# Greetings from Downunder



## urban griller (Oct 1, 2007)

Good afternoon fellow smokaholics,

I have been watching this forum in the background for quite some time now and have found it to be extremely educative and have decided to join even though I live in a different world to the rest of you.

I run a barbecue cooking school in Perth in Western Australia, Barbecue in Australia has traditionally focused on what people from other parts would call grilling, the concept of “low and slow” is foreign to most Australians, in fact the concept of cooking on anything that is not powered by gas does not occur to most of my fellow countrymen, this is the challenge of barbecue school. I have an interest in all kinds of outdoor cooking including Woodfired Pizza ovens (I run classes in getting the best out of your pizza oven as well), Dutch ovens, Open fire cooking, Smoking, Preserving, Sauce making and anything else remotely to do with outdoor cooking. I also have an interest in the science of cooking, believing that understanding what is actually happening during the cooking process will lead to new and wonderful recipes and cooking experiences.

I have made short videos of a couple of lessons from barbecue school, for those of you who are interested you can see them at www.youtube.com/urbangriller the video on how to cook pizza on a gas barbecue grill will be of interest to anyone who loves their food (even though it does use a gas grill) and the lesson on how to freeze without using power will be useful to a lot of you, particularly anyone who likes fishing or hunting.

It is difficult trying to preach the “thin blue smoke” philosophy in Australia as it is simply not done here, there are no BBQ Restaurants or BBQ competitions . Our Barbecues Galore stores only stock the Weber Smoky Mountain, although they did bring in 60 offset smokers two years ago and I managed to purchase one of them, ceramic cookers like the Big Green Egg are simply unheard of. The students at barbecue school are greatly amused when I fire up the offset smoker, as they are when I introduced them to my Magnum modified Weber Kettle. as a consequence these things are simple demonstrations and the lesson of “low and slow” is reinforced by cooking something like a rack of beef for five or six hours in a Web kettle using only five or six briquettes, as this is something they can duplicate at home. I have some photographs of this technique in my modified beer keg cooker which might put up in my next post.

Anyway that is it for a quick introduction from the Urban Griller, I look forward to further interaction with the forum with great anticipation.


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## richtee (Oct 1, 2007)

Howdee there, Griller. Welcome to SMF!  That's kinda strange about the BBQ Vs. grilling thing down there... I'd think that one would eventually lead to the other. Ahh, but you did mention only gas. Boy, they must freak out when ya hand 'em their first smoked rib...!

Jeez, I guess this means you are the smoking king of Down Under!

It also means you have alot of work ahead of you, teaching the entire country and all. Seems perhaps maybe quite the financial opportunity for you as well.

I'm gonna go look at those vids, ya piqued my interest on the freezing thing.

Enjoy your time here, and enjoy one of the few original American contributions to the culinary world.


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## meowey (Oct 1, 2007)

Welcome to SMF!  Glad you joined us!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey


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## richtee (Oct 1, 2007)

Interestin' cooling method. Up here in The Great White North, we are familiar with the salt-ice/packed snow thing from making ice cream at home. Yes, people used to actually do that! Of course, growing up across the road from a 650 head milking cattle ranch helps.

Question: Any trouble with too much sodium in the fish after? I suppose a plastic baggie or even a quick plastic sheet wrap would minimize this.

Or have you tried putting the NaCl/ice mix INTO a large ziplock, and placed that on top of the catch? Perhaps a couple smaller NaCl/ice packs, between layers of the fresh fish?

Interesting stuff....  thanks.


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## Deer Meat (Oct 1, 2007)

Welcome to SMF


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## lauragoodin (Oct 1, 2007)

Greetings from a lone 'cuer in Wollongong!  I don't smoke often, but when I do all my Aussie friends gather from miles around.  It rocks their world.  (I'm an expat American, so they chalk it up to American wierdness, but they clean their plates regardless.)

-- Laura


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## urban griller (Oct 1, 2007)

Usually I would put the catch in a ziplock bag or a container. Putting the Ice/NaCl in ta bag works to keep icecream at the right temp as does reducing the NaCl content using the graph to achieve the desired temp.


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## lauragoodin (Oct 1, 2007)

By the way, there's a BBQ restaurant in the New Farm area of Brisbane (run, predictably, by an expat American) -- Blue Smoke.  My husband, whom I have converted to barbecue, ate there the last time he was in Brisbane and pronounced it a very honorable representative of the genre.

-- Laura


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## hawgheaven (Oct 1, 2007)

Welcome to the SMF UG, glad you found us!


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## gypsyseagod (Oct 1, 2007)

welcome to smf.looking forward to more from down under.


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## buddy (Oct 1, 2007)

Hey Griller , welcome to the forum.


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## deejaydebi (Oct 1, 2007)

Welcome Urban Griller -

I think I've seen a few of your grilling videos - very interesting! I am very interested in seeing more!

We have a fine gentlman here from Austrailia named Johno we haven't seen in a bit. I've been waiting 6 months to make his pumpkin soup recipe. They are in season now. He should be around soon.

Enjoy the forum!


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## blackhawk19 (Oct 1, 2007)

Griller, one of our members offered to go to Hawaii to help somebody and I feel it's only fair to extend the same offer to you. Send the tickets and I'm on my way
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 Funny you should join today, 40 yrs ago today I set foot in Vietnam and was part of an experimental unit or EMU's. We were half Aussie and half American Helicopter Assault unit that supported the Aussie ground troops that were there. We had a ball ( they were crazier then we were)and I always wanted to go to Austrailia but never have. The unit was the 135th AHC and they held a reunion down under one year.


