I've got a big Himalayan salt block that I've had for over a year and not used, I just haven't gotten around to it but I think I finally figured out the perfect use for it; I'm going to use it to sear steaks this weekend. I'm pretty excited about it.

4/28/2017 8:02:22 AM

Let us know how it goes!

4/28/2017 8:37:05 AM

^^ohhhh i've always wanted to do that. Please share your results.

4/28/2017 10:20:45 AM

Im in Louisiana visiting the in-laws and they keep asking if we want to bbq tomorrow. And they mean do we want to grill burgers tomorrow.

4/28/2017 11:08:46 PM

I finally did it last night. I couldn't find any good thick cuts of steaks that I wanted, so I ended up with thin cut tbones. They were so thin I didn't even bother doing anything but searing them for a minute on each side. The salt block worked great, it seared them beautifully and imparted just the right amount of salt on the steaks. I also cooked some asparagus on it, it cooked decently but I couldn't really tell any difference in taste.

4/30/2017 7:49:18 AM

For synapse, here is a 7lb pork butt on my Green Mountain Davy Crockett. Could easily fit a bigger one

4/30/2017 12:09:16 PM

i thought he was talking about a whole shoulder, not a butt

4/30/2017 12:38:28 PM

Well that should at least provide a frame of reference. I probably won't cook anything more than 10 lbs on it

4/30/2017 2:10:49 PM

looks like it would do a decent size brisket and a smaller whole shoulder. how much is that unit?

4/30/2017 2:34:40 PM

I paid $345 shipped

4/30/2017 2:42:25 PM

Just got my DigiQ in the mail last week, can't wait to use it

Also, cooked the best steaks of my life using this method (http://www.nakedwhiz.com/trexsteak.htm). The website has "Naked Whiz" in the subject line, just a heads up for those at work.

2" Filets, perfect medium rare throughout.

5/1/2017 10:35:00 AM

^^ thx for the pic. that's a lot bigger than I envisioned it.

[Edited on May 1, 2017 at 10:46 AM. Reason : ^ i tried to read that but it's too many words for me]

5/1/2017 10:41:34 AM

TL;DR

Room temp steaks
Sear at 90 sec each side at 650-700F
let sit at room temp for 20 minutes while you bring grill down to 400
Cook 3-5 minutes (depending on thickness and rarity desired), then pull. I did 3 minutes each side.

[Edited on May 1, 2017 at 10:49 AM. Reason : .]

5/1/2017 10:48:58 AM

I prefer reverse sear. Much easier to bring charcoal up to temp than to choke it down. In my experience, choking it down also produces lots of bitter white smoke from incomplete combustion.

[Edited on May 1, 2017 at 1:38 PM. Reason : Knew that damn thermo class would be useful one day]

5/1/2017 1:37:21 PM

i only do reverse sear nowadays

5/1/2017 1:48:32 PM

^oven or on the grill?

5/1/2017 2:05:00 PM

soooooo...I'm opening up a food truck.

Anyone have any superior BBQ techniques? Would love to talk with you and see how you do things...

Eastern style NC BBQ please. Could also use the same advice on pulled pork.

The rest of the menu I have nailed down.

5/1/2017 8:56:23 PM

wants to run a bbq food truck

asks internet how to make bbq

good luck, buddy!

5/2/2017 11:35:04 PM

Ha...I was going to say something similar. He did say he had everything else on the menu "nailed down."

To which my advice would be..."then leave the BBQ off the menu".

5/3/2017 9:53:47 AM

5/3/2017 9:55:00 AM

I grabbed a 2 lb London Broil the other day because it was on sale...figured I'd give it a shot. Put it in a tasty marinade for the day and grilled it a perfect medium rare...but holy fuck it was like eating leather. I've never had a piece of meat with the perfect color be so tough. Only ate about 1/3.

Fast forward to last night...I was trying to figure out how to use the rest of this meat while my wife had her salman. Cut a big chunk off, cut it into pieces, threw it in a pan, melted some provolone on top, grilled some mushrooms and onions, and tossed it on a toasted hoagie roll with mayo. Finished it off by drizzling the jus over top of the sandwich. Holy fuck it was delicious. Wife took a bite and now we'll be eating the rest the same way for dinner tonight.

