sticks almost instantly to the surface. Don't think there was a lot left over, so need to be pretty exact with your cutting to seal it all with 1 roll, if I remember correctly, but £13 well spent, I thought if you find you get temp fluctuations with your ProQ

Have created a entry to my Blog here on the cook if interested. Turned out well with a homemade gravy and Aunt Bessie Yorkshire Puddings on a smoker were a revelation to me. A few pictures if you don't want to read the blog

Decided to cook a Sirloin joint on a Smoker for the first time and try to do some of the sides alongside it. I initially bought a 2kg piece, but as only feeding 2 of us, thought it was a bit of overkill tbh, so sliced it in half and froze the other. I decided to try a piece of meat with no rub added, just cooked as is 🤯 I set the Smokefire to cook at 210F and aimed for an internal temp of 145F. Decided to try and do a jus/gravy to go with it and chose this recipe, I have had for a long time (don't know where from, so can't credit) Decided on the gravy version and followed the recipe below. The cook was pretty standard and took just under 3 hours to reach the internal temp I desired before I removed the meat and drippings and turned it up to 425F (took less than 6 minutes, to climb to the desired temp) to cook the Asparagus in a skillet with melted butter until wilting and charred and Yorkshire Puddings (good old Aunt Bessies). First time doing Yorkshires on a smoker and were a revelation, as a slightly smoky Yorkshire is a joy to behold on the tastebuds I have discovered. They both took approx 20 minutes to cook, which was ample time to rest the beef and make the gravy from the juices with the cornflour added. The beef was super easy to slice and had a good bend over the finger on it. The jersey mids (first of the year) were done on the hob along with the peas, but the rest was done on the smoker and turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable meal, that I will happily do again. Thanks for reading

Looks like you have got a steady cooking temp, from the burn in. Just need to get stuck into the first cook now.

Don't know if you do your shop at Morrisons? Finally managed to get some Strong White Flour the last couple of visits to make bread, they sell it in paper bags exactly a kg in weight. Suspect it is from the large bags the bakery uses, broken down, but handy if looking for flour as it is so hard to find at the moment

Looks spot on....

Man they look great, got me right in the mood for some steak and kidney pudding and thick gravy...............

looks a decent bit of kit. Is your wife left handed like me? It's the reason my slices are thicker than a machine for all things. I end up turning the meat or whatever it is I am cutting 90 degrees from the horizontal facing me to cut it. Getting better at it with a decent knives, but it can get messy when chopping finely or trying to peel potatoes. I freak everybody out when I peel potatoes with a knife I hold the potato in my right hand almost against my stomach and peel it towards it. My wife won't watch me do it, she is convinced I am going to disembowel myself one day. There is very little potato left and takes me twice as long as a right handed person😀

I used to use a cheap slicer I owned and had the same problem, slices were irregular lengths and made a mess of the bacon joint, whilst trying to slice it, I know a lot of people have the more expensive slicers and some still get the tail end and slipping problems. I am much happier using a knife now, I use this one and although I slice a bit thicker than the machine, it is not a bad thing and the knife is really handy for cutting other meats/roasts as well that I have done in the cooker or Grill. Doesn't have to be this particular brand of knife there are plenty of other 12" carving knives available cheaper/more expensive. But for me one of my better investments, that gives me a more consistent finished slice of meat/bacon. These were 6 slices of streaky that I had for my breakfast this morning, cut with the knife, certainly my slicer wouldn't allow me to cut them like this unfortunately 😞 p.s. I use the end pieces, by dicing them into small chunks and frying them with a few bits and bobs and tomato passata, and mix with some tagliatelle , very nice. or use them even in something like a bacon and leek pie or paella.

I can see the reasoning behind that and for people new to it, a good and less messy practice to follow 👍 I pretty well now just do Pork Belly for myself, family and friends and I find with the shaker over a large surface area of the belly I know I will get an even distribution of cure that covers all the sides and edges and any left in the ceramic roasting dish after putting it in the bag, I scrape it all out with a plastic spoon and put it in the bag. I doubt if there is more than a teaspoon of the cure left in the dish, I have had to scrape out. It just what works for me and gives me a consistent finished bacon every time As with anything it is what works for you, this pork belly started curing less than 48 hours ago and already developing a nice colour on the outside and edges although will leave for another 5 days.

Some of us like pictures of cooks and the recipes in the relevant sections, so other can follow your method as well, if they want to try it 👍

Nice video Brian..👍 learnt something myself about folding the vac bag over, never thought of that before, I like to add the cure to the meat using a flour shaker before putting in the bag. Folding it over first, will hopefully help to stop some of the cure getting all over the opening of the bag, where I seal it, when I put it in 😀 Did some pork belly the other day, do you turn you vac bag daily and give it a massage first on the outside to make sure the cure gets into the meat before turning it or just leave it to do its thing in the fridge for however long you leave it? Did I miss the link for the calculator in the video?

