ProQ Smokers

Cheap charcol/Briquettes at Sainsbury

corn — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:26:22 GMT

Sainbury seem to be clearing out BBQ related stuff. Briquettes 72p / Charchol 1.49. Just picked up a load to get me through the winter :-)

Chicken Skin

Novice — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:35:05 GMT

Ok Guy's, I've done a few chickens on the frontier now, with good results, but what advice have you got to get a crispy edible skin. Mine normally come out a bit rubbery.

I usually do them 'on a throne'- 'beer butt' style, & I'm happy with this technique, but I'd like to get crispy skin next time.

What do you recommend?

GOT MY EXCEL YESTERDAY

smokinxray — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:40:03 GMT

Got my excel!!! that thing is nice, even mom liked it, gonna fire her off tonite, just a trial run, wanna get an idea of the grate temps at the 3 levels. Food porn will follow!!

ProQ Excel 20 Covers Now in STOCK!

Admin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:49:09 GMT

Finally our covers for the Excel 20 have arrived in the UK.

Buy One Here

roasting n smoking

casper — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:25:28 GMT

hi ya

got the proq exl last week and fired her up with a chicken on (arfter burning it out) it was a big bird it was done in about 4 to 5 hours at 175 to 180 with some wood pellets for smoke it turned out well nice and very juciy what i want to know can i up the temp and cook it the same as in doors on the oven in lets say 1 to 2 hours and have the same effect ???

fire control on the excel

smokinxray — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:41:54 GMT

fired up my excel today, first run, dry run, sorry no food porn yet. i started with a full basket of lump and briquettes, and some mesquite chunks mixed in, dug a little pit in the middle, fired up some hardwood chunks in my chimney, dumped them in. Temps came up fairly quickly, however once they broke 230, there was no stopping it. Started with all the vents open, then shut them all down to about a 1/3 when temps hit 220. closed off 2 more, left one at a 1/3, now its been humming along at 300 ...

1 stacker or 2?

bozkm — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:59:01 GMT

Hello,

I got an excel 20 a couple months back and have a question....if I am only cooking enough food to fit on one grate can I just use the one stacker...or is it better to use both stackers all the time and cook on the top grate?

British BBQ Championships - Updated

Mack — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:31:35 GMT

Yesterday I attended a lengthy meeting with the organisers of this event, to try and get answers to competitors concerns...

Website - A new (professionally designed) website is ready and should be up and running by the end of this week.

Team Registration - There are only 20 places available and the cost of registering is �125.00/ team.

Cooks Meeting - Will be held at 4.00pm, followed by a parade, after which all meat for the competition will be issued to the teams (around 7.30pm).

Judging ...

my menu for first comp

smokinxray — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:25:16 GMT

well guys, got the excel 20, gonna put her to use in my first competition. Ive been a chef all my life, so im pretty good at nailing cooking times for turn in. its a kcbs competition, and we are going for it all.

Chicken - doing thighs.. marinated in italian dressing overnight, early start, prob 6am in a hot smoker, 275-300... Finished with some honey and raspberry vinegarette, prob a lil melted butter in there. turn in @ 12:00

Ribs - St louis style cut, light mustard slather, even lighter ...

Baked a cake on the Weber yesterday

Dr_KY — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:23:09 GMT

...and it came out very well with no smoke taste what so ever.

T-Bone on the Primo

Don Marco — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:35:40 GMT

Howdy...

Heres today Dinner, Argentinian T-Bone with fried potatoes, sugar peas, Ciabatta with Feta Cheese/sun dried tomatoes and Olive paste, roasted garlic and chipotle butter.

Cheers,

DM

freds music and bbq

smokinxray — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:20:06 GMT

just gotta say thanks to freds, you guys are amazing, best and easiest company i have ever dealt with!!! Keep it up

Ribs, Fatties and Pig Sticks

Don Marco — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:52:01 GMT

Howdy...

Heres our Sundays Dinner cooked in the Primo while it was stormy and the rain was pouring. Off course now that its done the rain stopped...

I cooked 2 racks of loin ribs, 2 Fatties stuffed with cream cheese, Chipotle in adobo sauce and onions and PigSticks, Pork loin cut lengthwise into long strips wich are marinated in pineapple juice and the remaining chipotles

and then rubbed with dizzy pig coarse bbq rub.

