How middle class are you?

[perrykneeham]

May 13, 2019 7:13:56 GMT @oneofthelessergods said:

You build a bonfire over a large flat stone and when it's reduced to glowing charcoal, scrape the ashes back and cook on the stone. The only drawback is you need lots of deadwood lying about.

So maybe only try it in Brussels, yeah?

[Minge är en jävla besserwisser]

Plough disc and a pile of mallee roots should do it.

[flatandy]

May 13, 2019 6:10:38 GMT perrykneeham said:

May 12, 2019 20:28:17 GMT flatandy said:

Charcoal gives better smokey flavour.

I don't think that's true. My close friend is a chemical engineer and a charcoal devotee. Even he admits that there's nothing to it. It's just that he likes a fire.

Hmm. So all that actual bbq where you get a smoked flavour on the meat get happens by magic, not in the cooking process?

Yesterday, I grilled a few pork chops that came out delicious because the fat on the chop rendered out enough and spat onto the gas flame creating a really nice char and smoke mix. When the chops are too thin and get overcooked before you can get the rendered fat to create the char, they always come out worse. But I think the problem is not having the flame hot enough, nor close enough to the meat, rather than explicitly it being gas.

[perrykneeham]

Nah. I think it really is just the fat falling onto something hot and creating flavoursome smoke.

Honestly, I think you're kidding yourself.

[flatandy]

It's the fat and the flame. If the flame is irrelevant then why aren't you just roasting stuff in the oven?

[perrykneeham]

I think we're at cross purposes. It doesn't matter whether the heat is from the charcoal or the gas. The important bit is that there is enough heat to make the meat drip fat onto a hot surface where it either ignites or smoulders to create the smoke.

[mids]

May 13, 2019 13:49:56 GMT flatandy said:

It's the fat and the flame. If the flame is irrelevant then why aren't you just roasting stuff in the oven?

Because there's no fire to stand around and gaze into.

[moggyonspeed]

Sheesh - just listen to you lot.

You're actually standing round a virtual bloody BBQ with a warm beer in your hands, gazing longingly into the flames whilst you give it all your incessant jibber-jabber discussing the merits of fat, hot surfaces, ovens and what are essentially issues of personal taste.

O' course, what pisses me of most is that I wasn't invited. Vegan sausage anyone?

[perrykneeham]

Haha. Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind that we'd become self-parodying.

Still, the Brighton/Man City game, eh?

[flatandy]

I was out pedaling around in my lycra hugging my lardy torso like a real middle aged bbq bloke, so I couldn't watch the association football match.

[voice]

I got myself a smoker a couple of years back, makes great smoked salmon, jerky, smoked meats and so on. Was wondering about cheese, but I don't know how they actually smoke cheese, though I suspect its not in a backyard smoker.

[flatandy]

You can smoke anything, I think. I've got a tiny insta-smoker thing that's like an electric bong or something. You can just put a ton of smoke into any container with stuff inside it and get a smokey flavour. I've done cheese and butter among other things. Usually it's only on the surface, mind you. You need a long time to get the smoke deep into a product - how hot does it get in your smoker? Can you keep it smokey, but cool enough to not melt the cheese?

[voice]

That's the issue, its hard to keep it smokey and cool, its just small one, does most things OK, but to get it really well smoked you have to do it over a long time and if you're not careful it dries stuff out a bit too much, makes good jerky cos of that though.

[mids]

This is turned into the most middle class thread ever.

[wetkingcanute]

and you can read this by the BBQ

[hammerhead]

May 13, 2019 17:19:40 GMT flatandy said:

You can smoke anything, I think.

This virtual barbecue must be getting really f**k**g boring!


The only things I have from the original link are matching coasters and vinyl records, but the latter are from teenage years, just never been able to throw them out.

Got nothing to play them on though.

[Deleted]

Denying being middle-class is the most middle class thing evah.

[perrykneeham]

I'm wondering if I need to buy a decent espresso-maker. I have an espresso cafetiere, which I've had for donkeys' but I've never need especially impressed the coffee it makes TBH. Maybe I need to start buying Delta coffee or maybe it's just that coffee always tastes better when it's made professionally. I'm thinking about one of these machines that use ground coffee rather than pods.

Any thoughts?

[jimboky]

I'm more of a just coffee guy, never got a taste for espresso, though only tried it a couple times, I like my Bunn


makes a pot in 2 to 2 m,, just need coffee and a filter


damn,, that pic is bigger then I thought

[perrykneeham]

Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever had a really good cup of filter coffee either. Dunno. It's not like I'm a coffee snob but I do like a well-made espresso or cappuccino.

Truth is, I don't drink that much coffee at home and when I do, the new ground instants are pretty good.