Birthday BBQ

The family dinner for my birthday was at my place this year. After watching Man v Food episodes, I thought I'd try my hand at brisket again. I found that the local Asian butcher could actually supply me with a whole brisket and I picked one up last Wednesday. All 7kg worth! This is about a third of the whole 7kg, with the other two pieces flatter and thinner. This one had a little more fat through it, so I chose this one to rub and smoke. I trimmed nearly 1 kg of fat too. Before smoking, I rubbed Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and some BBQ rub, and left it overnight.

Yesterday morning, I lit some 15 heatbeads and poured those onto 60 or so heatbeads in my cheap Weber kettle BBQ. A few chunks of hickory and 9 hours later and this is what ended up. I tried to keep the temp down to under 250 deg F but the kettle climbed to over 300 deg F and stayed there pretty much all day, probably due to too much charcoal being lit (might try 10 next time). I also had to pull off the meat at an internal temp of ~180 deg F instead of the generally agreed temp of 190 deg F, so I thought it would end up being tough.

After cutting, I was happy with the smoke ring. I had a small bit and was surprised it was quite tender. Overall, I'm happy with the result, but next time, I'll be sure to get the temp lower and cook it longer till it hits 190 deg F. I don't have the real deal to base my results off, but the meat was quite tender, smokey and the dry rub provided a decent kick (with the chilli powder).

Pork Hocks (Schweinshaxe Round 3). This time, I dried four in the fridge for a couple of days, rubbed oil and salt, and put them on the warming rack on my gas BBQ. Turned on the outer burners on high, all inner burners on low, and the temperature hit ~170-180 deg C. I turned these fairly often to try and get them crisp all over. It turned out better than I expected. This will be my new method for making these.
I left these on the warming rack whilst doing the chickens (see below), to give them a chance to cool (I learnt from last time). This was the resulting crackling and meat after pulling them off the bone. Very delicious if I say so myself, although probably not very healthy.


Roast potatoes and pumpkin cooked in the dripping pork fat. Very tasty and unhealthy.


Butterflied brick chickens. These were marinated in oregano, chilli and lemon. Half an hour on each side (the presentation side was pressed on the grill with a brick) and these were done.

I quartered each chicken and then halved the breasts, resulting in slightly smaller chunks.

Also served up for dinner were some homemade baked beans, coleslaw and my interpretation of Greek salad. I used a goats milk fetta and wasn't a big fan of the goat flavour ...

23 Oct - Il Gelato, Northbridge

After dinner, we stopped by Il Gelato to pick up some durian icecream. Fail. They didn't have any anymore. Instead, I had the Mars Bar and Hazelnut instead. Whilst they were separate flavours after my taste testing, they kind of blended together when I ate them with the cone.

23 Oct - Outback Jacks, Northbridge

My birthday this year was celebrated at Outback Jacks, after watching one too many Man v Food episodes. I wanted to go to an American place (with Southern BBQ, such as pulled pork, brisket etc), but such a place doesn't exist in Perth. So the next best things are places like Tony Romas (been there) or Outback Jacks.

I had a couple of Pipsqueak ciders as it was my birthday. These went down a treat and was refreshing with the ice.

For starters, I went for the chicken wings, with the "saddle burner" sauce. I dunked each wing in the sauce, even double dipping to get maximum fire. After awhile, the chilli sauce started to burn, which was good, but I had run out of chicken. I would've liked more chicken for the money...

After deciding to not go for the Outback Challenge (1kg rump, 1kg wedges and veg), I knew to choose the ribs. Here is a full rack in smokey BBQ sauce, with some chips underneath. These ribs were great, the chips were decent, the salad wasn't that good. My sister didn't finish her rack, and I ended up with two of them, but I was so full and they were cold, so a little chewier. If only I could find a full rack of ribs from a butcher, I'd give a shot at smoking a set myself.

23 Oct - Welcome Inn Teahouse, Northbridge

I had my car serviced in Northbridge on Saturday morning, so CB suggested we go to lunch in Northbridge as it was also my birthday. After umming and ahhing between Good Fortune and Welcome Inn, I decided to have dim sum. I thought it would've been quite busy and was surprised that it was very quiet and were seated immediately. As soon as we sat down, we started to eat:

Chicken sticky rice. Savoury flavoured chicken, nothing like the sticky rice from Asian grocers though, so not a lot of mung bean, chestnuts or salted egg yolk! But still good.

Chicken Feet (or Phoenix Claws). I managed to coax CB into having a couple, and she said she didn't mind them.

