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[Mambopoa]

Well this is the problem, the bread went away, was judged on texture, taste and crust.
After it went to the judges, I never saw it again.

Anyway here you go the only photo I have...

[Joric]

Did I mention, that my wife kinda requested a better grill so we can use indirect heat and there’s no fat dripping on the charcoal and no flames and no smoke, that might cause cancer? 

I thought one can grill with an offset smoker and bought a rather cheap one. The truth is you can’t. At least not if you just use the side fire box. To sum it up: I learned a lot over the past weeks about the Do’s and even more about the Dont‘s (do you spell it like that?) when using a cheap stick burner.

For grilling I now use a massive cast iron grill plate in the main box with charcoal underneath, so that’s ok-ish.

As for BBQ: did 6-0-0 ribs and some pork roasts just to get the hang of it. Completely different approach compared to grilling and a fun hobby for the weekend.

[Mambopoa]

Yes, slow and low is a very different way to cook.
If you want to do it more seriously and have any questions, I am happy to talk to you and help.

 

[Joric]

Yes, slow and low is a very different way to cook.
If you want to do it more seriously and have any questions, I am happy to talk to you and help.

 

Thank you    First problem: the meat cuts are different in Germany compared to the way US butchers work. There is no „brisket“ for example. I am trying different local shops at the moment to get a feeling where I can order what kind of meat.

I kinda settled on charcoal as „fuel“ - my neighbors don’t respond very positive to smoke at all. Most coal briquettes I tried have a bad smell, although I am not done with the expensive ones and coco seems to be good, too. Wood sticks on the other hand don’t burn very well in my SFB (cheap smoker problem I guess). So it’s charcoal plus very small pieces of wood.

So for now I buy small chunks of meat, try different rubs and try to get a feeling for the smoker. I don’t feel confident enough for big and long jobs.

[Mambopoa]

I am not sure why you can not get brisket. It is basically beef belly. The same cut as in a pig belly.
The outside meat of the ribs.
Now you have a packer cut, this is a bit different, this is a special cut from the front are of the cow.
I have to order these from my butcher, not a normal cut to have in the shops.

I have had some good success with some charcoal briquettes, as you can count them and put up a fixed amount.
I started with 20 and added 10 every 45 minutes with a lump of fresh wood, this gave me about 110c cooking temperature.

I would suggest trying pork shoulder first, it is a good piece of meat that is hard to get wrong.
Smoke for 4 hours then you wrap in tin foil and even put in the oven inside.
Since you have wrapped in foil, it wont benefit from much of the smoke from the bbq.

So have 4 hour fun in the evening smoking and drinking.
Wrap in foil.
Then put in the oven at 00:00 and leave for 10 - 12 hours.
Rest for 2 hours
Pull apart, removing large lumps of fat and any bones if there was some.

Now on to rubs.... ( how much time do we have? )

OK I go with a kansas style rub for pork (paprika based, that is sweet and hit of spice and chilli)
Beef I go for central texas style (Mainly salt and pepper)

If you get a rub of the net to start with, be careful as the american rubs will have  double the amount of salt and pepper we would expect. So half those in the recipe.

So found this on wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_of_beef
Where it has German and they say the cut is Rinderbrust

Where the pork is a bit more basic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_of_pork
Where it is the shoulder or blade.

Oh found this:
https://www.noordinaryhomestead.com/auf-deutsch-pork-cuts/
The called it a Kotelettenstuck.

I hope that helps.

If you want to talk Jor, we can chat on Whatsapp or Skype if you need.

[Joric]

As for the brisket: this is what I thought, too. The videos I saw showed a different piece of meat to what I get when I order „Rinderbrust“. This might be the „full packer“ you mentioned. I didn’t work with bigger pieces of meat before - I.e. I didn’t cut the steaks myself but bought them from the butcher. And we are usually not enough people for bigger roasts - or we would eat several days from the same piece of meat

So this is something I have to learn and at the moment it’s a bit confusing.

Here you can see - clockwise - some ribs (roughly 5-0-1), beef („Kugel“ - „rump/thick flank“) and pork („Kamm/Nacken“ - „Blade/shoulder“). So yeah, it works and you can eat it, but it feels quite experimental to say so.

[Mambopoa]

Ribs looked good, hard to check if they are done, as it is all about the feel. But they look like they wobble.

Beef has nice smoke ring, hard to see what it is like, as not a good cut for smoking.
I have done flank before and it does really taste good.