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## redbrinkman1955 (Oct 1, 2007)

Glad your here welcome, the people here have a lot of good answers
post pics I do have a few questions. Do the toilets flush counter-clokwise
and do you really put shrimp on the Barbie
Good luck and Good Smoking
Redbrinkman1955


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## johnd49455 (Oct 2, 2007)

Welcome to the SMF Family
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Have you checked out Tulsa Jeff's 5-day ecourse & what would your students think of that


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## allen (Oct 2, 2007)

I don't know what kind of T.V.you get but a T.V. show called the Myth Busters did prove that ice and salt froze food faster the anything else


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## urban griller (Oct 2, 2007)

Our water goes down the drain clockwise, it must be yours which is counter-clockwise and Grilled (Barbie) Prawn (shrimp) is a national pastime, we also have a thing called a Yabbie or Marron which to you would be a Crawfish, that grills up better than well!


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## bbqpitstop (Oct 2, 2007)

Welcome Urban Griller,

I'm with Blackhawk, send tickets now, and I'll be right over....lol

Look forward to your opinions and input!


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## squeezy (Oct 2, 2007)

G'day mate! ... and welcome to SMF from another colonist .... albeit from Canada!

I thought I had heard that Aussie's BBQ by rotisserie over a steel plate with slightly offset wood fire ... any merit to that?

After viewing your videos, I saw many ways to adapt smoking to your grill, such as with the lamb. Just add a foil pack or tin of wood chips to the fire side which would add a little smoke flavour during the roasting portion.


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## coleysmokinbbq (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Urban Griller!...Welcome to the *SMF*!...
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





...Glad to have you Aboard!...You're gonna like it here!...

Looking forward to hearing about your BBQing adventures from 'Down Under'!...

Looking forward to some good Qview too!...
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	







Until Later...


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## bbq bubba (Oct 3, 2007)

Welcome to the SMF!


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## richoso1 (Oct 3, 2007)

Glad you've joined us at the SMF. You'll meet plenty of nice folks here that are more than willing to help you out, or just share experiences and fun too.


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## cowgirl (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Urban Griller, I'm new here too.
Like your videos.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





My friends are convinced that it takes exactly 7 minutes to chill a hot beer down in an ice chest full of ice. If I add salt to my ice chest, will I be able to have a cold one before they do?

I'm going to give it a try....


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## urban griller (Oct 4, 2007)

You can bring beer to a drinkable temperature in 2 minutes, this is a trick we use at piss-ups all the time. One of my ice chests is marked "Salty Water" so the unsuspecting don't use the ice in mixed drinks. I also use a wind up egg timer so the beer doesnt freeze, all my mates are used to the routine now!

Cheers
Chris


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## squeezy (Oct 4, 2007)

I have a question or two; how long does the ice/salt mixture last roughly?
How important is the ice to salt ratio?


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## cowgirl (Oct 4, 2007)

2 minutes!! Thanks for the tip Chris.


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## monstah (Oct 4, 2007)

Urban Griller,

Welcome... I attended the New Hampshire state BBQ championship this past summer and one of the vendors was a team called Aussom Aussie Australian BBQ out of Sydney... http://www.aussomaussie.com ... their ribs were simply amazing! Also had an opportunity to try their pulled pork which was also unbelievable. 

Welcome aboard!

Matt


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## urban griller (Oct 5, 2007)

Salt will melt ice quicker (thats how it works), thats why they use it to melt ice on roads. I've found the ice is mostly gone in 20 to 24hrs but the food is still frozen, if I'm fishing for a week or so, I replace the mix every day to keep everything frozen (this is also a good way to bring frozen food and creature comforts from home (like ice cream).

If you watch the video I demonstrate how to draw a simple graph which will let you control the temperature by varying the amount of ice from -32F (-18C) up.

I'll make a Doc out of the graph on the weekend for anyone who wants it.

Cheers
Chris


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## squeezy (Oct 5, 2007)

That would be great to have that graph ... thanks mate for sharing!

Was talking to my brother, Triple B (Brian) over the phone yesterday and he made a small batch using 10 oz. of ice with 3 oz. of salt.
Temp. went all the way down to -35Âº F ... way cool!


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## bbqlovinpackerbacker (Oct 5, 2007)

I guess I'm the only sicko on the board, but what's the chances of smoked kangaroo ribs, butts, tail, etc.? 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 Oh yeah...sorry...Welcome, glad you found us. Looking forward to seeing the videos, and remember we love pics of que.


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## bbqlovinpackerbacker (Oct 5, 2007)

Guess I just answered my own question. Just looked at your website, and saw the receipes for roo burgers, and bbq roo, etc. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 Bet it tastes like chicken! Course aligator tail tastes like pork.


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## squeezy (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm betting Roo tail would be as tough as brisket ... needing a low-slow cook!
Love to try it except Roos are scarce in Canada


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## richtee (Oct 5, 2007)

Hey, I seen a couple at the Tahranna zoo!


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## urban griller (Oct 5, 2007)

Roo is extreemly lean and gamey like venison. It needs lots of help, makes good jerky though!


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## keywesmoke (Oct 6, 2007)

Urban, glad you found us, you will certainly add a new dimension to our craft.


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