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Popped instore today they were doing Pork Shoulder Joints various sizes £2 per kg I got one 3.5kg, got the butcher to take the rind off and retie it for me. If you cold smoke fish, Whole Salmon £5.99 per kg & a large side of Trout filleted £11 per kg

From my own personal point of view, buying a pellet grill this time last year has been the best investment I ever made. I cook on it at least 3 times a week now, often more so just lo&slo but cast iron cooking, skewers, Sunday roasts, paellas, fish, grilled sandwiches basically a bit of everything. Case of turning the power on, setting the temp and once it's reached it (15-20 minutes) start cooking, depending on what you're grilling/smoking the food stills needs the same attention as a charcoal smoker, but the temperatures are rock solid on it, little or no fluctuation and you can increase/decrease temperatures at a turn of a dial or a flick of the app on your phone from indoors. I've done chicken wings, short beef ribs Asian style in oyster sauce, pizza and a Sunday Roast in the last 7 days. I would never have done all that on my charcoal smoker to much hassle lighting it up for me 😀 and I've done it in all weathers the past year. Wind, Snow, Sun, frost and showers (not downpours). You don't get the levels of smoke flavour on the food that you do with charcoal, but have found it is more than enough for my wife or when times have allowed guests from the feedback I've got as charcoal smoke can be a bit much for some people. After 5 years of charcoal smokers, I haven't felt the need or wanted to light my charcoal smoker up in the last 12 months tbh. What with pellet grill and Instant Pot thingy we've bought, we probably only use the cooker/hob once a week now. never eaten so well in all my life 🤣

Hi Tom welcome to the forum, nice set up and good idea to do a weekly Sunday dinner on your smoker. The wife thinks your doing her a favour, but you're getting all the enjoyment really. 😀

I was getting a little comfortable with making bacon and doing the same recipe every time, so decided to experiment by adding some Sumac and Bay leaves to see what they brings flavour wise to the bacon when done. Did a nice 2kg piece of loin with #1 cure, salt sugar, Telicherry Pepper, 2 tsps of Sumac and 4 bay leaves. Fingers crossed it works. The loin is a couple of inches thick so will leave for at least a fortnight to cure, before cold smoking

Bought the Weber Elevations Tiered Grilling System as I enjoy kebabs/kebobs etc. It was designed for the Spirit and Genesis grills, but fitted my EX4 perfectly and would fit in the EX6 no problems. First time using it tonight on a breezy dark night, so was difficult to monitor colour of meat during cooking but they turned out pretty well as I cooked them to an IT of 165F, Took about 35-40 minutes at 350F started with 6 but ended up with 4 as 2 fell off the skewers but all part of the learning curve, put them on the skewers either to thick or to much moisture in the mixture, but that'll all come good with practice. Nice to be able to higher and lower them over the grill as needed and to turn them without the skewer spinning but not the meat. Few photos of kebabs, and grilled Greek flatbreads and Tahini and this accessory for your Smokefire?

This is available with a further 15% till the 19th of February using code on Ebay Outsunny Cast Iron Ceramic Kamado Charcoal BBQ Oven Black £135.99, don't know anything about it. But Outsunny seem to sell a lot of BBQ related products this one has a grilling space of Ф27.2cm; which is comparable to the Lidl one

The Lidl one is the rebadged Landmann Grill Chef, you won't find it £80 but if can find it around the £100+ mark may get a few months use out of it before the Lidl one comes round again, if it does of course.

Edit the 12kg bags have sold out, they still have the 15kg bags available, slightly more expensive than the 12kg bags per kg, updated my post accordingly Big K Restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal 15kg - £17.99 +£2.95 Delivery £40 free standard delivery, so you can get 3 bags (45 kg) for £53.97 delivered with this method Manahome

I have updated my EX4 with the new augur about 6 months ago. Definite improvement, but still get the odd firepot overfill without lighting. Took myself to do it about 75 minutes, but that was in warm weather, not sure about doing it in this cold. I have done about 6 different cooks this side of Xmas in temps that have reached sub zero outside, but it has cooked with absolutely no problems. Reaches 600F and maintains temps set for lo&slo cooks. Except for driving rain, this machine is enabling me to cook all year round in all sort of conditions and outside temperatures Their was an app update recently and their should be another firmware update shortly. p.s. seen on another forum their has been another update to the welded augur and Weber have swapped the cotter pin on the auger to a nut/bolt. Whether that version is available in the UK I don't know?

The customer service and excuses for the build of Masterbuilt seem a bit worrying from what I have read mostly from owners in the States. Always get problems with new models and ideas to the market, but it is how the company deals with any problems, that crop up after release, is just as important as I have found out in the last 12 months. I bough a Weber Smokefire and although it enables me to produce some of the most varied and best food I have ever cooked personally on any grill. It has had it's problems. But Weber have been exemplary in resolving it or replacing parts that were faulty. In the last 12 months they have supplied me with a new augur and pellet ramp (production design faults). Glowplug and Controller Display (Incl PCB Board) that failed. I would rather of not had the problems, but Weber have been amazing every time, no blaming the customer or looking for excuses. Just send out the replacement parts in 48 hours at no cost to myself and a new control panel doesn't come cheap. From my experience with the Smokefire worth paying the extra from a reputable company whoever that company maybe, that standby and support their product. Especially when you are parting with a good wedge of your own cash in the first place.

