HeyBertHeyErnie

Couldn't wait till lunch 😁

My son has come out in chickenpox this morning so our friends aren't coming as their son hasn't had it. I've chucked one in the freezer, and had a weird experience with the other. I couldn't be bothered to get the BBQ out the garage for one chicken with no guests so I just chucked it (1.75kg) in a fan oven at 120c, in the bag, and set a timer for two hours to check it. My son asked what the thermometer was for after an hour and a half so I thought "why not?" and let him check temps, it's bloody cooked! I've stabbed it half to death, everywhere, it's 65deg C throughout. 

Does anyone have any thoughts? I read something this morning getting ready for my smoke session, but I would never dream it possible to cook a chicken at 120C for an hour and 20 minutes and it be done. It was in a bag and rubbed for a couple of days, perhaps it steamed itself? Just thought actually, I bet my oven thermostat is miles out. I'm not deleting this now I've written it all, you can all have a laugh at my confusion 😁

I just found it interesting, I still use that 'juices run clear' mantra when conventionally roasting poultry or pork, and it's basically just an 'erring on the side of caution rough guide' for cooking noobs without a thermometer 😂

https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/myth-chicken-ready-when-juices-run-clear-and-why

This weekends smoker action.

Big fan of the ProQ Coco too, lit a full chimney and it had only burnt half of them maintaining 115 degC for 3-1/2 hours in an offset.

So firstly, cannot recommend that rub enough. Lovely, kick of heat in the background behind some real flavour depth. It was rubbed 36 hours before I started cooking at 1200 Saturday, having taken it out the fridge at 0730. It weighed 2kg, I had the smoker at around 115, and set it 1/3 of the way back from furthest away from the firebox on my offset. 2 hrs in I rubbed a little olive oil over to stop it drying out as there wasn't a lot of fat, and I wrapped it in foil as soon as it hit 40deg to try and keep it at the tenderising temp as long as possible. I flipped it over once before wrapping it as well, but I don't seem to get any problems cooking one side of joints more than the other, not sure why, but not complaining. 

I dropped a very small handful of mesquite in as I started cooking, and I presoaked them which I don't normally do. In fact I've never done it before 🤔because of what I'd read. I know there's a big debate about it, but I work off results not internet theories, and I'm a presoak convert on my setup. I think soak/not soak is very condition dependent, and with my offset, and the heat of my firebox relative to my cooking chamber temps I think I need to presoak to stop them just all flaming up and oversmoking everything. Anyway, that's a long subject and all I can say is my smokiness level was perfect.

Where are we? We're currently at 40deg and foil wrapped. I closed the damper gradually as the int temp rose, until at 55deg I closed everything completely and just left it it in the shut down BBQ until the very second my IT hit 61. This was at about 1540, and I then removed it and wrapped as in pic, using a good 87 layers of cling film first, then in my wife's oven mitts 😂👍 and a teatowel. It briefly hit 62, and then slowly dropped to 48 by 1830, when I stuck it in the oven to rewarm to 60 for serving at 1930. It's worth mentioning that the juices/fat that were in the foil when I took a peek (nibble 😈) had pretty much all been reabsorbed as it relaxed when I eventually unwrapped to serve.

Everyone loved it, rave reviews. I never got a pic of it presliced as I forgot, sorry. But thanks to Wayne, for the rub recipe, thanks everyone for posting all your experiences so I could cobble mine together, and hope this helps the next poor chap who's only ever cooked lamb on the Barbie once properly, by accident, 10 years ago. 😂😂

I feel like such a nosy sod going though all these threads.

Lurk much, weirdo? 😂

So I've made up a quantity of Wayne's recipe rub from the marinade and rub thread, and stuck it all over a leg ready for a Saturday bbq using my new coconut briquettes. Gotta say, I'm not surprised it has had good feedback, the rub smells lovely. Gonna serve with some pitta, homemade hummus, a mint and yoghurt labneh, and some fruity cous cous.