5/3/2017 10:21:02 AM

^Did you cut it really thin across the grain? London Broil is probably my favorite dish when done right. Marinate it in teriyaki and some sort of sugar (brown, honey, maple syrup) for like 3 days.

Quote :

"Eastern style NC BBQ please. Could also use the same advice on pulled pork."

you can make bbq that tastes identical to Smithfield's in a crock pot. I had to start doing this when I got a condo with no grill access. It would be easily translated to a commissary or food truck.

take a pork shoulder and remove all the fat you can. put in a cup or two of vinegar sauce (Smithfield's sells theirs or you can easily copy it with red pepper, ketchup, vinegar, etc.) to cover it most of the way. cook that down for about 4 hours and then drain everything and remove any more fat that you can. refill it with more vinegar sauce and cook down for another 4 hours or so. drain one last time and pull everything, removing all fat and then sauce it for serving.

I haven't tried this yet, but I'd imagine you can take the pulled finished product before you put the final sauce on it and spread it out on a baking pan and smoke it for just a few minutes if you want it to have that kind of flavor. Smithfield's does not smoke their meat.

I also like taking my finished "bbq" and I'll eat it throughout the week adding various things to it to change it up since it's so generic. You can add fresh cilantro and some lime or even pineapple and make it like a luau pork, you can add chili and cumin with beans, corn, etc. and make burritos, you can add hoisen sauce/red pepper/basil and make like an asian type of thing.

On that note, Kroger has pork butt/shoulder for $0.99/lb right now....

[Edited on May 3, 2017 at 10:33 AM. Reason : nom]

5/3/2017 10:21:52 AM

i'd slash the tires on a fucking food truck slinging crock pot bbq

5/3/2017 7:13:26 PM

^ this.

I wasn't slicing it into cold cuts or anything, but it was about 1/4" slices. It was marinating for about 30 hours (meant to do it the night before but ended up getting drunk at a brewery and ordered pizza).

When I was looking up marinade/cooking tips for the london broil, I read plenty of comments on it being fucked up regardless of how well everything was followed..but then I read a couple where it was done right...figured I could do it. I mean...it looked fucking awesome..but it tasted like a cheap cut of meat. It's permanently off the board now (although the steak sandwiches were delicious tomoght).

5/3/2017 8:56:16 PM

I've cooked some great london broils, but you've really got to slice it thin like any other round roast due to the nearly complete lack of fat. 1/4" is way too thick for this cut. Sharpen your carving knife, keep your cuts thin, add some of the resting juices on top, and finally some horseradish if you like. Shit is dank.

[Edited on May 3, 2017 at 10:49 PM. Reason : or just make jerky out of it But seriously, try it again.]

5/3/2017 10:47:50 PM

Yeah this may sound crazy but the way my dad and I do London Broil - I look forward to that on Sunday more than I do nights where we have strips/filets/lamb etc. It really can be exceptionally good when it's thick and you get a thick sear on both sides and keep the middle medium rare, but you've gotta do it super thin.

Tri-tip sirloin might be a good happy medium for you.

Quote :

"i'd slash the tires on a fucking food truck slinging crock pot bbq"

I mean, not a lot of the OP made sense anyway haha

5/4/2017 10:56:19 AM

Yeah he always has some hair-brained idea that he never actually follows through on

5/4/2017 7:34:20 PM

I actually have been thinking about a food truck for a while now. My wife and I have talked about a restaurant for years, but we are no where near the point where we could actually open one though. A food truck would be expensive up front (especially because it would have to be custom, I've got a great idea for a built in smoker) but we could both keep our full time jobs while we ran it.

5/5/2017 7:23:32 AM

You wouldn't really have to smoke the meat inside the truck though right? Seems like you'd just need to hold it at temp...

