Food & cooking
Reply
Pfft camera phones. They're not great for food pics. (Possible exception: iPhone 7 Plus.)
I'm getting really quite good at using my Brinkmann smoker, and apparently am sticking at it instead of using it once then leaving it to rot.

To the point that 'must have outbuilding space for permanent smoker, freezer, brining fridge and work surface' was a legitimate checkpoint on our house-picking list.

I did a turkey at Christmas. It was lush. I used hipster charcoal from The Oxford Charcoal Company, which is now a thing I can justify.

I did a trial-run turkey before Christmas. It was even better, as usually happens.

I made smoked turkey chilli from the leftovers. It is also lush.

Pictures of the thanksgiving trial run are 1..8 here: http://angrycake.com/media/thanksgiving2016/4.jpg

I can't inline because they're too big, and I'm getting 403 on the folder even though world has read permissions, server config must have folder browsing off.
Bik that's made my mouth water!
Ta!

Mine too, and is the smoker on today? No, it is not. Bah.

This is why I need a permanent one, instead of having to dig all the bits out of the garage and then stand outside.
Smoked turkey chilli sounds amazing.
Quote:
I used hipster charcoal from The Oxford Charcoal Company, which is now a thing I can justify.


Do you think that makes much difference? Done a fair bit of smoking and low and slow on my XL Big Green Egg

Used to get restaurant grade charcoal and even spent a best part of £200 here http://thelondonlogcompany.blogspot.co.uk/

Then I read some stuff online from some US guys who win sizable amounts of money in cooking\smoking competitions. They were saying they use lump wood, but most times its what is cheapest in Wallmart or Cost co

So I've sort of moved back to decent lumpwood, even Tesco stuff last year, still have a fair bit of the expensive stuff from the London Log Company as well.

Really want to do something with a Turkey and Brine so if you have any tips etc please post! :)
Amen to that, thirded. I've never heard of anyone having their own smoker, what a fab idea.
The Oxford place does lumpwood charcoal of various sorts, the Cuban Maruba is great; it's an invasive thorn that is clean flavoured and super-dense so it burns 'hot' and very long, with next to no ash.

I would certainly recommend that, actually great value despite seeming expensive.

I also got some... can't remember what sort of lumpwood charcoal. Cherry, maybe? To top it off with a bit of flavour.

Very high quality, not sure I'd use it regularly as I have lumps of 'raw' pecan for smoke which is *amazing*.

The thanksgiving run that turned out better was using Fuel Express lumpwood charcoal that was what the local DIY place had, it was a fingers-crossed moment because the last bag of that I had was awful, but it was great. What else are you going to do in December when you need BBQ coal?

Big K is really good too, I'd get that without worrying.

The Maruba heat and stability took me totally by surprise, it was cold which normally kills the brinkmann (being thin steel construction)!
An important thing is to check if wood is food-grade; not sure I'd trust random bits of wood for fires, unless you mean lumpwood charcoal rather than lumpwood? Maybe I'm being paranoid, but wood from trees next to a pesticide-using farm might not be best.

Or WHAT IF IT IS WAS ON ANCIENT INDIAN BURIAL GROUND?!
Bobbyaro wrote:
Smoked turkey chilli sounds amazing.

Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
Fuck yeah it does

For super-hipster points, I was inspired by having it in a pub called The Pleasant Pint in Greenfield, MA in November (mine is better. I think I used more bacon).

Weird that poultry would ever win out over beef, right? But 'smoked beef chilli' sounds rubbish.
Did Chateaubriand for Valentine's because who doesn't love a massive fucking steak, and a pulled pork feast over the weekend for Myp & Sally's visit and have now put back on half the weight I lost over the course of a few days :DD :'( >:(
BikNorton wrote:
Bobbyaro wrote:
Smoked turkey chilli sounds amazing.

Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
Fuck yeah it does

For super-hipster points, I was inspired by having it in a pub called The Pleasant Pint in Greenfield, MA in November (mine is better. I think I used more bacon).

Weird that poultry would ever win out over beef, right? But 'smoked beef chilli' sounds rubbish.



Is this what you are using ?

https://www.tesco.com/direct/the-brinkm ... 9-0512.prd

First one I had was a Pro Q smoker, which I found to be hard to use temperature wise. I then got a Green Egg which is easier in some aspects for smoking.

A while after having the Egg I started using the Pro Q for a lot of indirect grilling as the surface area is smaller and it was just better when cooking for 3.

Pro Q will be in the next skip I get now as its just dropped to bits, handles dropping off etc, not a good build quality :(
Jem wrote:
Did Chateaubriand for Valentine's because who doesn't love a massive fucking steak, and a pulled pork feast over the weekend for Myp & Sally's visit and have now put back on half the weight I lost over the course of a few days :DD :'( >:(

It was totally worth it though!
I've got the 'gourmet' version, dunno what the difference is. There are loads of mods but I haven't needed to do them.
Lonewolves wrote:
Jem wrote:
Did Chateaubriand for Valentine's because who doesn't love a massive fucking steak, and a pulled pork feast over the weekend for Myp & Sally's visit and have now put back on half the weight I lost over the course of a few days :DD :'( >:(

It was totally worth it though!


