Leggy

33 minutes ago, Tim E said:

 I used probably 3 of the larger pieces spit in to 3 each. 

I wonder if that's where I went wrong. I was just sticking the logs on my fire bed, maybe I need to split my logs up?!

That's given me something to think about.

Glad you're having fun with it though Tim! 😁

1 minute ago, davew said:

Trees and not good in South London, and I would get a Police call if i hacked down a tree anywhere

Its a choice and each to their own, coals, wood, oak... there are no rules

Coals all the way here

Haha! That's true! I agree with each to their own. You just read/watch so much on the internet and people have so many different options/opinions.

Yeah, think I'll stick to coals myself for a while.

Yeah, I've stocked up on lumpwood for a cook tomorrow, got some apple chunks for smoking but I've now got a bag of Oak logs I'll be doing nothing with haha.

It's a shame, all these videos you watch rave about cooking with just wood. I've heard somewhere about kiln dried being too dry? And causing problems. Supposedly natural wood left to dry over a longer period is the way to go, guess it's easier of you live in Texas eh?!

7 hours ago, davew said:

Interesting, I never got on with oak one bit, I tried planks, flooring, cut chunks, split logs, saw dust, chips the lot I have tried it. Smells great mind

Burns out fast, and soaked to smoke I found over power my chicken, even half a tea spoon was too much. Guess in the end I just never liked it

Be interesting to follow this feed

I'm in full agreement with you here. I tried these logs on a couple of cooks, just couldn't get on with on with them at all.

I was previously cooking with birch, but looking at going back to back to just charcoal and chunks now.

Me and the Mrs will try to have 'Bbq' food at most places we go to eat. 

A couple of years ago we went to Plymouth, there's a bar called the ' Blues Bar & Grill' on the harbour and they served the single best chicken and ribs I've ever had...ever.

I'm looking forward to the world getting back to normal and getting to one of the tailgates, they look amazing!

Adam.

Out of curiosity, what would something like that be worth second hand?

I'm guessing something like that is around £400-500 new?

Adam.

12 hours ago, Tomcat said:

Do any of the above do a "proper" boston butt cut? I find that most of the cuts are cut on the 6th rib while i believe that boston butt is shorter?

I have tried in the past greatbritishmeat online and i think this is the proper cut and was actually cleaned up nicely although currently is not in stock

Sherwood do a huge 6kg Boston Butt, also recently bought a 4kg Butt from Hook'n'Block.

I recently bought some from a company in Scotland on Ebay, worked out at £24 for somewhere between 30-40 kg of Oak. Was delivered in a couple of days. Not had chance to try it yet.

There website is cheaper but haven't looked at shipping costs.

https://www.reservoirlogs.co.uk/oak/

The name of the company got me 😂

If you enjoyed the cook and it tasted nice, I'd say that was a win!

Does look tasty!

1 minute ago, David said:

Turned up today with good temperature at 3 Degrees C. Going to smoke tomorrow. Will post progression in hot smoked section.

Please do! That looks gorgeous!

5 minutes ago, AvfcJosh said:

Hi ice

I'm from the Walsall area near IKEA 

Welcome Josh,

Not too far from me, I'm in Moxley, few mins from Junction 10.

Morning all,

So yesterday I had a go at pulled pork again. I did some last week at it was the best, it pulled but was a little dry.

After some recommendations from your lovely selves about where to buy meat, I went with Sherwoods. Bought a 6kg Boston Butt, some Meaty ribs and a small brisket for burnt ends (Will be using SM's guide for that!).

So got up at the crack of dawn to prep and start my fire, meat went on at 7am and came off for rest at 14:30, Pulled at 15:30. Longest cook I've done o far which was "interesting" in the fine British wind we had yesterday haha!

But I kept up with spritzing and wrapped her at 165f, cooked until 200f then rested for an hour. Simple salt, pepper and paprika dry rub, spritzed with apple juice.

I was very impressed with the results, lovely and soft, shredded very easily and even the kids finishes their plates at dinner time, so a win all round I think!!

This meat was huge, took up most of my grill space in the BBQ, but glad I had a go at a bigger piece, taught me.alot about maintaining temps and how inaccurate my thermometers are on my BBQ lol.

Cheers for reading, 

Adam.

1 minute ago, David said:

As others, I use Gridiron who are linked with Taste Tradition and have been using for a few years now. - If you join their stakeholders group you get notified of rare breed roasts etc. They are based in Ripon area.

Another in the Ripon area that I use is Farmison. 

