The bbq photo & recipe thread
Discussion
Pferdestarke said:
It was all a bit cringe-inducing. What with Myleen and her obvious lack of knowledge, and her unnecessary presenting role. And then the 32 year old lady who cried 5 times. The contestants are unconsciously incompetent with regard to barbecue.
She is part of an award winning competition BBQ team. I think the problem is that first show was more about grilling which isn't what competition BBQ tends to be about. They are all having to cook on equipment they aren't used to and I suspect the producers have taken away things like meat thermometers.
I hope we see some more low and slow cooking.
The show is on ITV for anyone who missed it.
scottri said:
I hope we see some more low and slow cooking.
There's a program on in the US with this called Pitmasters.It's interesting for the techniques but it's not an exciting 30 minutes programming.
If you came to mine, you see me marinading the meat the night before, firing up the smoker at about 5am, adding coal a couple of times and then serving up around 7pm.
You would drink a lot of beer though
HD Adam said:
There's a program on in the US with this called Pitmasters.
It's interesting for the techniques but it's not an exciting 30 minutes programming.
If you came to mine, you see me marinading the meat the night before, firing up the smoker at about 5am, adding coal a couple of times and then serving up around 7pm.
You would drink a lot of beer though
Yeah, i've seen that program. Your BBQ sessions sounds like mine! Although i dont get up early since buying a DigiQ :-) I just start it late at night and let it run over night.It's interesting for the techniques but it's not an exciting 30 minutes programming.
If you came to mine, you see me marinading the meat the night before, firing up the smoker at about 5am, adding coal a couple of times and then serving up around 7pm.
You would drink a lot of beer though
scottri said:
Pferdestarke said:
It was all a bit cringe-inducing. What with Myleen and her obvious lack of knowledge, and her unnecessary presenting role. And then the 32 year old lady who cried 5 times. The contestants are unconsciously incompetent with regard to barbecue.
She is part of an award winning competition BBQ team. I think the problem is that first show was more about grilling which isn't what competition BBQ tends to be about. They are all having to cook on equipment they aren't used to and I suspect the producers have taken away things like meat thermometers.
I hope we see some more low and slow cooking.
The show is on ITV for anyone who missed it.
2hr cook times too - you need at least a day !
Esseesse said:
That looks great croakey. Did you just cook it directly?
My green Weber Mastertouch came in the post this week, looking forward to giving it a go soon.
Sorry for the delay! for a 2kg joint it was 25mins direct (turning constantly)... 25mins indirecr,basted with the marinade for the last 15 mins My green Weber Mastertouch came in the post this week, looking forward to giving it a go soon.
I've got to say, I'm pretty tolerant of some awful TV, but I found BBQ Champ really disappointing.
First of all, ITV is trying to make food TV into the X-Factor. Opening with people shouting about how "I've got the skill, the skill to grill" (BTW, a recurring rhyme that gets old very quickly) to no-one in particular is a really odd, combative opening. Of course, this is either scored to pumping dance music or music full of fear and dread. The focus on the human rather than the food meant that the first half at least felt like it was a process of getting everyone's background - with the traditional home visits and heart felt tales.
The actual cooking challenges were interesting, though the themes were somewhat tenuous. Plus, as has been said, to be thrown into a situation where you're using unfamiliar equipment and very short time scales is going to produce drama. On top of that, the range of skills that are being asked for is more Masterchef than what some would consider BBQ. I wonder how this is going to work over a whole series...
And finally, the finale. The cook off adds a dramatic end, but feels like a bolted on bit of TV formula that many shows prove you don't need. Especially when an ITV hour is nearer 45 mins of actual content. Plus, trying to be spoiler free, I think the better dish in the grill-off was overlooked for very spurious reasons.
There's a good concept in there, but inviting people to enter means you're going to get a group of people who generally do traditional BBQ food (Ribs, tick. Beans, tick. Sausages, tick) rather than people who are overly innovative or widely experienced. We should run a book as to which week pulled pork makes its first appearance!
First of all, ITV is trying to make food TV into the X-Factor. Opening with people shouting about how "I've got the skill, the skill to grill" (BTW, a recurring rhyme that gets old very quickly) to no-one in particular is a really odd, combative opening. Of course, this is either scored to pumping dance music or music full of fear and dread. The focus on the human rather than the food meant that the first half at least felt like it was a process of getting everyone's background - with the traditional home visits and heart felt tales.
The actual cooking challenges were interesting, though the themes were somewhat tenuous. Plus, as has been said, to be thrown into a situation where you're using unfamiliar equipment and very short time scales is going to produce drama. On top of that, the range of skills that are being asked for is more Masterchef than what some would consider BBQ. I wonder how this is going to work over a whole series...
And finally, the finale. The cook off adds a dramatic end, but feels like a bolted on bit of TV formula that many shows prove you don't need. Especially when an ITV hour is nearer 45 mins of actual content. Plus, trying to be spoiler free, I think the better dish in the grill-off was overlooked for very spurious reasons.
