*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

j timber

Looking for some advice please, im a long time reader and would like to try smoking a joint of meat.
I have a gas bbq with half grill and half flat plate(3 burner)
Would say a fillet of ham be too much to try cook/smoke?
Any suggestions welcome.thanks.

Markcheese

Dunno is it a great idea to start with hot smoking a ham...
Has your barbecue got a lid ? And a temperature gauge? You should be able to stick some wet wood chips in a tray to char and smoke while cooking a joint over indirect heat... ( maybe on the grill while the heat is on under the solid part) ... it mightnt be perfect but if you can get the temperature low and steady ,it should work ..

j timber

Yes it has a lid and gauge but it only tells you warm,hot, very hot!
If i was to put say the ham on the flat side and use indirect heat would i put the ham in a baking tray to stop it sticking to flat plate?
By putting the soaked wood chips in tinfoil and piercing holes for smoke to exit would i get the desired affect?
How long cooking time roughly?
I have a meat thermometer and want to make sure it cooked fully

curiousb

j timber wrote: »

Yes it has a lid and gauge but it only tells you warm,hot, very hot!
If i was to put say the ham on the flat side and use indirect heat would i put the ham in a baking tray to stop it sticking to flat plate?
By putting the soaked wood chips in tinfoil and piercing holes for smoke to exit would i get the desired affect?
How long cooking time roughly?
I have a meat thermometer and want to make sure it cooked fully

Put it in a baking tray to capture the juices. Use the wood chips as you describe. Set it to warm and check it after about 2-3 hours and test the temperature with the probe. It probably won't be done at that stage but good to know what temperature it is at You are aiming for about 75C I think. When it gets to around that (might be 4-5 hours but hard to know without an accurate gauge), take it off, cover it in tinfoil and let it rest for about 30 minutes before cutting.

j timber

Thanks for that.would it b any advantage to have apple juice in the baking tray to keep meat moist and should i baste it every so often??
Looks like il try this tomorrow.thanks

Markcheese

I'd still be wary of hot smoking ham... i'd probably boil it first (maybe in coke) so it wouldnt be very salty ,then finish it on the barbeque...
I think i'd just stick the damp chips on the solid side with the gas on , and the meat on the grill side with gas off ...
But i'm speaking from zero experience here...

TheKBizzle

I've smoked loads of joints on a gas bbq over indirect heat. I put the soaked wood chips in an old can of beans and heat them on one burner. I'd baste it rather than leave it sitting in juice. Just top up wood chips after they burn out. After 3 hours the joint probably won't take on anymore smoke flavour so you could finish in slow cooker or in oven.

OldBean

Markcheese wrote: »

I'd still be wary of hot smoking ham... i'd probably boil it first (maybe in coke) so it wouldnt be very salty ,then finish it on the barbeque...

I'd put it in a pot of cold water overnight to try draw out some of the overpowering salt flavours, possibly changing the water.

I've had a hot smoked ham hock in a restaurant called Parts & Labor in Baltimore which you generally need to order when you're booking your table. It's cured, hot smoked for 12 hours, left to cool, glazed with honey and mustard then deep fried. The last part is overkill, but does add a nice sweetness/crispy texture to it, but the smoke/salt flavours work really well - I was pretty surprised.

oleras

oleras wrote: »

Wont have time tomorrow, looks like Wednesday will be cheeky !



Butcher trimmed them up and all for me.

Just under 6 hours.

OldBean

Nice!

fitz

Serious smoke ring...what wood did you use, Oleras? We're you happy with how they turned out versus your usual braise?
Picking up some more tomorrow to do on Saturday, will post pics as I go....

oleras

fitz wrote: »

Serious smoke ring...what wood did you use, Oleras? We're you happy with how they turned out versus your usual braise?
Picking up some more tomorrow to do on Saturday, will post pics as I go....

It was beech, i got a box of samples last year when i got the ProQ, they are just chips, i soak a bowl full in water before hand. Need to get me some proper chunks.

For the buns they were perfect, nice crunchy bark, if i was planning a "Sunday dinner" with mash and such i would braise them in red wine.

fitz

Beef cheeks started this morning...
Slathered with a mix of melted butter, Dijon mustard and brown sugar, then applied rubs.
First one is the coffee rub you guys recommended, middle one was kosher salt and pepper, little one on the end was smoked sea salt and pepper.

They're smoking away now at 275F, got some Weber Mesquite chunks at the Orchard in Celbridge yesterday, and they're definitely producing more smoke than the chips I'd been using.

oleras

Im gona try the coffee rub mentioned above soon, sounds very interesting.


Pics of the finished product fitz !

fitz

Smallest cheek done, delicious.

fitz

Second hunk of nom.
Flavor is great, but I think the lower temp, longer cook last week was better. Will do cheeks about 250F in future I think.

niallam

All put together, still got to do the spraying, season it and cook on it so will post up the first results

salmocab

niallam wrote: »

All put together, still got to do the spraying, season it and cook on it so will post up the first results

Nice and you can use the cement mixer to make sauce.

OldBean

salmocab wrote: »

Nice and you can use the cement mixer to make sauce.