With both I have never had any issues with quality, delivery slots or temperature at point of delivery and I have bought charcuterie, whole briskets, baby backs etc of them.

Hope that helps

D.

 

 

Thanks, it's always nice to have a few options and when people go back again and again to suppliers, I believe that says a lot!

Will try and use a few different suppliers.

Cheers,

Adam.

48 minutes ago, Wade said:

It is much tougher to maintain an even temperature across the cooking chamber of these smaller offset smokers than the larger ones often see in the US videos. There are several things that can help though.

One of the biggest challenges is the proximity of the meat to the opening between the cooking chamber and the fore box. This results in one end of the meat becoming significantly hotter than the other - and significantly hotter than the lid thermometer reading shows. To reduce this, place a baffle inside the cooking chamber in front of the firebox gap to deflect the heat opwards before it comes in contact with the meat. This can be as simple as a small brick wrapped in tinfoil placed on the cooking grate.

To reduce he effect of any heat gradient on the meat, place it at the far end of the cooking chamber and turn it regularly to even out the cooking. It is good to mop/spritz it when you turn it too to keep the surface moist. You can use a sauce or even just water.

After the first 3 hours it is good to foil wrap for the rest of the cook to retain moisture. It is the law of diminishing returns and most of the smoke flavour will have been imparted within the first 3 hours. If you are looking for a firm bark then unwrap it again for the last hour.

Smaller pieces of meat need more careful handling that larger pieces. Regardless of the size, the tenderness is dependant not only on the temperature the meat reaches but also the length of time it remains there. It takes time for the heat to break down the collagen into sugars. The smaller pieces of meat will get to the desired temperature quicker but then they will also start to dry out quicker before the desired texture can be reached.

Absolutely solid advice, thank you very much.

I've got a Boston Butt coming tomorrow, so I'll re-read this before I light my next fire and make my adjustments. Thanks again!

Cheers,

Adam.

Yeah, I know what you're saying. When I've done a few more, I'll hopefully get a better feel for it, but I agree, I enjoy using my temp probes.

And it's always nice to have an excuse to buy more meat haha!

1 minute ago, hoogl said:

Hi  I'd say for wrapping internal Temp is worthwhile watching, a decent probe can make a difference of when to do what. I always use one but I like my numbers. 🤓

Thanks for the welcome!

Yeah, literally everything I've watched or read says 'Wrap at this temp' I'm happy to have a bit of guidance, I'm nowhere near telling by sight or feel yet haha.

37 minutes ago, Wade said:

That is one of the good things about coming to one of the smoking weekends - we can cook that slab of meat that we have always dreamed of cooking without having our other halves standing behind us and tutting as we buy it. .

"It has to be enough for 30 dear" you say as you justify handing over the money. Little does he/she know that everyone will be saying the same and there will still be a lot brought home for the freezer. At least you will be able to take home a selection from a lot of different smokes...

Those pictures have made my mouth water! Haha!

I'll definitely give some of those places a try! Hopefully I get the opportunity to come to one of the weekends as well.

Cheers,

Adam.

Hey Guys and Gals,

As above, where do you all get your meat from? I've been to butchers, meat vans and supermarkets mostly. But more recently I'm looking at ordering from Online. With this quarantine in place for the foreseeable and fortunately I'm still get paid, thinking of splashing out a bit.

Found a site (https://www.hooknblock.co.uk/) looks like they do more of the larger cuts and some other interesting things.

Sorry if this had been posted in the wrong place or asked before.

Cheers, Adam.

Thanks for the welcome!

Yeah, I currently do most of my cooking with the offset method, but sometimes you just can't beat cooking over a flame eh?! 

I intend to do a lot of reading on here, see what the general consensus is on wrapping. I did some pork the other day, I wrapped that but I didn't keep it moist during the cook, but I'll know for the next one!

Cheers,

Adam

Good afternoon all!

I'm new to the forum, but I've been BBQ'ing for a little while. Found you guys after the wife showed me a post about the BBQ meet you'll be doing in Sutton soon.

Always enjoyed being In front of a grill. A couple of years ago I bought A Chargriller Wrangler and the SFB to bolt on.

Had a few goes at smoking and cooking low and slow, had a couple of successes and a couple of failures, but still enjoying it whatever the outcome.

My biggest problem is getting the times right, when to wrap etc. I think it's because I've watched so many American videos where they use massive chunks of meat, found the smaller cuts we get over here cook a lot faster. But, I'll get there.

Anyway, glad to be a part of this community. Hopefully I'll learn loads from you guys and gals!

Cheers for reading,

Adam.