*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

MaceFace

It was a full shoulder. Stalled at 158 for at least 8 hours.

Ned01

MaceFace wrote: »

So it didn't make any difference. A whole shoulder took 26 hours at 225f. Pita

I was talking to a butcher last week who told me a 'shoulder' in Ireland is without the leg and jowl meat so the full shoulder is only 4kg. Similar cut to a Boston butt in the US. It took me 10 hours to smoke it at 120c.

Did your one include the front leg?

oleras

MaceFace wrote: »

So it didn't make any difference. A whole shoulder took 26 hours at 225f. Pita

What went wrong??

oleras

Brian? wrote: »

26 hours??!!??!!

I do it in less than 10. How big was this shoulder.

MaceFace wrote: »

It was a full shoulder. Stalled at 158 for at least 8 hours.

oleras wrote: »

What went wrong??

A whole pig would be cooked in 12 hrs.

Something went wrong with your fire, stall should not have lasted 8hrs.

lordstilton

jesus that must be some shoulder...14hrs was the most i've ever had to do a full shoulder....did you not crutch when it stalled?

OldBean

For your sausage casings, McDonnells on Blackhall St in Stoneybatter have a pretty good selection. They're nice guys to boot, and the shop itself is pretty fascinating to browse around.

This is personal preference, but I really prefer beef meat in a BBQ sausage, usually along the lines of 80% beef, 20% pork fat. Some salt and black pepper in there and any other seasonings.

The morning I'm going to cook them, I'll boil them in a 50/50 beer to water ratio for about 20 minutes (get them up to 170 internal), then put them in a bowl with ice water to chill. As soon as they're cold enough, pop them in the fridge. Whenever you're good to cook them, they'll need about 45mins to 75mins on the smoker between 250f & 275f. Plenty of oak in the fire, and you should come out with some beautiful bright red smoked sausages.

OldBean

Photographic evidence

Brian?

MaceFace wrote: »

It was a full shoulder. Stalled at 158 for at least 8 hours.

Sorry, but that's simply not right. A whole hog takes less than that.

What did the shoulder weigh?

beertons

How do I get my temperature to drop on the Joe? It was at 290 when I put my brisket in, went away for the day, 200 when I got back. I think it was too hot at the beginning.

budgemook

Tried a spatchcock chicken on the Kamado Joe for dinner this evening and was quite happy with how it turned out. I saw on some forums that people disagree on whether it's best to use indirect heat or direct. I went with indirect. Cooked it for about 45 minutes at approx 380F and planned to increase the heat at the end to get the skin crispy but for some reason it took a long time to get hotter even though the vents were open so in the end it was probably 1h10 at 380. Was still very tasty with a nice mac and cheese, which had lovely crunchy bits in out of the Joe. Next time I might go to the effort of removing the heat deflector and flip the bird so that the skin sears a bit. Either that or figure out how to get it to heat up quicker.



Picture above not showing for some reason

oleras

Just use one deflector maybe ? That way you have a grate indirect and a grate over direct, you could even have the direct in a lower position.

budgemook

oleras wrote: »

Just use one deflector maybe ? That way you have a grate indirect and a grate over direct, you could even have the direct in a lower position.

Thought about that but half the grill might not be big enough for a chicken.

I cooked thighs a few weeks ago and did it exactly how you suggest. Worked well.

meeeeh

I do a lot of chicken on bbq (Webber) and spatchcock is usually first on direct heat for couple of turns and then off direct heat for about half of the cooking time. However I find spatchcock a bit cumbersome and easy to fall apart when turning, the beer can method would be by far my favorite for whole chicken on bbq. All you have to do is pivot it towards direct heat every so often so all sides are equally crispy.

I actually used the marinade in this recipe for some chicken tights I had in the fridge yesterday and it worked out brilliant. I haven't tried the method described yet.

https://www.weber.com/US/en/recipes/poultry/nutmeg-chicken-under-a-cast-iron-skillet

oleras

unklerosco wrote: »

Have the it coming in for a trial, looking at setting up as a distributor in Ireland for them myself, will see how it goes.

Well, what were your thoughts ? How did you get on with it, proper set it and forget it ? What did you cook ? Is it cheating ? :pac:

Johnnyhpipe

Anyone else use restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal? I have some which wasn't exactly cheap(!!) and the lumps are so big that its practically useless. The only way i can use it is to break them up with a hammer first... Any experience with this?

martinr5232

Johnnyhpipe wrote:

Anyone else use restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal? I have some which wasn't exactly cheap(!!) and the lumps are so big that its practically useless. The only way i can use it is to break them up with a hammer first... Any experience with this?

Yeah i found that too think ill go back to namchar when im done with this lot.

Brian?

Johnnyhpipe wrote: »

Anyone else use restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal? I have some which wasn't exactly cheap(!!) and the lumps are so big that its practically useless. The only way i can use it is to break them up with a hammer first... Any experience with this?

