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Here we go, grillstock day 2. Pork has been on since last night, although our smoker ran out of fuel by the morning and lost some temperature. Nothing we can’t handle, we hope. Lap has laboriously prepped his brined chicken, skins defatted and subsequently replaced. These are now going in the smoker, to turn in after midday. I’ve got my beans bubbling away in some ham stock, smoking over pecan. The sun is coming out. Now if I could just rid myself of this hangover it could be a perfect day!
Alabama 3 are just finishing their set (play some sopranos already!) and there’s a double rainbow in the Bristol sky. A good end to a great day here I’d say. Although we’re not quite finished here. The pork has just gone on the smoker and I’m starting my BBQ beans preparation. Lap’s marinating the chicken with his trademark jerk sauce. We were very happy with everything we sent today, particularly lap’s lobster dish, the apple pie and the brisket. Hoping for good scores tomorrow. Couldn’t blog the brisket because was too busy putting it out but thanks to all the crowd who were very vocal in their support! But will post more on that tomorrow!
Too hectic to blog for a while there … We sent our dessert of BBQ apple pie and smoked ice cream at 13:30 and then it was on to the ribs. These meat rounds are judged by BBQ experts and the judges are completely poker faced when presented with their boxes, so it’s very hard to gauge their opinions. One more round to go today: brisket!
Grilled lobster with Alphonso Mango
Ingredients
One Live lobster
For the mango salsa
1 Large Alphonso Mango – diced
2 small vine tomato – concassed
3 inch daikon – part diced (reserve some part shredded)
Coriander & Mint
Dressing – Fish sauce, lime, sugar, water, chillis (finely minced one large mild red, one quarter scotch bonnet)
3 or 4 Lemongrass stalks lightly bashed and tied together to form a brush, soak in oil
12 Lime leaves
Split lobster in half and separate claws. Discard the head sac and intestinal tract.
Place lobster bodies shell side down into a flexible grill basket on a bed of lime leaves. Drizzle oil over the flesh side using the lemongrass brush and grill flesh side down first for 4 minutes. Flip and grill the shell side for a further 4 minutes, baste with more lemongrass oil. The claws will take 2 more minutes to cook than the bodies but be careful not to overcook them.
Let the lobster cool a little. Combine the salsa ingredients.
Remove claw meat, remove tails & portion, place shredded daikon in shells to give the meat lift and dress with a little of the salad
replace the meat and dress with the rest of the salad
Here it is, recipe to follow!
Take for example, this guy!
We’ve just about managed to wake Lap up and now preparation is underway for the first two courses up today; chef’s special and dessert!
Well my brisket has fared quite well overnight, although one of my flats is nearly cooked and it’s only 9am (serve at 17.30!). I’ve rigged up my temperature probes and we’ll see when it’s ready… In other news, apples are prepped and the ribs just went in!
A lovely fresh morning, and I can smell the heady, sweet smell of smoke from 500 yards away. Hope that’s from our stand!
Overheard earlier: “Is your pineapple juice fresh, or from concentrate?”
Well it’s time to have some rest. We seem to be the only team that put our briskets on already, but that’s because they are uber – and massive. And there’s nothing worse than an undercooked brisket. Some teams are threatening to turn up at 3am or 4am to start theirs off. Anyway, Ozzy – one of our ProQ’s is on and I’m leaving him to it. Night night!