Jonty

I made three of these last night - I think the ‘branch’ could do with a couple of leaves, but I think they’re fun all the same

Superb looking burgers and superb equipment setup - that burger press looks ace. what species of deer was it?

Pork fillet is a very lightly used muscle on a pig and has no fat /marbling or connective tissue so cooking it low and slow wouldn't help it as there's nothing to break down to leave the remaining meat tender. I think it looks great - whatever you did with the glaze etc looks like a winner. The way you described your cook sounds just about bob on for fillet, maybe it was in a tad too long or you were just unlucky with that particular piece of meat. Kudos for publishing the 'not so wins' along with the 'wins'

Thanks for the comprehensive response - that really clears up the questions I had - thank you. I had an electric smoker which recently died, I loved the flexibility and controllability, it wasn't quite up to the standard of yours but very convenient all the same. I know that once the meat gets to 60-ish it doesn't take any more smoke so I was wondering if that impacted the end product, the fact you've changed to hickory completely proves it doesn't have any detriment at all. I'm looking forwards to your next forays 👍

@JTaylor91 the food looks amazing - it's a great way of cooking isn't it? I've no experience wit the Traeger smokers but I understand that they're really controllable temp wise - which is obviously what you want for smoking. I have a quick question.... do they need to burn pellets all the time that you are cooking, or for example, on a two hour cook, could you burn pellets and produce smoke for hour one and then just continue to cook with no smoke for hour 2? Thanks

Trust me - that picture is far from suss… that’s BBQ perfect!!

These sausages were walking around a field in Scotland on Friday - can’t say fresher than that 👍. I’d hoofed it up north from the Dales on Friday in fear of missing out on an evenings stalk due to leaving late. I jumped out of my truck with maybe half an hour to get to a high seat or doe box only to have a deer present itself less than 300m from where I was parked, for once fate was on my side. I have plenty of joints and muscles in my freezer so apart from the loins, I boned this one out and minced everything with a plan to make burgers, sausage and bolognese etc. I used a weschenfelder pre-made mix and a good 1/4 of a bottle of port - I have to say that preliminary fry up of the remnants tasted very good.

That's a cracking head that. I thought I'd try the 'pint of maggots from the fishing shop' trick on a red stag a few years ago. I tucked it in a box under the external central heating oil tank and forgot about in....until the boss commented on the number of bluebottles in the house for November. My poker face obviously isn't very good and she sussed I was up to something straight away. Turns out there was an air brick next to the head and the rest is history. I'm not allowed anywhere near the fishing shop now 😀

<we had a bit of a family celebration today, hence the bottle of fizz - but after a long day out and about, we couldn’t face cooking our planned meal so opted for bangers and mash with some Yorkshire Puddings on the side. Gravy and stuffing courtesy of a packet - it all tasted bloody lovely though 👍

I’m with you on that Ditchman, I love cheese and I love chips… I just don’t love them together.

That looks superb!

👍

Sorry, not food related - but did you start out at Old Park Barracks?

Thanks 👍 I’m a professional estimator and our mantra is ‘you’re better looking at it than for it’ … I try and apply that saying to most aspects of my life 😀

If you were closer I’d gladly drop some off 👍