May 13, 2020 - 5:58am
BBQ topic
Hey guys! Just wanted to ask ya'll a quick question- do you like BBQ? When I'm not baking, I like to do some fine grilling with my family outdoors. Last weekend we were celebrating Mother's day and the dish was this beef rib with chipotle sauce.
If you like grilling as well - please share your creations and recipes!
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I've never used a ceramic/kamado style BBQ, but I've researched several brands, Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, and Char-Grill.
The BGE and KJ are expensive, but very nice.
Have you done pizza or bread in yours yet?
Yes - ceramics are the best ones I've ever tried. Highly advice. I did pizza (hope I'll find pictures to show you) but not bread.
I use the BGE for my pizzas, it required a learning curve but I'm dialed in on it now. I usually cook the pies at 700°-800° F. We Love the pies! The BGE may not be as good as a wood fired oven but it does the trick. I say this because in the BGE the fire is underneath the pizza which some people say is not ideal. It works great for me though, the pies cook within a few minutes.
That piece of meat above looks fantastic!
Can I have a pizza base recipe? Does this store have good pizza basics?
https://get-bread.pissedconsumer.com/review.html
My BBQ addiction is at least twice as bad as my bread addiction......I've got six Weber grills (kettles and smokers)
Man, you rock! That what happens to me constantly. It's too hard to make a decision to what I will devote my free time, baking or grilling... Tough!
Throw on a brisket, and while it cooks for 10-18 hours, plenty of time to play with dough! :)
R
That helps me devote enough time for both of my hobbies. But, that's a good solution only for good old smokin'. If you do intensive grilling, that requires my full attention!
....quit your job, and then you can devote time to baking, grilling, smoking, and eating! :)
R
Good looking BBQ there. Love my 26.75 weber kettle. Curious about your setup for pizza and the temps you've been able to achieve. I usually leave my kettle set up in a 2 zone configuration but have been thinking to try direct heat for pizza. Do you have a dedicated grill stone/steel ? Thanks!
Scoots, I use a Kettle Pizza add-on for my 22.5" kettle. The kit that I got (birthday gift) was the full monty, so to speak, as it include the stone AND a top steel in addition to the basic "insert". You have some flexibility on temps based on how you build your fire, but mine seems to top out at 750-800F (per the dial thermometer in the unit) with Kingsford briquettes, and I'm sure I could get it higher if I fired some lump. The angle is a bit weird for my IR therm, but I have registered deck/stone temps at 700-725F. Not quite Neapolitan temps, but pretty darned close, and good for my hybrid AP/00 dough. The top steel really works well to help cook the top of the pizza quickly, which is required when cooking at those temps to ensure that you have top and bottom getting cooked at the same rate.
I did a test cook last weekend using the KP with the base of my WSM22" and it worked great (I had the WSM22 base on my Performer table to raise it up), so there's some flexibility there. I just looked and KP does offer an "expansion plate" to allow use of the 22.5" insert on the 26" kettle. I haven't used it, so can't comment on how well it works.
I love my 26" kettle, too, and I'm probably going to get rid of my collection of 22.5" kettles to thin the herd a little.
Ping me if you have more questions! :)
Rich
Thanks Rich!
Hmm, you might be just right. Maybe I should really open some kind of bakery/smokery... Or grilling place with some pastry in-house... I should think about it!
Do you really want to open a bakery right when there are a million people learning how to bake their own bread? ;-)
Or are you betting they'll see how hard it is to get good bread, and give up?
Or, ... they get used to good artisan bread, but when they go back to work, they won't have time, and will want to buy good bread?
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I'm retired, and have thought about going to work part time at a bakery down the street. They are mostly a sweets bakery, with a little bread. But, it's not artisan style. They do have a steam-injection oven.
Actually, it's just thoughts. You know, like the ones that start almost out of nowhere, and bug you for some time, and if you don't put any effort into their development, they disappear the same way they appeared. Being realistic, I have too many responsibilities to change life's flow in such a sharp angle, but what is life without adventure? :)
Not to be discouraging or unpleasant but there's a big difference between grilling and BBQ. Grilling uses a direct heat method while true KC BBQ is cooked with indirect heat usually somewhere between 225-250F, low and slow is the saying around KC. I've done plenty of research to know the difference and it shows but I can usually blame that on the carbs in my bread.
No discouragement, as I see! You're absolutely right, and that's different things, if you dig to the core. Guess I'm just using this in more common sense, without paying much attention to the difference between the terms. Probably, should do so.
Do any of you use kitchen thermometers or temperature probes in your cooking? I'm searching for a good one, so will be happy to hear some advice, and user experiences.
Absolutely. Thermapen makes fantastic instant read thermometers. I use mine for bbq and bread alike, temp read is in less than 2 seconds.
While I was looking for one, I used this site for comparison: Click. Just for the prices, will search for Thermapen then.
I do love to cook meat, and especially my relatives like me to do it.
One of the best things in my menu is simple juicy meat. I make some marinade, keep meat in it for several hours and insert it inside of steak with meat injector (like this one)