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Up to date details in various threads on main site about this get together here under Midland Tailgate

My incinerator bin is halfway up the garden on its side (can't see the lid anywhere) the heavy rocker 3 seater has blown over and the bend on our willow tree is more than I have ever seen before in this wind. Definitely a staying in day today.

Should be a good weekend, looking forward to it.

Fair enough, there are some pricey ones on there, but the majority are around the £10-12 a kg mark, which I thought was the going rate for a full packer Brisket? May have to do a bit more research then. Personally have my eye on the Australian Jacks Creek Brisket to cook over Easter for the family, unless I can see a better one, as never really had the equipment to cook a full sized brisket before.

Was doing some research to see what's available at the moment and found this butcher with a nice selection of Briskets here from around the world.

It was one of these I was considering, as I was after a skillet. Either this, or one that they call a Chicken Fryer (deep skillet with a flat lid). In the end bought this one, as it gives me a 10 inch deep skillet and the lid acts as a shallow skillet as well using both together they can be used a dutch oven. Also worth having a look here on their site, if looking for a few recipes for cast iron cooking.

If you are looking for one of these Ice? Amazon UK via Global Site are selling one with the same dimensions, but a collectable version with a Buffalo Nickle Coin Design on the bottom. Comes out at about the same price.

Thanks @ProQ-Ty & Justin 👍

Wondering if I make my own homemade rubs, how long you could store them in something like a kilner jar. Got an electrical spice grinder and it has made a life lot easier, but I still would rather do a large quantity in one go, with it, as devised myself an all rounder rub, that I am happy with. If it keeps for more than 3-6 months and will hopefully free up a bit more space in the kitchen cupboards, as getting quite a large collection of spices and sugars now 😀

So what type of heat do rocket stoves push out. I.e. If i was cooking thick pork chop on a skillet on it would it cook quicker/slower/same time as cooking on the hob indoors.

Smokefire Owner & Assembly Guide has been posted online by Weber. Nearly a month late, but people in USA starting to receive dispatch confirmations, so hopefully some real world reviews will start appearing online over the coming days and weeks.

Been watching some videos lately on Rocket Stoves and wondering if anybody had any experience using one and recommendations/pitfalls of them. They look a very controlled and not to messy way of cooking or frying for short periods of time. Mainly wondering how much work is required to maintain the fire and does it need to be constantly watched and how smoky they can be whilst in use. The pieces of wood used in the video, mostly seem to be stripped of bark and cut into even lengths on the videos I see and I thought the principle of these were you can use any sort of small pieces of wood ( even conifers) you find lying about and just start cooking. i don't really want the expense of buying prepared wood for these There seem to be 3 main stoves that I have seen reviewed (mostly German/Dutch so no real understanding of what they're saying) EcoZoom, Petromax and BBQ Toro 2 (seems the best value) anybody got one of these and happy to recommend? I want to get some use out of my cast iron stuff and these seem a good way of being able to use them more Thanks

Since Xmas I had been trying to decide on either the 3.2 Quart Lodge Cast Iron Combo Dutch Oven/Skillet or the Lodge 5 Quart Deep Skillet. Went for Combo in the end last week , should be getting it later this week. Was looking for something to use on my grill and although the 5 quart is a 12 inch skillet and lid and the combo is only 10.25 inch the fact the lid on the combo doubled up as another skillet with handle swung it for me and they were both the same depth anyway,. I already have a dedicated Lodge Dutch Oven so to have another smaller one that doubles up to a double skillet with handles, should suit my needs hopefully Understand what smokin is saying there are cheaper options out there than Lodge. personally I have been happy with the quality of Lodge products I have purchased previously and have chose to stick with what I know, than take a gamble on something I don't , although I realise probably are just as good. Also added a non Lodge 10" Chestnut Pan a couple of weeks ago to my collection. Not had chance to use it, and won't till October as they're seasonal😀 But I do like hot chestnuts so hopefully will be worth the wait.

Thanks for this bookmarked it for later, as led to believe the Weber I am getting, can cook a decent pizza. Seen it on a few different recipes, dry granular ingredients in ml rather than grammes. Always confuses me trying to convert it. Is there a simple calculator you use for these type of things?

For a tenner more I would order from Amazon Uk in this case, if any problems, much easier to return something big like this. Amazon Us I have found isn't always cheaper, but they have a much wider choice than Amazon Uk stock and sometimes have better offers on the same products available in the UK not in this case though The price has only been £7 cheaper in the last 3 months in the UK, and has only been a £1 cheaper in the US over the same time. So seems to be holding around this price for this particular model

Hoping to pop up for a couple of hours on one of the days near free eating time😀 Realise most of you will be judging, so won't see you, but enjoyed going round there last year and watching the teams cook and prepare their food for competitions.

