October - 2017

BARBECOLOGY

Jason Wood, a name that lends itself to barbecue and food smoking. See what I'm cooking, eating and drinking.

I'm a firm believer that mistakes are for making as long as you learn from them. Science and innovation has not got us to where we are today by people getting it right all the time.

What you will see on this site are my failures in proportion to my successes as what you learn from your mistakes is more important than what you learn from your successes.

I have just finished an MBA with the University of Northampton, where I conducted research on sustainability in barbecue. As a result I have a Barbecology section on the site for the more academic side of the barbecue world that I discovered during my studies.

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MBA Essay: Barbecue in UK Food Industry

Grilled Lamb's Kidneys Wrapped In Parma Ham with Black Pudding and Grilled Polenta

Crusted Halloumi Flatbreads...with added lushness! ;-)

Smoked Pigs Cheeks with Yoghurt Flatbread

This is the first time I'd cooked pigs cheeks, and I struggle to remember whether I have actually tried them before, but I tell you what, if you thought pulled pork was good then you NEED to try pigs cheeks (they also take less time to cook so you're not up all night tending your smoker!). I sourced them from our local farm shop, Greenfield Pork in Anna Valley, who specialise in pork products. There were three of us eating and the eight pigs cheeks was more than enough. I

Pork Sirloin with Dirty Vegetables

I still had some more rubs to test that I was sent to test by Macs BBQ as part of the Don Marcos range that they sell, this time it was the turn of Pork Powder!! The recipe was simple, charcoal in a starter chimney lit, wait for the flames to die down and some decent embers to form. Meanwhile, I rubbed the pork sirloin with the Pork Powder and then cooked it indirect till done with cherry smoke. Whilst the pork sirloin was smoking away I chucked on a beetroot, a carrot, an

The McHopSmokeFire Burger

My eldest son, Raff, asked me the other day for a McDonald's (who hasn't actually had one yet, not out of principal, but he just hasn't). So I offered to make him a special, better, homemade version of ol'Ronald's classic. A few simple ingredients: 20% fat mince (usually cheaper than the lean mincer), bacon (homemade, by chance we had some left), cheese, lettuce, tomato, gherkins, brioche buns and burger sauce (whizzed up mayo, ketchup, capers and lemon juice, with a sprink

A Day Helping Tom Bray from Country Fire Kitchen

I spent today helping Tom Bray, the man at Country Fire Kitchen and Argentinian Cross, catering for an event of 160 people. Lamb was the order of the day, three and a half of them, spread eagled out on the asado crosses like smokey, tasty, parachutists waiting to land on someone's plate (or the fire, where they look like they're casting themselves selflessly). The lamb took about 7 hours to cook and was served with chimichurri and quinoa salad, complete with fire roasted bu

Cherry Smoked Duck a l'Orange and Ember Roasted Vegetables

The basis for this meal was that I still haven't tried all of the Don Marco's rubs sent to me by Mac's BBQ, and I had some duck breast. Duck and cherry go together famously so the obvious rub of choice was Don Marco's Cherry Bomb. Once rubbed I grilled it direct over Flaming Excellent Charcoal from the Resilient Woodlands Charcoal Company till charred then indirect with some cherry wood to smoke it whilst the vegetables were thrown into the embers to roast up (you'll see fr

Planked Salmon With Dirty Vegetables.

My wife was away tonight, so I didn't think I'd be able to do dinner on the barbecue, what with the kids' dinner, bath, bedtime and lunch boxes etc. Well, I was mistaken and testament to the abilities of the chimney starter and the gas starter on the Weber to get the coals going and cook almost the same way as you would in your kitchen. Charcoal in chimney starter, gas on, flame for 5 minutes then leave in the chimney for 20 mins for the coals to heat up. In this 20 mins I

BARBECOLOGY

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LIVE FIRE FOOD

BARBECOLOGY

Recent Posts

Grilled Lamb's Kidneys Wrapped In Parma Ham with Black Pudding and Grilled Polenta

Crusted Halloumi Flatbreads...with added lushness! ;-)

Smoked Pigs Cheeks with Yoghurt Flatbread

Pork Sirloin with Dirty Vegetables

The McHopSmokeFire Burger

A Day Helping Tom Bray from Country Fire Kitchen

Cherry Smoked Duck a l'Orange and Ember Roasted Vegetables

Planked Salmon With Dirty Vegetables.

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