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 ...
Bourbon ribs, roasted chat potatoes, mandarin baramundi, mushroom and cream chicken and some salads.
Two plates of prawns, with cocktail and aioli sauce.
Fig pudding, cheesecake, chocolate mud cake, chocolate macadamia tart, mango panacotta and pistachio icecream.
The local Asian grocer has started to sell "Hai Nam" chicken rice and chicken satay and rice with ikan bilis. Last week, I had the Hainan Chicken Rice which is served with soy sauce and a sweet chilli ginger sauce. Both were well suited with the savoury rice and just cooked chicken. For $5.50, this was a decent feed and will definitely have again for a lazy day.
CB and I went out for breakfast on Sunday morning. I grabbed poached eggs and bacon (what we call eggs deluxe) on sourdough and an iced coffee. I didn't want the "who needs lunch" and so opted for a slightly lighter version instead.
Last Friday there was a work function due to a phase of a project finishing. I was luckily involved for a week filling in for an engineer who went on compassionate leave, so I was invited for celebratory lunch. I had the bangers and mash, along with a pint of the brewery's pilsner. The food was OK, and the beer, whilst not really being a beer drinker, was drinkable.
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.
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.
