Angus and Oink Cuban Rub

After watching the 2014 film Chef, which is the story about Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) quitting his job at a major LA restaurant and launching a street food truck with the help of his son, I just knew I wanted to make a Cubano Sandwich.

Here’s were the helpful boys and girls at Angus and Oink came into their own. They have a cuban rub which has lots of citrus flavour, balanced with cumin, smoked paprika oregano and a light chilli hit. Exactly the flavour I was looking for.

I bought some shoulder steaks from the butcher which had already been tenderised. I added the rub to olive oil and lemon juice to make a paste
rubbed it onto the shoulder steaks and left for about an hour before grilling on the bbq. My recipe has been uploaded to the UK BBQ Web site if you want to take a look http://ukbbqweek.com/pork/cubanos/

I will definitely cook this again and already have my thinking hat on to use it in a few more recipes, possibly a chilli, grilled chicken or a few taco’s.

The thing I like about Angus and Oink rubs is the huge range they do and not just generic American BBQ flavours. Check out the range if you haven’t tried them  https://angusandoink.com/collections/bbq-rubs-injections

Lexie’s Gooey Chocolate Puddings

Lexie is Nic Williams Niece. Nic is on Instagram as @meatsmokefire and he does live cooks every Saturday. Lexie has obviously picked up lots of tips

Lexie’s Gooey Chocolate Puddings

  • Prep Time10 min
  • Cook Time30 min
  • Total Time40 min
  • Yield6 Servings

Ingredients

  • 100g good quality dark chocolate
  • 100g Dairy Milk chocolate
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 115g sugar
  • 2 tbsp plain flour

Method

1

Preheat your BBQ to 200°C with it setup for baking. Place the baking stone on top of the stainless grid, on top of your ConvEGGtor feet up. Allow 20 mins at this temperature for the baking stone to heat up.

2

Over a pan of simmering water, place a bowl containing your butter and chocolate. As this heats up, stir it frequently until the butter and chocolate has melted together.

3

In another bowl, whisk together your eggs, sugar and flour

4

Once the chocolate mixture has melted, gradually mix it into the egg mixture.

5

Once it is all combined, spoon it into ramekins. You can pre grease these but to be honest, it’s not necessary if you’re going to eat them out of the ramekins.

6

Place the ramekins on a baking tray, leaving a gap between them, and put into the BBQ. and cook for 15-20 minutes until the sides of the mixture have set but the middle is still wobbly

7

Take them from the BBQ and allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes

8

You can either serve them with some cream or crème fraîche, or just garnish with a raspberry and some mint.

ProQ Digital Probe Thermometer

If you are in the market for an instant read thermometer then there is a new option to consider from the team at ProQ. Speak to most people in the BBQ world and they will say a thermometer is one piece of equipment they would recommend again and again. And forget the old school analogue ones your parents may have used to check a turkey once a year, these are the new school digital versions giving you an accurate read out in seconds. So, whether you are grilling steaks and looking for that pink perfection or smoking a brisket and looking for that finishing temperature as well as probe tenderness, the ProQ digital probe thermometer may well be the tool you need.

Coming in at a price point of £25.99, the ProQ model lands itself in a very competitive place in the market for this type of device. Especially considering the 2 year limited warranty they are offering too.

I have been using my ProQ model for the last few months before writing this review and have to say, for the cost of the unit I have been very impressed. Straight off the top, the feature I like most is being able to easily switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit on the display by simply holding down a button. Being from an age where I learnt all my recipes and cooks from American BBQ books, I am more familiar with Fahrenheit as a measurement than Celsius. But I appreciate that some people are the opposite way so it’s easy on this unit to switch between both. The actual probe section you use for checking temperatures folds away into the handheld section, keeping it safe and out of the way; and the very tip of the of the probe narrows, meaning the holes left in your food, when checking temps, can be kept to a minimum. The thin, tip end also means the unit reads temperatures very quickly, giving you an accurate reading in around 3-5 seconds; meaning the food does not have to be kept out of the cooker any longer than necessary when making those checks. Handily, the device is also IPX5 waterproof which certainly helps with the always changing UK weather, wiping it clean or spills from cooks etc. The screen is backlit, so can be used at night or in darker places too. And another handy feature is a USB charge cable is supplied in the box, so you can always keep it topped up as it has a lithium-ion. And finally, the unit has a magnet on the back to help you keep it somewhere safe, just not somewhere hot!