Pork I would say is under cooked for pulled pork etc.

So my main question is, did the beef and pork get to an internal temperature of 91c?

BIG TIP FOR THOSE BIG MEAT COOKS
Get a vacuum sealer.
http://foodsaver.co.uk/products/foodsaver-stainless-steel-vacuum-sealing-system-with-roll-storage-ffs005/
So when I cook a big piece of meat, I take what is left, make in to single person portions and vacuum seal then freeze.
Keeps it really good, maintains the smoke flavour and boiled in water for 5 mins defrosts and heats back up.

 

[Joric]

No, I stopped way earlier according to this site:

http://kerntemperatur.org/infos-tipps/liste-kerntemperatur-uebersicht-fleisch-braten/

I didn’t plan to do pulled pork or brisket, I was going for a „normal roast“ done in a smoker - starting with cooking times of 4-6 hours and see how it goes. When you train for marathons you don’t start by running one, right?

Ribs were done, but still chewy. „FOTB“ is something that I’ll try next time. Was hard enough to get bigger chunks of spare ribs, usually they sell pre-cooked meat or small pieces of baby back ribs.

I will continue to try stuff, that needs a little longer until I am confident to try a 10-12hrs job. Next problem: I’ve got no idea how a good brisket should taste and feel like. I like about 10% of the pulled pork that I get served in Germany. Most of the stuff is very dry, tastes strange or they put lots of BBQ sauce on top so I can’t taste the meat.

Thanks for your tips!

[Mambopoa]

Yes, you stopped for usual cook times.
With the brisket and pulled pork, you almost over cook it.
Then the meat will break down and be able to pull it easier.

Brisket should taste like beef, I mean beef, strong beef taste.
Then the slices should be able to hold together, only come apart with a gently pull. It will be about 91c, but that is the practice in judging it.

Cook the pork to 91c, then while warm pull apart and cover lightly in a BBQ style sauce you really like.
I would suggest the paul newman if you can get it.
https://www.newmansown.com/food/type/barbecue-sauce/
As these are not overpowered with smoke taste. Many of the sauces sold are just too much smoke and sweet.
But pulled pork does not have a lot of taste, so very easy to smother as you have seen.

As for ribs, they should not be fall off the bone for competition. That is overdone.
But if you want that, you have to braise the ribs for an hour or two.
This can be done with a little liquid in the wrap at then end.
Or in a dish, little liquid and cover with tin foil.

And with smoking, I found jumping in the deep end better, as small cuts dont react the same or even taste the same.
A small brisket or pork is too easy to dry out etc.

 

[Joric]

It would also help if my family would appreciate beef and not only pork and chicken 

And I am not even starting on lamb... which I like very much. 

[Joric]

Bought some meat for the weekend. Just for fun. „Dicke Rippe“ und „Nacken“ (https://www.fleischtheke.info/sonstiges/technologie/vergleich-fleischteile-deutschland-usa-beim-schwein.php) which are thick ribs from the lower pork shoulder (picnic shoulder sounds funny) and a piece of the upper/Boston shoulder. Will rub tomorrow and see how it goes.
Also I got some Marabu and acacia charcoal to burn which is a change from what I normally use.

[Mambopoa]

Hard to work out what part this is, too many names for the same thing.
But I am assuming this is a blade roast cut with the ribs.

Should be good eating.

 

[Joric]

Here are some pics. The ribs are from the breast area, so rather big bones and lots of meat with some fat.

I use charcoal to burn as I am really really lazy and my neighbours are kinda allergic to smoke. Also my smoker is a cheap one and doesn't burn wood sticks very well. So I  missed the right time to refuel the SFB by 1 hour and then overdid it. /rolleyes The water box in the smoker saved me and the meat, but the smoker kept going 4 hours afterwards Total time on the grill about 6 hours.

So far I like that BBQ thingie as an additon to grill stuff, but I might have bought the wrong device for my lazy approach...

As for seasoning: SPG on the ribs, a bought rub on the shoulder piece. 24hrs in the fridge, 3hrs warming up at room temp before putting on the grill. Last hour with 2 thin layers of BBQ sauce on the ribs.

[Joric]

Enough meat for yesterday evening and lunch today

[Mambopoa]

They look good, does look like the spare ribs off a big pig. So plenty to get your teeth in to
Can see a bit of a smoke ring too, so they had some good smoke going in.

But it is all about the taste and they look like they taste great