Aussie BBQ Forum

Hi All,

Had a big cook on the weekend for a touch over 50 people. The thread started in the woodpellets section but I thought others who have smokers etc may be interested and may not see this.

7.4 kg of brisket, 7.6kg of mutton ribs, 5.5 kg of chicken wings and a couple of trays on snags all disappeared.

The briskets and ribs went into a brine for 12ish hours, rinsed off, dalmatian rub for the briskets, and my own concoction for the lamb.

Briskets and ribs cooked on Saturday, foiled and rested, then into the fridge. Put in the oven early Sunday morning at 60-65 degrees to slowly come back up to temp.





One very full Traeger:



Brisket just before foiling and resting:



Some of the ribs before foiling and resting:



The two briskets after they had been demolished by the hoards. Cape Grim on the left, Fernhill on the right. They had been sitting there for some time before I took this pic so look a little drier than they were, but trust me, when I was cutting them moisture was being pushed out:




Now, better get to the verdict before Burb reaches down his internet connection and wacks me...

Cape Grim wins.

The cape grim was just more moist and simply fell apart. The cape grim also had a lot more external fat, and I'm guessing internal. Many people were given both and asked which was better, and the Cape Grim was the answer that came back the most. The two gents who helped me carve, one is a farmer and the other an upholsterer, and I debated it at length. The conclusion we came too was the Fernhill had slightly more flavour, but we couldn't go past the texture and tenderness of the cape grim. The other comment that was made was basically if the cape grim wasn't there, just the fernhill road, they would have been absolutely stoked, but the cape grim took it just that little bit more.

And as a side note, a number preferred the mutton ribs. Pretty much everyone came back for seconds, many for thirds, and I know others had more than thirds because when I left the carving area I was pleased there was enough for maybe two meals for us sitting there wrapped in foil. After eating my share and having a couple of well earned beers, I came back to find two stumps formally know as briskets, the buggers ate my dinner while I wasn't looking. Oh well, just happy they enjoyed it.

Cooking them the day before did not detract from them either, just reheat in an over below 100 degrees and no moisture seemed to be lost.


Cheers
Wazza

Great post Wazza! Thanks!

Wow, what a cook up! Thanks for taking the time to write up the results Waz.

That is indeed one full bbq you had. I can see the briskets on the left, the sheep ribs at the back, but what do you have at the front? Is that a couple of shoulders or more ribs?

burb wrote:Wow, what a cook up! Thanks for taking the time to write up the results Waz.

That is indeed one full bbq you had. I can see the briskets on the left, the sheep ribs at the back, but what do you have at the front? Is that a couple of shoulders or more ribs?

More ribs.

I've been thinking about it some more in how I would describe the difference, and would say if you want a bloody good feed where you are going to have to loosen your belt, Fernhill Road will do that, if you want protean poisoning from consumption, Cape Grim.

I really wanted the Fernhill Road to come out even as it's a local accessible product and a bit cheaper. I am wondering how much the extra fat on the Cape Grim made it better. Will I buy Fernhill Road again, definitely. will I be keeping an eye on them for a piece with a bit more fat coverage, very much so. Will I get Cape Grim again, you can bet your life on it.

Also, if you are doing a big cook like this, can highly recommend cooking the day before. I knew the 'main course' was done sitting there waiting for me at around 65 degrees. This allowed me to crank up the Traeger again, put the marinated chicken wings in, crank up the family Q and do all the snags and a few wings for some of the older kids. Got the snags and wings cooked, fed the kids. Lined up the salads and wings out of the Traeger, people got their plates, salad and wings, then continued down my kitchen bench to where we were carving, worked really well.

By having the meat pre-cooked, I was only at the bbq for say 1 hour max (probably less), and not full time as you load up the traeger with wings, 10 min later light the Weber, 5 min later throw on some kids wings, walk away, 10 min later chuck on the snags, close lid walk away.

Cooked for 50+ people and spent say 25 min full time at the bbq's, definitely the way to go. Take all the stress about timing out of the equation and you have a very enjoyable day.


Cheers
Wazza

I can relate here waz, had less mouths and didn't stop working all day on Bathurst, never saw a lap and just couldn't stop working. Lesson learned.


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Them Traeger 075's will hold a boat load of food, you proved that...and by the amount left over, it appears you know how to handle it!

What wood?

G'day Bently,

GMG Gold, and whatever was left in the hopper of the GMG Texas Blend mixed together.

Bloody great effort wazza, goes to show how much food you can actually knock out in a pellet grill

You smashed it out of the park mate

Thanks for the write up and comparison ozwaz
We are cooking for a function at the local Uni on Friday for 60 guests and could only get Fernhill Road Briskets(30kgs)
I've never tried there beef before but have been assured it's a good product.
Fingers crossed it turns out as good as yours

Hogsy wrote:Thanks for the write up and comparison ozwaz
We are cooking for a function at the local Uni on Friday for 60 guests and could only get Fernhill Road Briskets(30kgs)
I've never tried there beef before but have been assured it's a good product.
Fingers crossed it turns out as good as yours

Hi Hogsy,

How are you planning on cooking it all?


Wazza

I'm cooking it on the kettle using the snake method