Hogs Breath Cafe 18 hr steak

[iqarus]

i work at a hogsbreath, and unfortunately agree with most of you. the franchise at a whole has recently begun working very hard to overcome the few problems it has.

hopefully over the next few year/s it gains back its respect it once had.


there are so many variables in the service, that unfortunately strong opinions are formed completely not based on the product received. this is but the main problem with any hospitality venue.

i hope the people that have posted give HBC a second chance, perhaps at a different venue (out of 75 full service restaurants there are the good and the bad.)

[Noelm]

with a "chain" like Hogs Breath, the service and food should not vary from place to place, that's why people go to them, like (say) Maccas is the same in Brisbane, Wollongong or Broken Hill, like it or not, you will get the same from any of them, Hogs Breath SHOULD be the same, and I have found it to be the case (mostly) even though I am not a fan, I have been to quite a few with a group and the service and food is almost the same at them all (not real good)

[trueblue]

i work at a hogsbreath, and unfortunately agree with most of you. the franchise at a whole has recently begun working very hard to overcome the few problems it has.

hopefully over the next few year/s it gains back its respect it once had.


there are so many variables in the service, that unfortunately strong opinions are formed completely not based on the product received. this is but the main problem with any hospitality venue.

i hope the people that have posted give HBC a second chance, perhaps at a different venue (out of 75 full service restaurants there are the good and the bad.)

here is a tip for you -

get them to focus on service of drinks - they will make more money anyway

a bloke has trouble enjoying even the best of steaks when thirsty and frustrated that he can't get a drink...................

[Noelm]

I fully agree with the drinks thing, except for the Hogs Breath at Port Stephens (in NSW) where they almost forced a drink on you every 2 seconds,, the others are almost a no drinks zone, unless you go to the bar and get your own! they should offer drinks, it is a good money earner.

[flybloke]

Here are a few slow cooked dishes I've done in the last few months for the non believers.

Beef rib on the bone (Off cuts) and a Pork hock. cooked 6Hrs

Whole pork spare rib (Bottom section of rib cage)Cooked 12hrs

3.5 kg rolled chuck roast, cooked 16 hrs

2.o kg Pork Butt (Neck or scotch) cooked 16 hrs.
Yum , Im making myself hungry
Plane ole kettle roast beef tonight.

[ozscott]

Mate - that looks fantastic. Thanks for posting up your slow cooking tips. I reckon the best meat second to none is beef (ox) cheek braised up in a casserole dish on the stove top and then into the oven for 4 hours, basting with the jus that you make up after you have braised them all (just add cloves, bay leaves and other stuff with wine to the braising pain to make the juice) ....in the last 15 mins when reduce the juice to half and make a glaze and glaze them a couple of times then pull out, re-glaze with some extra glaze on the side and serve (with whatever you like - good mash is a good way to go) and it is the best thing to eat with a fork (forget the knife) that you can get!!!!

I love a good T-Bone or rump bbq's to medium rare (I like good whole rump like the high end Teys stuff and cut my own thick steaks and roasts) but without doubt slow cooking is an amazing way to do things.

Fly fella - I would love to hear some of your recipes for the sauces and glazes!

Cheers

[Tailortaker]

Hey Flybloke, what happened to your other thread ? the one about your slow cooks, Alot of expectation and an equal amount of disappointment from what I saw . Oh well ,as long as you enjoy your overcooked charcoaled meat thats all that counts
Cheers TT

[flybloke]

Your a nasty man TT, What happened is I picked up a few more BBQ's that sent me into a spiral of learning, Then got involved in a Cooking group that sent me even further into a learning curve.
All that stuff I said Id cook, I did. But was never happy with it or too lazy to put up for a bunch of picky fishermen to crawl all over it
I'm not going anywhere soon and I'm developing in leaps and bounds
Basicly , I will only post what my peers and I know to work for sure.
Where as my previous post's were too complicated to get the result that I wished others could copy off me on a standard gas BBQ.
Slow cooking on a gasser is a PITA, Can be done but very difficult to explain as there are so many different types of gassers.

[Tailortaker]

So in all honesty if one was to slow cook pork, what would be the best BBQ to use?

[flybloke]

What a fantastic question.
I will not add expensive BBQ's such as off set smokers, or Pellet fed electric cookers, Hell you can get them on a trailer and 17 feet long.
THE best cooker IMO for the average mug like me and indeed, the most cost affective Q that will go the whole 18 hour cook is a Webber Smokey Mountain
Bullet cooker.
Not popular In Oz, But it should be.
You can be crafty with a Kettle but you need to be standing over it all day making sure it does not got too hot.
The WSM is easy and cooks food that makes my friends and family's jaws drop and
drool
This is because it has a water pan as a heat sink, Will keep 225F all night.
You also have a choice of adding smoke or not, Cooking hotter without heat sink. Cooking Hibachi, And the best thing is you can cook six, 3-4 kg pork necks that will feed an army.
Lets say, 6 x 3 kg Pork necks.
18 kg all up fits on two racks .
Loss of fat and moisture will take that down to 15 Kg cooked.
At 250G per person, that is catering for 60.
All from a $700 cooker.
Otherwise a spit well done can come up with the goods as the cheapest option as you can improvise.

