My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
ribeyeguy I've seen some reasonably authentic American BBQ in Korea that succeeded with Korean youth fairly well. I think American BBQ could do well in China, although you would probably have to provide sauces that were to local taste.
There are two I know of, Bubba's BBQ in Shanghai and J&J's in Xiamen. Bubba's is pretty good, but located in a part of town that's kind of inconvenient if you don't live there. Most customers are Americans who live in the area and who live an American lifestyle in Shanghai, only occasionally interacting with China. J&J's used to serve pretty good food, but these days has become more of a nightspot than a BBQ restaurant. They're known more for their live bands and beer than the food. They do have a working mechanical bull, which is a nice touch. Their portion sizes are scandalously small.
All the Chinese people I ever serve BBQ to love it. I don't change the sauces or anything. I think part of it is selection bias, the people I know are all open and are predisposed to like foreign things. There is this mentality of "Chinese food is suitable for Chinese people" and some will outright reject anything that they don't know. When I got here back in 2003 I used to get surprised looks from people, "Oh, you can eat Chinese food!" They thought I should eat Western food and their local cuisine wasn't suitable for me.
It's a mental block more than anything. China is a huuuge country with not just "Chinese" food, but every damn city has its own style. It's a big topic and I could go on for a long time about how it influences not just how people live their lives, but how they think. Chinese people don't see it because they grew up with it, but I can see it easier because I'm an outsider.
I'd like to open a restaurant serving BBQ here, but I've seen enough restauranteurs in China to know I don't want that lifestyle. You have to live at the restaurant because the moment you turn your back, your carefully trained staff will immediately stop doing things your way and go back to doing it whatever dumb Chinese way they already knew before they started working for you. The managers will start shorting ingredients, ordering low quality substitutes and mixing them in with your expensive imported ingredients, and pocketing the difference. The staff will start robbing the till. If you're foreign-owned then you get inspectors harassing you all the time for trivial problems - naturally your Chinese-owned neighbors will get a free pass.
What I really want is for someone else to start the restaurant, and pay me to be a consultant. Then I'll teach them the Tao of Meathead and someone else can handle all the irritating details of running a business. It almost happened once but they didn't want to pay me. Another time I almost got Meathead's vinegar cole slaw recipe on the menu, but my restauranteur friend fell out with his partners. Anyway I've gone on too long.
Last edited by Lost in China; November 19, 2016, 09:04 PM.
Great post Lost in China, you have a nice way with words and are a good story teller. Looking forward to more of your adventures in the mysterious Far East!
Excellent thread! I love seeing places do something out of their comfort zone and watching their interpretation unfold. I would've eaten it and praised the chef (as I do ANYONE who handles my food), but it seems they did okay given what they knew/had to work with. If all I had to eat was "bad" ribs, I'd be okay.
Lost in China Wow! BBQ in China. Judging by your evaluation maybnypu can be a BBQ consultant to Hershey's. While vacationing in New Mexico with a great deal of uncertainty we stopped at a place called Serious Texas BBQ. It was pretty decent Texas BBQ. They got their sausage from the well known sausage town of Elgin, TX.
Comment