Evenin' All

[adm]

I thought I'd introduce myself as I've just found this place.....

I'm both pleased and surprised to find that there is a British BBQ Society that knows a bit more about Q than just petrol soaked briquettes and still frozen, yet oddly charred chicken. It's a bit like coming home!

Anyway, I've been into "low 'n' slow" for over ten years and until now thought I was fighting an uphill battle against the lighter fuel brigade... I've cooked everything from whole hogs and lambs through to shoulder (butt), turkeys, ribs - and I also like to play around with cold smoking and have done a fair bit of home cured salmon, cheese and chillis.

I've currently got a well used WSM bullet smoker and two Weber kettles that I use for my grilling and other tasks. THese bad boys get used all year round - rain, snow or shine. I lust after a ceramic though......have tried to import Kamados unsuccessfully a few times, nearly bought a Kamado Joe last year and almost bought a BGE this year. I've still never pulled the trigger on one though as the imported prices are stupidly high compared to the US costs. Anyone want to split the costs of importing a container load ?

I just did 4 racks of ribs on the WSM this afternoon. Rubbed overnight and then slow smoked over apple and cherry for 4 hours. They came out great - along with a bit of chilli vinegar sauce on the side. Plus some wings done in one of the kettles.

One question.....does anybody know what's the best high quality lumpwood restaurant charcoal available for delivery? I used to use the Clear Skies restaurant stick charcoal which was awesome, but my pallet load has since run out and now I no longer live in London the wholesaler won't deliver to me anymore! Big K will deliver their 15Kg sacks of restaurant lumpwood, but I've not tried it - and I find their regular stuff to be very "bitty". Anyone tried this and can recommend it?

Looking forward to some decent conversation with people that enjoy food and know how to Q properly!

Cheers,

Alasdair

[All Weather Griller]

Hi Alasdair,

This place will deliver Restaurant Grade Lump for a fee, the more you order the cheaper the fee is.

http://www.liverpoolwoodpellets.co.uk/o ... 4QodwEPLSA

Cheers

Adie

[Steve]

Welcome to the forum.

I'll second Adie on his recommendation, I just got 15 bags of lump from Liverpool Wood Pellets and they were delivered within 3 days.

[adm]

Thanks lads,

What's the quality of the their lump like? You can only see tatty bags in the pics....

[Steve]

It's pretty good, it's the same stuff Booker and Makro sell, some bags are better than others but that's always been the case wherever I've got it from. What I can say is that the bags from Liverpool have all been ok where as buying from Booker and Makro I regularly have to take bags back because they're so poor.

[adm]

The best stuff I have found in the past is the "Clear Skies" restaurant stick charcoal which seems to only be available from St. Mickalos Catering Supplies:

http://www.st-mickalos.com/csky.htm

It used to be £10.45 for a 15Kg box - which totally sidestepped the handling issues. The charcoal was all solid log shaped pieces, very dense and heavy neatly packed inside a plastic bag, inside the (strong carboard) box. It burnt really well - hot and long. Perfect for smokers and grills.

Anyway. I can't get it any more as they only deliver inside the M25 and I live in Surrey, outside the M25 I reminisce often about this charcoal - it was that good. I may have to make a pilgrimage to SE24 and fill the back of the car. I reckon I could get 20 boxes in the back without the seats down....

Big K also have similar sounding 15Kg boxes of restaurant grade stick charcoal available - sadly also only for delivery inside the M25. I think there's a conspiracy going on here....

So....looks like my choices are Liverpool Wood Pellets Lump, or Big K 15Kg restaurant grade lump. I'm sick of buying crap dusty bags from the garage - although I did some branded "Pagan" the other day that was pretty good, so I'll get a few bags of that to tide me over in the meantime.

[Vic.]

welcome alastair