Ideas for BBQ - (one for Papoo)

[Cotty]

Sounds like great idea but like you say difficult to put into practice.

[Papoo]

jazzybee said:

Dickies is a nationwide chain so I expect it is the same. The wife and I love BBQ and usually do Tandoori and Seekh kebabs, but want to start doing US style Beef Ribs. Would you recommend similar recipe to above?

We have been going to Bodeans here for years, but the quality and portions have really dropped over the past 12-18 months. We would most definately be customers if you open a place in West London! Fried Okra would be a must!

Wife wants a gas bbq for the summer (I prefer charcoal) but she wants to do a lot more this year, and is not so good managing the fire. We regularly cook for 12-15 on the weekends (wife is an awesome cook so everybody comes round to ours to eat on the weekends) any recommendations? Weber? Outback? looking to spend £200-£400 or so. Sorry if this is a thread hijack.

Cotty, that's exactly it. I can easily work out what to cook and at what price point, but given that it is all made overnight, it would be with pure hope that it sells. Still looking. It's a double-edged sword, because London is the place for small lunch venues, but it also has some of the highest rent in the world..

Fried okra would be a sure thing. Simple, traditional BBQ sides; okra, corn on the cob, potato salad, sweet potato fries, funky spicy smokey meaty beans etc..

I'd be pushing your wife toward charcoal where possible, especially if you're looking to do BBQ. But, if it isn't possible, I'd look at Weber gas grills for.

The Weber Genesis range are great. In fact, all Webers are great. They are fairly heavy duty. In BBQ, heavy is great - better heat distribution, less shock-cooling, etc. Webers have a nice heavy cast-iron grate, on top of fairly decent burners. They are just a bit better thought out than Outback, in my opinion.

The burners and baffles are all where they should be, and their stuff generally is built to last. Outback tend to lure you in with a massive unit, but the burners are weak and spotty, and the grates are flimsy and prone to hot and cold spots. The lids are important too. Webers lids are superior heat shields. If I were you, I'd get a Weber for gas grilling, and a weber charcoal for smoking. A weber smokey mountain (designated smoker, brilliant thing), if you're feeling generous.

Now, beef ribs? Yes, that recipe will work great. They need a long time also, think 6-8 hours. There are a few schools of thought on the cooking practice. Given that it is basically 'brisket on a stick', I treat it a lot like brisket. I have a hot food fetish, so I add plenty of spice to my beef rib rub. Some people like to cook naked, then wrap in foil, others like to just cook naked for the whole time. Wrapping in foil half way is a safer way of ensuring you don't dry anything out.

Get a good, meaty rack of beef ribs from the butcher, which haven't had all the meat gouged out of them. Smoke them for 3.5 hours. Wrap them, and continue cooking them for another 3. The ends of the bone will start protruding, and the bones will be easily twistable. That's when you know they're done. Or, just stick a fork in the meat, and give it a twist. If the meat tears easily, you're good. If not, re-wrap and chuck em on for another 45 mins.

Bloody brilliant things, beef ribs..

[Cotty]

Papoo said:

Cotty, that's exactly it. I can easily work out what to cook and at what price point, but given that it is all made overnight, it would be with pure hope that it sells.

You do it as a bit of hobbie, as I understand it. Would you really want to be a chef full time? Its not for me.

[Papoo]

Cotty said:

Papoo said:

Cotty, that's exactly it. I can easily work out what to cook and at what price point, but given that it is all made overnight, it would be with pure hope that it sells.

You do it as a bit of hobbie, as I understand it. Would you really want to be a chef full time? Its not for me.

Well, this is the thing.. My wife and I would love to open a restaurant at some stage, but we'd be walking away from a lot. I'm sure we'd love it, but at the same time, when you're established in what you do, it's tough to make it seem viable..

[jazzybee]

Papoo said:

Cotty said:

Papoo said:

Cotty, that's exactly it. I can easily work out what to cook and at what price point, but given that it is all made overnight, it would be with pure hope that it sells.

You do it as a bit of hobbie, as I understand it. Would you really want to be a chef full time? Its not for me.

Well, this is the thing.. My wife and I would love to open a restaurant at some stage, but we'd be walking away from a lot. I'm sure we'd love it, but at the same time, when you're established in what you do, it's tough to make it seem viable..

Wife and I are in a similar boat, we decided that we'll do it when we don't NEED an extra income - run the business to make money, but not depend on it. We are probably 15 years away from that.

BTW, while your online, any recommendations for bottled sauces, or rubs or specialist equipment from the US? My wife is off to Maryland again for a couple of weeks over Easter - Usually comes back with a bag full of foodstuff.

[Papoo]

jazzybee said:

Papoo said:

Cotty said:

Papoo said:

Cotty, that's exactly it. I can easily work out what to cook and at what price point, but given that it is all made overnight, it would be with pure hope that it sells.