Yes it was :luv: :kiss:
Jem wrote:
Did Chateaubriand for Valentine's because who doesn't love a massive fucking steak
Me!
BikNorton wrote:
Jem wrote:
Did Chateaubriand for Valentine's because who doesn't love a massive fucking steak
Me!

Get in the fucking sea.
Don't worry, it was a hilarious joke.
Phew. Had me worried there.
I need to be busy in a kitchen for 4-6 hours. I need a recipe for curry that'll serve 10 and needs regular attention. Go go go!
Highly recommend Rick Stein's chicken and rosewater biriyani (if you're feeling brave... this is beyond my feeble culinary skills, but Mrs C's hours-long in the preparation creation is truly ***EPIC***>>>> Mayfair awarded :D . As ever, though, be sure to source and buy genuine, authentic Indian spices from a reputable online source, with high product turnover)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chick ... ater_70042
MaliA wrote:
I need to be busy in a kitchen for 4-6 hours. I need a recipe for curry that'll serve 10 and needs regular attention. Go go go!

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=478
Trying out hybrid pulled pork this weekend: about 24 hours sous vide at 74 deg C (bottom pic) then two hours in the smoker.

Also I coated the leftover pork skin in smoked and normal salt, pepper, cumin and paprika (middle pic), rolled it up, and vacuum sealed it (top pic.) It's curing overnight. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to sous vide it for a bit then deep fry it, to hopefully make crackling.
Meanwhile MrsDoc made cinnamon rolls.
ANOVA hi 5!

How many times has yours randomly started randomly boiling the water so far?
Zero times also wait what?!
My SVS did that a few times, got it swapped out for a replacement.
Well, my Anova hasn't gone mad and boiled the water overnight.

Do you have the Bluetooth or BT+Wifi model, Bik? Do you use the app or program it manually?
Bt+WiFi. Can't remember how we'd set it when it did it. It was sat there saying it was aiming for the temperature we'd told it surrounded by clouds of steam and bubbling water.

The forums have similar tales, but ours has been fine since.
After about 26 hours in the sous vide, the pork shoulder is now out. It's very tender -- I had to handle it very carefully. I patted it dry, put a second helping of rub on it, and it's gone in the smoker with a generous amount of cherrywood and hickory. Hopefully it'll develop a good bark.

Currently pondering what to do with the juices from the bag, about half a litre or so of them. Reduce and run through a gravy separator, I think.
Also: I think I finally managed to tie a butchers knot that holds up.
I'm making scratchings
Pork shoulder status: bark is developing.
And I'm making candied bacon.
And MrsDoc made brioche buns.
Mouth status: watering
That looks great.

This house needs to shut up and get bought so I can start on the garage installations :(
Ughhhhhhhh making me so hungry :'(
Baking charity day thing at work!

I made Flapjacks!
Bloody hell, that all looks so good.

I think the crackling would end me, but that wouldn't stop me devouring it all.
Zardoz wrote:
Bloody hell, that all looks so good.

I think the crackling would end me, but that wouldn't stop me devouring it all.

Not for you! Stop looking!
I'll just rub it around my mouth.
I took a picture of the final sandwich but it's on my real camera so I haven't posted it yet. But I will!

Sadly I burned the candied bacon again [1], so I had to descope my plans for the Pig Triple Threat Sandwich (pulled pork, candied bacon, crackling) down to a Pig Double Trouble. Next time! The crunchy texture of the crackling worked really well with the soft pulled pork though.

[1] My hit rate for candied bacon is 33%. I keep forgetting it's in the oven while I rush around doing other things. I should just make it ahead of time and warm it slightly for serving.
Pop quiz! How much fat should I leave on the cracking when frying it?

When I took the skin off the pork shoulder, it had a pretty large amount of fat still attached, especially at one end. First pic below is the slab, just after it came out of the water bath, with a few slices I took off just before frying. The fat here had a great texture, very creamy (this was after about six hours of cooking at 74 deg C). I need to make some belly pork in the sous vide.

I fried some slices with all the fat still attached, and some slices where I took it down to just the skin. You can see both in the second pic. The latter were crispier, and in the former the fat didn't look that appetising IMO. But it did taste pretty good.
I like my pork scratchings as fatty as possible but not sure if I'm in the minority there.
Same. I'm in it for the fat, not the skin.
Cras wrote:
Same. I'm in it for the fat, not the skin.


Obvious title
Sexy Cooking Mk II

She should have her own TV show, delightfully jolly.

Edit: now with choice clip:

https://youtu.be/4X76xegwzbc?t=3m32s
I keep leaving a bit of fat on then being all :vomit: so I'm a next-to-none guy.
Page 5 of 15 [ 704 posts ]