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Flame Boss 300 and Smokeware Kamado Joe Upgrades

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Flame Boss 300

Flame Boss 300 arrives in UK

I like to try to keep up with new bits of outdoor cooking and BBQ kit arriving in the UK, so when I was asked to review the Flame Boss 300 that has just come out, I jumped at the opportunity. It is a WiFi enabled pit controller, that monitors the smoker temperature and adjusts a fan accordingly, it has a smoker temperature probe, and a meat probe, but the great thing about the Flame Boss 300 is that an extra 2, so a total of 3 meat probes and a smoker probe can be used, by utilising the extra Y-splitters available.

Smokeware chimney cap

I’m looking at tidying up my old and well used Kamado Joe, so was very happy to try out the Smokeware Chimney Cap, a matt 304 grade stainless replacement for the Kamado Joe daisywheel assembly, mine has seen better days. Also a nomex Kamado Joe gasket replacement, mine is well overdue to be replaced.

I will be adding to this review as I get this all set up, so make sure to check back….

All now available in the UK from BBQ and Smoke https://www.bbqandsmoke.co.uk

Ok so I’ve been using the upgrades now for a few smokes, and I’m loving them, they have given a tired old Kamado Joe a new lease of life, the new seals and cap make temperatures more stable and keep efficiency, and the Flame Boss 300 with it’s Wifi control and monitoring bring the KJ right up to date. Here’s the latest vid of my thoughts and experiences so far, look out for more updates to this review as I use it further.

Hardcore Carnivore Black

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Hardcore Carnivore Black

Charcoal Meat Lipstick

There was an awful lot of excitement in the CountryWoodSmoke Facebook Group when Jess Pryles’ new BBQ rub Hardcore Carnivore Black arrived on these shores. For anyone not aware of her, Jess has shot to BBQ fame an Aussie living the BBQ life in Texas, and founder of the Australasian BBQ Alliance. This is one of her new rubs, the other being Hardcore Carnivore Red. The first of these rubs, the black version arrived at Great Outdoors BBQ Co. in Northern Ireland and they kindly sent me a tub to review.

Hardcore Carnivore Black

As I like to do with dry rubs, I tried a little straight from the tub, the dark black colour from the charcoal makes for a very striking colour to the rub. Upon tasting, the first and biggest hit was garlic, then a taste I couldn’t quite pin down, perhaps from the charcoal, or the subtle spices. I decided to try on some venison steaks to see how it performed on a strong tasting red meat. I sprinkled the rub over the steaks and cooked quickly on a high heat direct over hot charcoal. The rub responded really nicely to the heat, probably a mix of the charcoal and sugar forming a lovely bark very quickly. The bark worked really well and the flavour of the garlic was lessened upon cooking, it was very delicious and worked really nicely. I’m looking forward to trying this rub on some more dark meats such as short rib and hanger steak, which I think it will work particularly well on. I look forward to further experiments.

Contact Roger Allen at Great Outdoors BBQ Co. for more details and availability.

Hardcore Carnivore Black

I was sent the rub to try for free, but was free to give my opinion in this review.

Hellfire Pizza Cooker and Grill Set

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Hellfire Pizza and Grill set

Hellfire Pizza and Grill Set – Bringing the Outdoors In

As much as I am a huge outdoor cooking nut, I enjoy cozy evenings in front of the indoor BBQ – AKA the Lounge WoodStove, in the depths of winter, sometimes it’s just too tempting to snuggle down in front of the woodstove. I always look at the fire, and think, well if it’s going I may as well cook on it, usually something simple like some marshmallows or chestnuts with the kids, or a nice grown up steak in a cast iron skillet on the embers. But I recently heard about a bit of kit that may well just change how I do cook in the woodstove.

Hellfire Pizza and Grill Set

The wonderful indoor Hellfire Pizza and Grill Set from Natural Heating in Norfolk is an inspired idea, you have the fire going so why not cook on it… I love these people…

The set is a cast iron bridge with a grate on top, that comes with a cast iron plate, a pizza stone, a cute little peel and some welders gloves.

I placed the pizza stone on the bridge and placed in my raging hot wood stove. I allowed it to come up to temperature and raked some hot coals underneath which was easy to do.

The temperature of the stone easily reached 350 deg C which I checked with a laser thermometer, and the pizza stone was ready to cook on. I made up some pizza dough, and popped a little 7″ pizza onto the stone. It cooked very quickly in about 2 minutes and had a lovely crisp base. I was amazed how well it worked. The pizzas were lovely.

I’m looking forward to cooking plenty of other things such as steaks and seafood on this lovely bit of kit. There’s two sizes a 7″ at £43.99 and a 9″ for larger stoves at £63.99.

Visit the Natural Heating Website for more info.

Hellfire Pizza and Grill Set

Quiet Waters Farm Sauces and Rubs

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Quiet Waters Farm Rubs and Sauces

This is less of a review, more of a heads up, you need these in your life shout out…

To be upfront, John Gower the man behind Quiet Waters Farm is a very good friend, we have cooked together, and spent many great times talking, drinking, cooking and eating. He also sells a couple of rubs we worked on together. So maybe I am a bit biased, but his rubs and sauces are something a bit special. John has delved into the world of flavours that work with food cooked with fire and smoke to come up with a real epic adventure of flavour. I’ve been lucky to try pretty much all of John’s products and love them all in their diversity.

Two new products that I have been fortunate to try as they have just come out are ‘Meat Splosh’ a rich fruity garlicky bad boy, that’s pretty perfect on a range of meats, I sploshed this thick sauce onto a rack of spares, and was bowled over with the heat and spice of this big hitter.

The new rubs I tired were Kellys Kansas Steak Rub, you can read more about how this rub came about from Kelly’s fab Dreaming of The Good Life blog it’s a great story about community and interactions, crossing over styles, flavours and textures of food to create something new and wonderful. I love it… I cooked it up on Picanha steaks and the complex spices, garlic and citrus really were quite stunning.

Quiet waters farm Kellys Kanasas Steak Rub

The other rub I recently tried was the Zui Hao Chinese style rub, I cooked up a Cherry Smoked Duck using the Zui Hao, kind of like a five spice but with some real depth of flavour, it worked so well with the duck, and helped the skin go nice and crispy.Zui hao duck So if you want a flavour journey on your food and are looking to experience some amazing new flavours, then I suggest you visit Quiet Waters Farm website to see what’s going on..

Green Olive Firewood Co.

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Green Olive Firewood Co.

Green Olive Firewood Co. Charcoal and cooking wood

I’ve been going through a bit of a different phase in the charcoal I use to BBQ with this year, In previous years I’d always used Booker Restaurant Grade lumpwood, but have really struggled using it earlier in the year, finding bits of rubber and other rubbish in the bags, and finding the charcoal itself has an off smoke, and spits a lot. So I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting, and am certainly now in love with the different woods of Oxford Charcoal, and the clean burning, steady temperature of ProQ cocoa briquettes. I was contacted by the Green Olive Firewood Co. earlier in the year, to see if I’d like to try some of their products. [Read more…]

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