As you say the reviews on the 560 aren't the best even after a month or 2 of use in some cases. If your budget stretches to £800 and you want a Masterbuilt the Masterbuilt 800 seems much better reviewed and a better build overall and should be available over here from March 2021.

No you need to buy the smoke generator separately. I bought a new one to go with mine as my other was a few years old now. I got the original size again (not sure if the artisan will fit in the chamber (contact them if you want that size to check). But the original does feel about as big as it will go as with the handles it feels quite snug anyway. I've switched to the Weber Dust as it works so well and catches and burns along the whole maze, had a few other brands that have been a bit temperamental and go out or don't catch sometimes and it gets a bit frustrating. Their are plenty of dust brands and sellers out there though, just a case of finding a good one for yourself. The Smoke generator lasts about 6-7 hours fully packed from start to finish to give you an idea of timings. Used to get 10-12 hours in my bullet smoker. But the airflow and quality of smoke on the food with this cabinet is so much better, it's worth the trade off. Each shelf holds about 1.5kg of pork belly for bacon to give you an idea of size. It can just about hang a couple of whole sides of salmon but tight, but I tend to cut the bottom 3 inches off the tail to make it more comfortable. You can get about 9-12 blocks of cheese on the 3 shelves depending on size. For my needs I think it's been a good investment although it does require cleaning every so often from the smoke and grease that buils up as you can't burn it off with a hot smoke like on the bullet smoker iyswim. If you get one enjoy it.

Had it for 4 months using it regularly and it works really well, done bacon, cheese, butter, duck breasts & garlic and have turned out very well. I feel the smoke seems to have improved overall in the finished product and the quality and strength of the smoke flavour as well, using the same maze and dust. A definite improvement than using my old bullet smoker to cold smoke, I feel.

If the vaccine rollout continues at this pace then something may be possible later in the year for small type meets maybe? or at least over 50's if nothing else 😀

Been using the Cookinpellets that are on offer for £32.50 for 18kg at Amazon at the moment. Worked great for a few cooks now, no dust in bags at all, did one cook in sub zero temps for 10 hours and held rock solid at 270F. Really pleased with them and switching to these now, certainly at this price. Work great for me

Really pleased with these pellets, absolutely no dust in the bags I have ordered. Done a couple of cooks with them and great smoke flavour, 1 of the cooks was 10 hours in sub zero temperatures and the pellet grill and pellets remained rock solid at 270F for the full 10 hour cook. Bought 3 more bags at this price as they seem to work so well, certainly with my Smokefire

CookinPellets 18kg Perfect Mix Pellets currently £32.11 a bag at Amazon, usually around the £40 a bag mark for this amount, bought a bag to try as they always seem so well reviewed and meant to have no fillers, flavours or softwoods in them

You need to read the description on the product page properly Justin! The full price is £949, £200 is the deposit for it...... You'd have been £749 lighter in the New Year and a bit of explaining to do to your other half😀 Important: Pay the full amount now, or use the discount code ''1050'' at checkout, this will reduce the price to £200 and will be your deposit to guarantee your 1050, otherwise the full £949.99 Will be taken. https://prosmokebbq.co.uk/collections/bbq/products/masterbuilt-gravity-series-1050-grill-and-smoker?_pos=4&_sid=9f96ed217&_ss=r

You can get the Meater+ Brown Sugar limited edition Single for £72.32 and the 4 pack Block for £189 with the code FILLET direct from themselves Works on all other products as well

They have direct from Meater you can get the Meater+ Brown Sugar limited edition Single for £72.32 and the 4 pack Block for £189 with the code FILLET The code works on all products as well, but these seem by the far the best value

Thanks Wade helpful as ever 👍

I know things like butter cheese & bacon smoke better @ colder temps and fish at slightly warmer temps. Got myself an Inkbird thermostat now so have a bit more control over these sort of things if I need to raise the temps in the cabinet over the outside air temp. Wondered if anybody had a guide or something for ideal temps?

Weber Igrill Mini @ Riverside £26.50 Delivered Weber Gourmet Barbecue System (GBS) Poultry Roaster @ SoCal £31 delivered Weber Master-Touch GBS E-5750 Charcoal Grill 57cm - Black @ Socal £199 delivered Inkbird ITC-308 WiFi Thermostat Digital Temperature Controller Smart Thermostat with Wireless Alarm £32.19 @ Amazon Weber® Master-Touch® GBS® C-5755 57cm - Smoke Grey - Bundle With Cover £210 @ Riverside Please add any others you come across

Kindle version of this book available for 99p Today Amazon Good recipe and technique book, hardback version of this is usually round the £20 mark

Decent price on the Traeger Pellet Range here for Black Friday £14.39 per 20lb bag. 4 bags will get you free delivery also. Looking for some pellet deals in the coming week, unfortunately Traeger pellets don't play well with my machine.