Sauced the pig sticks and ribs with ...

I've had a tidy up!

All Weather Griller — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:21:54 GMT

A place for everything and everything in its place.

Thermometer access

Novice — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:44:19 GMT

Having got my Maverick thermometer, I was worried about pinching the wire between stackers. I've been using the top vent for access, but this is not ideal, so I decided to put an eyelet into the top of each stacker.

I bought a couple of 1/4" panel mount guitar input sockets from my local guitar shop (cost less than �2) with a couple of extra lock nuts.

I cut off the 'connector' bits leaving just the threaded shaft. I filed it flat & cleaned up any potential sharp bits ...

pulled the trigger

smokinxray — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:17:51 GMT

i had to do, pulled the trigger today and ordered the excel 20 with the extra stacker, 2nd maverick on the way also. The reason i jumped so hard, kcbs competition coming to town, any suggestions, gonna do all 4 categories...never know what could happen

october 25, 26 in sayville, ny bbq battle

smokinxray — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:53:23 GMT

any suggestions, im going in for my first q'ING competition, kcbs style, doing the whole thing, chicken, ribs, pork and brisket. Any suggestions, comments, or help would be greatly appreciated

Brisket and Pulled Pork, Live...

Caruso — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:40:46 GMT

hello all,

today there are my first brisked and PP from EXEL...

every 2-3 hours comes new photos

.....

hmmm

i can not upload the pictures, look here

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=749852#post749852

BBQ and Grill weekend.

Caruso — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:24:28 GMT

We have a long and beautiful last weekend and the EXEL was first used.

on thursday i want make a brisket and pulled pork on the EXEL.

any tips ?

Advice needed for ribs

Novice — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:30:21 GMT

Have any of you got a simple foolproof recipe for

1, Baby back ribs

2, Spare ribs

I've cooked chickens, pulled pork, more chickens, a leg of lamb & even more chickens & all have come out great, but I can't seem to get my ribs right. I can't seem to make them tender.

In the past, after using sub standard cuts & mistaking baby backs for spares, I had some understandable problems.

I have cooked them while cooking other things (mostly chickens), so forgiven myself, because ...

My First Pics of Beer Butt Chicken!

jenks_24 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:41:32 GMT

Everyone,

This is my first attempt at posting pics, so bear with me. I decided to cook a Cornish hen for the wife and I. I also used a different charcoal for the first time, with has a lot of differences from my usual brand (Kingsford Charcoal). I used Royal Oak for this cook and can tell you it had some differences. I had to get used to using MORE charcoal for this cook, but also found that the inherent smoke it produced was not a bad experience. You can tell it was made from oak wood, ...

Weather Warning

Novice — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:53:06 GMT

Guy's, just so you know, I'm going to try ribs again on Sunday, so you can expect monsoon weather,

Que�n for some co-workers

Don Marco — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:40:34 GMT

Howdy...

A couple of coworkers from our warehouse had a small party yesterday.

I took care of the food as you can never have enough friends in the warehouse... ;-)

It was a total of 15 people so it was an easy job and i did some of my "standard" cooking for partys.

Set up my stuff, made fire in the Excel and CG Outlaw and then prepped all the food.

When that was done i used my time to give my offset a nice hot fire to burn it clean and the brushed and wiped it.

The ...

BBQ in Italy?

Pig Headed — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:21:51 GMT

I'm going to Italy on Oct 19th. Anyone know of any bbq in Siena?

greetings from new york

smokinxray — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:52:02 GMT

well guys, ive seen a lot of bbq posts and forums. Done my research, and honestly how could you want any other grill, or smoker than the excel 20. Im ordering mine soon, cant wait to give it a run. I've been a chef for 10 years, but in the past 2 have taken a liking to real low and slow bbq. Excel 20 is my one and only choice, almost made the mistake of preordering a new weber 22 wsm.

fatties

smokinxray — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:20:48 GMT

im a born and bred new yorker, and those fatties all look awesome, can someone steer me in the direction on where i can find me some, i wanna eat, now!!!

low temps

coonjack — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:01:13 GMT

First large cook with the excel. 8 7lb butts and 2 11 lb briskets. Started about midnight and didn't allow the cooker to preheat much. wanted to run about 180 unless i kept the lowest door open. minion method. cooking at 195 at present, meat around 180. Can briefly get temp over 200 by adding wood with door open but falls off quikly back around 185? Haven't experienced this with my weber.

