Inaugural U.K. Smokers Weekend Meet

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

kc5tpy

Master of the Pit
Original poster
May 12, 2013
4,352
188
Newark on Trent, United Kingdom.
( I looked up the spelling Joyce
icon_biggrin.gif
 )


Hello all.  Well we did meet up for the weekend and the weather was kind on the day.  GREAT to put faces to names.  Even on the Friday nite as the rain poured down and we all huddled in my gazebo everyone was in great spirit ( that may have something to do with a little drink
th_dunno-1%5B1%5D.gif
 ).  I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the members who braved the rain, brought food and equipment, smoked some great tasting stuff and made our 1[sup]st[/sup] weekend meet a great success.  I was a little busy so I forgot the step by step photos of the smoke but I know we all have some great photos of all the folks enjoying themselves.  I am sure they will show up soon.  I have just returned and haven’t had a chance to look through mine yet.  The look on that young lads face as he was eating that chicken quarter ( which was as big as his head ) made it all worthwhile for me ( we can’t post the pict. ).


Feel free to post your picts here or start your own thread, which ever you prefer.

We will agree on a date for our next meet earlier so that more members will have the chance to attend.

Again, a big thank you to all of you for your hard work.  Bring on our next meet!

Keep Smokin!

Danny
 
Hello.  A motley looking gang indeed!  We did have a great couple nites.

Just on a personal level; can you folks please try to insure that any picts of me are not seen by U.K. Immigration, Scotland Yard, F.B.I, Interpol, or the C.I.A?  
lurk.gif
  Just sayin.  Keep Smokin!


Danny
 
Well folks, below are the picts I am going to post

Now before I knew what was happening all these strangers showed up at my pitch.




As you can imagine; add HEAVY rain and we were FORCED to just sit, chat and drink SMALL amounts of alcohol.


The Saturday "Pitmaster's Feast seemed to start simple enough.


Started to get a bit more interesting


What tha HE** do you mean we have run out of smoking wood??????  
ROTF.gif




Chillin time.


Seems Wade AGAIN! has his head in his, AHHH,  AHHH, Yeah!  VAN is the word I was looking for!  
icon_lol.gif
  I just had to take tha piss!  Seriously, Thank you my friend so very much for your hard work and contributions to the weekend.  

And the rest of the Gang without whom the Weekend would have been a disaster.  Thank you to you all.  I don't want to post names, you all contributed to a great extent.  If ONE of you had failed to show then the weekend may very well have been a wash out.  Thank You so very much.







 
Hi Danny, great photos!

It was a great weekend, even though the rain gave its best to ruin it.

Thanks to you and Anette for all the hardwork that you put in to make it happen.

The food was fantastic all round.

So the big question, when's the next one?

Steve:yahoo:
 
Graham - can you please post the recipe for your marinated pineapple wedges. They tasted great - even the very dark bits 
thumb1.gif
 
Shhh Wade,those Yanks will think we’re Limey Pussies if they know we bbq’d fruit and brought a crepe machine to a cook off :)
I just segmented up a fresh pineapple and marinated it in a mix of Malibu, brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon.
We had a fandabby weekend and it was great to meet you and everyone else too ! Great how we all hit it off, that’s Q for you !
We’re camped up in York now, got the barbie lit up and some great smoked sausage that Danny gave us as a leaving present heating through. Managed to get a signal on the tablet for the first time all weekend so it’s great to see the pics too.
 
I must say that a couple years ago I might have agreed with Graeme's statement about fruit and such.  I've done "some" smoking for almost 40 yrs.  Mostly hot smoked meat and camp fire type cooking.  It's only in the last 3 or so years that I have started to broaden my horizons so to speak; and finding this website has helped a lot.  As I always tell folks I am not in to rubs, sweet sauce and such on meat.  I try to let quality meat and the smoke stand on it's own.  Some folks may say it's bland but it's my way.  Things like those wonderful ribs Wade did work well with rubs and sauce.  In fact as we know, to get that "fall off the bone" texture to ribs you need some sauce..  I did back off the mesquite quite a bit ( I added pecan, and cherry to calm it down ) but I tried to show folks the old school, done by experience, hard way to go about smoking meat ( we all know that brisket was over cooked, it pulled rather than sliced.  at least it wasn't dry ).  With the technology out there today it doesn't have to be done that way.  Life is too short, take advantage and take all the short cuts you can.  There is a whole wonderful world of foods and ideas out there just waiting for folks to try.  I have done bananas with chocolate and brandy on the smoker but the firmer fruit like pineapple and pears are a great idea.  The charred edges add a great flavour.  I certainly picked up a tip or two this weekend.  Never too late for an old dog to learn new tricks.  Thanks everyone for the great time we had.  Keep Smokin!

Danny
 
Hello.  Just as a side note.  Being from Tx. I grew up eating mesquite smoked.  For me. you could smoke cardboard in mesquite and I would probably have a go.  Mesquite smoked is not to everyone's tastes.  I didn't know how folks would react to full on mesquite so I REALLY held back.  If you want to try mesquite smoked for yourself grill a steak.  I choose a nice 1" thick ribeye heavily marbled, just salt and pepper.  Get your heat source coals REALLY REALLY SUPER hot.  Throw on a handful or two of mesquite chips and let the smoke roll.  Now this will be the thick white smoke folks say to avoid but trust me here.  This happens so quickly you will get no nasty flavours ( unless you don't like mesquite ).  Wait 1-2 minutes, let the smoke get rolling.  Throw on your steak, about 2-3 minutes each side and DONE.  Wrap in foil and rest about 3-4 minutes.  If you are curious this method will help you discover the taste of any wood.  It will give you the full on version of what heavy smoking with that wood will produce.  Obviously on longer smokes if you do not constantly add chips or chunks the flavour will be milder.  I do not yet own a smoke generator so results with these might vary, I don't know.  Sorry, old school dumb again!  Keep Smokin!

Danny
 
 
( we all know that brisket was over cooked, it pulled rather than sliced.  at least it wasn't dry ).
OK, so you were using a blunt knife to carve it with. It still tasted very good and as you say it was lovely and moist. 
icon14.gif
 
So sad to have missed this.

I've been preoccupied with health problems and hospital visits, and came over to SMF to see which weekend it was happening, to realise it's already happened
confused.gif


Hopefully will try to make the next one.

Looks like you all had a blast dispite the weather, and the food looks awesome!

Andy.
 
Hi Andy - I hope everything is OK with you. Yes it will be good to see you next year.
 
Hello.  WOW!  Ok folks.  Give me a few days please.  I haven't even finished completely unloading the caravan yet.  
icon_biggrin.gif
  I'll start a thread by the end of the week.  Glad to see folks are looking forward  to the next one.


Hello Joopster.  OK, by U.S standards it wasn't a huge gathering but it was our first.  We had folks driving 5-8 hours to turn up; and in bad weather.  We have only been a Group since November and already have had our first meet and greet.  I'll take that ALL DAY LONG.  Give us time and you may be surprised.  I have been doing this somikin thing for a while and I can tell you these folks got skills!  I'd be proud to offer their food at ANY gathering in Texas!  Some are new but that is what the Group is about, helping new folks get started.

Keep Smokin!

Danny
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky