Cooking With Fire

Sister in law's grad party is today so I made 20lbs of faux-shawarama chicken kebabs.y little vision kamado grill wasn't gonna cut it so I fired up the camp chef ftg 600. They just barely fit.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/46051874

A day later as planned ( had dinner with my wife yesterday ) but who lives up to planning anyway?

Cleaned out the chimny today and now : soked shotgunshells. 1.5 hours to go but damn, the smell of smoke is so fine!.

No speakers outside to play viny so .... Gonna grab my guitar. My guitar skills are like my welding. I'm no good, but I have so much fun doing it I even sometimes succeed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45979386

My wife is dogsitting, which means:

• no tv but music. Vinyl (judas priest, saxon, iron maiden, g3, alquin, solution etc)
• dinner comes only from brikettes/charredwood/open fire
• garlic and chillipeppers are main ingredients for everything.

So i prepared to smoke shotgun shells tomorrow and today .... i'll have to try the dogburger/burgerdog... Whatever. But that's NOT my fault, someone posted it and i saw cast-iron so here we are. For the finial phase (because i'm no idiot) i wrap them in bacon. Beans... Gota find beans for chilli the day after tomorrow......

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40000592

And there it stands. Still a lot of work to do, but there will be grilling this weekend!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39806045

Help scheduled for wednesday to lift in the kamado. I left the front beam and breads out for now so we don't have to lift it that high.

The far right has no table top, there i'm gonna place a concrete slab with a castiron grid. Under it will be space for brikettes and my dutch oven(s)/skillets can be placed on the cast iron grid

After several weekends and evenings of toiling my new BBQ setup is finally ready. Just in time for the thunderstorms!

First holiday rental BBQ of the year.

These are always an adventure, broken legs, crumbling gas pipes, spiders and snails in all the crevices...

In this case, it's not too bad, just lit the fire so we'll see if it explodes / melts...

And... just burgers, sausages and halloumi for this one, nothing too adventurous

The flatbread is from the shop, but everything else, including yogurt for the tzatziki, was home made from first principles.

My wife has made tzatziki for ages, but recently she started making it from home made yogurt. It’s been nothing short from a revelation.

Kebabs stayed on the skewers and none were lost to the fire gods. Result!

It's been at least three months since I wrapped up my Kamado Joe, and longer since I posted a cook. I'm hoping this year I might get around to a proper outdoor kitchen and will be able to cook in all weather.

How about the rest of you? Does anyone brave the elements in winter?

I did (not authentic 'cos I don't like fennel seeds) porcetta at the weekend for my lot and my wife's brother's family. A couple of notes: 1. that skin/crackling was an absolute flavour bomb, 2. the leftovers were disappointingly scant.

Album of progress.

Another month, another tiny grilling gif!

1 hour @ 250F on the smoker. Finished at 425 in the oven to crisp up. Gonna toss them in homemade buffalo sauce and serve with curly fries.

Chicken thighs marinaded overnight in:

• ¼ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cooked on a joetisserie on a Kamado Big Joe 3, then taken off the skewer, given a minute or so over direct flame to give a little colour all over and chopped.

Served with:

Spicy pickled red cabbage
Tabbouleh
Zhoug
Labneh

And a sort of Greekish salad.

Bonus picture, some bay leaves harvested from my bay tree, washed and drying for later.

https://www.menkind.co.uk/worlds-smallest-bbq it’s this one! (it's pretty tiny)

We went nature camping with this bad boy here:

we had spot 42!

I dry brined the wings overnight with a simple barbecue rub (salt, pepper, paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander seed, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder).

I brought the Kamado up to 180'C/350'F.

I put the wings on over a deflector for about half an hour then moved them over direct heat, turning frequently, for another ten to fifteen minutes.

Then I served them for saucing to individual taste (I like Buffalo, wife likes BBQ, daughter likes plain).

Cooked my first ever brisket.

17 pounds / 8kg from Costco, trimmed somewhat. I had found a charcoal/truffle rub in NZ that I mixed with fresh ground salt n pepper, applied a day before.

Cooked with pecan smoking chunks, at a (dome temp) temp of 275F (135C) for the first 4 hours then 300F(150C) for another 3.5 hours in the foil boat. Fat side up, with a Kickstarter Meater in the top. Wrapped in wax paper, then towel tight into an Esky for 3.5 hours to rest.

Served perfectly rendered fatty strips in time to see the ABs keep the Eden park record alive vs the pumas.

Learning: Next time won't use the fancy rub. I definitely would just use salt n pepper next time.

I filled the basket with a decent amount of charcoal chunks. It barely used any of that on the cook and cool after, could probably cook two more briskets back to back with what's left.

Gloves to handle the meat is way easier than trying to move a hot 7kg blob of meat.

Anyone considering giving this a go: it was way easier than I thought it would be. But you need enough people to help eat it. We tried with 4 and barely made a dent.

Dry brined then cooked low and slow (just around 100'c) for about two and a half hours (in a braising liquid made of mostly beer). Then finished over direct heat on the grill.

Then I got over excited and didn't take any more pictures.

They were ok - bought from Sainsbury's on a whim for about £5. Not that great in terms of meat/bone ratio, but good flavour.

I love barbecue but seem to know very little about it! I cook lots indoors but haven't had much practice outdoors or with big meat

To make sure my next BBQ goes better than the last: What are your favourite places (websites, YouTube channels, blogs, etc) to get barbecue advice/knowledge/ideas/inspiration?

Alternatively: what are your best pieces of advice for BBQ novices? :)

Thanks in advance!

Happy Father's day y'all. To celebrate I am doing a 9ish lb boston butt on my vision smoker with hickory chips and oak charcoal. Its been on for about 4 hours so far. I have some wings waiting on this lovely hunk of flavor to get closer to done so I can pull it and wrap it before getting the chicken on.

The weather has been kind this weekend, so I cleaned the BBQ and made ribs & wings.