Wood Wraps!

Mack — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:40:03 GMT

Found these paper thin wood wraps and they work really well on the BBQ or in the Oven (to my surprise), so we're going into production.

http://www.probbq.co.uk/Wood%20Wraps.html

They're already available in the States, just someone else doing them, but they work the same.

If our UK and European members would like to try some, email me at ian@probbq.co.uk with your full postal address and I'll get some out to you as soon as they are ready.... now who says "nothing's for free" ...

Two more vents for the base of the ProQ

bbq-devil — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:11:23 GMT

I�m sure some of you have had problems with air circulation in the ProQ. Only one vent in the base, which is beside or over the charcoal sometimes is not enough.

In another german forum I found a solution. Perhaps some of you know, but I didn�t find a threat about it here.

In another threat here I read the word "to mcgyver", I like it very much and my wife started laughing as I told her: "I�ll go in the back yard for mcgyvering."

Ok, here we go:

At first ...

Pro-Q Frontier total conversion

Don Marco — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:33:46 GMT

Look what a friend of mine does to his Frontier

Mack, better take a seat before you click that link.

http://mybbq.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11403

The best part come at page 4. Cant wait til he has finished thant bastard.

DM

Minion Variation - or maybe not - you decide!

All Weather Griller — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:21:55 GMT

This has probably been done, but I'm going to smoke a pork butt tonight and thought I would try and take advantage of the uniform shape of the Coconut briquettes.

I have decided to tightly pack the coal basket and leave a small area at the centre to pour the hot ones. I have chopped up a couple of staves from old whiskey barrells (Which Smelt fantastic when sawing) and planted them throughout the rings, to hopefully stage the smokes.

I'm conscious about airflow through the briquettes ...

Lolipop chicken, ABT stand / heat shield

Dr_KY — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:37:30 GMT

Yup this little guy is doing triple duty now. She's made from some stainless plate I had sitting around and started life as a heat difuser for Half Pint.

New Toy : Looftlighter

Don Marco — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:05:38 GMT

Howdy folks...

Heres a new toy that i brought home from the SPOGA trade show last week.

Its an electric charcoal lighter from sweden.

So far, all the electric devices didnt convince me but his one was love at first sight.

I used it a couple of times so far with different types of lump and a small woodfire. You can also use it to light charcoal briquettes or your oven/fireplace.

Its very convenient, works fast, doesnt blow up the ashes and also has an integrated ...

World BBQ Championchips in Belgium...

Don Marco — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:28:31 GMT

...turned out to be bettter than expected for us...

Howdy folks...

I�m just back from the official WBQA World BBQ Championchips in Belgium.

We had an aweseome weekend and competed against 65 Teams from all over the world, made good friends and had lots of fun....and scored third place in chicken !

You guys propably cant believe how happy we were when they called us out on that one. All we really wanted was to be called up one time.

Anyway, it gets even better.

We ...

Beef Wellington

Dr_KY — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:51:31 GMT

We had to give it a try on the grill today and the results were good.

Just did it.....

Shrike — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:23:34 GMT

Fred's music is running the combo 20" + stacker sale again, so I pulled the trigger - missed the other sale a few weeks ago.... Thanks to a glass or two of merlot, I also got a maverick 73. Fred, you will see my unique order.

http://www.fredsmusicandbbq.com/ProQ_BBQ_EXCEL_20_SMOKER_BUNDLE_INCLUDES_ONE_EXTRA_p/prqexcel20bundle.htm

So. I now have a new brinkman (bandera clone) on the way for the cost of shiping (think it was about $40) - never used, never built, got it from my ...

1st fire in the excell

coonjack — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:56:28 GMT

Had to light her off, let it burn about 3 hrs, no problem holding temps, then added 6 racks of ribs, I only had one but the neighbors came by and asked what I was cooking, when I said just seasoning the cooker they said be right back, brought 5 racks ribs, some thighs and a case of beer. Funny how that works. Using a stacker adds a bit of work, all in all a good first time cook. pics later

WBQA World Championship in Steenhuffel, Belgium

karlsson — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:14:08 GMT

Today our friend Don Marco and his team "TB & The BBQ Scouts" won the WBQA World Championships in Steenhuffel, Belgium.