5/5/2017 8:37:07 AM

Yeah. Most places start smoking in the very early morning and keep it warm through lunch. Sell til you sell out. It's a little different if you want to do supper too.

5/5/2017 9:48:17 AM

Any cooking and prep has to be done in a certified commissary iirc. There are costs there unless you have a church you're in tight with.

I know a couple people that have owned them - it's definitely not a great lifestyle and not super lucrative for 95% of them. Gas alone costs a ton and if it rains, people don't show up and you just eat the loss. I'd do it only with the intention of getting investors for a brick and mortar location.

Good luck if any of y'all do it. I'll come support it and can put you in touch with people who are in the business that could tell you more.

[Edited on May 5, 2017 at 2:52 PM. Reason : .]

5/5/2017 2:51:55 PM

Bah, had my first disappointment on the Akorn this weekend.

Tried to do Ribs, and was doing the 3-1-1 method (http://barbecuebible.com/2016/10/11/smoking-ribs-3-2-1-alternative/).

This was also the first time using the DigiQ.

Couple of things I learned:

I think my whole family likes the ribs when they are practically falling off the bone. The 3-1-1 method seemed to keep them a little tougher, which I think is how a lot of people enjoy it but we don't.

I tried a dry rub for the first time instead of a wet rub like I normally do, also wasn't a fan of that.

I was also surprised how much trouble I had with the DigiQ, but probably because I'm just learning it. I think I had the top vent open too much in the beginning and it overshot the temp, so I closed off the top vent and it basically extinguished the flame. Had to add more charcoal and relight.


After all that, we did eat the whole rack but I just wasn't super impressed. I think I'm going to go back to a wet rub, 3-2-1 method, and I think I'll do better with the DigiQ next time.

5/8/2017 9:46:48 AM

For baby backs I do 2-2-1 and have great results every time - I temperature check just about everything except ribs because it's basically a science now to me - when there is about 30 minutes left i apply sauce

It's important to have the top vent set correctly when using any temperature controller - the general rule of thumb is to have it set just as you would when manually controlling temp - on my BGE I mostly use my temperature controller when i want 225 for an extended period of time and i set the top vent so that it's closed but rotate the top of the cover so that the holes so that they are open (if I'm using my rain-protected vent then it's open about 1mm on all sides)





[Edited on May 8, 2017 at 10:11 AM. Reason : .]

5/8/2017 10:10:44 AM

I could be wrong, but I feel like dry drubs work better for longer smokes. You just can't get a good bark/crust in only 2/3 hours. I've had some delicious dry-rubbed ribs...but they were at least 5 hour smokes.

5/8/2017 10:17:28 AM

made some venison burgers this weekend with some ground meat a co-worker gave me. her husband ground in some beef fat as well so it was really mild but still a nice treat as I don't know any hunters. I may use the other bit in a stew or something.

5/8/2017 12:08:09 PM

I stumbled across a Wilmington grill cape fear deluxe on Craigslist in really good shape for $600, so naturally I low balled him on it which was a mistake. Before we could finish negotiating he had someone offer his asking price and buy it. Damn my cheapness, I should have just bought the thing.

5/13/2017 8:23:08 AM

They kinda suck. Can't get a good sear. It's essentially just a gas oven outside.

5/13/2017 10:11:56 AM

I wondered how hot they would get, but I'm ok with that. If I want to sear I've got the akorn or an outdoor burner, and my small Weber q. I want something bigger for throwing a bunch of hamburgers and hotdogs on that will last a long time, but I sure as hell ain't gonna pay $2000+ just for that. I would have paid $600 though...

