Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff
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@Crucial In the time it took that dude that prompted this discussion on steak to melt his butter, I sliced and fried some mushrooms, cooked a cob of corn, made some chilli and lime salt (for the corn), got a 2009 Man o War Cabernet from the cellar and opened it, seared and cooked a rib-eye to my idea of perfection (just the blue side of rare), rested and served it.
It's a simple slab of meat, treat it simply and respect the animal that died so you can feast upon it. Don't fucking deep fry it in butter you moron!
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I'm after a bit of advice and I'm that desperate that I'm asking you lot of random internet time wasters.
So Ms Cato No2 is looking to get a BBQ for her significant other. She's looking to get a proper BBQ, not just a grill as they would like to be able to do the long and slow, perhaps smoking and what have you. I have a generic one but they are looking for something a bit more substantial and controllable. Not interested in propane fulled so charcoal ideally although they might be prepared to look at a pellet fired bit of kit. So far she's looked at a Kamado and a Traeger. the latter priced at a hefty £999.
So, thoughts and advice please.
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@Catogrande said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
I'm after a bit of advice and I'm that desperate that I'm asking you lot of random internet time wasters.
So Ms Cato No2 is looking to get a BBQ for her significant other. She's looking to get a proper BBQ, not just a grill as they would like to be able to do the long and slow, perhaps smoking and what have you. I have a generic one but they are looking for something a bit more substantial and controllable. Not interested in propane fulled so charcoal ideally although they might be prepared to look at a pellet fired bit of kit. So far she's looked at a Kamado and a Traeger. the latter priced at a hefty £999.
So, thoughts and advice please.
Depends what style of cook they want to do.
Traegers and other pellet grills are easy to use, basically good for people who love to eat BBQ but can't be bothered with having to manually manage the fire, because you dial in the temperature and the grill thermostat does the rest.
Kamados are great (I have an akorn, cheaper steel version). Proper charcoal flavour, easy to learn how to control temperature, can get them very hot or low and slow, economical on fuel. The only weakness is a lack of capacity compared to say a barrel smoker and a big multilevel traeger. But you can still easily fit a 5 or 6Kg brisket in there
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Thanks for that mate. Do you know if you can use charcoal on a Traeger? Difficult to tell from their blurb. I'm guessing the controllability will suffer if it is possible.
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@canefan said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
But you can still easily fit a 5 or 6Kg brisket in there
Kamado are the shot. The Akorn are excellent; I have what's now called a Big Steel Keg and did a 14kg brisket (bonein) yesterday and the day before.
Kamado let you do all three modes: low and slow, roasting and proper hot for steaks/grilling. Charcoal tastes better; smoking is awesome.
You can't go wrong with any kamado. options are ceramic or insulated steel. Ceramic is heavy and can crack, but is slightly easier learning curve to control temp. Insulated steel is ridiculously efficient (20 hour smokes on a single lot of charcoal), but are twitchier.
tl;dr any kamado is good, entry level is fine. If you don't want to learn how to run charcoal, buy an automatic
Happy to write more on this if you like! Avoid thin wall steel unless you really really want one (and then decide not to get one after all ... kamado all the way)
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@Catogrande said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
Thanks for that mate. Do you know if you can use charcoal on a Traeger? Difficult to tell from their blurb. I'm guessing the controllability will suffer if it is possible.
It's a pellet smoker. If you want gravity fed charcoal, basically a charcoal version of a pellet smoker, they should look at a chargriller or a masterbuilt. I personally love my kamado because it isn't as automated. The akorn is a quality product at a reasonable price. And as nzzp says, more lightweight which I like. It barely suffers in terms of heat retention, in fact it's harder to cool them down if you overshoot your target temperature
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I was asking similar questions about a 18 months ago. A Kamado or a Traeger? I wound up going for a Kamado Joe and have been very happy. It's easy to use, easy to clean and you have more methods of cooking than just smoking
Nothing really to add to what @canefan and @nzzp have said.. they were who I listened to when I made my decision. @hooroo also had some advice, he suggested if I get a Traeger I should pick up a bra and panties for myself too
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@Duluth said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
I was asking similar questions about a 18 months ago. A Kamado or a Traeger? I wound up going for a Kamado Joe and have been very happy. It's easy to use, easy to clean and you have more methods of cooking than just smoking
Nothing really to add to what @canefan and @nzzp have said. @hooroo also had some advice, he suggested if I get a Traeger I should pick up a bra and panties for myself too
Haha a mate of mine put it best. He said he loves to eat BBQ. But he isn't interested in working hard to get BBQ. Set it and forget it, basically like an oven. I don't like the look of the masterbuilt charcoal grills. They look like a gas grill and you probably need power supply to run the fan and thermostat. To me that isn't BBQ
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@canefan said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
Haha a mate of mine put it best. He said he loves to eat BBQ. But he isn't interested in working hard to get BBQ. Set it and forget it, basically like an oven.