Congratulations!

Heading to your side of the pond

bowhnter — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:45:46 GMT

Will be making my first trip over to your side of the pond. Will be leaving Wednesday for Florence, Italy.

Smokin' in Oregon

krmdgn — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:08:21 GMT

Greetings fellow enthusiasts!

I have now done a few smokes on my new Excel 20 and I am proud to have joined the faithful here. I am relatively new to this, having done no more than a dozen smokes on a (borrowed) WSM before I chose to buy the Excel. And so far... so good. I really enjoy its ability to go down-size (relative to a WSM) since I typically smoke for just 2-4 people. I also plan to take the smaller configuration mobile when I go camping (I love Oregon!). It really seems ...

Ricks Sinful Marinade Brisket Marinade

BowtieBill — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:40:25 GMT

It is not actually a Marinade (maybe it could be), but a liquid to use when you wrap your brisket in foil. This is from Rick Salmon, well known Quer on The BBQ Forum.

Ricks Sinful Marinade

12 oz. can of beer

� cup cider vinegar

� cup of water

� cup Worcestershire sauce

� cup olive oil

1 tablespoon beef base

2 tablespoons barbeque sauce

1 tablespoon seasoned salt or rub.

1 tablespoon celery seed

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon MSG

Heat all ingrediates to help ...

Kettle BBQ Chef 2008

Daved — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:22:17 GMT

Is there anybody on the forum who will be entering into this event http://www.kettlechips.co.uk/site/WebSite.do?id=501.54.30036 ? I hav'nt done any serious bbq yet but am thinking of entering anyway or maybe I should wait a bit. Are there any any experts out there that could advise ?

Sneak Preview

Mack — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:00:04 GMT

Yep, got a spare half an hour, so time to play with the next mod...

Let me introduce Dog's and Danglies to you.

Mack — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:57:52 GMT

Last weekend I had the priveledge of cooking with 2 fine people Adie (aka All Weather Griller) and John Feeney (a development chef).

We cooked on 2 Excel 20's and because they worked so well, it was agreed that the 2 cookers be named Dog's and Danglies.

below is the link to some of the stuff we did... movies will follow.

Mack

http://s280.photobucket.com/albums/kk176/webermad/Sheff%2008/?albumview=slideshow

World BBQ Championships - Belgium

Mack — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:33:00 GMT

Hi all,

Just got back from a trip to Belgium, where I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Charly Van Den Bosch (President of the Belgium BBQ Association) who is organising the World BBQ Championship, to be held on the 13th and 14th of September 2008.

Anyone interested in competing can either contact me, or go onto their website www.smokycharly.be to get more info.

Beer can chicken holders

Dr_KY — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:41:56 GMT

Had two of these made today for a test run . After I got home I decided that the 2'' tubes may not be wide enough so I'll go back and have some 3'' cut and see how it works out. I also may need to shorten the sides or drill several 3/4 '' holes in the base.

Opinions?

You guys sucked me in

coonjack — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:56:10 GMT

I just ordered an excel 20 from Freds today. I'm a die hard weber fan, own wsm, gold kettle, and 2 small charcoal grills. I just didn't want to wait any longer and the excel seems like an exciting addition to the market. I have several cooks to do in sept. so I'll try to contribute.

New Video Online...Beef Ribs & Fatty

ILBBQS.com — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:18:45 GMT

Hey Gang,

Just posted a new video online...Beef Ribs (my kids call 'em DinoRibs) and even snuck in a fatty. It's only 3:30 long...posted at http://www.RhinoRoadTrip.com .

Greetings from Modena ITALIA

Nikon — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:10:03 GMT

Hi All, my name is Francesco aka Nikon, I'm from Modena the city of Ferrari and Luciano Pavarotti but i prefear Mustung and Bruce Springsteen.

I'm a bbq enthusiast, I like cooking all year in open air and I found this forum searching for a new smoker.

If you would to see something of mine you could go to my blog

http://web.mac.com/f.moretti/Sito/Blog/Blog.html

or go to the italian best BBQ forum

http://www.bbq4all.it/portal/forum/

New Weber Cover

All Weather Griller — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:39:37 GMT

My New weber cover