Lamb Shoulder Tacos & Pork Shanks

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.

Angus and Oink Thai Rub and Indonesian BBQ sauce

I am a very lucky guy.  Lately I’ve won a few great items thanks to the fantastic BBQ community we have in the UK.  Including rubs and sauces, brisket and most recently an Ooni 2s pizza oven.  More to come on that in the future.  This time I was delighted to win two new products from Angus & Oink.  A Thai rub and an Indonesian BBQ sauce.  I thought these would be perfect with pork and what was in my fridge waiting to be cooked?  Pork cheeks.  Not for everyone but definitely screaming for something like this.  

Smoked Brisket

Yes!  I have finally had the opportunity to try tackle the ultimate BBQ meat.  The brisket!  I’ve always wanted to try this but being more expensive that your average roast, I’ve never really been able to justify it.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to this time.  Thanks to the extraordinarily generous competition held by James Lowe at JL Butchers for #UKBBQWEEK – I won this fantastic Aussie brisket.  Absolutely free of charge!  I couldn’t wait to get this on the UDS and create smoked meat perfection.

The Reigniting of my Passion for Barbecue and Smoking.

I haven’t posted anything to my blog for a very long time.  My domain had expired and my drive to write anything had disappeared.  I have loved barbecue food for a long time but my ignorance meant that I didn’t make the most of what I had.  Although I have a large Weber Mastertouch at my disposal – I mistakenly believed that they could only be used for grilling.  I think most of the UK public incorrectly hold a similar view.  What I really wanted to do was smoke some meat but I couldn’t afford to buy a dedicated smoker.  After watching videos of Frankin BBQ on Youtube I was sure that an offset smoker was the way to go.  I even tried to build my own filing cabinet smoker but it just didn’t work (despite the popularity of the post) and I gave up.  The dream of smoking the all mighty brisket at home was all but guaranteed never to happen.