valve90210

Just saw this article about a new bit of kit, an indoor Smoker...

https://gizmodo.com/ge-smart-indoor-smoker-bbq-999-1851134026

Super pricey but intriguing. 

Having just dug my sous vide wand out of the cupboard to cook a nice big lump of brisket, I was wondering about reusable bags for the sous vide as I'd like to be able to move away from the single use vacuum bags I currently use - partially for being more ecologically minded but mainly as it I think it would encourage me to use the sous vide more often. I've done a bit of reading up seen a few options but wondered if anyone has any experience or recommendations of any reusable bags?

Wow, what a project and what an amazing table, it really is epic!!

I shall check out the table post!!

That looks fab! I've certainly had my fair share of bbqs that have ended with rain but not really done many when it's actually been raining. 

I'm loving the bbq/stainless table combo, that's epic!!

I'd be well up for a smoking weekend, they were one of the highlights of my year! This looks like a great venue and sounds like the owners would be very supportive. 

I might have to get myself a disc, it sounds like a great idea. 

I've not looked closely enough to notice this but Id' be interested in people's thoughts too. 

Like yourself I tend to go for decent size and price, aside from some supermarket stuff I needed at the last minute, I tend to use the restaurant grade stuff from Bookers. 

On 7/11/2020 at 7:30 PM, Sluggy said:

I will tell everyone to ditch the water pan every time. 
Get a 2-3 mm steel disc to replace. I will never go back to a water pan in my wsm.. in fact I have just ordered a disc for my newly acquired callow.

 I honestly don’t think a water pan adds anything but trouble to a smoker.

A thick disc is a very reliable heat sink and keeps temps incredibly stable, ok it takes a while to heat up but can be assisted via blow torch or even cooker ring if you’re in such a rush.( need good gloves ) Doesn’t need cleaning either 😉 unless you wanna preheat on your cooker I guess, never done it myself.

Today I cooked 2 brisket joints of around £12 each size on my wsm .. took around 9 hours but as a last minute thing I cooked some cheese and chilli stuffed mushrooms with barely any charcoal left due to the disc holding it’s heat.

Cooked great.

 I add fluid via sprays and brush on sauces, never let me down yet!!

I think a lot of this water pan stuff is an American over the top thing as I’ve not found any reason to need it in quit a few years of bbq’ ing.

It’s all about learning your equipment and doing what works for you!!!

 

But then I’m an idiot that knows nothing but cooks great bbq for me and mine multiple times a week 😉

I've some how missed this post, I'm liking the sound of the steel disc, I've been using sand (clean dried play pit sand) in the pan for a while and it works well but I have had a couple of issues with the sand picking up moisture leaving it smelling bad once it's gotten hot, which has tainted the meat. 

A disc sounds like a great idea, much easier to keep cleaned and if it has the same effect as the sand that would be great. 

Has anyone else used this method?

As promised, here are the photos. 

Getting some nice smoke - about a  hour into the cook.

Once the pork and ribs were done, I also cooked a spatchcock chicken.

The ribs turned out nicely.

Nice smoke ring and lovely and tender.

Forgot the photo pre-pull but the pork turned out nice.

Decided to finish the chicken under the grill to crisp the skin up a bit but got distracted and it caught a little which was disappointing but the meat was delicious.

To be fair I also have some bells and whistles such as a Smartfire...which I run on a rusty old gen 1 Callow!! 🤣

True that, still got my bargain kettle and it's still going strong! the ash catcher is rusted away but I'm going to make a blanking plate for it and she'll be fine again! lol. 

I hope there will be a national smoking weekend again, was always a highlight of my year!! 

Hi all, 

It's been a while since I was around here much, life has been rather busy for the last 4 years as I've been combining co-parenting, working full-time and studying hard. With my studies pretty much having finished now, I should have a little more spare time and I'm planning on using some of it for the wonderful art of smoking meat!!

Having only done a few cook over the last couple of years of so, this morning I decided to fire up my Davy Crockett and I've currently got some beef short ribs and a pork shoulder on the go. This evening I will also be roasting a chicken in the DC so a good hickory smelling day here today. 

I'll try to remember to take some photos and get them up here. 

Multiple starter chimney owner here! That's how I do it, it's the simplest way. I think a fair few of up here probably own a handful of chimneys.

More than happy to help out if I can

Good timing on this, I'm wanting to get a box soon so I can get smoked and ready in the freezer for the summer. 

I'm guilty of not having been around here for a long while, life has been crazy busy of late and finding the time to smoke is not happening much at the moment. That said I did a couple of pulled porks last weekend in my Davy Crockett  which turned out brilliantly and went down very well with my family who I had round for dinner.

Hoping to get some smoking done over the summer while I've got a break from college work and have some annual leave. 

Looking forward to the return of the national meet, would be good to see you guys again and to spend the weekend cooking and eating.

Wow that really is a butchering of those baby back ribs, he didn't even take the membrane off!!  

I didn't actually think about looking to see if there were such specific products....lol

I've not ordered this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B089NF2Y7B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and will report back when I get a chance to use it when the weather picks up again. 

Hi All

On Friday I cooked steak over a starter chimney for the first time and it was amazing, however, it started to cause the grill I was using (from my Callow) to distort... does anyone have any suggestions for a sturdy grill that will fit nicely over a starter chimney and stand up to the heat?

Anyone that has seen me at one of the smoking weekends will know that I use a bargain basement cheapo supermarket kettle type bbq and get some great results from it. I picked mine up second hand for £15 including a load of charcoal. Looking at it I think it was about £25 when it was new (probably be about £40 or so now) so nothing special about it at all. However, it has a vent at the bottom and one at the top and I can get it to temperature nicely and it stays there easily enough for a good few hours. So a super cheap entry to the world of smoking is certainly possible. 

Hi all,

I know the weber one touch etc are fabulous for smoking but I've not really seen anything about the Bar-B-Kettle. My brother is in the market for a smoker that he can also use for grilling and having seen the 57cm at a great price in go outdoors: 

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15982670/weber-bar-b-kettle-charcoal-bbq-57cm-15982670

It seems to be much the same shape as the webers I've seen and used in the past but I wanted to check before I recommended it to him. 

 

Seems there was a problem with a huge chunk of the internet that was causing problems with loads of website including amazon, the guardian, the uk government etc and also smartfire it seems. all back up and running now it seems.

@IcefeverThis is looking excellent! 

Hi all, 

First time posting for a while, been a busy year for me so far and I've not had much chance to do any smokes but today I'm doing a bug pork joint for my neighbour. Using my SmartFire with my gen 1 Callow (with modded firebasket courtesy of @Wade).

I was hoping to be able to monitor things in a browser as I have done before but the webapp seems to not be working, I'm just getting a 503 error and strangely the SmartFire website is also not loading properly for me. Does anyone know if it is still possible to monitor via a web browser?