Stick some spikes in it and it'll pull your pork for you.

mickc

Finally picked up a weber mastertouch.

With weak sterling and a sale on in the UK I got it for approx €240 including delivery to Ireland.

https://www.keengardener.co.uk/bbq-barbecue/charcoal-bbqs/weber-charcoal-bbq.html

http://www.bbqworld.co.uk/weber-barbecues/charcoal/weber-charcoal-bbq.asp

Huge savings compared to €389 rrp in Ireland!

beertons

That's a great price mick, the urge to click purchase is insane.

dudara

Smoked beef short ribs yesterday on my Weber kettle using the snake method. Very pleased with the outcome for a first go, and already thinking of improvements.

RasTa

Personally think it's worth splashing out on an Green Egg or a Joe. It will last a lifetime and you will make the savings on the heat retention when using less fuel for cooks.

niallam

Almost done
Removable stainless chimney and foldable stainless tray. Inside has stainless runners and tray with stainless mesh.
Have another one getting welded as I type with few minor adjustments, space for chopping board tray and few little touches like that.
Few little bits to finish and first cook this Saturday hopefully.

lordstilton

A thing of beauty

fitz

Steak (sirloin from Aldi) with caramelised onions, spuds and broad bean pesto.
Daycent Sunday dinner!

noby

So I picked up one of the kettle BBQs from Aldi a few weeks ago and got back into charcoal cooking (I had a gas one for a few years).
I also picked up a chimney starter - great little gadget.

I brought it with me for a week in Kerry last week, and had it lit almost every evening. The charcoal bag I picked up to bring with me was lumpwood as opposed to the briquettes I had been using previously.

What I found was that after 40 minutes or so the heat dissipated very quickly, to the point that you wouldn't sear anything on it. Should I be adding charcoal sooner to keep the heat up?

I could cook some chicken in directly in about 20 minutes or so, but if I tried to throw on a couple of steaks/burgers after that there wouldn't be enough heat to sear.

I'm still new at this, so still trying to figure out what works best.

stimpson

Lumpwood burns hotter and faster. Briquettes give a more even heat for longer.

I prefer Lumpwood for searing burgers, steaks etc. I prefer Briquettes for low and slow cooking. Weber do a long burning briquette that burns hot and lasts for over 2 hours.

SuprSi

So I bought a gas BBQ last week, a standard 4-burner with side plate from Argos. I've used it numerous times since, even cooking my breakfast sausages on it yesterday morning However, the documentation provided was very light and I have a few questions I'm hoping someone can help with.

This is what I bought

The BBQ itself has those upside down V-shaped covers over the gas flame, with empty space between and below them.

The first question I have is that, as this is a gas BBQ, how do I get my food to not just taste like it's been cooked in a gas oven? I mean, aside from the fact the food is being cooked from underneath, what's the difference? I had this idea in my head that I'd need some form of stone or something to generate smoke as that's how a normal BBQ adds flavour, right?

As mentioned, I've used it a good bit already, and quite a bit of food falls through the grills onto the V-shaped covers, which then burns to a crisp and produces smoke. It also occasionally catches fire though, producing flames that can last a few seconds to a minute or two (depending on how much falls). I'm not sure whether I should be leaving this burned food on the plates, or cleaning it off after every use?

Finally, food that doesn't fall on the covers falls to the bottom, where it is incinerated too. This needs to be cleaned out regularly enough to ensure it doesn't catch fire, but am I inhibiting the ability of the BBQ to add a BBQ flavour by removing this stuff?

So in summation, can a gas BBQ make food taste as if it was cooked on a charcoal BBQ, or are they just fundamentally different implements? I have enjoyed all the food I cooked on it (aside from the fish skewers I undercooked last night!) but I just want to be sure I'm getting the best out of it.

fitz

stimpson wrote: »

Lumpwood burns hotter and faster. Briquettes give a more even heat for longer.

I prefer Lumpwood for searing burgers, steaks etc. I prefer Briquettes for low and slow cooking. Weber do a long burning briquette that burns hot and lasts for over 2 hours.

This is where I find the Kamado excels. I got two 600F steak-searing cooks in the last two weekends mostly out of one load of lumpwood, with a just a handful of fresh lump added on the second cook. And the first cook even had a handful of charcoal from a pizza cook the week before.

The first ever cook we did was with crappy lumpwood from Woodie's, and still had no problem with a 16 hour low and slow whole pork shoulder cook. No topping up, and it didn't use a vast amount.

The restaurant grade lumpwood that comes in 12kg bags from woodfuel.ie is great stuff...worth a try for those struggling with keeping a lumpwood fire going. You get much bigger pieces of lump, not smaller shards like in the bags you get in Woodie's. The Woodfuel people are bang on too...

The one thing I'd say, don't be afraid of overfilling, you can always choke out the fire by closing the vents as soon as you're done cooking, and once everything cools down fully, you'll probably find that you'll be able to dust the ash off a lot of the bigger bits of lump for re-use.

Also worth noting that with good natural lumpwood there's no chemicals, so you don't need to wait for it to turn white before starting to cook like with briquettes...as soon as you hit the temp you need, get going!