At this price, the unit is definitely worth a look and will help you to know exactly what the temps are, of whatever you are cooking, meaning you know you are at a safe temperature; so you don’t need to overcook food and dry it out, and overall you will be making more enjoyable meals.

I was gifted this unit to test, but am entitled to write my own opinions on the device. The link to the product on the ProQ website is noted below.

If you have used and have any feedback on one of these units or have any questions, let us know in the comments.

https://proqsmokers.co.uk/products/proq-instant-read-thermometer

Sosij Sausages

Think you know your way round a decent sausage on the BBQ? It may be time to have a re-think. If you aren’t familiar with the name Sosij it may be worth looking them up. Whether that be because you fancy something a little different, or you want to see their collaborations sausages they have been coming up with of late.

Hailing out of Bristol, Ali is the sausage handling mastermind behind the company, and after 15 years of cheffing and running kitchens he turned his hand to street food and then making sausages. That turned out to be a very good move on his part as his products seemed to be an overnight social media success. He was selling out as word got around about the weird and wonderful flavours coming from the Sosij stable. The flavours kept coming and then Sosij bombs were born. Sausagemeat balls wrapped in bacon. Look them up.

After sitting back for a while, I saw a post pop up on Instagram saying there was a selection of the Sosij range available as a one off, so I decided it was time to part with some money and give them a go. The pack I bought included some of Sosij’s Irish Black butter pork and apple sausages, some Cajun peach pork sausages, some smokey bacon pork sausages, some cheddar jalapeno pork sausages and Texas hot links beef and pork sausages. Quite the collection.

Needless to say it hasn’t taken me long to get stuck in over the last few weeks cooking them in a variety of different ways from super low and slow smoking for a long time, to fast grilling, then back to normal smoking as part of a BBQ platter. Each time I have been impressed with what I have eaten and it leaves me wanting to cook the next pack. The first thing you notice is how plump these sausages are, not your usual banger by any means. The packaging catches the eye as do the variety of flavours. These sausages cook up so well and retain a good snap and the ones I have cooked to date always stay nice and juicy too. Favourites for me so far being the hot links as a part of a BBQ platter and the Irish black butter ones in a breakfast sandwich.

Then, only one week after placing my order Ali announces his latest idea, subscription boxes. So, having just had my order arrive should I be re-ordering so soon? Well when I heard the limited-edition flavours in the first box, I knew I had to try them. Birria beef cheek taco sausages??? Then Brazilian linguiça sausages? I am yet to try both of these so can’t comment but the feedback I have heard has been all good. In each subscription box you also get a pack from the range, a surprise pack, the box I had included some breakfast patties which were really good, I built a monster breakfast muffin with mine, and then this pack had a sauce in from the Upton Cheney chilli company and a big pack of rub. Delivered fresh and safely to your door for the princely sum of £45. There has been a second subscription box since where Sosij collaborated with Chef Thom Bateman from The Flintolock. It sounded amazing so I really can’t wait to see what the future boxes hold.

If you want to try some of the Sosij products you can find them being sold online by Village Butchers or wholesale by Longcroft and Old. The subscription boxes go straight onto the Sosij website as noted below. When you try them, let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Website – https://www.sosij.uk/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sosij_uk/?hl=en
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/sosijuk/

Rotisserie

We were really pleased when Outback 365 lent us the Rottiserie attachment for the Monolith. Alan just loves Roast Chicken on the BBQ. Rubbed with some oil and a seasoning of your choice and stuffed with half a lemon and some butter, the chicken self bastes as it spins.

The good thing about the Monolith Rotisserie is that it is battery operated so there is no need to drag the extension lead into the garden either. The Rotisserie is well made and with 4 prongs it holds the chicken securely with no slipping as it turns.

We have also used a basket we bought to make wings on the rotisserie, Recipe can be found here and a porcetta that we bought from Lidl. The porcetta was moist with some perfect crackling. For it as it was a denser piece of meat than a chicken we set up half a basket of coal and put it to one side of the meat.