You do it as a bit of hobbie, as I understand it. Would you really want to be a chef full time? Its not for me.

Well, this is the thing.. My wife and I would love to open a restaurant at some stage, but we'd be walking away from a lot. I'm sure we'd love it, but at the same time, when you're established in what you do, it's tough to make it seem viable..

Wife and I are in a similar boat, we decided that we'll do it when we don't NEED an extra income - run the business to make money, but not depend on it. We are probably 15 years away from that.

BTW, while your online, any recommendations for bottled sauces, or rubs or specialist equipment from the US? My wife is off to Maryland again for a couple of weeks over Easter - Usually comes back with a bag full of foodstuff.

Yes! Well, I'd be going in with a few bottles of 'Plowboys Yardbird Rub', it's essentially a perfected version of that rub recipe I posted. It's great. Willingham's Wham Seasoning is another. It tastes like Worcester sauce. It's different, but also great. Both of those have won big competitions. I use the Plowboys one all the time.

As for sauces, in my opinion, there is only one bbq sauce worth buying, it's made by the BBQ restaurant chain Famous Dave's. It is SERIOUSLY good. They do 1/2 a dozen verieties. Sassy Chipotle is just wonderful stuff, it's a 'normal' BBQ sauce, and 'Devils Spit' is the same but with a spicy kick to it. It is great. We have about 12 bottles of each in the house!

What else....

Equipment, yes, you'll have more choice here, stuff like remote thermometers and rib-racks etc. Worth her having a gander into a BBQ store with you on the other end of the phone. Maybe a smoker box (small cast iron box which you stuff with wood chips and place on a gas grill). If you ever need anything, or indeed are wondering if some such thing exists, send me a PM and I'd be happy to get it for you. I send my brother the FD sauces all the time. I've a brilliant BBQ store right by me, so I'm pretty well placed.

If you can handle the shipping costs for a 200lb ceramic BBQ (google Primo Oval or Big Green Egg), that is the best possible food related item the US can fruit for you. They are absolutely, un-utterably brilliant. You'll have to trust me when I say food is better off a ceramic grill. And, it is every bit as easy to use as a gas grill. Temps from 150'f to....well, I've had mine well over 1500'f. Yikes. Ask to know more!

[Cotty]

Papoo said:

If you can handle the shipping costs for a 200lb ceramic BBQ (google Primo Oval or Big Green Egg), that is the best possible food related item the US can fruit for you. They are absolutely, un-utterably brilliant. You'll have to trust me when I say food is better off a ceramic grill. And, it is every bit as easy to use as a gas grill. Temps from 150'f to....well, I've had mine well over 1500'f. Yikes. Ask to know more!

But how tough are they to ship. My clients ship a lot of stuff all over the wourld and it does not all end up in one piece at the other end mind you it keep me in a job.

[Bosshogg76]

Hope you don't mind me joining in here. I was interested to read of your amazing BBQ recipes, as well as your recommendations for equipment (particularly the smokers). I've had a look online and found something I suspect is near what you are describing. It's about half way down the link below.

http://www.planetbarbecue.co.uk/shopaccessories.ht...

With such a smoker would you place is directly on the griddle (I have a gas BBQ) or try and nestle it in the lava rocks below?

Thanks for your time.

PS

You probably already have all the info you need for your splendid restaurant idea, however should you need more. My next door neighbour owns three restaurants all of which a turning a profit and is looking to open two more, before eventually selling the lot as a going concern and retiring. He also has years of experience of running restaurants such as Planet Hollywood in London when it first opened. So if you want to pick his brains get in contact and I will put you in touch.

Edited by Bosshogg76 on Wednesday 17th March 17:30

[uncinqsix]

Papoo said:

A seriously impressive post

Cripes. That's quite something! Not sure I'll be qoing to quite that extreme this time (I will have a few time constraints etc) but there are a lot of good ideas there. Might try the full-fat procedure in front of a smaller audience at a later date... Thanks heaps.

[zakelwe]

Cotty and Papoo and the slightly nicer weather have prompted me to buy the smoky weber this week

Cotty, do you want to try the same or go for your huge ceramic grill thing? I'm thinking we can do a combined thread where we "live the american dream" from ordering to cooking to tips all through the summer. What do you think?

Andy

Edited by zakelwe on Wednesday 17th March 20:25

[Cotty]

zakelwe said:

Cotty, do you want to try the same or go for your huge ceramic grill thing? I'm thinking we can do a combined thread where we "live the american dream" from ordering to cooking to tips all through the summer. What do you think?

I already have a gas and a Webber Smokey Joe BBQ. Pappoo has a ceramic BBQ that he uses in competitions and it looks like a serious bit of kit.

This is his set up
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... pics of new setup...

Edited by Cotty on Thursday 18th March 11:06

[tamore]

Papoo, come to the UK and open up. There's effectively no competition.

I went to Bodeans about a month ago having been to the one in Soho years ago, and it's fair to say it's not what it was. Ribs were tough, pulled pork was OKish and the beef was very poor.

[juice]

Papoo - top tip on the chilling of the meat (Makes sense when you consider the absorption of smoke stops at 140F), gonna have to dig out the WSM out of the shed now the weather has warmed up ! They've just started selling webber wood chunks (rather than chips) here now...so looking forward to testing them out...

I've seen the Matchlight hickory coals for sale here too, are they any good ?

Edited by juice on Thursday 18th March 12:04

[Papoo]

juice said:

Papoo - top tip on the chilling of the meat (Makes sense when you consider the absorption of smoke stops at 140F), gonna have to dig out the WSM out of the shed now the weather has warmed up ! They've just started selling webber wood chunks (rather than chips) here now...so looking forward to testing them out...

I've seen the Matchlight hickory coals for sale here too, are they any good ?

Edited by juice on Thursday 18th March 12:04

Tamore, it's tempting, but I'm being a pansy about it all right now.

My ceramic BBQ is a tool, I actually now have two. They bodged up another request to replace a part, so sent me a whole new one. Pretty chuffed really, as in competition, I was having to use someone else's, which was getting costly in beer. As Cotty mentioned, they aren't famous for travelling well. They have to be treated like Hannibal, or taken apart and individually wrapped up. That said, Primo are awesome if something chips or cracks, they send you out another immediately.

Juice, yes sir, get the WSM out. For the money, absolutely nothing touches them. In fact, shy of about 600 quid, nothing touches them. They're effing great. Couple of friends use them in competitions. They have 3 or 4 of them on the go. Weber really know what they're doing.

I often use Weber chunks. They're pretty good, as you'd expect from W. I haven't used them for a while since the BBQ store I use has a 'pick n mix' selection of about 25 hardwoods. Bloody great fun, and SERIOUSLY pointless!

Not sure about matchlight hickory coals. I suspect that they'll add a hint of flavour, but you will surely be better off using non-flavoured coals and some chunks of your favourite..

bosshog; yes those are smoker boxes. You fill them with wood chips, and put it somewhere hot. Lava rocks is your best bet. Frankly, you can get away with wrapping wood in foil and piercing a few holes in it. You'll have a bit more mess when you're done, though.

uncinqsix, I hear you. Probably wise to walk before you can run. What I will say, however, is that with one 18"Weber, do pork shoulders (butts) and some racks of ribs, when the pork goes in the oven.

Pork shoulder is extremely forgiving. It has loads of marbling and will not spoil unless you really cock it up. Ribs (baby backs) are also extremely easy. I know you have time constraints, but I reckon that would be a great way to try it all out at once.

I'll get back to you tomorrow or so with some recipes I've used with some success, which don't involve 12 hours of smoke (ya girl!).

Edited by Papoo on Thursday 18th March 15:53

[Cotty]

Papoo said:

I often use Weber chunks. They're pretty good, as you'd expect from W. I haven't used them for a while since the BBQ store I use has a 'pick n mix' selection of about 25 hardwoods. Bloody great fun, and SERIOUSLY pointless!

[zakelwe]

I should have known you would have two BBQ's alerady Cotty.

I ordered mine on Wednesday a 50cm Smokey Joe. I wonder when it will turn up? I've managed to lose a stone in weight since Christmas, I hope cooking huge slabs of meat won't put it back on .. low carb right?

I have yet to tell my wife. I might be putting the steak on my black eye before putting it in the BBQ at this rate.

Andy

[escargot]

My pair of webers:



&



The one touch (top) has already had its first outing this year having successfully cooked a decent bit of rump. Tempted to do another on Sunday actually.

[RichB]

Here's mine...

[Papoo]

RichB said:

Here's mine...

Nice Webers...

ETA, Escargot, I do like those 'on the go' webers that you have (bottom). Simple, easy and a decent grate area.

I've been toying with the idea of a portable bbq. If I need to cook a decent amount, then it isn't too much of a chore to lug my primo around, but, for pre-NFL tailgating, steak searing fun, I'm leaning towards getting two of these; the Big Green Egg Mini:


I could get the next size up, the small, but I'm a huge fan of these minis. They heat up to volcanic levels incredibly fast, and you can get a good few hours out of a load of coals.. I'll keep you posted..

Edited by Papoo on Friday 19th March 16:10

[Bosshogg76]

A bit of thread resurrection, Papoo, (Or indeed anyone)

With the Beef how long would you allow the joint to remain on the griddle before turning it? I realise that this may be a very simple question, but i don't want to either burn the meat by not moving it enough or conversely move it around too much and spoil the joint.

Thanks in advance