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

Hi all,

I need to make some Brisket for Thanksgiving next week. I have boundless enthusiasm and a Big Green Egg. Can anyone offer any recipe recommendations so I can dazzle my inlaws?

Choosing the right brisket is paramount. You will really, really struggle to avoid dry brisket without starting with something with good marbling, no matter how good the recipe.

and @Eejit that was my feeling as well, water reservoir seems to be the wrong side but wasn't sure if I was missing something.

May just shell out for the slow n sear (at 3 times the price admittedly).

I've read some interesting stuff about John Davidson's brisquetta which might be a good way to start in the world of brisket without breaking the bank

The text on that website is quite something: "The Brisquetta is not just another cut of beef; it’s a carefully curated experience designed to bring the joy of barbecue to everyone"

That's got to be AI generated, surely. Awful!

I was interested to try and find out what cut of beef it actually is, but maybe I'll struggle because it's not a cut, it's an experience.

🤣🤣

I got the FlametechGrills from Amazon US, shipping very cheap for a big lump of stainless steel

https://www.amazon.com/FlameTechGrills-Charcoal-Barrier-Airflow-Redirection/dp/B0CGVQH91Y?th=1

I'm not sure why they'd use this photo to try and sell a cheap cut more expensively - it looks dry as.

I'm still trying to figure out what cut it is - looks like it could be part skirt / flank.

Beef cheeks are a decent alternative for brisket - there's a video posted up thread somewhere (by @dubtap iirc).

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Yes it was the Wilson's BBQ one.

When the American BBQ guys he got the confit idea from came to the UK they semingly can't believe you can just get cheeks all nice and trimmed ready to cook over here because they can only really get vac packs of the gnarliest cow face parts and have to do all the work.

Could be that UK / European butchery is all about following the seams on the muscle / fascia, whereas US butchery just chops big squares out of everything.

Cheeks are a winner though.

Weirdly I did beef cheeks this weekend - smoked for 3 hours then braised for 3.5.

They were awesome, but not much cheaper than Brisket I think, although more sympathetic to feeding smaller groups. Mine did need a fair bit of trimming…

One issue with trying to do American bbq in England is our animals are reared so differently. Theirs are grain fed, our better cattle are often outdoor pasture raised. Grain feeding tends to make for much more marbled meat, our cattle tend to have their fat on the outside with less marbling. So we end up missing out on the internal fat that renders down and bastes the meat from the inside out. US beef is graded by the marbling and fat content because fat makes for flavour.

I have been contemplating freezing sticks of dripping and then making incisions deep into beef and inserting the fat into the meat.

Also the fear of cholesterol has meant that lots of people ask for leaner joints of meat so farmers rear for the market they supply. One chap near me rears pigs, and I got half a pig from him and it was good, the next year I got another half pig and it had so little fat, when I asked he said it was just because lots of people were concerned by how fatty the meat was so he had used a different breed of pig, but for me the 2nd purchase lacked flavour.

freezing sticks of dripping and then making incisions deep into beef and inserting the fat into the meat.

I've injected it, which seems to work well enough (not that I've done direct like for like testing).

I'd be tempted to use an oysterblade/flat iron - its been the en vogue brisket alternative on YouTube since Leroy and Lewis introduced it to their menu. I did one for a birthday party over the summer, cooked really well. Should be pretty easy to get from an average UK butcher too.

Agree - I've tried the one served up at Crossfire Cooking in Wimborne and it was amazing, easily as good as brisket. I cooked at Meatopia with Evan LeRoy this year, he's a great guy and I love his whole approach of cooking up as much of the cow as possible. It was great to see them get a Michelin star last week.

Cheap supermarket spare ribs & a cauliflower for mac & cheese later.

And ALL the probes.

I’ve been sitting on my hands for a while refusing to cough up for a konro grill but two beers + Black Friday, and I caved.
Need to get some sake and then chicken skewers is all I’ll eat for the rest of 2024.
https://youtu.be/EjvprAM2kMw?si=RAUeoWykdGrPSbN4

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Ps. I won’t be using it on the dining table.

Have you found a source for hibachi charcoal?

Oxford Charcoal does really good Binchotan briquettes. Can recommend.

https://www.oxfordcharcoal.co.uk/product-category/all-briquettes

I want one of the Kasai grills so much.

And I'm obsessed with the YakitoriGuy on youtube.

One for the DIY thread, but i reckon you could make a pretty good approximation of the Kasai grill with a friendly blacksmith for the metal frame, and off the shelf fire bricks.

Ahhh, good reminder, thanks. I did get 10kgs thrown in with the grill but been meaning to check those guys out as there not too far from me.
@NotThamesWater A couple of hundred quid doesn’t get much from a fabricator these days! Would make a good diy project if time was cheap…