I love smoking! There’s something about the smell of smoke in the air that makes me hungry and that didn’t happen before my passion for outdoor cooking to hold. On this day I’m smoking lamb shoulder and pork shanks. I’ve smoked lamb shoulder a few times and it’s always fantastic. This time I decided to pull the lamb shoulder for tacos which is slightly more unusual for me. Even more unusual are the pork shanks. Never cooked them. Never eaten them. Decided to cook them similarly to the lamb and see what happens.
This is something I have wanted to try for quite some time. I have only used the rotisserie on a couple of occasions. The rotisserie beef worked brilliantly. I struggled a little more with the chicken but I just knew that it would be perfect for a nice joint of pork.
I have been eyeing up the Meater thermometer for quite some time. The idea that I can monitor a cook remotely without any wires and from anywhere in the world seemed fantastic. The Application seemed very intuitive with some fantastic features too. Not only could I track the progress of my cook from my phone but the app would also predict how quickly the meat would take to cook. I had an opportunity to get a discount on the newer Meater + with increased range and decided to take the plunge.
These wings weren’t cooked on the barbecue tonight but I did use some of my fantastic rubs and sauces. Those include the Jack’s Meat Shack Meat Dust and the BryBeque Original BBQ sauce. I did two different batches of wings. Both originally dusted with the Jack’s Meat Shack Meat dust. One set was then served in my quick ‘sort of’ buffalo sauce. The other set with the BryBeque Original BBQ sauce.
This was only my second cook on the fantastic Ooni 2s. Not the latest model but certainly capable of producing some truly amazing pizza in no time at all. I won this pizza oven in a very generous competition run by Nathan at KungFuBBQ. You can actually get this model relatively cheap if you know where to look. Even the latest model is available for less than £200. I would 100% recommend having a look if you want some really amazing pizza. There’s not much better than fresh, home-made, wood-fired pizza. I’ve definitely got a lot to learn but this is how today’s cook went. Continue reading Pizza On The Ooni 2s→
I asked my butcher, Chris Hayman Butchers, for some really meaty ribs. “Leave the belly on but remove the rind” I said. Well I certainly got what I asked for because this slab was absolutely huge! I considered trimming it down but then decided to just go for it and cook the whole thing. I was excited to see how this would turn out. Can never have too much meat right? I had some new rubs and sauces from the fantastic local company Brybeque to try out so I thought I would give those a go.
So the weekend of the 15th and 16th of September I was lucky enough to visit Abergavenny Food Festival for the first time. I’ve been meaning to go for years. Even getting the opportunity to go with a press pass last year but not being able to go due to work commitments. Finally getting to go was very exciting. I couldn’t wait to try as much food as possible and see some fantastic demos by some top chefs/cooks. Obviously I was most excited about the outdoor cooking elements and BBQ but there was loads more to see and taste. In this blog I’ll go through all of the food I tried with you and describing it the best I can. I’ll also tell you all you need to know about the demos I visited. Here goes!
I picked up this pork chop joint from Chris Hayman Butchers. Normally they would be cut into separate chops but I decided to keep them together and roast it over fire. No special rub. No time costly brining – Which is also fantastic by the way. Just loads of Maldon Salt. Resiliant Woodlands Charcoal and silver birch wood for smoke.
This post has ended up being a demonstration of how to make the most of a bad situation. I had some fantastic lamb rump in a Mediterranean marinade from Chris Hayman Butchers ready to cook on the barbecue. For some reason I had decided that I would cook this on the Thuros T1. Soon after starting I realised that this wasn’t going to plan.
This was just my second ever attempt at cooking beef ribs on the BBQ. The first time using a dedicated smoker. For some reason I thought that beef ribs didn’t take all that long. I was wrong. So before I even get into the ins and outs of this cook I would like to apologise for the less than great photography. Thankfully the food ended up being pretty good so I didn’t mind waiting up until gone 12am. Here are the details.
I bought the beef ribs from local butcher Chris Hayman. Everything I get from Chris is fantastic so I knew there wouldn’t be an issue with the quality. I really didn’t want the beef flavour to be obscured with a thick layer of BBQ rub. I decided to keep things simple and opt for a simple salt and pepper rub. Hopefully this would allow the natural beef flavour from this fantastic meat shine through.
I use the UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker) for most of my low and slow cooks. I find it holds temperature very well if i get it right. I can easily cook for 12 hours or more with a full basket of good quality charcoal. I recently managed a 14 hour cook at 107c for a smoked brisket. This time I managed around 12 hours with just a bit more than half a basket of mixed hardwood charcoal from Resiliant Woodlands. Complimented by some cherry wood chunks for added smoke flavour. I know many people swear that briquettes are better for low and slow cooks but I have decided not to use them. There really isn’t any reason in my opinion. My experience has confirmed to me that there really is no difference in the performance in terms of longevity. However, the lumpwood does impart a better flavour on the meat. Particularly for grilling but also for smoking.
I think the decision not to wrap the ribs contributed to the length of this cook. I did end up wrapping for the last hour to try and speed up the process. It worked but I do wish that I had done that hours ago. Once the ribs had reached around 95c I started probing the meat with my Thermapen for tenderness. When I was happy I pulled the ribs off of the smoker and allowed the ribs to rest for as long as I could practically wait. Around 45 minutes to an hour later I decided to bite the bullet and give these ribs a go.
You’ll have to excuse the sub par photography skills from here on out. After around 11pm I really was more concerned about eating these ribs than trying to photograph them. The ribs look good anyway. The bark was pretty great. I had a small smoke ring. Most importantly the flavour was there. I am pretty sure that I had two muscles on these ribs. The top part had cooked differently but tasted better than the part closest to the rib. The part closest to the bone seemed more gelatinous than I expected it to be. Similar to the texture you might expect from ox cheek or pig cheeks. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing but wouldn’t be my favourite.
The ribs were fantastic but I’m not sure that they would be a regular for me. The texture puts it a little down on the list of favourite meats to smoke. Although the leftovers did make a pretty amazing chilli the next day.
I would be interested to hear what your opinions of beef ribs are. Am I doing something wrong or does that look about perfect? Either way I’m always happy to hear your thoughts.
A Blog About Food (Mostly BBQ and Grill): Trying everything once and telling you all about it. Good or bad! Blogging from areas around Newport and Cardiff, South Wales.
The Munch and Tattle 