Why is it useless? How big are the lumps?

Johnnyhpipe

Brian? wrote: »

Why is it useless? How big are the lumps?

Most are around 5-6 inches wide in all directions. Its almost impossible to get it hot. When/if it does get hot, its almost like the wood is so dense that it doesnt burn through and instead forms a thin layer of ash around its surface and then goes out! I use a chimney starter which has been successful with everyother type of coal

budgemook

Agree that the restaurant grade is quite big. It takes a while to get to temp and then if you want to do something like a reverse sear it takes ages to get to the really high temp at the end. I'll try namchar next, or perhaps breaking up what I have left with a hammer as suggested above.

niallam

Pork belly burnt ends.
3.2kg full belly, plenty of fat to render
2 hours smoke, 2 hours wrapped and 15 mins to set BBQ sauce.
Result = Melt in the mouth pieces

MaceFace

Pork Belly. Look fantastic.
I've been looking at doing these for a while now, but not sure if I will be the only one who eats them as others will complain about it being just fat. How well do you think they would go down with someone who doesn't like fat on their meat?

Also, the local butchers sell with it on the bone. Were your's the same? I was thinking buying as is, separating ribs and cooking both.
You diced yours before cooking. I thought it would be put in as a large piece and cut later. Was this a recipe you followed or just to try do burnt ends?
What temp you cook at?
All done in the foil tray or did you put them directly on the grate at any stage?

niallam

MaceFace wrote: »

You diced yours before cooking. I thought it would be put in as a large piece and cut later. Was this a recipe you followed or just to try do burnt ends?
What temp you cook at?
All done in the foil tray or did you put them directly on the grate at any stage?

I started with a 3.2kg belly with bones removed and cubed it.
Mustard and rub on the night before.
I cook at 250-275 on these.
Put them on wire racks and they get 2-2.5 hours till I get a good colour.
Then into the trays with honey, brown sugar and butter, cover and 2 more hours.
Then transfer them to clean tray with my BBQ sauce for 20 mins.
All fat rendered between the layers of meat and enough left on top to keep them moist.

budgemook

MaceFace wrote: »

Pork Belly. Look fantastic.
I've been looking at doing these for a while now, but not sure if I will be the only one who eats them as others will complain about it being just fat. How well do you think they would go down with someone who doesn't like fat on their meat?

Also, the local butchers sell with it on the bone. Were your's the same? I was thinking buying as is, separating ribs and cooking both.
You diced yours before cooking. I thought it would be put in as a large piece and cut later. Was this a recipe you followed or just to try do burnt ends?
What temp you cook at?
All done in the foil tray or did you put them directly on the grate at any stage?

I did a large piece of belly recently with the ribs separate. I smoked it slowly for about 5 hours IIRC, then chopped it up and seared the fatty side before glazing it to finish it off. The meat was not that fatty at all in end as a lot of it rendered off. Everyone loved it 10 people out of 10!

budgemook

Tomorrow I am going to make some burgers - plan is to sear them at a really high heat first and then let them finish off on indirect heat, standard enough stuff.

I am not sure what type of meat to get though. I'm going to ask the butcher to do me a 50/50 mix of chuck, which from what I can gather is good ol' stewing beef (although I am not 100% on that) and brisket.

Does anyone have any tips for grilling burgers and the type of mince to use?

MaceFace

I asked the local butcher about some beef as I was planning on mincing my own but the rib mince he had was 25% fat. He offered to put in more fat if I wanted it. For me and burgers beef mince is beef mince once it has 25-30% fat.
I really like mixing about 30% italian sausage from an Allrecipes recipe as well.

Johnnyhpipe

When i used to work in the butchers if you asked us to specifically mince a piece of meat, it took so long to work its way through the mincer that the next guy got what you asked us to put into it and you got what was left from the last fella!

I just do my own now so at least you know what you're getting. Minimum 20% fat for me if im doing burgers though!

budgemook

Oh right! Well I was just down with him and asked for half chuck, which I was told is rib, and half brisket. Who knows what I have so! It didn't take long

martinr5232

budgemook wrote:

Tomorrow I am going to make some burgers - plan is to sear them at a really high heat first and then let them finish off on indirect heat, standard enough stuff.

Look up bbq pit boys beer can burgers trust me you wont eat a normal burger again.

budgemook

martinr5232 wrote: »

Look up bbq pit boys beer can burgers trust me you wont eat a normal burger again.

Lol, could not see myself making those monstrosities!

MaceFace

Niallam inspired me to try pork belly burnt ends this weekend for the first time.

Butcher was more than happy to remove ribs, skin and dice to size I wanted.
Followed same recipe but I took them slightly too far for my liking (although Mrs MF liked them with more bark)
I used a KC style sauce and it gave a very deep taste - just the type Ellstin Limehouse would serve for any Justified fans



Will be making them again soon.