*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

Brian?

Neyite wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a BBQ book that explains the basics of a creating good charcoal BBQ for a beginner?

I've someone who loves to barbecue but needs to learn from scratch because they burn everything on it. Something with a few nice recipes would be good too.

Weber Way to Grill.

But online, amazingribs.com is your only man.

budgemook

Brian? wrote: »

Weber Way to Grill.

But online, amazingribs.com is your only man.

Yeah - for regular / indoor cooking I rarely venture past some of my cookery books, I find them to be better than googling for recipe's, but for barbecue I find sites like amazing ribs and some YouTube channels to be best. Not sure why but I think it could be because I don't like American based sites for regular cooking whereas the American sites are best for barbecue.

neris

Captain Red Beard wrote: »

Meathead.

Would 2nd that.

budgemook

Picked up a picanha yesterday, going to cook it tomorrow. Anyone have any good recipes for it? To steak or not to steak...

Planning to do some ribs to start so bbq will be low and slow to begin with.

neris

budgemook wrote: »

Picked up a picanha yesterday, going to cook it tomorrow. Anyone have any good recipes for it? To steak or not to steak...

Planning to do some ribs to start so bbq will be low and slow to begin with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QS62vLKPE4

budgemook

Perfect, thanks Neris! I'll grab some photos tomorrow and share. Excited now.

I never would have thought to do it over direct heat but that fat cap looks savage.

heroics

Pork shoulder done on the Weber kettle today. Amazing ribs Memphis dust rub. Hickory chunks for the smoke. Took just over 8 hours. Took it to 201f on the meater. Checked with the thermopen in a couple of spots and was between 200-208f. Was really tender and juicy.

I noticed the Temp on the lid thermometer was a solid 250 for the first couple of hours but on the meater showed 225. Then after I wrapped it the meater went the other way and showed 300 where the lid was about 275. Think it was the snake had moved around to the side of the shoulder that the meater was stuck into.

budgemook

Cooked the picanha according to the video shared above and was pretty happy with it. I think I would use the heat deflector next time though rather than over direct heat as the fat dripping down was causing a lot of smoke and making it difficult to keep the temp down. I was a little worried that the meat was going to be tough but once I let it have a good rest and sliced the meat really think it was melt in the mouth. Good job I recently learned how to sharpen my knives properly :pac:

Some nice ribs too.

john jameson

budgemook wrote: »

Cooked the picanha according to the video shared above and was pretty happy with it. I think I would use the heat deflector next time though rather than over direct heat as the fat dripping down was causing a lot of smoke and making it difficult to keep the temp down. I was a little worried that the meat was going to be tough but once I let it have a good rest and sliced the meat really think it was melt in the mouth. Good job I recently learned how to sharpen my knives properly :pac:

Some nice ribs too.

That looks absolutely amazing ðŸ‘

john jameson

Not as fancy as some but still ya cant beat a lamb chop off the grill🥰🥰🥰

The chan chan man

A couple of really thick 30 day dry aged fillet steaks on the grillgrates.

cubatahavana

john jameson wrote: »

Not as fancy as some but still ya cant beat a lamb chop off the grill🥰🥰🥰

No need fancy when you got lamb chops!

Holy Diver

Did a turkey leg on Saturday.

Dry rub, one chunk of hickory. 2hrs at 325f

Tasted as good as it looks 😊

Leftwaffe

Cleaned out my Weber Kettle in prep for the finer weather. Never used it all winter.

Are there any cheap options available for the briquettes and lumpwood at the moment?? Want to stock up.

thejaguar

Holy Diver wrote: »

Did a turkey leg on Saturday.

Dry rub, one chunk of hickory. 2hrs at 325f

Tasted as good as it looks ��

You've made my day - I have a turkey leg in the freezer since Christmas. I hadn't quite decided what I was going to do with it.

That decision is now emphatically made.

Can I ask what the rub is? And this might be a stupid question, but what's the tinfoil for?