5/13/2017 11:53:08 AM

I got a new akorn yesterday, mine needed a new grate, new seals, a new chimney cap and a few other things. I could have replaced all those things but I figured the new ones are only $300 I'd just go ahead and get a new one. on the last 2 that I put together could see styrofoam insulation where you put the thermometer, but on this one it looked more like some type of white cloth. They must have changed their insulation. But anyway, I was playing with it last night, I wanted to see if I could hold 225 on it (I had to micromanage my old one to keep anything lower than 250) and I got it stabilized at 230. The neighbors came over, we drank some beer, and I checked it a few hours later and it had climbed to 255. I was gonna choke it out and go to bed, but then I decided to see what it would do overnight so I closed the top vent about an eighth of an inch and went to bed. Woke up this morning it was at 210 but falling pretty quick so I figured the fire was out. I opened it back up an eighth of an inch and I'll be damned if about 20 minutes later it wasn't back to 225. Holding steady now, I gotta say I'm pretty impressed. I might be ready to try an overnight cook soon

I've got a 4 lb chuck roast I'm gonna smoke this afternoon, I might just let the thing burn till then just to see how long it'll go

[Edited on May 14, 2017 at 9:22 AM. Reason : Chuck roast]

5/14/2017 9:18:19 AM

Mother's Day means first cookie cake on the egg



[Edited on May 14, 2017 at 3:53 PM. Reason : 12" cast iron]

5/14/2017 3:52:58 PM

Ok, I can get a packers brisket from a local grocery/butcher/hardware/feed and seed store and I think I'm gonna go for it. I've done smallish flats before, smoked then wrapped that have turned out really well, but I've never done a full packers brisket. My family is going to the beach next month and I normally grill/smoke something for dinner at least one night that I'm there, so I'm thinking about a brisket. I could use yalls advice and pointers on anything, but specifically slicing, chopping or shredding? I'm a huge fan of pulled beef bbq, can I do that with a packers or I should I just get 2 points? Can you shred the the flat effectively? Smoke whole or separate the flat and point? Texas crutch or no?

Down arrow (don't have that symbol on my phone)Sliced, even the point?

[Edited on May 16, 2017 at 7:38 PM. Reason : G]

[Edited on May 16, 2017 at 7:40 PM. Reason : Also, how many can I feed with a 10-12 lb packer ]

5/16/2017 7:33:45 PM

sliced

5/16/2017 7:35:42 PM

I usually try to cook at least 1-1 1/2 pounds per person, knowing that will be more than enough

[Edited on May 17, 2017 at 8:17 AM. Reason : s]

5/17/2017 8:17:02 AM

Figured this would be a good thread to ask...

But can you keep chest freezers "outdoors"? It's not going to be out in the wide open elements, but basically in a carport type area. Covered on the top...and basically lattice on the sides.

The main reason we need one is that my wife is stockpiling breast milk and it's completely taken over our freezer in the house...and we're almost at 4 months and she's plans on getting to at least a year...so we need more space. I figured we might as well get the smallest chest freezer available and finally be able to purchase some meat in bulk.

Anyone keep there outside in a carport or similar contraption and have recommendations?

5/18/2017 8:15:00 PM

you can. it will use a lot more power in the summer than if it was inside.

5/18/2017 9:48:12 PM

As long as it's not seeing direct sun it should be fine but you'll definitely see a lot higher energy usage - a lot of chest freezers don't work on a direct thermostat either - it's a high / low dial knob so they don't handle big temperature swings well either so make sure you put a thermometer in the freezer and make sure the settings handle the hottest part of the day

On a way off topic comment for this thread - breast milk shouldn't be kept in a freezer for more than 12 months so going over that is not a good idea

5/18/2017 11:06:22 PM

We talking an extra $5 or $10/month on an energy bill?

As for the breast milk...I can't imagine a scenario where we use breast milk that old. I don't think she makes it breast feeding past the one year mark anyways. And we've been working in bottle feeding with the nanny and he'll be going to daycare soon, so he'll be bottle feeding even more (which also means the wife will be pumping and storing even more...which is why we're looking at freezers). Everything is organized to where we're using the oldest milk first...so we're good in that regards.

5/19/2017 6:43:45 AM

Is this a good grill?
Char-Griller 16620 Akorn Kamado Kooker Charcoal Barbecue Grill and Smoker $262
http://a.co/0zbGQd1

5/19/2017 3:25:55 PM

Yup that's the one you want.

5/19/2017 4:18:24 PM

yes.

5/19/2017 4:26:11 PM