I've only got mesquite chips, thoughts? I'm thinking next to none, let the rub and lamb speak for itself?

Cheers,

Worth the money? Or got a better recommendation?

I didn't mean to offend you, hope you work it out. There's lots of reasons it could taste a bit funny, I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me can help you out.

Thought I'd stick this in here as well as put it anywhere else. Bought these, https://www.macsbbq.com/product/58288683ddbd4625abffdbd34cf20ddb I'll let you know what I think.

14 hours ago, Diggerg said:

don't use any wood for smoke just straight charcoal. Would it be because the charcoal merely smoulders that I'm getting this strange taste? 

You need to make sure the charcoal is properly lit, red hot, and use wood for the smoke, sorry if this sounds a bit egg sucky but it's difficult to know what you mean. You can't smoke without adding wood chips, it's just slowly drying meat out with hot air otherwise?

Did you run a really hot burn through it for a few hours as well to get rid of any residual odours before cooking? I just looked at your build thread, it looks awesome but I'd stick a whole bag of charcoal through it as hot as it will go before cooking on it. It might take half a tree just to get it to temp though with all that 6mm plate lol. I'm an engineer by trade, done a bit of metal sticking but NOT a welder. Your UDS should be the king of long slow cooks because although it might take 3 hours to get it to temp, it'll probably just sit there glowing for a week after it goes out 😂😂😂

On 9/3/2018 at 7:55 PM, May the Sauce be with you said:

OK this is based on the traditional Moroccan style of Mechoui Lamb. It's fantastic on lamb leg or shoulder. It makes a good amount of rub.The good thing is it works well as a marinade too you just mix with 50g of butter or olive oil.

2 tablespoons ground coriander

1-2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon salt

Pepper to taste - I put in half teaspoon

If you try it i hope you like it. 

Cheers,

Wayne

I shall be giving this a try, thanks a lot for sharing

On 9/1/2018 at 6:59 PM, Brinkman said:

Bingo. Just found this one which looks like it could fit the bill perfectly.   https://bushcooking.com/recipes/smoked-leg-lamb 

Doing this next weekend 👍

On 4/23/2019 at 12:21 PM, Wade said:

With a short duration marinade of this type, a good rule of thumb is if it is too unpleasant to drink then it will probably be too unpleasant to eat.

Thanks Wade, a really good point that I'll remember.

Thanks SOTV, I've bookmarked that page to try next time I have a beef

Cheers Simon, appreciate the pep talk. I just followed the recipe above, (1/4 cup of salt in 4 cups water) but didn't think that I was leaving it for three times longer than that recipe at the time. I did think about it yesterday, by which time too late obviously. 

I wouldn't stick it entirely in the bad cook box, but I definitely learnt a lot, not least that 2 chimneys of charcoal last exactly 5 hours with both the vents wide open on a windless sunny day 👍

So, mixed reviews. Wife loved it, I felt it would be better cold with Horseradish. Like Justin, mine was also a little tough, not so bad it mattered, but not melt in the mouth. The outside of it was VERY salty. In the middle it was nice. All in all, I wouldn't use that brine again for a dinner dish, but I'd maybe do it for a week of sandwiches. It was really juicy, and would sit well in a New York deli sandwich for sure. I wouldn't bother putting any smoke on again either, it confused it all a bit.

Bonus Yorkie pic at the end 😀

So have to thank Justin for posting his was a bit tough because it's made me lengthen my cook, I'm at 61 deg now, been above 55 for about an hour when I foil wrapped it, so p'd off I lost my temp graph as it was a thing of beauty. Potato gratin just going in the oven, yorkies in a bit, broccoli, and the meat should stay below 70 till then. 1230-1300 luncheon it is 😁

0715 to 1230 probably at around 120 temps. I was lucky I had no wind, it's just picking up now and cooling the Landmann off a touch.

I'll post some pics of it sliced. 🤞 it has been a worthy mornings work.

That's what she looked like post brine.

And we're off...

Shooting for 60 IT, steady as she goes 😁