Sparked up the barbe this season yet ?

[Tubetec]

The ground here has finally dried up to the point gardening work is a possibility again , after the usual mowing I did some minor tree surgery with the help of my neighbours brother ,who's handy with a chainsaw . We dropped a few still standing dead trees , just nicely seasoned . The off cuts of branches I burn off in a big metal barrel , I was able to shovel out and sieve the embers and use them as an instant barbeque . Foil wrapped potatoes directly into the embers , flipped every so often , when they become slightly soft to touch and you smell the skins begin to roast , you know there ready . Steaks seered with a portcullis patern from the cast grate ,yet medium rare on the inside .

The world has been going to shit a long time but theres not much you or I can do about it ,apart from trying to distance ourselves on a personal level from this 'instant fix' consumerism , its shit in a plastic tray .

I'm covered in cuts nicks scratches and burns, and stubbed a finger with a heavy implement, a car bumped into my knee last night , comming to an abrupt halt just in time , minor bruseing only ,we endevour to persevere , good days ahead yet my friends .

 

[JohnRoberts]

I have recently started about 15 sets of vegetable seeds in my green house.... so far both cucumber seeds have sprouted, one tomato and one squash... I should be in good shape in a couple weeks when its time to move these out to my raised beds. This year I am planting less, hopefully learning from last season.

JR

PS; I had to pay a tree guy to drop my last two big trees I wanted to clear, and grind about a dozen stumps from the last couple years of me making sawdust. I saved a few dollars by cutting up and burning the downed trees myself... I am looking forward to having less stumps to dodge when cutting my grass.

 

[shabtek]

I fired up the grill yesterday to welcome spring, had meat that I found after consolidating/defrosting deep freezers .
I been up in trees pruning last week, dropped some limbs of a sick ash tree without damaging the house, still a few really big limbs to go but the threatening ones are gone. been cleaning up the brush and stacking logs today.
also got the old bandsaw running and sliced some oak and ash logs 6/4, need to stack and air dry.
good bye winter!

 

[Tubetec]

nothing beats the smell of properly seasoned wood smoke , connects us back to what our forefathers did for generations .

 

[pucho812]

in southern california we can spark that up year round, it's a common occurrence at the studio. something unique to offer.

 

[Tubetec]

I worked in a residential out of town studio at one point , so many good times when me and the clients ate and drank together after a solid days work .

 

[sodderboy]

No off-season here. The grill is the first thing shoveled-out when it snows. Nothing like grilled burgers and veggies in a storm. Corn is coming from Chile now, and really delicious on the grill.
I got into wood smoking some time back, but I have faltered. I have done duck!!, chicken!, ribs-, mackerel!!!, cheese!!, and brisket--.
My problem is that when the food is finished I am so gacked-out from the smoke I cannot eat, and I really wanna just hurl and go to sleep. The next day it's really delicious and stuff, but same-day no-way. All I smell and taste is forest fire.
Maybe I have to re-visit and work with the wind direction. Smoked raw-milk swiss cheese is beyond delicious, and smoked mackerel brings harmony and happiness to the household.
Mike

 

[Tubetec]

With you 100% on the smoked mackeral , when its in season here and cheap I even give it to my dogs the odd special ocassion , they love it as much as i do . Doesnt make their breath smell any better , but gives a lovely sheen to their coat and helps keep their moving parts in good order .

My nextdoor neighbour runs a cheese factory , he does an absolutely amazing smoked cheese , it started out more like a Dutch mild cheese ,but as the years have gone on the product has more time to mature , and the flavours improved .
Good food is good health .

 

[Tubetec]

I got a Kamado style ceramic mini grill at the local store on offer ,
Its remarkably efficient , just 0.6kg of charcoal is enough to cook low and slow all day if you want , you can choke off the air supply on both input and output vents.
Looks like with a suitable metal roasting dish instead of a grill rack I can do an entire roast chicken or meat joint and veg ,hot smoking is easy to arrange also . It definately gives cooking using electric power indoors in the summer months a good run for its money , especially nowadays in the new energy regime.

 

[living sounds]

I got a Kamado style ceramic mini grill at the local store on offer ,
Its remarkably efficient , just 0.6kg of charcoal is enough to cook low and slow all day if you want , you can choke off the air supply on both input and output vents.
Looks like with a suitable metal roasting dish instead of a grill rack I can do an entire roast chicken or meat joint and veg ,hot smoking is easy to arrange also . It definately gives cooking using electric power indoors in the summer months a good run for its money , especially nowadays in the new energy regime.

Looks nice! Very interesting concept.

 

[PermO]

Couple of years back I bought exactly the same thing, mini Kamado, they had a deal at my local supermarket, went early monday morning and grabbed one.

I replaced the standard wire grill with a heavy cast iron one so I get these beuatifull sear marks X pattern.

Smoking food is so tasty.
Baking pizza

Also got some plate sized cast iron skillets so I can cook chopped mushrooms and veggies.

It started with all the lockdowns, me and some friends used to eat at a Argentinian restaurant every other week, since we could no longer do that, I decided we'll have to learn to cook like that ourselves.
Once in a while we set aside some cash to buy a really nice piece of meat from a top butcher, slow cook it with smokewood untill it reaches core temperature, wrap in foil and set aside, now create a hot open fire and sear it .

This little BBQ opend up a new world of cooking for me.
So tasty !

 

[Tubetec]

Took a little time getting the hang of the Kamado ,
I lit the char nuggets on my old grill with kindling ,
then used a tongs to place them into the Kamado.
I was able to add more nuggets later ,but I started with about 6 .
I had some dry hazelwood sticks I added later on , posted down through the grill onto the embers ,
Bacon ,black and white pudding took on an amazing smokey 'outback' taste .

The black golf ball doubles up as a porch heater after Im done cooking .

 

[Tubetec]

I found a cast iron open fire pot stand a bit like shown in the pic below , it fits right into the mini Kamado and a 1.2L camping kettle in black enamel at the same shop ,
When I want to boil the kettle I need only add a small bunch of kindling ,otherwise the vents can stay closed and the lid down so the heat of the coals holds for hours . The stand narrows the space the coals are contained so I can get away with only 5 charcoal nuggets , the grill is still usable also but with reduced area ,still perfect for one .

I found the usual hardware store 4 inch aluminium expandable flue pipe couples perfectly to the top of the mini Kamado , be really easy to rig up a cold smoking box or even run it indoors with appropriate pipe work ,in which case the residual heat is equavalent to 1-2kW of electric power , enough to heat a room .

I just kept the food simple so far ,bacon ,pudding, burgers and sausages , Ive hardly turned the electric cooker on all week ,I smell like woodsmoke, feels nice to decouple from the warpig/energy industry at the moment too as they try and ream us , Im probably using around a euros worth of charcoal per night but I do gather kindling on my run with the dogs to suplement things . Life is only as complicated as you make it .