Yeah I understand that. But with a good thermometer the Kamado isn't that much more difficult, the temperature is so stable. I use a meater plus and keep an eye on the temps with the phone.
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@Duluth said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
@canefan said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
Haha a mate of mine put it best. He said he loves to eat BBQ. But he isn't interested in working hard to get BBQ. Set it and forget it, basically like an oven.
Yeah I understand that. But with a good thermometer the Kamado isn't that much more difficult, the temperature is so stable. I use a meater plus and keep an eye on the temps with the phone.
I totally agree. I have an akorn set up with a Tip Top Temp. Basically a bimetal coil thermostat that allows me to leave the BBQ unattended for long periods. And it feels more primal, more BBQ
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@Duluth said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
I was asking similar questions about a 18 months ago. A Kamado or a Traeger? I wound up going for a Kamado Joe and have been very happy. It's easy to use, easy to clean and you have more methods of cooking than just smoking
Nothing really to add to what @canefan and @nzzp have said.. they were who I listened to when I made my decision. @hooroo also had some advice, he suggested if I get a Traeger I should pick up a bra and panties for myself too
You manned up bro! You manned up!
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If I can make another suggestion which is a definite option if you are restricted in terms of room/space or having neighbours close by who may object like apartment living, when moving into an apartment, I had to, very sadly, give up my Kamado Joe.
However, making the choice of a Weber Family Q, I can do pretty much everything a Kamado can do in a much smaller footprint.
You can smoke, you can low and slow indirect cook as well as hot and fast easily reaching temps of 300°C plus.
I loved my Kamado Joe and if we moved into a house again, I would get another but... it would not replace the Webber Q.
Just today for lunch, did a small lamb rump reverse sear and OMG!
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@RoninWC said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
If I can make another suggestion which is a definite option if you are restricted in terms of room/space or having neighbours close by who may object like apartment living, when moving into an apartment, I had to, very sadly, give up my Kamado Joe.
However, making the choice of a Weber Family Q, I can do pretty much everything a Kamado can do in a much smaller footprint.
You can smoke, you can low and slow indirect cook as well as hot and fast easily reaching temps of 300°C plus.
I loved my Kamado Joe and if we moved into a house again, I would get another but... it would not replace the Webber Q.
Just today for lunch, did a small lamb rump reverse sear and OMG!
Isn't Weber Q a gassie?!!!?!?! In tight spaces you could also go with a Weber go anywhere,
an Akorn Jr,
https://www.chargriller.com/collections/all-kamado-grills/products/akorn-jr-kamado-charcoal-orange-1?_gl=11a1zj59_upMQ.._gaMTQzNTkwNDk2OS4xNjg2OTc2MTkz_ga_4KM0RQRY7J*MTY4Njk3NjE5Mi4xLjAuMTY4Njk3NjE5Mi4wLjAuMA..
or one of these
Rambler Tabletop Charcoal Grill
The Oklahoma Joe’s® Rambler Tabletop Charcoal Grill offers portability, but never at the expense of quality. Its heavy-duty construction ensures supreme durability, while the height-adjustable tray and large air dampers let you create the ideal temperature and airflow. Great on the go or in your...
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@RoninWC said in Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff:
If I can make another suggestion which is a definite option if you are restricted in terms of room/space or having neighbours close by who may object like apartment living, when moving into an apartment, I had to, very sadly, give up my Kamado Joe.
However, making the choice of a Weber Family Q, I can do pretty much everything a Kamado can do in a much smaller footprint.
You can smoke, you can low and slow indirect cook as well as hot and fast easily reaching temps of 300°C plus.
I loved my Kamado Joe and if we moved into a house again, I would get another but... it would not replace the Webber Q.
Just today for lunch, did a small lamb rump reverse sear and OMG!
Webers are outstanding. Deceptively spacious and yeah that heat fucken cranks at a great rate of knots if you go inside and forget to turn it down like I often do.
My go to is a butterfly chicken, impossible to get wrong and always delicious.
Weber Go-Anywhere Charcoal Grill | Portable Charcoal Grill | Weber BBQ
