Hello


 
S

Stephen Foott

New member
Hello all, Stephen here - an Irishman living down under in Western Australia. Never barbecued in my life but I love to cook. My girlfriend got me a Smokey Joe for Christmas so with the fine weather and a big BBQ culture here, it’s a perfect opportunity to experiment and learn. I hope to learn about grilling first then smoking and hopefully get some nice pizzas cooked in the Smokey Joe too as I like making the dough and tomato sauce myself.
 
Hi Stephen, fellow Irish here (McGee). Tell your girlfriend we said THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!You both are going to love this place. The guys here can answer any questions you might have. Stay in touch and let us know how you are doing ok?
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome! Really appreciate it. I’ve fired it up twice so far. I have Weber briquettes and a starter chimney. I found it hard to get the briquettes lighting with newspaper the first time so I got natural starter cubes for the second time. The box said I only needed 2 cubes but I found I needed around 8 as the briquettes never really got going initially. A workmate advised I get starter cubes that aren’t natural and just make sure they are well burned off?
Because I’m new to it - I haven’t wanted to waste time and money on bigger cooks, I’ve just done chicken skewers and hotdogs on it so far :D
If I wanted to grill a steak on it, I understand I want high heat to sear it quick and leave the inside juicy. Should I have the lid open or closed on the Smokey Joe please?
One thing I love when watching videos is how creative people are at doing DIY adjustments on their BBQ.
 
Stephen Foott said:
Thank you all for the warm welcome! Really appreciate it. I’ve fired it up twice so far. I have Weber briquettes and a starter chimney. I found it hard to get the briquettes lighting with newspaper the first time so I got natural starter cubes for the second time. The box said I only needed 2 cubes but I found I needed around 8 as the briquettes never really got going initially. A workmate advised I get starter cubes that aren’t natural and just make sure they are well burned off?
Because I’m new to it - I haven’t wanted to waste time and money on bigger cooks, I’ve just done chicken skewers and hotdogs on it so far :D
If I wanted to grill a steak on it, I understand I want high heat to sear it quick and leave the inside juicy. Should I have the lid open or closed on the Smokey Joe please?
One thing I love when watching videos is how creative people are at doing DIY adjustments on their BBQ.
Click to expand...
8 cubes seems excessive, are you using a charcoal chimney to light your charcoal?

Good job on starting slow, and using cheaper foods to get familiar with it. It’s fun to watch videos and see what people have done, but experience is going to be your biggest help. Keep at it.

1. “If you’re looking, you’re not cooking”. Leave the lid closed and don’t shoot for the image of the smiling guy with his kettle lid open at the neighborhood bbq. It’s going to cook much slower with the lid off, because your heat is not contained. It’s like leaving the door of your oven open while trying to cook something. You might be worried about burning your food, but don’t sweat it too much. Set a timer and play around with different intervals to establish how long it takes to cook with each food, keep track of everything in a notebook at first to help you remember.

2. I prefer a reverse sear myself, as I like a rare steak. The theory behind this is, to cook on low heat indirectly. This cooks the steak thoroughly and uniformly. Once the steak is cooked to your liking, then throw it directly over coals for 45 seconds to a minute on each side to give it a crust. Again, it’s going to take time playing around with a timer and getting the hang of it. Here’s an example of a reverse sear.

IMG_8140.jpeg
 
Stephen Foott said:
Thank you all for the warm welcome! Really appreciate it. I’ve fired it up twice so far. I have Weber briquettes and a starter chimney. I found it hard to get the briquettes lighting with newspaper the first time so I got natural starter cubes for the second time. The box said I only needed 2 cubes but I found I needed around 8 as the briquettes never really got going initially. A workmate advised I get starter cubes that aren’t natural and just make sure they are well burned off?
Because I’m new to it - I haven’t wanted to waste time and money on bigger cooks, I’ve just done chicken skewers and hotdogs on it so far :D
If I wanted to grill a steak on it, I understand I want high heat to sear it quick and leave the inside juicy. Should I have the lid open or closed on the Smokey Joe please?
One thing I love when watching videos is how creative people are at doing DIY adjustments on their BBQ.
Click to expand...
If you spray some cooking spray on a couple of paper towels, you can use that as an easy fire starter. Paper towels don’t send off little lit flyers is the air like newspaper would. Welcome to the forum.
 