This ensure that it was cooked through without burning.

Below are some pictures of the cooks, what is really good about the rotisserie and bbq-ing at this time of year is you put the lid down and forget about it.
Both the chicken and the porcetta cooked in just over an hour. For some reason roasts on the bbq seem to taste much better than in the dry heat of an oven

Ozpig BBQ

For those of you who know Alan and I you will know that BBQ for us is not just Sausages and Burgers, we have a lot of different bits of kit, including Kettle BBQ’s Ceramic BBQ’s a pizza oven, an acusa parilla, even a paella burner
We were really pleased when Ozpig UK asked us did we want to test drive the Ozpig series 2.

With its smaller more compact size than the Big Pig, the S2 is easy to pack up and take with you to the beach or camping. It comes with a carry bag.

The Ozpig can be used as a patio heater or to cook on. It is so much better than the terracotta patio heaters.
Its well made and the adjustable door allows air flow whilst stopping the embers falling out.

The range of accessories means that when it comes to cooking it is very versitile. You can burn logs or there is a charcoal basket.
Everything we have cooked so far has been over wood. In my opinion real wood just brings a great flavour. We get silver birch logs from our local stove supplier. but they do offer a starter box with wood, charcoal, and wool starters too.

We have cooked quite a bit on the Ozpig, everything from rotisserie chicken, to Chicken Stew, to planked salmon to T-Bone Steak, even beef in oyster sauce with a wok and lets not forget the Smores.

We were also given the smoker attachment to try, the pulled pork was so good. We had to keep an eye on the logs, throwing another on every hour or so but that’s part of the fun and a good excuse to have a beer.

We have a few more cooks planned including Taco Al Pastor and as the autumn comes in Chicken Paprikash and Goulash in the dutch oven.

All in all, the ozpig is well made and if you want to enjoy cooking over live fire, and keeping warm when the evenings start to get cool I can definitely recommend the Ozpig.

I have added a few pictures to this review to allow you to see for yourself.

BBQ Meatloaf

Who doesn’t like meatloaf? Here’s one that is so easy to do on your BBQ.
This recipe is based on one from DJ BBQ’s aka Christian Stevenson. It was passed down to him by his Grandma.
If you have a chance I would watch some of his videos on You Tube. He has some great ideas and a huge personality.
He currently has three books in print and we can recommend them all. Some cracking recipes in there.

BBQ Meatloaf

  • Prep Time15 min
  • Cook Time1 hr
  • Total Time1 hr 15 min
  • Yield6 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 large onion finely diced
  • 1 pepper diced
  • 1 medium carrot peeled and diced
  • 800gms mince (we used half beef, half pork)
  • 1 clove garlic peeled and crushed
  • 1 teaspoon bbq rub
  • 2tbs worcestershire sauce
  • 100gms stale bread crumbs
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 150gms cheese
  • 100mls bbq sauce, we used texas chipolte this time from our freinds at red dog

Method

1

Put all the ingredients (only half the cheese) in a bowl and mix well together.

2

Shape into a rectangle and place in a disposable roasting tin.

3

Use the handle of a wooden spoon to make some diagonal indents into the top of the meat loaf.

4

Pour over half the sauce.

5

Set the bbq for indirect and get the temp up to around 180°C

6

Cook for an hour or so, checking the internal temp of the meatloaf hits 74°C.

7

Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese and cook until it’s is melted.

8

Slice it up and serve with the remainder of the sauce

9

We like to reheat this in a frying pan the next day by cooking some onions, adding some gravy and a little bbq sauce

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Ultimate Eggs Benedict

Ultimate Eggs Benedict from Mini_Grate_Smokin.
Another great recipe from another young, up and coming BBQ stars. Check out her Instagram page @ Mini_Grate_Smokin. Heres whats she’s got too say about her recipe’
.
Have you tried eggs Benedict? I hadn’t until I made them my way, I really love them now. I hope you love them too, enjoy’
There are two main parts to the eggs benedict, the first is the hollandaise sauce. The second part is preparation and cooking of the main ingredients needed for my eggs benedict.

