*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

Brian?

fitz wrote: »

Tried my first overnight cook with the Kamado Joe at the weekend. 3.1kg, full skin on bone in pork shoulder.

Used a melted butter/dijon mustard/brown sugar slather, then rubbed with the espresso chilli rub recommended before on here.
Set the fire, got the temp to about 240F and put the shoulder in at about 9pm. After a couple of small vent adjustments, to make sure the temp was stabilized around 240 and holding, I set the alarms on my ThermoPro wireless thermometer, and kept an eye on the grill temp for another while before hitting the hay.

Woke up the following morning, check the temps on the ThermoPro from the leaba...the grill temp still maintaining around 240, and the internal temp of the meat reading around the 180.

Hit the magic 203F at lunchtime.
Left to rest, then took off the skin, stuck that on a cooling rack over a casserole dish half filled with boiling water and put that in the oven on on full blast for 15 minutes to make crackling.

Everything turned out great.
The ThermoPro is a fantastic piece of kit, no more going out to check temps, it really makes life easy. Between it and the temp stability of the KJ, I wouldn't be at all worried about leaving a cook overnight again.

One small question. Do you always do a shoulder skin on? I always take the skin off in the beliefs it lets the smoke flavour penetrate the meat more.

stimpson

marko93 wrote: »

Would €100 get me something better or will I have to invest a bigger amount ? :P

TBH, spending extra won't improve your cook - best to start with a reasonable grill and work on your technique.

newlands.ie have a 47cm weber for €99, or there is a used one on adverts for €20. I'd be buying that and spending the balance on meat.

OldBean

Brian? wrote: »

I always take the skin off in the beliefs it lets the smoke flavour penetrate the meat more.

I'd be of the same opinion, you're left with one side minus bark/smoke.

I always skin it, cut the skin into strips and pop them in the oven with olive oil and salt for an hour. Serve with liberal vinegar.

stimpson wrote: »

TBH, spending extra won't improve your cook - best to start with a reasonable grill and work on your technique.

newlands.ie have a 47cm weber for €99, or there is a used one on adverts for €20. I'd be buying that and spending the balance on meat.

Yep, get the one for 20 quid, and put the money left towards some good meat, charcoal, and a chimney starter.

marko93

Thanks! I'll check out the weber on adverts, appreciate the advice

BBQTipp

Brian
Skin off and the butcher does a better job, ask for it to roast for crackling. You need something to fuel you in a long, low & slow.

Rub works much better with skin off.

Cocoon

I done a few racks of ribs yesterday evening on the minimax using a dry rub, cooked for 5 hours at 225f.
Turned out real well.

oleras

I ordered my kamado Joe on Sunday, item was still sitting awaiting dispatch this morning, i fired off a mail asking why the holdup, they come back to me saying they undercharged me shipping and its going to be another £70.

I told them forget about it, makes very little saving and to refund me. I will go with outdoor.ie now. Pity they couldn't have told me Monday. :mad:

fitz

Brian? wrote: »

One small question. Do you always do a shoulder skin on? I always take the skin off in the beliefs it lets the smoke flavour penetrate the meat more.

Skin off and trimming the fat will give you more bark, for sure, but I'm happy to sacrifice bark for more moist meat tbh. I found leaving the skin on and cooking skin side up means the fat under the skin renders down into the meat, self basting, basically. Wasn't unhappy with the level of smoke penetration either. If I got a shoulder without skin on, great, rub away, bark central, happy days. If I happen to pick one up skin on, I'm not bothered removing it, it has its own benefits, and imo, bark can be overrated...I'm looking for melt in the mouth meat, so that extra fat is probably just more to my taste.

fitz

oleras wrote: »

I ordered my kamado Joe on Sunday, item was still sitting awaiting dispatch this morning, i fired off a mail asking why the holdup, they come back to me saying they undercharged me shipping and its going to be another £70.

I told them forget about it, makes very little saving and to refund me. I will go with outdoor.ie now. Pity they couldn't have told me Monday. :mad:

Man, that type of sh*t service pisses me right off... hopefully you don't have to wait too much longer...be interested to hear how you get on with it!

Brian?

BBQTipp wrote: »

Brian
Skin off and the butcher does a better job, ask for it to roast for crackling. You need something to fuel you in a long, low & slow.

Rub works much better with skin off.

I've always done it skin off. I was surprised to see it done skin on.

fitz

Rub on a big hunk of meat doesn't penetrate enough to add flavor, it's just there to form bark, so it doesn't really matter if there's skin on or off if you don't care about bark formation.

surball

Cocoon wrote: »

I done a few racks of ribs yesterday evening on the minimax using a dry rub, cooked for 5 hours at 225f.
Turned out real well.

Out of interest did you find the ribs turned out a little dry? Reason I ask is that I did ribs on my large egg and I found they came out tasty, with a nice smoke ring, but they were a bit dry. They did come off the bone nicely. I used similar duration and temperature. I also used a tray of water. I put a rub on mine and found that there was t a whole lot of bark. Any advice you or anyone else can offer?

OldBean

I find thermometers pretty unreliable when it comes to ribs.

For baby back ribs, I'd give 3 hours at 225f, or 8-11 for spare depending on size. It's also dependant on how fatty/meaty they are, and how even the cut is.

I could be remembering incorrectly, but is there an issue with spraying inside the ceramic smokers?

I'll start spraying them as soon as the bark is formed with either cider vinegar, Worcestershire or a combination of both.