Holy Diver

thejaguar wrote: »

You've made my day - I have a turkey leg in the freezer since Christmas. I hadn't quite decided what I was going to do with it.

That decision is now emphatically made.

Can I ask what the rub is? And this might be a stupid question, but what's the tinfoil for?

I used a mild piri piri and herb rub with a little lemon juice. You could try something similar or maybe meathead’s Simon and Garfunkel rub.

The tinfoil is optional... keeps the ends from burning!

Iguarantee

Leftwaffe wrote: »

Cleaned out my Weber Kettle in prep for the finer weather. Never used it all winter.

Are there any cheap options available for the briquettes and lumpwood at the moment?? Want to stock up.

I got 2x 15kg bags of "Alderline" alder lumpwood for e46 delivered from Howbert & Mays, e20 per bag + e6 delivery, arrived in two days (link wont work for me): LINK.

Tried it tonight; lights very quickly, burned for >3 hours, nice clean flavour from the food (compared to charcoal briquettes at least).

The Weber stuff is e20+ per bag for 10kg.

thejaguar

In case it's any use to anyone - Tesco in Clarehall are selling 4kg bags of charcoal for 60c.

Not a huge amount left, maybe 10 bags or so.

DaSchmo

Hi all

I'm by no means new to indirect cooking, I would use some form of indirect about 80% of the time on my weber and another charcoal bbq I have. This week I tried something new - apple wood chunks. Up till now I never used wood at all just charcoal.

I placed two weber applewood chunks onto my lit pile of lumpwood and then cooked a pork steak for about 35 minutes with all the vents open.

The chunks seemed to burn out pretty quickly, by the time I went to turn the meat at 15 minutes in they were gone

The meat tasted pretty smoky in fairness - almost too smoky, I couldn't taste a whole lot else to be honest although it was not unpleasant.

The question I would have is a) should I have used less wood? Maybe one chunk? and b) is it a good idea to put wood on top of roaring hot lumpwood? Maybe should I have put it beside the pile of charcoal or wrapped it in foil with holes in it?

Or should I even be using wood at all for short hot indirect cooks? Looks like it's primary use is adding flavour to long low and slow cooks using briquettes (not lump).

Any advice from those more knowledgeable about using wood would be appreciated!

The Nal

DaSchmo wrote: »

Hi all

I'm by no means new to indirect cooking, I would use some form of indirect about 80% of the time on my weber and another charcoal bbq I have. This week I tried something new - apple wood chunks. Up till now I never used wood at all just charcoal.

I placed two weber applewood chunks onto my lit pile of lumpwood and then cooked a pork steak for about 35 minutes with all the vents open.

The chunks seemed to burn out pretty quickly, by the time I went to turn the meat at 15 minutes in they were gone

The meat tasted pretty smoky in fairness - almost too smoky, I couldn't taste a whole lot else to be honest although it was not unpleasant.

The question I would have is a) should I have used less wood? Maybe one chunk? and b) is it a good idea to put wood on top of roaring hot lumpwood? Maybe should I have put it beside the pile of charcoal or wrapped it in foil with holes in it?

Or should I even be using wood at all for short hot indirect cooks? Looks like it's primary use is adding flavour to long low and slow cooks using briquettes (not lump).

Any advice from those more knowledgeable about using wood would be appreciated!

Maybe try chips instead of chunks. I used to over smoke aswell. You really just want to give it a kiss of smoke as opposed to a big hug.

mossym

chips will burn even quicker than chunks, you can soak them overnight in which case they'll burn slower. you could also look at a seperate container for the wood chunks, you'll find them at any good bbq retaielr, or make it out of tinfoil, but the idea is to prevent teh direvt heat from combusting the wood and letting it smoulder/smoke instead. something like this

https://aroomoutside.ie/collections/pro-q/products/proq-stainless-smoker-box


depending on how long you are cooking, i'd tend to go for even bigger pieces of wood that will burn slowly for a while. but i'm using a KJ and do low slow cooks, so i want the smoke for an extended period. the other thing is you don't want thick dark smoke. you'll get a lot of that when you light first, you want light smoke for flavour, cooking in the heavy smoke at the start is not going to give a decent flavour

