Mutton Barbacoa with pea mole (+Others!)

I haven’t done any long cooks for a while, work has been crazy busy and I can’t keep an eye on cooks during the week but then I don’t want to be stuck in all weekend. With the addition of the Weber Smokefire to the ranks it opens up the possibility of longer cooks during the week as I can set it up before work then keep an eye on it from my desk! Looking back through older blog posts I spotted Mutton Barbacoa with Pea Mole from the Breddos Tacos cookbook. With a Cull Yaw shoulder in the freezer this looked like a great recipe to use it.

The Meat:

1/2 a Cull Yaw Shoulder – I got this from Warrens On the Pass as part of an order for 1/2 a Cull Yaw.

Flipped over, look at the colour of it!

The Prep:

The marinade was cumin, Mexican oregano, ancho powder, cayenne pepper, chile de arbol, chipotle powder, garlic, sea salt, black pepper and rapeseed oil. For the ingredients that are a bit harder to find have a look at Cool Chile online, they have everything!

Once rubbed this was left in the fridge for 24 hours.

The Cook:

I fired up the Smokefire to 110°C, it was up to temperature in about 10 minutes so I placed the meat in and inserted the probe. In the book (and the last time I cooked it) it says to wrap it in a banana leaf and place in a tray, I wanted to cook it open like this to see how much smoke I got from the pellets.

4 hours in it had taken on a good colour

8 hours in, it still needed a couple of hours to get to 90°C internal.

After almost 11 hours it was ready, it looked like a meteor but it smelt amazing!

And shredded easily, the colour was amazing!

So juicy too!

Time to Serve Up:

Whilst the meat was cooking I had made Pea Mole, Pico de Gallo, Habanero Salsa, Pickled Habaneros and chopped some coriander. All the recipes are in the same book.

The tacos had a layer of Pea Mole, Cull Yaw, Sour Cream, Pico de Gallo, Habanero Salsa, Coriander, Lime Juice then Pickled Habanero on top.

Close up!

Time to Eat:

Hard to get a good photo of the meat, I need to work on my lighting!

I took some time off so there are loads of cooks in this weeks blog!

Pizza with speck:

It was actually a different recipe planned but I was missing a key ingredient! Looking in the fridge I had Speck ham from Duchy Charcuterie and some rocket. Decision made!

As usual, Master Dough with Starter recipe from the Pizza Bible (Page 44). I made the Tiga on the Friday, mixed the dough on the Saturday then left it in the fridge balled up and cooked on the Sunday.

This was the cooked base:

Speck, rocket and oil on top

Close up

Pizza #2 – a little frazzled on one edge. I had added some chunks and the temperature had spiked. I need to be patient and let it drop a bit after adding wood!

Slightly out of shape, it must have stuck to the peel when launched. Tasted good though!

Buffalo trace chicken:

Buffalo Trace are running a campaign over the summer with Hotbox London and asked if I would like to cook a recipe for Fiery BBQ Chicken and Bourbon Glaze they had created. As a fan of Buffalo Trace and Hotbox I didn’t need asking twice!

The recipe for the chicken can be seen here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fuz67nbnl1yg1cv/AADcO7Q2fpsJFlryHC_DyVmra?dl=0&preview=BTD+BBQ+food.mp4

Chicken from Fosse Meadows, spatchcocked then rub applied:

I cooked this one on the firebowl as they cook it over live fire in the video. 

Glaze with butter in a Petromax Dutch oven next to the fire.

Basted

Flipped

Served up with a simple slaw

There is also a recipe for a Buffalo Sour – my goodness this is a tasty drink, too tasty lol

I really enjoyed this one. Always great to sit out by the firebowl burning logs, the Buffalo sour really was tasty. I drank too many of those! The chicken was fantastic, great taste from the glaze. I still have some Buffalo Trace left, look forward to more Buffalo sours!

Breakfast:

After all those Buffalo Sours I needed a decent breakfast!

Nice sunny start to the day so I picked the Napoleon Prestige Pro 825 for this one as it’s outside the hut! Plus, it’s got a MASSIVE cooking area! Sausages first.

Heating up the pans – that 1st one needs more seasoning!

A lot going on here but still room for more!

The end result: Bacon, Sausage, Square Sausage, Tattie Scone, Tomato, Duck Egg, Toast, Haggis, Black Pudding and Beans.