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your ProQ when it arrives

Bought a dozen King Scallops today, to try cooking them on the Smokefire, after cleaning them decided to try 2 different methods of cooking them on my Smokefire. Wrapped half of them in the bacon and the other half cooked in a lemon garlic butter in a skillet, (Knob of butter, 2 cloves of garlic chopped and half a lemon squeezed into it, once scallops were on) Both turned out nice, but the lemon garlic butter ones were the best, melt in the mouth full of flavour. (Lidl are doing the large shell on prawns next week, going to cook them in the butter next week) but all were very edible. Cooked at 400F till internal temp reached at least 145F they didn't all cook evenly internally a couple went to 155F but none dried out and were still super juicy and cooked all the way through. 12 isn't enough though 😀

Thanks both, will give it a go as a flat piece of meat then, probably stick a skillet underneath and try to make a jus or gravy from the drippings and stuff, I will add to the skillet also I assume it is a sirloin top piece I have due to the thickness of it? The butcher said it would roast and smoke lovely, just forgot to ask what cut it was....

Got a piece of sirloin yesterday that is 2kg a flat piece about 2 inches thick, is it best to tie it or cook it as a flat piece. Never cooked one as a roast before and most pieces you see advertised seem to be tied and rolled?

Hi & welcome, I was looking the other day for a friend and couldn't see any anywhere a few places still had the Excel for sale. If you can hold on til 28/5 best bet is to pre-order with Macsbbq @Mack I believe he is the importer and distributor of them, so I would imagine he will have them available first for dispatch, when they arrive?

A bit of a hybrid, gravalax type cure for up to 72 hours, just depends how quickly it loses liquid along with a cold smoke once cure washed off and pellicle formed. It works for me on salmon, just seemed too nice a piece of trout not to give it ago for a first effort. I still have my ProQ that has served me well for cold smoking, but tempted to give the maze and dust ago in my Smokefire, to see how it works. It has no air vents underneath as such like the ProQ, but does have 3 large vents at the back of it. Not sure how it would work for airflow purposes, for something like this.Bbut considering giving it ago with either this or the pork belly I have curing at the moment.

Managed to pick up a lovely looking piece of sirloin at 2kg, (may cut it in half) but will try roasting it at 225F on my smoker for Sunday dinner for the first time. Also picked up a couple of rib-eyes for tonight. Have to say the meat looks fabulous and such a good price. Also got a 900g whole trout fillet to smoke. p.s, If anybody looking for rindless loin for bacon etc they had some 1-1.5kg pieces at £4 kg

Managed to pick up a really fleshy looking trout fillet from Morrisons this morning (£11 a kg), never done one before, decided to do the Gin & Juniper cure I do for salmon fillets. I know trout is usually a milder fish than salmon, so having used this particular cure before. i know it isn't overpowering with salmon, so hopefully will work with this fillet as well Will leave to see how quickly the liquid gets released, but hope to be able to wash cure of after 24-36 hours and leave it for 12 hours to form a pellicle, before cold smoking for around 10 hours On a seperate note picked up a slab of pork belly and have cured it with a simple salt and tellicherry pepper for some streaky bacon

Certainly are, due to do my weekly shop there tomorrow, so hope the butcher who know's his stuff is on in my store, as looking for a cut that is a top or sirloin tip to roast. i don't know enough about cuts of meat, but hope that one or both of those are available to cut from the sirloin they cut the steaks from? as I fancy a sirloin roast on Sunday at the these prices Had a nearly 2kg piece of ribeye last time, they were this price and it cooked beautifully and although I love rib eye reverse seared, the rib eye roast was exceptional.

If you shop at Morrisons anyway and don't have to make an unnecessary journey, some good steak offers on til Sunday 3rd May. My butchers counter has reopened so will get them to cut them to size for me. Not all butchers have in some stores, but they should be available as precut sizes on the fridge shelves. Hopefully pick some chunky ribeyes as they were really good last time I bought them from there a couple of months ago, when they were last on offer and hopefully a decent Sirloin Roast for Sunday from what they cut the sirloin steaks from 🤞 Fillet Steak was £31.00 per kg NOW £15.50 per kgSirloin Steak was £20.00 per kg NOW £10.00 per kg Rib-eye Steak was £20.00 per kg NOW £10.00 per kgRump Popeseye Steak was £15.00 per kg NOW £7.50 per kg

Evidently this is a popular South African sauce for meats and has nothing to do with Monkeys and their glands😀 Made this up and used it on burgers and with steak the last few nights. Personally found it a little bit too hot for my wimpy taste buds, but my wife has given it a big thumbs up and says it is spot on and properly tangy and flavoursome. The only change I made is Madeira Wine instead of Muscatel as that is what I had at hand, (people use whisky, brandy or port in other versions as well if you don't have Muscatel).