Brian?

mossym wrote: »

chips will burn even quicker than chunks, you can soak them overnight in which case they'll burn slower. you could also look at a seperate container for the wood chunks, you'll find them at any good bbq retaielr, or make it out of tinfoil, but the idea is to prevent teh direvt heat from combusting the wood and letting it smoulder/smoke instead. something like this

https://aroomoutside.ie/collections/pro-q/products/proq-stainless-smoker-box


depending on how long you are cooking, i'd tend to go for even bigger pieces of wood that will burn slowly for a while. but i'm using a KJ and do low slow cooks, so i want the smoke for an extended period. the other thing is you don't want thick dark smoke. you'll get a lot of that when you light first, you want light smoke for flavour, cooking in the heavy smoke at the start is not going to give a decent flavour

Soaking wood chips is actually a waste of time, the water barely penetrates and evaporates off almost immediately.

Ned01

DaSchmo wrote: »

Hi all

I'm by no means new to indirect cooking, I would use some form of indirect about 80% of the time on my weber and another charcoal bbq I have. This week I tried something new - apple wood chunks. Up till now I never used wood at all just charcoal.

I placed two weber applewood chunks onto my lit pile of lumpwood and then cooked a pork steak for about 35 minutes with all the vents open.

The chunks seemed to burn out pretty quickly, by the time I went to turn the meat at 15 minutes in they were gone

The meat tasted pretty smoky in fairness - almost too smoky, I couldn't taste a whole lot else to be honest although it was not unpleasant.

The question I would have is a) should I have used less wood? Maybe one chunk? and b) is it a good idea to put wood on top of roaring hot lumpwood? Maybe should I have put it beside the pile of charcoal or wrapped it in foil with holes in it?

Or should I even be using wood at all for short hot indirect cooks? Looks like it's primary use is adding flavour to long low and slow cooks using briquettes (not lump).

Any advice from those more knowledgeable about using wood would be appreciated!

I would try with one lump of wood. I never add more than one at a time.

mossym

Brian? wrote: »

Soaking wood chips is actually a waste of time, the water barely penetrates and evaporates off almost immediately.

i don't bother soaking myself, manly as i haven't used chips in a long time, i think they are a waste of time, but if the poster goes searching he'll see lots of conflicting views on this. you could well be right, and i problably shouldn't post it. but op if you do some searching, you'll see lots of recommendations to soak chips overnight before using.

The Nal

I find soaking, even for an hour, alleviates some of the sharp burn taste and gives of a more gently flavour. Dry wood burns very quickly and doesnt produce as nice a taste I find.

Leftwaffe

With the wood lumps I just split them using a hammer and chisel or a saw. The lumps were just too big and food too Smokey. Chips burn off too quick in my experience, little experience that is.

budgemook

Pizza is on the menu this weekend. Though I am ashamed to say it my pizza making over the winter has been in the kitchen. That said, my dough has come on leaps and bounds since last using the barbecue so I am excited to see how it turns out tomorrow. Will be getting the dough fermenting tonight and am really looking forward to it.

foodaholic

budgemook wrote: »

Pizza is on the menu this weekend. Though I am ashamed to say it my pizza making over the winter has been in the kitchen. That said, my dough has come on leaps and bounds since last using the barbecue so I am excited to see how it turns out tomorrow. Will be getting the dough fermenting tonight and am really looking forward to it.

whats your dough recipe ?

heroics

Leftwaffe wrote: »

With the wood lumps I just split them using a hammer and chisel or a saw. The lumps were just too big and food too Smokey. Chips burn off too quick in my experience, little experience that is.

I’ve started using chunks instead of the chips as well. Chips just burned off too quick. If doing long cooks I’ll use maybe 2 chunks.

Iguarantee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOctn85Y-nk

Food for thought.