This was just awesome, loved it!

Bao Buns:

After such a big breakfast I was glad of a smaller dinner! My Bao Buns home kit arrived:

Side view

Not a bad attempt!

Loved these, the taste of Bao at home.

Hoisin buff ting:

Another cook from Wings and Things by Wingmans Chicken – their usual flour mix and cooked outside of the vortex rather than deep frying them. I am out of cherry chunks so that’s a big slab of whisky oak.

Goodness me, look at the colours!

Glorious!

This was one of my favourite recipes from the book so far, so tasty!

The wing recipe can be found in Wings and Things by Wingmans Chicken:

Keralan Beef Chilli Fry:

Years ago we travelled around Kerala and ate a beef dry fry dish which was fantastic, I was keen to try this recipe to see if it was close to how I remember.

I have been keen to cook more Indian dishes and this is one of the main reasons for adding a gas grill to the lineup, bonus cooks!

This had been cooking for about 20 minutes.

Spices, onions and curry leaves added back in.

Very nice, dark from the Tamarind paste.

Looking good!

This was an awesome dish, there was meant to be leftovers but we ate all of it! 

This recipe is from the Indian Kitchen book:

Cull Yaw chops with veg:

I am keen to cook/eat more veg as Lockdown hasn’t done my wasitline any good! With a few packs of Cull Yaw chops still in the freezer it was time to cook a lot of veg with the chops. Look at them, just awesome!

Lots of veg

I cooked the chops indirect on the Napoleon Prestige Pro 825. Burner #1 was on halfway and the chops were over burner 4. After about 40 minutes they hit 43°C so I took them off whilst firing up the ceramic infra red burners.

And put the veg on

The chops got a quick sear at super hot temperature then I put everything on a sharing board.

What a great meal, I loved this and the variety of veg. I need to repeat this.

Swordfish and Squid:

This is a guest post from my wife as she cooked this one! It was a sunny day and we were heading out so picked up squid and swordfish from the local fishmonger. As well as eating more veg I am keen to eat more fish and this was the start of that!

First up I had to prepare the squid.  I washed it under a running tap to remove any sand/ick. As it was intact I removed the innards and tentacles by holding the mantle (the main body) and gently pulling at the top of the tentacles, it comes away very easily.  You can then slice just below the eyes and use the bits with suckers on…these bits look gross but actually tasted the best. 

I then removed the cartilage from the body, just insert your fingers and you’ll feel it – looks like a transparent quill.  I then used the back of my knife to scrape down on the empty body which helps remove anything left inside – pull away anything else you see inside and then remove the membrane – the darker skin on the outside and rinse again.  This all sounds like a lot of work in text, but in real time it only took about 2 mins in total. 

I inserted a big knife into the cavity then scored the skin (the knife prevents the cut from chopping all the way through) then I turned and did the same on the other side.  You need to be more careful the 2nd time so as to keep it whole. 

I then rubbed some bashed up fennel seeds in with a bit of oil and rubbed it all over the skin, ensuring the rub was in all the wee cracks.  This was left to sit while I prepared the swordfish.  I placed it on the hot grill and cooked for about 30 seconds before turning, I kept doing this until it went from opaque to white with char marks.  It was then done!  Probably about 2 mins in total. 

The swordfish was much easier.  We had 2 steaks – I marinated them in some oil and a mixture of garlic, cumin, coriander and smoked paprika for around 15 mins then whacked them on the hot grill.  I cooked for one minute then turned 45 degrees then another minute.  Flipped and did the same on the other side, but for probably 30 seconds on side two.  They rested while the photos were taken.  Swordfish can be eaten pink inside but we found that they were actually tastier cooked a little bit longer (my wife heated her’s up after the photo for another minute or so and enjoyed it much more after this!).

What a meal and another bonus cook from the Napoleon Prestige Pro 825, great to be cooking outside and new meals too. Also great that my wife wanted to get involved, hopefully she cooks a few more dishes as she’s a far better cook than me!

Smokestak:

One of my favourite places to eat in London is selling food to eat at home, I had to order!

Cocktails and sides:

What a platter!

And the famous Sticky Toffee Pudding!

Wow, what a cracking meal! The cocktails were good too 🙂