What is traditional BBQ? For certain it is a long way from what we often witness in the UK- a range of burnt sausages and under cooked chicken...normally cooked and consumed in the rain!
With Jackie's South African heritage, our family have always been keen advocates of a quality Braii, but over the years we have taken it a step further to explore the traditional methods of low and slow BBQ techniques from around the world.
What you will find below is a little taster of what can be done, relatively simply using low and slow BBQ methods.
What to cook
If you are going for the traditional BBQ experience, both in terms of both cooking and eating, it has to be big chunks of meat cooked low and slow. Ironically, the meat you choose should be from the cheaper cuts, as they have more fat to protect the meat during a long cook.
Our favourites are definitely beef brisket, shoulder of pork (Pork butt for our US cousins), shoulder of lamb and a whole variety of rib options. Be prepared, this is going to be a long process, often taking up to 10 hours and beyond for the full cooking experience- prep time, marinading and stand times just add to the time commitment.
In this blog, we are going to take you through the process of cooking a full beef brisket (without the cap section) and a whole shoulder of lamb (bone in).
Equipment
A BBQ- we use an offset smoker BBQ with a separate fire box.
Charcoal briquettes- they offer a more even and more prolonged heat for smoking purposes. If you prefer to use lump wood charcoal that is fine- they just needs topping up more often during the cook.
A charcoal starter funnel to pre-light charcoal during the cook.
A BBQ temperature gauge.
A digital meat probe temperature gauge.
Disposable foil trays to use in the BBQ.
Cooking foil.
Flavoured hardwood woodchips (we used applewood for this featured smoke).
Tea towels for insulating the meat when it is resting after the cook.
Selecting the meat
There is no getting away from it, you really need a good and friendly butcher if you are going to save yourself time and energy. Speak to the butcher and explain exactly what you are planning to do and what cut of meat you think you will need. Ask for their advice, and if they recommend something different, consider it carefully as they often know best. They will efficiently trim up these big cuts of meat to save you both time and potential waste from if you had to trim it yourself.
You can of course get your meat from a supermarket, but they often don’t have the larger, cheaper cuts in stock. You can however be quite creative- in the past we have bought supermarket rolled brisket roasting joints, un-rolled them, trimmed them up and they have produced a great BBQ result.
Preparing the meat
Once you (or your friendly butcher) has trimmed up your meat, you need to prepare it for the cooking process by seasoning it for up to 24 hours in advance, ideally overnight prior to the cook.
For the beef we chose a dry rub that we already had in the house. There are so many secret recipes for dry BBQ rubs out there, but in reality it is often easier to go for a premier product that is ready prepared. Fully coat the brisket with the rub, which can be a messy job, and then reseal the beef back in its butchers bag in the fridge overnight.
For the lamb, we chose a more traditional European marinade. Inspiration from the US is limited as lamb is not a particularly popular BBQ meat in the States. We choose a wet rub of olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Again a messy affair, but put straight in the fridge for an overnight marinade.
Opinions are divided as if you should start the BBQ cooking from fridge or room temperature. We always take the meat out of the fridge to come up to room temperature a couple of hours prior to cooking.
Preparing the fire
Soak the wood chips overnight to improve the consistency and quality of the smoke when added to the fire.
Ensure that below where the meat will sit in the BBQ you place a few drip trays to catch any cooking juices from the meat and to avoid any unexpected flareups. Fill one of the trays with water- this will maintain the humidity within the BBQ during the smoking process, again improving the consistency of the cook.
Load up the starter funnel with briquettes and light a few fire starting blocks on a stone surface. Place the starter funnel over the flames and leave for 30 minutes until the briquettes glow white.
Add the hot coals to the fire box and then add a couple of handfuls of the soaked wood chips. Close the firebox lid and wait for the temperature of the BBQ to rise. Smoke will start to pass through the cooking chamber and out of the chimney. Keep the air vents open until the BBQ hits the required temp of 120C. When this happens, close down the vents to control the temperature as required.
The cooking process
Meat starting temperatures- opinions are divided on this- some choose fridge cold, others prefer room temperature. I personally go for room temperature and it has always given good results.
The stall- at some point when cooking large chunks of meat at low temperatures, the rising heat of the meat will stall at about 73C internal temperature. The meat literally stops cooking as a consequence of the moisture that the meat is losing- a bit like when we sweat. There are 2 ways to deal with the stall- turn up the heat by opening the air vents, or wrap the meat in foil or butchers paper to stop the moisture loss. The main aim at this point is to finish the cook, maintaining the moisture in the meat and avoid extended smoking hours that will only dehydrate the meat.
How hot- some experts cook really hot at 140-150C, others much cooler at 100-120C. I sit right in the middle at around 120C and that has always served me well.
Putting it all together for a complete BBQ
Beef Brisket- a 5-6kg brisket will feed 8-12 people.
Trim the brisket so that a 1-2cm layer of fat remains to keep the beef moist during the cook.
Season the meat as mentioned above.
Place the brisket in the hot smoker, fat side up and leave it to smoke at 120C for 3-4 hours, keeping the heat from the fire constant.
Check every 30 mins until the internal temp reaches 73C, take it out of the smoker and wrap tightly with multiple layers of foil.
You can now put it back in the smoker or cheat and put it in a low oven at 120C. The initial smoke has done its job, so I prefer to use the oven as it is much easier to regulate the temperature. Cook for a further 5+ hours until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 89-94C and should feel like a very relaxed muscle.
Take it out and let it cool for 1-2 hours, still in foil and wrapped in kitchen tea towels to insulate. The internal temperature will drop to 60C.
Just before serving unwrap and add the brisket to a hot grill for 10 minutes to enhance the crust.
Shoulder of lamb- prepare as above for the first smoke.
Once the internal temperature has reached 73C, transfer to a racked roasting pan and pop it in 120C oven until the internal temperature reaches 90C. This should take about 4-5 hours.
The meat should pull away from the bone with a little tension- the meat should still have texture.
Allow the lamb to cool, basting with its juices as it does. It will take about 1 hour to reduce to 60C.
Place in a hot oven of 250C for 10 minutes to crisp up just before serving.
Serving up
Beef brisket- slice into 3-5mm slices across the grain to provide the most delicate brisket experience. Serve with ’slaw, mac and cheese and pickles for the most authentic BBQ experience.
Shoulder of lamb- serve on a big platter, gently pulling the meat from the bone. Use the cooking juices to add moisture to the pulled meat as lamb can quickly dry out when pulled. We like to serve with flat breads, a herby couscous salad and a yogurt dressing.
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