Chee Cheong Fun. Good as always. Soft pastry/noodle, plump prawns and the sweet savoury soy sauce.

Pork spare ribs. Well seasoned, very gelatinous and smooth. CB doesn't eat pork so I ended up eating the lot.

Egg Tarts (Dan Tarts). Flaky pastry and rich eggy custard. I ate mine late in the meal but as soon as they came around, we grabbed a plate. As soon as you take a bite, the flaky pastry explodes in your mouth and dries it out immediately haha.

Har gow. Dipped in the chilli oil (which was very potent this time round), these were really good. Also explosively hot (chilli and temperature wise).

Seafood and seaweed rolls. CB had two, I had one. After eating one, I told myself to try and stick with steamed goods, as the oil from one of these rolls had already gotten to me.

Pork dumplings. I think they were kind of pot stickers, but not quite. Served with a vinegary sauce. These were quite bland to be honest.

Siew Mai. Of the chicken variety. Should've gotten pork as these weren't as tasty. CB got to eat them though, and even she said they were a bit bland...

Something new, mango balls. Much alike the chewy peanut balls from the Asian grocer, but replace peanuts on the inside with canned mango. Yum. I ended up having two, CB had one.

Notice there was no fried squid? None came out until we were full. I know we could've asked and ordered but we had enough to eat anyway.

22 Oct - McDonalds, Malaga

After Metallica, CB and I grabbed some Maccas on the way home. I used a 2 for 1 Big Mac, and ordered a large McChicken meal for CB. I drank most of the Sprite that came with the meal, had a few chips, and scoffed two Big Macs. Certainly doable, unlike two Whoppers which was a bit much last time.

As I opened the Big Mac boxes, I semi complained to CB about how poorly constructed these burgers were, and how stingy they were with the lettuce. I remember when I made these they had lots of lettuce, and were constructed properly (due to the use of burger collars back in the day).

22 Oct - Sarpinos Pizza, Cockburn Gateway

I was at the office all week last week and so I had lunch with the guys at the usual Cockburn Gateway. I was going to see Metallica later that night (going straight after work) so decided to use my Ent Book two for one and kept one for dinner. I had the Classic Italiano for lunch, and had the Sicilian near the lakes at Burswood. I also got some sushi for CB as Sarpinos didn't have any chicken only pizzas.

14 Oct - KFC, Mirrabooka

I left work late today, and had nothing prepared for dinner , so on the way home, I stopped by to see the Colonel. I saw they had a "Fiery" burger, so I opted for their "Fiery Ultimate Burger combo", which consisted of the burger, piece of chicken, chips, potato and gravy and a drink.

The burger has bacon, cheese, tomato, grilled patty and some "Fiery" sauce. Whilst it had some bite, it wasn't as hot as say a McSpicy, which was a disappointment. Probably to satisfy local tastes...

11 Oct - Porridge and homemade salted egg

I've had some chicken eggs in brine in the fridge for over two months now .. when they were supposed to be in there only for a month. So tonight, I decided to have some porridge / jook / congee for dinner. I had to cook it quickly so I used the pressure cooker and raw rice, with a 5 to 1 water to rice ratio. I also added some peanuts. After 15 mins, the rice was cooked but it wasn't broken up enough. But I was late and I was hungry enough to eat it as is.

Tonights porridge was served with dark and light soy sauce, pepper and fried shallots. The salted chicken eggs were OK. I had put some szechuan pepper in the brine and was a little disappointed that I couldn't taste any pepper when eating the egg white. The yolk however, had a subtle peppery flavour.

9 Oct - Indian Garden Restaurant, North Perth

Arnee-ah had his birthday dinner out in North Perth on Saturday night out at Indian Garden Restaurant, in North Perth. CB and I got there a little early and studied the menu, since there wasn't one available online. After perusing the menu for awhile, I decided on the buffet option, for $29.50 it's an all you can eat affair of a number of dishes available ala carte.

The food was OK, however nothing was really outstanding. I found it to be quite salty too, and that's saying something as I quite like salty food. The vindaloo wasn't hot at all, even though it was described as hot. I did try and eat my moneys worth, although I only managed three plates. I was really feeling uncomfortable by the end of the third plate.

9 Oct - Grill'd Burgers, Mt Lawley

CB and I had lunch out in Mt Lawley on Saturday. I went for the Wild Wild West burger, along with a serve of rosemary salted chips. This was the same as last time, beefy and flavourful, although this time, the burger was dripping juice a little due to the beetroot/tomato/lettuce or something, making it a bit messy.