Looks great, hoping to be able to do some Canadian Style Bacon when I get my new Weber, will definitely give this ago, when I do, looks like a big pot of it will feed 4 or 5 easily

New product on the market, only available in North America at the moment, but seems an affordable way to cook via the pellet method on a Weber Kettle if any get imported over here to sell? https://youtu.be/60Od8WymVjk

Ice has posted the info needed for the site itself, but I am just going to add a few things to it, that may also help you, if thinking of coming along, but not sure where it is in relation to you and maybe a few local things of interest if you want to bring partners/kids with you and make a weekend of it? The site is 5 minutes of Junction 9 of the M42 which directly connects with the M1 from the North, M5, M6 and M40 from the South also the A5 from East or West is within 10 minutes of the site. Approx travel times from different parts of the Midlands to give you an idea Nottingham 45 minutes Cannock 45 Minutes Leicester 1 hour, Coventry 25 minutes, Nuneaton 20 minutes Birmingham 20 minutes, Redditch & Warwick 40 minutes, Oxford just over an hour Worcester/Cheltenham just under an hour Stoke about 1 hour 20 minutes Hopefully people will come along for the weekend or day and do some cooking and enjoy the atmosphere and maybe gives you a chance to cook some different things, from your usual for a group of people, where you may only usually cook for your immediate family most of the time, like I do. Nothing intimidating about it, a few beers, very chilled atmosphere and a chance to share your cooking with others, that enjoy this sort of food. If looking to make a weekend with partners and family of it and looking for something for them to to do perhaps while you are cooking? Drayton Manor Theme Park and Thomas Land is less than 3 miles away, also the Snowdome is 10-15 minutes away and Twycross Zoo is less than 30 minutes away. Also a great big shopping retail park called Ventura Park 10 minutes away If like me not a camper, day tickets are available if you just want to turn up on the Saturday or plenty of hotels within 5-15 minutes of the venue starting from £70 for the Friday/Saturday night at the Travelodge 10 minutes away on Junction 10 of the M42 and just leave your smoker at the campsite, with the people camping over the weekend and start cooking on the Saturday morning. The beauty of the booking system with this site and paying on the day, their is no initial financial commitment beforehand, so if you have said you are coming and have to make a late decision to cancel, it isn't going to cost you anything and likewise you can make a decision to come 24 hours before the event and have no problem joining in and getting a spot it is the 1st time trying this for the Midlands area and hopefully people will come along and support it, and if successful it may become a regular feature in the calendar?

As ice said, making your own is the way to go. But if looking for something quick or to much hassle to make. 1 of these packs for your pork steaks will do the job for £1 and not a bad little rub. Definitely sold in Morrisons as have got them there before but think Asda may do them as well? https://groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/product/Reds-Divine-Pulled-Pork-Barbeque-Rub-Mild/360178011?param=red+bbq+rub&from=search

Thanks for the replies, useful information. It will be just for a pellet grill and maybe one of those Philips Hue Outdoor Lights attached to the fence , nothing more. So hopefully a double weatherproof extension socket will suffice. But if possible to spur some extra Philips lighting from the cable for the patio closer to the house. With new fence going in hopefully get the work done together. Only problem fusebox is on the other side of the house to the garden and a lot of difficulties to hide cable from there to get it outside, so it may prove too difficult for that to come to fruition with that method, will see if electrician can work round it and perhaps do something from one of the existing power points in the kitchen?. I will get armour cable. it is the possible need for certification of any works that are troubling me as it appears to be needed but most people seem to ignore it. I am sure an electrician will advise me anyway.

Nice to have that on your doorstep, unfortunately my nearest is a 40 mile round trip for an abbatoir/butcher 😞 have a couple of good butchers in my area, but found they aren't overly willing sometimes to provide or source an unusual or specific cut of meat from what they have on display for the general public, that I have been looking for in the past. Hence my reasoning for shopping online sometimes as well as going to the indoor meat market at Birmingham a couple of times a year.

I will be getting mine from Gridironmeat used them quite a bit now and had excellent service and well vac packed and chilled during overnight transit. Just put your cursor over shop for meat and click on Mutton for options. (£45 gets you free delivery) price wise not the same as a supermarket or cash&carry but some decent cuts of meat on there and the guy is so helpful if looking to source a particular cut of meat, you want prepared in a certain way. Plenty of other options for mutton online as well. Just type mutton or hogget buy online into google and will come up with quite a few alternative results.

I have cooked goat a couple of times with varying success. Goats neck in a dutch oven on my smoker was the most successful and enjoyed it. (have posted the recipe on here) Also did a goat shoulder, but didn't enjoy the meat, very chewy and dry I found, but that may have been down to me. But made a fabulous Mexican Sweet Cajeta sauce with it (Like dulce de leche) can post the recipe if interested in using it if you decide on doing a Goat Shoulder .Have considered doing a Goat Leg this year, but have always wanted to try a leg of hogget or mutton, as it is meant to be very suited to slow cooking and found an online supplier of it, so will probably try that out first. Edit Forgot to say, purchased some Caribbean Curry powder last year, intending to do a smoked goat curry, I i was going smoke the goat first for a couple of hours and then cook in the dutch oven with liquid and spices to finish it off. Never got round to it, but goat curry is a delicious dish with rice and peas

Me and Brian are popping up there on Saturday to finalise everything so all details/photos will be posted shortly after.