# Just joined :-)



## curious aardvark (Aug 8, 2008)

Hi y'all I'm a bradley smoker user from derbyshire in england. The bradley original not the new digital job.
Do mostly cold smoking in it. I've also got a chargriller outlaw bbq (and believe me buying one of those in the uk is no idle decision as they are over 3 times the cost they are in the states). 
I'm fairly serious about making my own processed foods - been making my own sausages, grills, burgers etc for a few years now and take bbqing fairly seriously (by which I mean cooking over charcoal not hot smoking as you tend to mean in the states). 

I've not really done any hot smoking and a mate over on the slinging.org forums (nope don't know his handle over here - but it's different to his slinging.org one I know, as that was rejected by the sign up system) pointed me over here. so here I am :-) 

Given what I know about bbqing and smoking in the states I suspect I can bring a different point of view to a number of subjects and hope to learn a lot more. Anyway looking forward to picking up some hints and making some new contacts. 
CA

ps. This was my last bbq - thrown for about 15 friends and family.







 Anyway by numbers 
	

		
			
		

		
	






 1) ribs with a rather tasty marinade 
 2 & 3) venison chops in a subtle gin based marinade 
 4) pork and apple grills 
 5) a few of my veggy-meat sausages and minted 'lamb' kebabs - we only had 1 veggy present. 
 6) garlic and herb sausages made with fresh garlic and herbs from the garden. 
 7) some more ribs and some marinaded lamb kebabs (mint, honey, garlic, apple juice) 
 8) thai style prawn cakes - there were more but we had them in buns for lunch 
	

		
			
		

		
	






 9) king scallop and jumbo shrimp kebabs - A friend of mine in wyoming would sell his soul for these 
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
 In a light garlic, lemon and butter marinade.


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## gooose53 (Aug 8, 2008)

Welcome to the SMF!!  Be nice to see the diffences in how ya'll do it over there.


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## mrsb (Aug 8, 2008)

Beautiful spread.  Welcome to the SMF!


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## richtee (Aug 8, 2008)

Welcome Curious! We call stuff directly over the coals "grilling" typically. Well, the ones who know the difference do anyway. Hot smoking is a little different from the cold, but not that much. Read a few threads on pork butt and brisket. You'll get the idea and some tips that will have ya making quality "real" BBQ in no time!

Welcome to SMF!


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## flyin'illini (Aug 8, 2008)

Welcome to the SMF, curious....


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## seboke (Aug 8, 2008)

Welcome aboard curious aardvark!  Glad to have you with us and looking forward to seeing "your way" of doing things - one can never stop learning!


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## waysideranch (Aug 9, 2008)

Welcome Aardvark..


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## lawdog (Aug 9, 2008)

Welcome C.A..  Just out of my own curiosity over here venison is whitetale or mule deer, what do ya'll have, Stag?
Look forward to your future posts


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## bb53chevpro (Aug 9, 2008)

Welcome to the SMF family. What a great feast you have spread out there. Nice work.


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## smokedcaveman (Aug 9, 2008)

Hey CA, glad to see you made it over and got the same screenname.  Truthfully, I didn't even think to try and snag the same name.


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## curious aardvark (Aug 9, 2008)

yep I do know what you americans call bbq. But given I do use a closed lid cooker and I do throw bay leaves on the coals each time I close the lid to add fragrant smoke to the  'q and I cook everything as slowly as those waiting to eat will tolerate (lol) I reckon my cooking style almost qualifies for us style bbq ;-) It's certainy partially hot-smoked.

Basically in the uk we call any meat that comes from any breed of deer: venison. As far as I know that lot came from a roe deer.
The venison was actually supplied by a friend who came to the bbq - I mean come on, if you're going to invite people, someone who's going to bring enough prime venison to feed 15 people has to be right at the top of the list :-) His marinades aren't as good as mine (I'm modest lol) but they're not bad. IT was cooked to perfection too, nicely caramelised on the outside and moist and barely pink inside. 

I'm fairly confident that I can use the outlaw as well as anyone. What I joined the forum for was to learn how to use the bradley (yes for my shame it's an electric, biscuitte smoker - I apologise to the purists. But I just love the predictability and the fact that I can set it going and go do something else for four or five hours and come back to a finsihed product.)

So far I've used it exclusively for cold smoking. For which a piece of tumble dryer hose and a cardboard box make it perfect. I've smoked an awful lot of salmon. Cured overnight with a 3:1:1 salt:brown sugar:dilltips dry cure. And then smoked for about 4-5 hours. I've also done pigeon breast this way as well. And both are just so much better than anything you can buy in the shops I'm seriously considering going commercial with the pigeon. But that's another story and one in logistics more then cooking. 