Here are two top tips.
Tip one) When you make the hollandaise sauce keep it warm in a pre-warmed insulated container, until you need it. Make this first so its ready

Tip two) Get a square of cling film (30cm x 30cm) spray it with a little spray oil, crack your egg into the centre of the cling film then bring all the edges together, twist (into a string) and tie a knot
50mm away from the egg (this will help your poached egg to stay together when poaching) and it allows enough room, to cut the away the cling film without damaging the egg. Put to one side for
later.
I cooked this on Dad Kamado Joe Big Joe, with the cast iron half-moon grate (at 180ºc- indirect heat).
We made our English breakfast muffins from scratch cooking them on the half-moon griddle.

Ultimate Eggs Benedict

  • Prep Time20 min
  • Cook Time20 min
  • Total Time40 min
  • Yield1 Serving

Ingredients

Portion for a single person

  • One chicken skinless and boneless thigh (sliced in two)
  • Slice of bacon (smoked is better)
  • Slice of American cheese
  • 1/2 english breakfast muffin
  • 1 fresh egg (for poaching) as above

Dredge (enough for 20 mini thigh fillets) Marinate in buttermilk + rub for 6-24hrs)

  • 125g potato starch or corn flour
  • 25g rice flour
  • Oil for deep frying
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • Tbsp of your favourite rub
  • 1 small pot of buttermilk (+ another tablespoon of your fav rub added to the buttermilk)
  • Pot for deep frying the chicken (until it probes 75ºC or 165ºf internal temp)

Hollandaise Sauce (make first) enough for 5-6 eggs benedict

  • 125g butter
  • 2 egg yolks
  • ½ tsp white wine vinegar
  • squeeze of lemon juice

Method

1

Set BBQ up for direct cooking and when ready slowly melt the butter in the pan

2

In a separate pan, bring water to a rolling boil, place the bowl over the top of the saucepan (don’t let the water touch the bowl) and add the egg yolks, white wine vinegar and whisk gently until combined, then slowly add the melted butter whisking all the time, don’t stop! When combined and thick, remove from heat, add a squeeze of lemon whisking in, then pour into your pre-warmed insulated container. Warning, if you stir too slowly or the water is too hot or you over cook the eggs, your egg will split and go like scrambled eggs (you’ll have to start again)

3

After your chicken fillets have marinated in buttermilk and rub combo, combine the potato starch/cornflour and rice flour (found in the free from aisle of supermarket) with salt and pepper in a bowl

4

Now, remove your fillet dropping it into the flour mix bowl and coat thoroughly (you don’t want any wet spots). Remove from the flour mix and place of a wire cooling rack, then place in fridge until you are ready to fry them.

5

Heat your oil to a temperature of 170ºC, your chicken is cooked when it probes 75ºC or 165ºF internal temperature. Once cooked, remove the fillets from the hot oil and drain fillet on kitchen paper and keep warm until they are needed. You can fry the chicken fillet for 1 min, remove then cook indirect on the bbq until crispy (180ºc indirect), make sure the grate is oiled first to prevent stick and losing the coating.

6

Cook the smoked bacon (1 rasher), boil your water in a clean saucepan and when boiling gentle place in the egg into the boiling water and boil for 3mins, then remove the from the boiling  water. Toast the 1/2 muffin, when toasted butter and place on a plate.

7

Now, place chicken fillet on top of the muffin, followed by cheese slice, then add the bacon. give it a light drizzle with a little bbq sauce, now snip the top off your poached egg (cling film) gently place on top of your stack, now the last part, gentle pour over enough hollandaise sauce so it pools a little at the bottom of stack on your plate.

8

Now, go dig in and enjoy this amazing creation.  Hope you have enjoyed my Ultimate Eggs Benedict

Aston’s Brodet.

Aston Prideaux is another BBQ Kids making his mark in the BBQ world.  Aston is only 14 and he’s already a brand ambassador for a few companies

This is a Croatian fish stew called brodet. It has cod, monk fish, loc, muscles and prawns in and is a really tasty dish

You can see more from Aston on his  instagram account smokin_maple_meats

Aston’s Brodet.

