Hey everyone, my name is Davide (I go by David among non-Italians, it's just easier), I'm from Italy and I'm a total newbie to outdoor cooking. I'm a pastry chef by trade, I've worked in fine dining both in Italy and the UK, and last year I opened a small deli-style take-away food shop (think ravioli and lasagna, not sliced meats) in the Italian hills where I was born.
I've been cooking most of my meat at home using sous vide for years (in addition to professionally, obviously), without ever really considering grilling or barbecuing. I found out about Meathead and AR when they first collaborated with ChefSteps a while back (comparing pork ribs cooked both styles): I started poring over the website and ultimately got hooked, even from a purely theoretical, food-science-y point of view. (Incidentally, I find it very interesting that this community is currently going through the exact opposite path of coming to terms with sous vide. I've been learning a lot just by reading the public comments on the website.)
Shortly after that I had my first taste of "American" BBQ, or as close to that as you can get in London, anyway, and even just that was enough to blow my silly little Italian mind. The closest I got to a proper experience is probably the Arrogant Swine in Brooklyn about a year ago (props to the staff, who charmingly put up with a random dude coming in at 5 PM on a Tuesday in November and demanding meat...). I dream of making a barbecue-themed (and whiskey-, and country ham-, and seafood-, and...) pilgrimage to the Southern US, but with a new business getting off the ground the reality of no time and no money has me beat. For now.
Anyway, I knew that with the post-holiday slump that every food business faces I'd have a little free time, so I got myself a Weber kettle and a leave-in digital probe as a belated present and started practising. And while my winter definitely can't compare to what you folks in the American East Coast or Midwest are experiencing, so far all my cooks have been well below freezing. Not all of Italy is sunny and warm
I cannot overstate how helpful the website has been to me. With ZERO experience in outdoor cooking (I hadn't so much as lit a match in... what, ten years?) I started making tasty food from day one. (Well, day three, since I did my homework and did a couple of dry runs first.) Chicken legs, ribs, sausages all came out cooked properly and spot on time (well, I'm still slow and clumsy in lighting up and getting the kettle clean and up to temp, but the actual cook time was as expected), with no stress and no fuss. Of course they're far from great, but that's what the next few years are for, and it's already stuff I'm happy to eat and serve my family and friends!
Last night I did my first "long" cook: (half a) pork butt with Meathead's Memphis Dust. I started it stupidly late (it was already getting dark) because of force majeure reasons, but decided to forge ahead anyway and chalk it up to experience.
I let the coals burn a bit high (closer to 120C/250F), hit 65 C internal in about 5 hours and cut off a few slices with a nice roast-like bite to them, then wrapped it and let it ride for another 3 hours or so, and pretty much gave up around 1 AM. The darker-muscled sections were juicy and nicely pullable, while there was a lot of leaner whiter meat that ended up a bit on the dry side, but overall I'm ridiculously happy with the result (and like I said, the delay was 100% expected for starting a butt at 4 PM). Especially in a steamed bun, with fermented hot sauce, pickles and plum sauce, all homemade. Pictures below!
So in short, thanks Meathead and all the staff here for putting out there so much reliable information presented so clearly. Speaking as a professional cook, it boggles my mind how easy AR makes it for anyone to take up the basics of this technique, when most training (even aimed at pros) is a lot more hit and miss and confused. Great stuff. I cannot wait to get out there again!
Butt after 5 h @ 120C/250F
Nicely sliceable
After 3 more hours in foil
In a steamed bun!
I've been cooking most of my meat at home using sous vide for years (in addition to professionally, obviously), without ever really considering grilling or barbecuing. I found out about Meathead and AR when they first collaborated with ChefSteps a while back (comparing pork ribs cooked both styles): I started poring over the website and ultimately got hooked, even from a purely theoretical, food-science-y point of view. (Incidentally, I find it very interesting that this community is currently going through the exact opposite path of coming to terms with sous vide. I've been learning a lot just by reading the public comments on the website.)
Shortly after that I had my first taste of "American" BBQ, or as close to that as you can get in London, anyway, and even just that was enough to blow my silly little Italian mind. The closest I got to a proper experience is probably the Arrogant Swine in Brooklyn about a year ago (props to the staff, who charmingly put up with a random dude coming in at 5 PM on a Tuesday in November and demanding meat...). I dream of making a barbecue-themed (and whiskey-, and country ham-, and seafood-, and...) pilgrimage to the Southern US, but with a new business getting off the ground the reality of no time and no money has me beat. For now.
Anyway, I knew that with the post-holiday slump that every food business faces I'd have a little free time, so I got myself a Weber kettle and a leave-in digital probe as a belated present and started practising. And while my winter definitely can't compare to what you folks in the American East Coast or Midwest are experiencing, so far all my cooks have been well below freezing. Not all of Italy is sunny and warm
I cannot overstate how helpful the website has been to me. With ZERO experience in outdoor cooking (I hadn't so much as lit a match in... what, ten years?) I started making tasty food from day one. (Well, day three, since I did my homework and did a couple of dry runs first.) Chicken legs, ribs, sausages all came out cooked properly and spot on time (well, I'm still slow and clumsy in lighting up and getting the kettle clean and up to temp, but the actual cook time was as expected), with no stress and no fuss. Of course they're far from great, but that's what the next few years are for, and it's already stuff I'm happy to eat and serve my family and friends!
Last night I did my first "long" cook: (half a) pork butt with Meathead's Memphis Dust. I started it stupidly late (it was already getting dark) because of force majeure reasons, but decided to forge ahead anyway and chalk it up to experience.
I let the coals burn a bit high (closer to 120C/250F), hit 65 C internal in about 5 hours and cut off a few slices with a nice roast-like bite to them, then wrapped it and let it ride for another 3 hours or so, and pretty much gave up around 1 AM. The darker-muscled sections were juicy and nicely pullable, while there was a lot of leaner whiter meat that ended up a bit on the dry side, but overall I'm ridiculously happy with the result (and like I said, the delay was 100% expected for starting a butt at 4 PM). Especially in a steamed bun, with fermented hot sauce, pickles and plum sauce, all homemade. Pictures below!
So in short, thanks Meathead and all the staff here for putting out there so much reliable information presented so clearly. Speaking as a professional cook, it boggles my mind how easy AR makes it for anyone to take up the basics of this technique, when most training (even aimed at pros) is a lot more hit and miss and confused. Great stuff. I cannot wait to get out there again!
Butt after 5 h @ 120C/250F
Nicely sliceable
After 3 more hours in foil
In a steamed bun!
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