[the gecko]

great info flybloke, Ive never eaten slow cooked meat, but Im into trying it. Im not gonna stand over my weber one touch kettle all day, and Im not gonna buy a special bbq, so Im using an electric oven with a temp gauge.

What cuts of meat should a begginer start with?

A butcher once told me that theres no bad cuts of meat, only people using wrong cooking processes for wrong cuts.........

ANdrew

[seastorm]

Hi Flybloke
Can you tell us what DRY RUB is?
The other question is if I am cooking in the oven do I pre heat oven to 110 then place the meat on a tray and then leave it. I will be trying three pieces of rib fillet ( we got it free with another purchase from super butcher) I have cut it to 3 inch steaks. When do I know it is ready, and when I take it out of the oven do you do what hogs breath do and flame grill it for a few seconds?

[flybloke]

A rub is a mixture of salts, Sugars and spices, All Dry.
The low smoke/heat caramelises them and if the meat is dusted in a rub and left wraped over night in cling wrap it will also brine the meat.
If you are cooking in an oven at 110deg, The meat will not brown.
You will need to colour the piece first by braising or easier to just use a gas blow torch as it gets the colour in all the nooks and cranys.
I would have kept The rib fillet whole and sliced at serving.
As an oven will tend to dry the meat, I would place it into a lidded casserole dish
or place it on a roasting rack sitting in a roasting pan with water added.
A temp thermopen helps with slow cooking, Pull the beef when it hits 66 Deg internal.
Rule NO 1: Trust your temps and don't open the door to inspect. This will bugger things up.
A really good investment is the weber digi meat thermometers, Yes you can use them in an oven. You set it up, Go to the shed and start drinking beer and the remote will tell you when its ready.
I never used to use therms as I could generaly tell when things where cooked.
BUT, when slow cooking you realy must know what is going on.

The Q re what is best to start is Cheap marbled meat.
Lamb , Chuck, Brisket, Pork sholder, Pork neck.

Rule No 2: Never increase temp on your oven.
If you put it on too late, and want to serv up soon and decide to crank the oven up to 120-140 to get the internal temp(beef) to 66d, You will fail.
Meat temp can rage to say 50 d, Then stall, seemingly not getting to the 66-83d target.
This is when the coligen is breaking down and the fat is rendering from the meat. leave it alone, It will be done when its done.
You can allways keep it warm for hours if it hits target temp a little early.

[flybloke]

For OZSCOT,
Im always changing what I do for sauce (BBQ) but generally always come back to this in a round about way.

Seppo Sauce

In a large saucpan, Add;

Base

1 Cup Tomato sauce
1 140g leggo tomato paste
1 Cup apple cider vinegar
1 200-250g jar apple sauce
1 Cup any juice you have in the fridge (apple , Pineapple, Orange, Cranberry)
2-3 heaped Tbs Palm sugar
2-3 heaped Tbs Dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt ( You can leave this out and add in bits to cut the sweet down as you go)
2 -3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs Tamarind paste

Start this up and get to a low simmer. Then add any combo or all of these spices:

Spice

6 star aniseed
12 cloves
1 tsp chilly powder (add more if you like it hotter)
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder(Only a very little or leave it out)
1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
1 TBS smoke water (available from BBQ's Galore)

Method

Once you get things going on the low simmer, Its just a matter of bringing the consistancy of the liquid back down to a Sauce thickness that you like.
Taste it for sour/sweet/salt as you go and add whatever is needed to cut down the overwelming.
Note: This will be and is ment to be a vinager based sauce so expect that to be at the top of the dominant taste.
Dont stick you nose in the pot or taste too much as this will de-sensitize your nose and may knock you off your game.
Only taste Tiny little bits .
Once Done, Strain. Cool and bottle or use straight up!

Its all good

[Tangles]

Thanks for the recipie.

I got into all the complicated rubs and stuff, now i tend to keep it a lot more simple and add smoke.

Shame Ausralia doesnt get the new WSM at 57cm, so im looking at either the Big Green Egg or the Ranch. I have worn out the weber performer it seems

ALso Fly, here is a site you might like, has some good tips and not your usual bbq sites.

http://www.youtube.com/user/fredsmusicandbbq