I just bought a charcoal grill and smoke unit, a cheap brinkmann model but it seems like it ought to do the job well enough.

Curious for everyone's recipes, techniques, etc. for cooking meat or other things.

I have read a few books on smoking cheese and even salt, I think I'm going to try it out.

I have a Brinkman smoker. It works OK. The trick you need to learn is getting a stable temperature (probably ~230 *) and keeping it there. It will take you a few tries to get it, use more fuel than you think you need. I expose the meat to smoke for an hour and a half or so and then cover it. Get yourself some wood chunks. Apple is good all around. Mesquite is good for chickens. You can watch some youtube videos to get ideas. I did brisquite, chickens, turkeys. Fish is good if you're a fisherman, trout is best for smoking.

We do here in Germany, but i am really just a beginner. Bought a grill with a lid to shut (Weber 57 centimeters), so you can do indirect grilling and barbecue.

One of my favourites are those "Moink" balls (from "moo" and "oink" ). You get grinded beef, and add a bought or self-made rub (e.g. "magic rub") to it. You mix it with the rub, then inject a bit of Jack D. or other whiskey, and then mix it again. You can then create fist-sized portions, and then roll slices of bacon around it crosswise. Then you put it in the fridge for the night.
Next day you grill it directly for two minutes, then put it aside from the direct flame, and add a bit of BBQ sauce with a brush. It will then caramelize and be ready in 5-10 minutes.
Advantage is you do not need to stand beside the grill all the time, which is of course true for all kind of indirect grilling, or smoking.

There are some great recipes, also for hamburgers.. real good beef like rib-eye can also easily be made, direct grilling two minutes each side, then lay it aside and let it grill indirectly for three to seven minutes, depending on how raw or well done you want to have it.
It is all much fun and tastes great!

Out of curiosity, where does Germany import most of its beef from? If I'm not mistaken, there really isn't much domestic cattle raising in Germany.

Huh, we have a lot of cattle here, all kinds of. You can of course buy imported meat (though e.g. Kobe cattle is wayyy to expansive and overhyped i think). Germany has "produced" 8,25 Million tons of meat in 2016. A lot of certain cattle like Wisent and Angus, and so called "Heckrind" (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckrind) is currently at a peak, and easy to get.

And then it starts..,.
First you get the brinkman.
Then you buy a Weber Smokey Mountain.
Then maybe a horizontal Smoker, or a Drum Barrel Smoker.
Then you are lusting after the Komando Grills....
Next something on a trailer....

Aim your browser at
www.amazingribs.com
This is Grill School. You can learn everything here.
Meathead has a book out and it is the fastest way to learn all the good stuff.
I went from a moron with no clue to a guy that people want me to grill for them.

Rule 1 you will learn is get a good instant read thermometer.
The thermometer on the grills are crap and will ruin your meat because they are usually far off.

www.thermoworks.com has a sale today for 15% off.
You want their Smoke dual thermometer. $100
You put one probe on grill and one in your roast.
Fantastic and no guessing.

Start with a pork shoulder.
Easy to do hard to screw up.
Long cook ant least 8 hours.

Thanks for that info Catfish. I see I was greatly mistaken.


Whenever I finally visit Germany I'll be sure to try a steak on my first day there.

Bill, you are correct. I have several grills and now I want one of those Texas style barrel grills....

You are welcome! Just do not eat at those pesky "Autobahn" rest stops, mostly expensive and not worth the money at all. If you're near Hannover let me know.

Longbow certainly hit a nerve here
I foresee hundreds of answers, just for today lol

I've never met a guy who didn't like a good steak or ribs so I think you are right!

A great book to own as a go-to for how and why is this

https://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Illustrated-Guide-Grilling-Barbecue/dp/0936184868

In this book they do a fantastic job on telling you how and why to grill xxx that way.
They setup 10 charcoal and gas grills and try every recipe differently.
The explaination on grilled chicken wings is about 4 pages!

The thing to learn here is to brine the meat to make it most and juicy.
Brining the chicken wings makes a huge difference.

This book covers all the meats, sides and rubs/sauces.
Between Meathead and this book you don't need anything else.
Also the forum on Amazing Ribs is worth joining. Very helpful and you can ask anything.

You'll have more easily pork and sausages (delicious by the way ) and of course a Helles or a Weisse "dazu".

Fuel:
Briquettes are very important to the cooling.
Using crap gets you crap.
Never buy the 'match light" fuel soaked crap.
Might as well spray your food with light fluid. Speaking of, never use that either!
Don't need it you are doing it wrong if you do.
Get a 'Charcoal Chimney' makes it easy peasy.
The trick for longer cooks is to put half a load in the chimney, get it to hot coals, pour those in your grill, then put in the other half in unlit coals. This will burn slow and consistent.

The brand makes a difference.
Their are two types. Charcoal and Lump Coal (wood)
Charcoal briquettes are typically made from pressed sawdust
Lump coal is actual chunks of wood
They can burn totally different. I love to use the lump coal for the flavor and it tends to burn really hot but fast
I have found that the Kingsford Professional briquettes are the best
They are real wood and burn long.

What do think happens with the old dairy cows?

We use two large terra cota pots (one right side up and one upside down on top of the other), a hot plate, a metal container for the wood and a thermometer to put in the pot on the top for temperature monitoring. We live beside an apple orchard so apple wood is usually there for the taking when they trim or cut the trees. We smoke pork butts in the Fall mostly.

Thanks Bill. Due to reading this thread I now feel famished and I still have another hour until I can eat lunch.

I do both. However, i fully admit that I take the easy way out on smoking. My masterbuilt electric smoker makes it really easy to temperature control. Hell I can even control it with my remote without having to step outside.

I've cleared that myth up with a lot of people over the past 30 years (but yeah I usually prefer a chimney starter for convenience/time).

The trick is:

1. Don't hit ALL the coals with it.
2. Let it SOAK into the coals for a couple minutes.
3. Don't cook until the coals are WHITE (yep, a few BTU's of heat are ultimately "wasted").
4. Know your coals, BBQ, wind, layout, etc so you are NOT EVER having to add additional lighter fluid.

You'll never taste it.

On Germany and beef:

Yes, they have beef. Good beef. Schwartzwald beef is the best.

No, you can't get an honest steak there for some reason. The mysteries of a big thick ribeye or t-bone continues to elude them.

I love to run my smoker on the weekends. I started with a Brinkman too! Now I have a Smokin' It Model 1 that I love. Electric with a metal box where you add just a small chunk of the wood of your choice at the start. I'm talking about a small 2"x3" chunk is all you need! I put a pork butt on at 9pm and let it go all night at 230 degrees. Once it is up to pulling temp (about 12 hours later when it comes apart easy), which I check via remote thermometer, I pull it out and wrap in foil, then into a cooler wrapped in towels to rest until it's time to shred and eat. Heaven!

Check out this great website for ideas on what and how to smoke: Smokingmeatforums

Smokin' It website: Smokin It