- May 1, 2017
- 1
- 10
Hi Everyone,
I am originally from South Africa a devout carnivore, but now reside in the UK, so I guess outdoor cooking with fire, meat and charcoal / african hardwoods kind of runs through my veins!
Although - we tended to just grill our meat (thick beef and vennison steaks, thick sausage made from coarse ground beef and spices or vennison and spices with some pork in to combat any dryness) with a bit of hardwood smoke, 'baked in by accident' as opposed to 'low and slow' deliberate smoking of larger joints etc. So our pastime of (our version of BBQing) is almost like a religion to us South Africans.
So I have a dedicated BBQ area in the back garden, with overhead shelter so there's no excuse not to BBQ as the weather here is not always condusive to practising our ancient cave man rites ....to cook meat with fire!!!
My neighbour often walks down past my property and sees me at my altar, loading in the ribs and starting the charcoal...etc.....it's only a few deg above freezing and gives me a wry smile thinking there's no hope for me!
So I have been experimenting with smoking for a number of years after tasting various smoked meats and getting hooked, by using the 'briquette snake method on an older webber kettle, with some hickory / cherry / maple....etc shavings inbetween and always got very sub par results. I could never get the 'snake' to burn properly as it always seemed to go out and I'd find the darn thing ice cold and mild panic setting in that I'd have to find plan B to feed my guests / family! I could not get the heat to be consistent without having to babysit the thing...
I then, fairly recently, got a very 'cheap and cheerful' 'no name brand' galvanised sheet metal cabinet smoker (about the size of a small bar fridge) with an electric element at the bottom and regretted getting it after the first few uses as I discovered the temp just was not consistent with no thermal insulation at all and it did not seal properly. You get what you pay for !! So I insulated the outside of it by sticking on some thick gypsum drywall panels (which I painted with heat resistant paint first to seal it) and tried to make a seal with some heat resistant silicone bead around the door.
It generally improved the thing and the heat retention improved a lot, after also packing the bottom tray with lava rocks, below the element, to try and retain the heat to stop the temp bounce too much. I've had some glorius results with pork shoulder, beef shin, chicken and pork ribs.
So I'm still a novice, trying different combo's of wood and seeing what works. Lots of fun.
I'm looking forward to learning from the experts and 'old timers' alike and also hope to contribute with my observations and own experiences along the way!
Thanks everyone
UKSmokingguy
I am originally from South Africa a devout carnivore, but now reside in the UK, so I guess outdoor cooking with fire, meat and charcoal / african hardwoods kind of runs through my veins!
Although - we tended to just grill our meat (thick beef and vennison steaks, thick sausage made from coarse ground beef and spices or vennison and spices with some pork in to combat any dryness) with a bit of hardwood smoke, 'baked in by accident' as opposed to 'low and slow' deliberate smoking of larger joints etc. So our pastime of (our version of BBQing) is almost like a religion to us South Africans.
So I have a dedicated BBQ area in the back garden, with overhead shelter so there's no excuse not to BBQ as the weather here is not always condusive to practising our ancient cave man rites ....to cook meat with fire!!!
My neighbour often walks down past my property and sees me at my altar, loading in the ribs and starting the charcoal...etc.....it's only a few deg above freezing and gives me a wry smile thinking there's no hope for me!
So I have been experimenting with smoking for a number of years after tasting various smoked meats and getting hooked, by using the 'briquette snake method on an older webber kettle, with some hickory / cherry / maple....etc shavings inbetween and always got very sub par results. I could never get the 'snake' to burn properly as it always seemed to go out and I'd find the darn thing ice cold and mild panic setting in that I'd have to find plan B to feed my guests / family! I could not get the heat to be consistent without having to babysit the thing...
I then, fairly recently, got a very 'cheap and cheerful' 'no name brand' galvanised sheet metal cabinet smoker (about the size of a small bar fridge) with an electric element at the bottom and regretted getting it after the first few uses as I discovered the temp just was not consistent with no thermal insulation at all and it did not seal properly. You get what you pay for !! So I insulated the outside of it by sticking on some thick gypsum drywall panels (which I painted with heat resistant paint first to seal it) and tried to make a seal with some heat resistant silicone bead around the door.
It generally improved the thing and the heat retention improved a lot, after also packing the bottom tray with lava rocks, below the element, to try and retain the heat to stop the temp bounce too much. I've had some glorius results with pork shoulder, beef shin, chicken and pork ribs.
So I'm still a novice, trying different combo's of wood and seeing what works. Lots of fun.
I'm looking forward to learning from the experts and 'old timers' alike and also hope to contribute with my observations and own experiences along the way!
Thanks everyone
UKSmokingguy