There's a good concept in there, but inviting people to enter means you're going to get a group of people who generally do traditional BBQ food (Ribs, tick. Beans, tick. Sausages, tick) rather than people who are overly innovative or widely experienced. We should run a book as to which week pulled pork makes its first appearance!
Lurked on this thread for a while whilst my old bbq was rotting in a corner of the garden. Being a tight old sod, I bought one of these, £20 off with clubcard boost then another £5 off because they delivered it to the wrong side of the country. Cost me nothing other than driving to the shop and picking it up, which I was going tp do anyway.
Cooked a small unspecified beef roasting joint as a try out and my first ever attempt at indirect cooking. Coated with a thin layer of made up mustard and a layer of garam masala. 2 hrs with a 3" long x 1" dia bit of seasoned oak I had lying around at 120°-150°C - had a a job keeping the temp. down until I binned most of the charcoal. Then wrapped in foil with with a mixture of garlic paste and red wine, low temp for another hour. Then onto hot coals until until 69°C reached. Given a rest for 10 minutes. Served in a roll with horseradish and a dollop of coleslaw. Back for seconds and thirds. Delicious!
Crap photo taken with phone.
Cooked a small unspecified beef roasting joint as a try out and my first ever attempt at indirect cooking. Coated with a thin layer of made up mustard and a layer of garam masala. 2 hrs with a 3" long x 1" dia bit of seasoned oak I had lying around at 120°-150°C - had a a job keeping the temp. down until I binned most of the charcoal. Then wrapped in foil with with a mixture of garlic paste and red wine, low temp for another hour. Then onto hot coals until until 69°C reached. Given a rest for 10 minutes. Served in a roll with horseradish and a dollop of coleslaw. Back for seconds and thirds. Delicious!
Crap photo taken with phone.
Decided to get the WSM out this weekend and got the smoke going.
17 hour pork shoulder, along with 6 hour ribs and belly, and beef ribs, which I foiled for the last 2 hours and added a splash of beer. Did some spicy chicken thighs and corn on the one touch.
before wrapping and resting:
Pulled:
Beef rib:
Beef rib and pork belly:
Chicken and corn, 'cos you need a vegetable:
17 hour pork shoulder, along with 6 hour ribs and belly, and beef ribs, which I foiled for the last 2 hours and added a splash of beer. Did some spicy chicken thighs and corn on the one touch.
before wrapping and resting:
Pulled:
Beef rib:
Beef rib and pork belly:
Chicken and corn, 'cos you need a vegetable:
I bought a BillyOH Memphis charcoal BBQ a couple of weeks ago. My first two dishes were a bit of a disaster, TBH.
I started out with a roast chicken, which I thought would be simple. The rub was very tasty, but I struggled to meet the temperature that Jamie Oliver's recipe demanded (200C). I ended up with a tasty chicken with undercooked legs. Later, I discovered that I could (should) have cooked it at 110, 120 without any problem.
Next up was a leg of lamb. This time I used briquettes instead of lumpwood. Briquettes burn cooler than lumpwood, so I used the same quantity. This time I struggled to keep the temperature down. I wanted 120C, but the briquettes wanted 170C. I ended up taking out half of the briquettes.
Later I had to put some of them back.
Finally, yesterday I had a success.
I used this recipe:-
http://solicitingflavours.com/2014/03/16/smoking-c...
It is bloody delicious! Far, far better than anything that is sold in the supermarkets.
Here is a rubbish photo taken on my Samsung.
My mrs tasted it after the cure and said that she didn't like cloves. I hadn't known this. So I ran cold water over it for 10 minutes, which reduced the saltiness, and the clove taste. After smoking, she loves it.
Next time I will increase the spices and decrease the smoking
I started out with a roast chicken, which I thought would be simple. The rub was very tasty, but I struggled to meet the temperature that Jamie Oliver's recipe demanded (200C). I ended up with a tasty chicken with undercooked legs. Later, I discovered that I could (should) have cooked it at 110, 120 without any problem.
Next up was a leg of lamb. This time I used briquettes instead of lumpwood. Briquettes burn cooler than lumpwood, so I used the same quantity. This time I struggled to keep the temperature down. I wanted 120C, but the briquettes wanted 170C. I ended up taking out half of the briquettes.
Later I had to put some of them back.
Finally, yesterday I had a success.
I used this recipe:-
http://solicitingflavours.com/2014/03/16/smoking-c...
It is bloody delicious! Far, far better than anything that is sold in the supermarkets.
Here is a rubbish photo taken on my Samsung.
My mrs tasted it after the cure and said that she didn't like cloves. I hadn't known this. So I ran cold water over it for 10 minutes, which reduced the saltiness, and the clove taste. After smoking, she loves it.
Next time I will increase the spices and decrease the smoking
Rutter said:
Pferdestarke said:
That looks good. What is the central opening for on the grill?
It can be taken out so that a cast iron griddle/wok/pizza stone/hot plate can be used there. All sold separately at huge expense of course...I love the wok and use it all the time.
Once the chicken was done, I moved the basket of coals into the middle and stir fried some veg. Its great as the wok gets REALLY hot. It's great for simmering a smokey chilli in too.
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