  • Prep Time15 min
  • Cook Time30 min
  • Total Time45 min
  • Yield4 Servings

Ingredients

  • Olive oil
  • 2 diced onions
  • 4 minced cloves of garlic
  • 100ml white wine
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 diced fresh tomatoes
  • 1 carton of passata
  • Splash of cider vinegar
  • 1kg Mixture of fish I used monkfish, cod and loc
  • 500g Mussels and prawns
  • Lemon
  • Chopped fresh parsley

Method

1

Heat oil and fry onions then add garlic, bay leaves and white wine simmer for 5 minutes

2

Add fresh tomatoes, passata, cider vinegar, place in the mixture of fish and cover with water simmer for 20 minutes

3

Add the mussels and prawns cook for 5 minutes, season and finish with squeeze of fresh lemon and chopped parsley.

4

Serve with a chunk of fresh bread.

Festive Chelsea Buns

Christmas is just around the corner and to get you into the festive spirit, I’ve made some Chelsea Buns and instead of putting them into a rectangular baking tin, it’s quite fun to arrange the buns into the shape of a Christmas Tree for their second prove before going in the oven and then decorating them with glace cherries and glace icing.  Still a ‘Share n Tear’ plate of sweet sticky buns and it will brighten up any table.  It would work well with Cinnamon Buns, Olives, Sundried Tomatoes and even Pizza filling for a savoury snack.  Here’s the recipe.

I cooked these in my Kamado Joe at a temp of approx. 150C for 35 minutes. I placed the baking tray on an upturned baking tin – just watch to check the base doesn’t burn.

You could cook them in a domestic oven – temp 190C and find your largest baking sheet and line it with baking parchment or a silicone sheet & bake for 20-25 mins.

Festive Chelsea Buns

  • Prep Time30 min
  • Cook Time35 min
  • Total Time1 hr 5 min
  • Yield12 Servings
  • Course
  • Cooking Method
    • In - Direct

Ingredients

For the Dough

  • 500g Strong White Flour
  • 1 sachet dried yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 300ml milk
  • 40g unsalted butter

For the Filling

  • 100g cranberries
  • 100g sultanas
  • 100g dried apricots
  • 25g unsalted butter
  • 75g soft light brown sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 1 egg for glazing

For the Topping

  • Glace cherries
  • Glace Icing – made up of icing sugar and water into a thick paste

Method

1

Melt the butter and warm the milk.  Into a bowl tip the flour, dried yeast and salt.  I use a KitchenAid mixer with a dough hook to mix my dough.

2

Add the warm milk, butter and egg and bring the mixture to a smooth dough which may take about 5-8 minutes.  Alternatively mix by hand and knead for about ten minutes on a lightly floured surface.  Leave the dough to prove for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

3

While the dough is proving, weigh out the dried fruit and chop up the dried apricots.  You could use mixed dried fruit.  Melt the butter in a small bowl. Put the sugar with the cinnamon into a bowl and mix well

4

Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lighly floured surface and give it a little knead.  You then need to roll it out into a rectangle about 40 x 25 cm with a long edge just in front of you.  Take a pastry brush and cover the dough with the melted butter.

5

Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mix evenly over the top followed by the dried fruit.  Press it down into the dough with the palms of your hands.  Sprinkle over the grated zest of the orange for extra citrusy flavour.  Now take the long edge and carefully roll it away from you to make a long swirl, popping back in the pieces of fruit that may fall out.

6

Cut this into 12 even slices and arrange them cut side up in the shape of a Christmas Tree.  You can put the swirls fairly close together as you want them to stick together.

7

Leave to prove in a warm place for about half an hour before brushing with beaten egg and placing them in the oven to cook for about 20-25 minutes.  Check after about 15 minutes to see that they are not burning.  Cover with tinfoil if you need to.

8

 They are cooked if they sound hollow when tapped underneath.  Take them out of the oven when cooked and leave to cool.  Carefully transfer onto a large wooden board or tray and when cool enough, decorate with glace icing and chopped up glace cherries.

9

Alternatively you could give your Christmas Tree a shiny glaze by melting a tablespoon of apricot jam with a little water and paint it on with a brush. A dusting of icing sugar always adds a ‘snowy’ feel.

Best eaten on the day you make them – and not long after you have decorated them when they are still slightly warm.  Try eating them without licking your lips or your fingers!

Recipe from Sue Stoneman