Outdoor cooking - Barbecues, Barbecue, BBQs, BBQ, Smokers, Grills. And Ribs.

Such maths, very clevers

r++ ?

they look pretty good, you have asked for some advice...

i'd generally start with just a dry rub

smoke is produced at lower temperatures - its a product of incomplete oxidisation so start with a lower temperature, and the smoke ring occurs early in the cooking process. after a couple of hours at low temperature you can then start to raise it a bit. my pit is only allowed up to 120C when cooking ribs.

when the core temperature hits the stall you can consider wrapping in foil (texas crutch). i tend to apply any sauce just at the end of cooking and caramelise gently.

@ffm has shown us photos of beef ribs for "2 or 3 people." HOWEVER the photos clearly show only enough for one person. I would take his maths based advice with a grain of salt.

In all seriousness, you don't need to soak the chips. They don't absorb water and with the lid on they will produce plenty of smoke as they come.

That seems like a really short cooking time too. I do mine for 8 hours. Admittedly that's for a three rib rack, but I wouldn't do even single ribs for less than 5 hours. Different techniques. Looks tasty though.

How did the cherrywood flavour work? I've only ever done oak smoke for beef ribs.

@dancing james Thanks for the advice. Any reason for not using a slather? The recipes that I looked at suggested that it was useful for helping the dry rub to stick.

I may not wrap them in foil for the middle section of the cook next time, but rather baste them at least hourly and go a bit cooler for a bit longer. I had an errand to run this time, which meant that I had to leave it for a while. Measuring the temperature was a bit of a pain, I had to use a jam thermometer stuck through the vent in the lid, which meant I was actually getting a reading of the highest temperature throughout the whole volume. Any suggestion for a thermometer that can measure the temperature specifically at grill level?

Yeah, it wasn't a huge feast, but it was enough for dinner for 3 light eaters. The pack instructions said to soak the chips. I assumed that it's to stop them instantly burning up, because they are quite small. I'll try skipping it next time though.

5 hours cooking would definitely have been better, I needed to get them out onto the plate. The smaller ones were really good and could be eaten really nicely off the bone. For the larger ones I separated the meat from the bone and sliced it. It was tender, but not falling apart.

I don't really have any basis for comparison for the cherrywood. It was quite a mild, fruity flavour (which I liked) and the beef probably could have handled a stronger smoke. The flavour was quite influenced by the fact that I think I went slightly heavy on the garlic in the rub. Next time I'll measure its ingredients, rather than just slinging it together.

If you gunk the surface of your meat up with too much stuff, i.e. even just a rub that has been patted in too heavily, this will act as a barrier and stop the smoke getting into the meat... If you're putting wet and dry condiments on the meat you're creating a pretty difficult environment for smoke to penetrate...

Cooking for the forums favourite bike fitter this weekend

Making up spice rubs for pork shoulders, beef short ribs, lamb and pork ribs.

Note to self turning whole dried chilli peppers into powder in the Thermomix produces a cloud of hot chilli dust.

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Have you tasted the chilli powder yet? What peppers did you use? Always been curious about the difference in flavour between shop bought (even fancy shop bought stuff) and 'fresh'.

once you grind a spice it will lose flavour quickly

there are so many different chillis, mine were an assortment from the place down in Devon

it's a bit like the difference between freshly ground single origin coffee and pre ground blended coffee

I kind of figured that (freshness) but don't do enough to warrant regular trips to Pete's for dried chills to do my own: http://chillipepperpete.com/index.php?route=common/home

So usually use their holy trinity blend. 250g lasts a month or so of standard cooking: http://chillipepperpete.com/HolyTrinity-Dried-Chillies-Ancho-Mulato-Pasilla-MolePoblano-ChilliChocolate The flavour's a bit particular but I like it.

Will certainly have a go at some stage though. Can imagine something very tasty with these:http://chillipepperpete.com/dried-chillies/chillipepperpete-chinese-white-chilli-medium-heat-rare

Chilli thread >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

@hippy

You hungry?

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Are you catering Scherrit's? :)

Yep

You flying in a bunch of rare, illegal dead animals? :)

Shit, better hit the turbo or something to work up an appetite.

Has anyone ever use a Brook's Original Home Smokers, or similar little portable smokers?

If so any tips? I think I got the temperature up too high which coated the outside of the food (mackerel) in a slight burnt taste, the inside was lovely though.

After a huge amount of hunting (pre-internet), my mum bought one for my dad before smoking was cool and people were wearing lumberjack kit the first time round.

I used chips as that's what I could get rather than saw dust (as per instructions). I don't know if that has an effect.

Here's a diagram:

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Nice starter - What are you coming for the main course?

Food coma...

A little late to the party but fist BBQ in our own garden.

Pls ignore the "lawn".

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My wonderful wife got me this book and some bear claws for shredding pulled pork for xmas.

Reading the book is making me seriously hungry

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Fuck

Just did the beef short rib with mocha rub from the above book.

Fucking amazing.

Pics? Love beef short rib.

It looks burned to hell but it's just the ground coffee, cocoa and dark sugar giving it a very dark bark (rub also included chipotle cinnamon paprika). It was seriously amazing and we had it with an apple fennel cabbage mustard and honey slaw.

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