BrettK said:
8 cubes seems excessive, are you using a charcoal chimney to light your charcoal?

Good job on starting slow, and using cheaper foods to get familiar with it. It’s fun to watch videos and see what people have done, but experience is going to be your biggest help. Keep at it.

1. “If you’re looking, you’re not cooking”. Leave the lid closed and don’t shoot for the image of the smiling guy with his kettle lid open at the neighborhood bbq. It’s going to cook much slower with the lid off, because your heat is not contained. It’s like leaving the door of your oven open while trying to cook something. You might be worried about burning your food, but don’t sweat it too much. Set a timer and play around with different intervals to establish how long it takes to cook with each food, keep track of everything in a notebook at first to help you remember.

2. I prefer a reverse sear myself, as I like a rare steak. The theory behind this is, to cook on low heat indirectly. This cooks the steak thoroughly and uniformly. Once the steak is cooked to your liking, then throw it directly over coals for 45 seconds to a minute on each side to give it a crust. Again, it’s going to take time playing around with a timer and getting the hang of it. Here’s an example of a reverse sear.

View attachment 85368
Click to expand...
I am using a charcoal chimney, it’s very useful. I switched brand of starter cubes for my third cook at the weekend and I only needed two, they were much better.

I’m a keen cook in the kitchen and only started maybe 5 years ago so definitely a lot of lessons still fresh - walk before you can run :cool:

Great idea with the notebook for gathering data - very scientific.

That reverse sear looks excellent. I think I’ll have to try and set up a direct and indirect zone the next time I’m cooking as I had direct heat all along the bottom at the weekend when cooking chicken drumsticks and several of them got too charred on the outside.

I did some with dry rub and some with marinade and noticed the dry rub ones burned easier. Also I was rotating the lid to move the vent around. I noticed if I left the top vent in the same spot for too long then the drumstick nearest the vent was getting the most charred.
 
Mark Silver said:
If you spray some cooking spray on a couple of paper towels, you can use that as an easy fire starter. Paper towels don’t send off little lit flyers is the air like newspaper would. Welcome to the forum.
Click to expand...
That’s a very good tip thank you! I bought a different brand of firelighters which are good but the next time I run out I can try your recommendation - cheers
 
Welcome, Stephen. You have found the exact site that you need.

My go-to firestarter is dryer lint wrapped in newspaper, doused with veg oil. Not sure what size chimney you're using, but the technique is solid.

Congrats on the Smokey Joe!!
 
Tim Campbell said:
Welcome, Stephen. You have found the exact site that you need.

My go-to firestarter is dryer lint wrapped in newspaper, doused with veg oil. Not sure what size chimney you're using, but the technique is solid.

Congrats on the Smokey Joe!!
Click to expand...
Thanks Tim! Using the larger size Weber chimney and luckily the new starter cubes I tried last weekend worked great. Appreciate you sharing your method too. Next time I’m cooking I need to try and set up and indirect zone as last weekend I had hot charcoal spread out all over the charcoal grate while I was cooking drumsticks. Some of them got quite charred as there was no zone for resting
 
BrettK said:
8 cubes seems excessive, are you using a charcoal chimney to light your charcoal?

Good job on starting slow, and using cheaper foods to get familiar with it. It’s fun to watch videos and see what people have done, but experience is going to be your biggest help. Keep at it.

1. “If you’re looking, you’re not cooking”. Leave the lid closed and don’t shoot for the image of the smiling guy with his kettle lid open at the neighborhood bbq. It’s going to cook much slower with the lid off, because your heat is not contained. It’s like leaving the door of your oven open while trying to cook something. You might be worried about burning your food, but don’t sweat it too much. Set a timer and play around with different intervals to establish how long it takes to cook with each food, keep track of everything in a notebook at first to help you remember.

2. I prefer a reverse sear myself, as I like a rare steak. The theory behind this is, to cook on low heat indirectly. This cooks the steak thoroughly and uniformly. Once the steak is cooked to your liking, then throw it directly over coals for 45 seconds to a minute on each side to give it a crust. Again, it’s going to take time playing around with a timer and getting the hang of it. Here’s an example of a reverse sear.

View attachment 85368
Click to expand...
Wow. You nailed that steak, Brett. Perfect edge-to-edge.
 
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