The Food Thread

[The Jackal]

I thought I was a food/cooking enthusiast until this thread! I'm a phony!

He needs some kids to compress

Jesus, Jez. He's not even got to ostrich meat yet.

[Jez]

Fair one those 3 years olds can be quite tough unless you BBQ them just right.

Edited original post for clarity

[Gibby]

[Snowy]

I thought Jez was suggesting some kind of child-terrine

Anyhow, the finished article:



I cut the skin away from the breast meat to show how the rub I got under the skin has taken too.



Was very nice although for some reason had a huge stall right at the end. I spritzed it with IPA several times which may have caused some evaporative cooling, not sure. Ended up having to push the temp to 250 to get it over the line.

Thought I would share the Flame Boss graphics with you too, so you get an idea of why it is so bloody good.



So the red line is the pit temperature, at 225 for most of the cook and 250 at the end. The dip-spikes you can see are where I opened the smoker to spritz the meat. The blue line is the temperature I set - you can see how close the pit temperature stays to it, and that's what I paid the money for. Temperature surges and drops can really balls up a cook and the Flame Boss eliminates them.

The yellow line is the internal temp of the chicken. You can see how the temperature drops off after the first spritz, then flatlines after the second. Using the app like this lets you spot the stall when it hits on longer cooks like brisket or pork and take whatever action you want to, whether a quick application of the Texas crutch (wrap it) or just ride it out.

The green line is the fan activity as it manages the pit temperature.

So that'll do me for now, am off on my hols tomorrow, but have a week off after I get back so will very likely look to cook up a brisket, weather permitting.

[Jez]

Where you off to mate?

[Snowy]

Croatia, little place called Makarska.

We went there last year, fucking fantastic place so we decided as we would change nothing we would go back again. A week of all inclusive luxury awaits and I can't bloody wait.

[Jez]

Looks relaxing mate perfect.

[Mantis]

We went to Hvar a couple of years ago, which is the island just off the coast from there; it is an absolute paradise, I loved it. Nothing could really beat hiring out a little boat and spending the day lounging around in the sun on it, in and around the little uninhabited islands off from the main town. Fantastic food worthy of this thread too, there's a little restaurant (it's a shack with a big BBQ pit) on a hidden beach just a short walk through the woods (or easy access by boat) where they served fish caught freshly in the area that day. Just drop anchor, jump in and swim to shore with your cash in a little waterproof bag and you could eat fresh fish whilst sat on the beach.

Enjoy your hols, mate. Croatia is fantastic.

[Jez]

Not to be all "little Britain" about it but what was the prevalence of English speaking there like?

[Mantis]

We went to Dubrovnik on the south coast and then got a ferry and spent five days in the more central Hvar coastal area and didn't have any problems, most people speak very good English. I usually do a crash course in the basics of whatever language the country I'm going to is to try and meet people part of the way, usually gets a few laughs out of the locals when they hear how bad I am.

[Snowy]

So Croatia was absolutely perfect - again. A week of pure indolence where I ploughed through three Patrick O'Brien novels (which is not an easy thing to do), tried to make my body used to 3 meals a day (even harder) and drank sufficient quantities to make my liver beg for a holiday (never!)

Weather was fantastic, the only downside was my mum had a seizure which rendered her unconscious and hospitalised her for three days while I was away, which applied some stress. I had to tear the NHS a new one from my sun-lounger - there was a distinct lack of any urgency on their behalf and when I was told that no consultants were available "as it was the weekend" I lost my shit. Funnily enough a consultant then called me about 30 mins later. As many others have said and QFT, fuck cancer.

Anyhow, back home, as is mum, and provided the weather holds off that means I need to get smoking! The rain better fucking hold off too, as I have already rubbed and cubed about 4lb of pork belly which I am going to turn into pork belly burnt ends, a chicken crown (because Mrs Snowy said I wasn't to only cook red meat), and a 3kg piece of pork shoulder. The pork shoulder is going to be the star (although the burnt ends will be mighty tasty too), I have rubbed it yesterday and will not be cooking it before tomorrow (at the earliest) so the seasoning will be taken over two days. I will also be injecting the pork before smoking, with my usual mix of apple juice, water, worcester sauce and some of the rub dissolved into the mix. This is exactly what it sounds like, I have a Frankenstein-looking kitchen syringe and I use it to pump the meat full of even more flavour.

For the pork shoulder I intend to maximise the bark, so my plan is to push right through the stall without wrapping if I can manage it. If I have to use a crutch (if the stall takes too long) then I will only wrap it long enough to push past the initial stall temp then unwrap again - I want a really nice crust on the outside of the meat, as it is just the most delicious part of the whole cook.

And so much fatty red meat, surely I will be dead before I hit 50 right? Well hopefully not - mum has lost nearly 3 stone since she started chemo and doesn't eat much - the plan is to cook up a load of, shall we say indulgent, meat, pull it, sauce it, stick it in a tupperware pot and take it over for mum and dad. While I know I will love the pulled pork and burnt ends, I really do want to look after mum first and foremost! Also part of the whole point of cooking low and slow is to render the fat down so that what you are left with is tender, flavourful meat. The pork belly should end up nicely crusted on the outside with a good bark, with a silky unctuous texture to the meat (and very little remaining fat). The shoulder will lose over a kilo in weight throughout the cook. But yeah, on the whole neither would get a recommendation from your cardiologist

(The chicken will be perfectly tasty too, but it isn't very interesting to cook hence not mentioned much ¬_¬)

[Jez]

Pork belly is lush. Love that done right.

[Snowy]

With the pork belly, this will be the first time I have tried making burnt ends with it - a purist would argue that is only possible using brisket point, but fuck purism I am all about flavour!

I have cubed it into ~1.5 inch pieces, skin removed as without the heat of roasting it will not crisp up. Next I have added some of my favourite rub and left it overnight. Today I have it on the smoker at 250F where I will let it cook off for about 3 hours. This will let it caramelise into a nice bark on the outside, as well as render some of the fat down. This is also when it will infuse with smoke.

Next I will add it to a foil pan, and cover with sauce (my favourite BBQ sauce plus apple juice, hot sauce and honey) that I have already made up. I will cover it with foil and back into the smoker for about another 90 mins. Finally I will take off the foil cover and let it get nice and sticky uncovered for another 15-30 mins.

What that should leave is a really tasty exterior with butter-soft meat inside, with all the fat rendered into pure pig heaven flavour.

That's the plan anyhow, will let you know how it turns out.

[Snowy]

So up nice and early this morning, smoker all set up and just set the pork to cooking. Man I am looking forward to this!

The chicken and the pork belly burnt ends were both very nice, but to me a good pork shoulder is kinda the main event, one of my favourite things to cook.

[Tichinde]

I desperately need to start cooking fresh stuff.
I live on junk out of the freezer

Might make a chilli next week, will be a good simple start back to eating made food.