On the bark note, if you're finding trouble getting a good bark, don't be afraid use something as simple as water or cider vinegar to make the surface of the meat stickier when you're applying the rub, or go as far as using good old French's US mustard, and rub that in before you start rubbing the spices in. 95% of the mustard flavour will be gone by the time it's ready to eat.

exaisle

Not sure if anybody has mentioned them yet, but the BBQ Pit Boys on Youtube are great for recipes and techniques..

MaceFace

surball wrote: »

Out of interest did you find the ribs turned out a little dry? Reason I ask is that I did ribs on my large egg and I found they came out tasty, with a nice smoke ring, but they were a bit dry. They did come off the bone nicely. I used similar duration and temperature. I also used a tray of water. I put a rub on mine and found that there was t a whole lot of bark. Any advice you or anyone else can offer?

I done 8 baby ribs over the weekend in one batch. Used Bobby Flays Rib Rub. Cook @225 for maybe 4 hours. Then wrapped each individually in foil with apple juice for another hour. Finally, another 30 mins out of the foil but basted in a good lashing of KC Sauce. Lovely and moist and a beautiful bark.

Will post some pics later.

lordstilton

OldBean wrote: »

I find thermometers pretty unreliable when it comes to ribs.

For baby back ribs, I'd give 3 hours at 225f, or 8-11 for spare depending on size. It's also dependant on how fatty/meaty they are, and how even the cut is.

I could be remembering incorrectly, but is there an issue with spraying inside the ceramic smokers?

I'll start spraying them as soon as the bark is formed with either cider vinegar, Worcestershire or a combination of both.

On the bark note, if you're finding trouble getting a good bark, don't be afraid use something as simple as water or cider vinegar to make the surface of the meat stickier when you're applying the rub, or go as far as using good old French's US mustard, and rub that in before you start rubbing the spices in. 95% of the mustard flavour will be gone by the time it's ready to eat.

8 hours for ribs?? Even the thickest of St Louis cut would only take me 5 hours at 225..baby back around 3...i crutch with Apple juice for an hour to keep my ribs moist

OldBean

As is Aaron Franklin's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/BBQwithFranklin

surball

Does anyone have recommendations for store bought bbq sauce?

Brian?

surball wrote: »

Does anyone have recommendations for store bought bbq sauce?

Don't buy it in a shop?

OldBean

It's easy enough put together basic BBQ sauces, especially if you have American mustard, some ketchup, cider vinegar, mayo and some basic spices - You've the means to make a southern Carolina style, Alabama style and a traditional BBQ sauce. Takes 10 mins at most.

I've never come across anything great in shops here, and there's not much outside of the realm of sweet, molasses & tomato based brown sauces. Sweet Baby Ray's and Stubbs being two of the better ones, but not my thing.

When I'm in the US, I stock up on 'Rub Some Butt's mustard based sauce, Wholefoods do an amazing Carolina vinegar sauce and then some of the BBQ places make their own.

I picked up a brisket on the bone earlier on in the week, giving me a thin fatty brisket and smoked beef ribs. Before & after below:

Rub was just salt and coarsely ground black pepper, should have used more. Put into the WSM for 5 hours over oak, until it hit stall, then wrapped in foil and sprayed with cider vinegar and worcestershire, and left back in there for about another 4 hours, before pulling it out at 195, wrapping in foil and putting into a preheated oven at 50-60c until herself came home. Hit the 205 mark in there. Lovely.

The Hill Billy

surball wrote: »

Does anyone have recommendations for store bought bbq sauce?

Check out this recent thread.

Dubl07

BBQ chimney starters are half price in Argos at the moment. €8. I've one on reserve, but have any of you tried it?

unklerosco

Dubl07 wrote: »

BBQ chimney starters are half price in Argos at the moment. 8. I've one on reserve, but have any of you tried it?

The weber ones are quicker and easier to handle than these.. And will last longer. I've had both.. Had my weber one for 6yrs n it's be out in the rain, hail n snow n still good as new..

vicwatson

surball wrote: »

Does anyone have recommendations for store bought bbq sauce?

TESCO own brand American and Tennessee BBQ sauces are very nice, and only €1.34 per bottle

Dubl07

Dubl07 wrote: »

BBQ chimney starters are half price in Argos at the moment. €8. I've one on reserve, but have any of you tried it?

unklerosco wrote: »

The weber ones are quicker and easier to handle than these.. And will last longer. I've had both.. Had my weber one for 6yrs n it's be out in the rain, hail n snow n still good as new..

The Weber ones are €27 and that's a bit much for what is, to us at least, an experiment. Perhaps I, like you, will trade up next year. This is only to use for a portable bbq. Our main one is gas.

unklerosco

Dubl07 wrote: »

The Weber ones are €27 and that's a bit much for what is, to us at least, an experiment. Perhaps I, like you, will trade up next year. This is only to use for a portable bbq. Our main one is gas.

Check B&Q, I think they've 25/30% off all BBQ/Outdoor bits..

BaZmO*

surball wrote: »

Does anyone have recommendations for store bought bbq sauce?

Cattleman's BBQ is amazing. Superquinn used to have it but I haven't seen it in years.

fitz

Pizza night on the kamado

maximum12

Hi, I have a bog standard Weber original kettle and would like to get a more adventurous with it. Any recommended links for recipe ideas? What do you guys recommend for monitoring temperature ?

I also have a gas burner which these days I use exclusively for pizza. If trying a pizza on the Weber do you just aim for maximum heat ? Is there any point adding wood to the charcoal ?

maximum12

fitz wrote: »

Pizza night on the kamado

nice, is there a reason you have two pizza stones ?