So now I'd like to learn how to use the bradley for hot smoking and have a few good arguments about rubs versus marinades with you good folks lol
And maybe share a few sausage recipes and swap marinade tips. 

Couple of points that might impress you folks as to my sheer dedication to the art of bbq/smoking. 
If you were to buy an outlaw in the atates you can pick one up for around $80. Cheap as chips. 
In the uk you have to pay (wait for it) $508. I'm not rich, I just had to have one :-)
The bradleys aren't on that scale but they are at least twice the price they are in the states.
Scary huh :-) 
I also have a commercial quality vacumn packer, a heavy duty mincer and a stainless steel 5lb vertical sausage factory stuffer. 
In other words I do take my food fairly seriously :-) 

Anyway enough about me I'm going to go read some of the hot smoke forums. 
Thanks for the welcome as well :-) 

For the record One of my lifelong ambitions has always been to be a guest judge in a state wide us bbq cookoff. 
(you know if you're looking for an unusual guest judge at some point - I've travelled further for stranger reasons lol)


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## smokedcaveman (Aug 9, 2008)

He has, too! He's one of my friends from a slinging website (yes, sling, like the david and goliath type) and so, I know for a fact he's traveled to the states to throw rocks. (Hopefully I'm not embarassing him here. I hear his accuracy's improving, and I'd rather not make a target of meself.)


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## curious aardvark (Aug 9, 2008)

lol. 
Yep I have spent 20 hours travelling through 3 countries to get to the worlds first slingfest. 
Wyoming was also where I fell in love with the chragriller outlaw. 
Not only did my host put me up for two weeks, lend me a car, let me do all the cooking (he even paid for the groceries) he went and bought me a chargriller outlaw to play with. 
Best holiday I've had in many a year. All I had to do was act as grunt labour and camp cook. Neither of which I consider chores :-)


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## desertlites (Aug 9, 2008)

lol nice story-but u know what they say about Q-view-hehe-you sound like a fun time. thanks for finding us can't wait to hear more.


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## okie joe (Aug 9, 2008)

welcome ardvark, nice spread...


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## smokedcaveman (Aug 9, 2008)

he'll break out the pictures..he's got plenty..lol.


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## curious aardvark (Aug 12, 2008)

right had a look around - man this forum is convoluted lol. 
Every now and then I find the drop down menu that lists all the individual forums. But I keep forgetting where I left it lol

RWhat I want to know is what on earth are you people calling brisket ? 
As far as I can tell it's a large flattish cut of beef. 
There is no english equivalent that I know of, and what we call brisket tends to be smallish cheap rolled joints with a fair amount of fat. 

I like the look of these chubbies - but am amazed that people are still buying commercial salted fat- ur, sausage meat to make them with ;-)
Why would you go to all the effort of making one of those extraordinary things and then use the cheapest nastiest ground meat on the planet ? 
Good low fat sausage meat is so easy to make too (you're wrapping the thing in streaky bacon - no more fat is necessary lol). 

ANyway - so what is brisket ?


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## richtee (Aug 12, 2008)

Brisket is a low chest/upper belly cut of beef. Somewhere here <HELP someone!> is a nice beef chart... or a "Virtual Cow" on a site somewhere? Anyway... you describe it right.. in it's complete form it is comprised of a "flat" and a "point". The flat is the leaner portion, and is aptly named. Corned Beef and pastrami is usually made of a brisket flat. The "point" is a bit fattier, and seperated from the "flat" by a fairly thick fat/connective tissue layer. A whole brisket is alot of times termed a "packer" and includes both parts.

And the sausage thing... some of us DO grind our own...but if ya don't have a grinder, your at the mercy of the big guys, or your <hopefully> cool local butcher.

Hmm try this site:
http://www.britishmeat.org.uk/index.asp?id=166


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## teeotee (Aug 12, 2008)

Hi ya Aardvark ....... yet another brit joining in, welcome. 

If you are into your bbq which you obviously are then this is the country to be in. I've been living here for 7 years and really enjoy the whole bbq/grilling thing. Before movign here i hadn't done any kind of grilling, apart from once on a disposable. 
My family has visited a few times and are amazed at some of the stuff i have cooked for them. 

I have been getting the urge to start making my own sausage. Only because since moving here i haven't found a sausage anything like a good english banger, lincolnshire or cumberland sausage. Just need to convince the wife that i NEED to do this 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 .

Found this pic, hope this shows where the brisket cut comes from. 








Anyways ....... welcome to the smf.


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