The following chart shows meat cooking temperatures depending on your cut of meat and your preferred level of cook:

Cooking temp guide from AmazingRibs.com

We started the class looking at how to light your Kamado Joe. There was a little mould inside but this is normal if you don’t use it often. The key is to make sure the charcoal is dry when you light it after a while. 

When you light the BBQ the key is to put in enough charcoal and then light the middle. Make sure for the first 10 minutes the bottom vent and the dome are wide open, giving it maximum oxygen. 

The two half moon deflector plates are used to push heat up and around the dome of your Kamado Joe. As I explained in the class, if you think about how you would cook whatever you’re cooking in the kitchen then apply the following:

• Food you would cook on the hob – don’t use the deflectors. This is called direct cooking.
• Food you would cook in the oven – use the deflectors. This is called indirect cooking. Typically this is larger chunks of meat, cakes…

This is a very personal thing as buying a steak is a normally a compromise between flavour and texture. However it is worth stating that it’s almost always better to buy steak from a good butcher than a supermarket. 

The process of ageing meat allows the naturally present enzymes to break down the muscle, making it more tender. Most supermarkets only age their meat for 21 days, a good butcher will go 28 days or beyond, sometimes over 100 days. During this process the meat will dry out and shrink, loosing weight, so a dry aged steak will probably cost more per kilo as the butcher has had to store it and it’s also lost water content meaning the same piece of meat is now lighter.

Ageing will take place on whole joints before they are cut into steaks. Individual steaks shouldn’t be aged.

Having said all that here are my takes on different cuts:

• Rump steak – probably one of the most flavoursome cuts but because this muscle works harder than most of the others here, it can be a little tougher. My local butcher though will tell you it’s one of his favourite cuts because of the taste.
• Picanha – this is the rump cap. Cooked as we did it during the lesson, a reverse sear, this is my favourite joint.
• Sirloin – slightly more tender than rump but with slightly less flavour. Not too fatty. I normally avoid these.
• Rib-Eye – the next step up from Sirloin but with a great fat content. Think of fat as flavour. Even if you don’t eat it you can render it in a hot pan or vaporise it by cooking dirty. This will add flavour back to your steak. This is my go to steak when not cooking a Picanha.
• Fillet – Super tender as this muscle does next to nothing. However there isn’t much fat so there isn’t much flavour. If texture is your number 1 then this is the steak for you.
• T-Bone – this is bone with the fillet on one side and the sirloin on the other. It looks great.
• Cote de Boeuf – a bone in rib of beef, it’s just stunning but very expensive. It’s the ultimate steak if money is no object.
• Forerib of beef – this is normally a 3 or 4 bone rib joint. Do it as a Sunday roast or for Christmas. My favourite way of doing it is the reverse sear it. A 4 bone rib will cost about £130-£150. 
• Beef short ribs or Jacobs Ladder – these are from the tougher part of the animal and need to be slow roasted for 8 or 9 hours. People rave about them but I can take or leave them, I’d much prefer most of the cuts above.

We talked about how the tougher cuts of meat will go into a stall at around 65°C when they are cooked. This occurs as the outer layers of the meat dry out and form a bark. 

The best resource on this is at AmazingRibs.com. Give it and the other articles a read. It’s a superb site.

Setting the temperature on your Kamado Joe will vary slightly from the Egg. However for a large Big Green Egg the settings are roughly as per the guide I have put together.

Always remember to rest your meat after cooking it. This gives the meat structure time to relax and reabsorb moisture. It will make your meat taste far more tender and juicy.

There is a great article discussing whether this is a myth but I still like to rest my meat: http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_resting_meat.html

When you do a reverse sear as we did for the Picanha, bring the temperature of the meat to 5°C less than you require it to be when finished. This is because the sear process will raise the temperature by another 5°C. For example, for a medium cooked steak you want it to be 63°C, therefore cook it until is has an internal temperature of 58°C before searing it.

A great technique for prologing the life of your planks is to soak them overnight in lieu of them being soaked in just water, add flavourings to the water. Great flavourings are:

• Lemon and lime – lovely citrus flavours go well with fish
• Beer, cider or lager

Now instead of using the planks directly over the charcoal, use your ConvEGGtor (plate setter) feet up with the stainless steel grid and place the planks onto the stainless grid. You’ll still get the wood flavouring but it won’t burn your planks away.

Remember always place your planks onto a heat resistant surface when you take them off the Kamado Joe.

A cool box makes a brilliant tool to store your meat while it’s resting. It will keep it hot for longer periods too. I’ve kept 13kg of pork piping hot for over 10 hours using a cool box. 

Once your meat is cooked, wrap it in several layers of aluminium foil and place it into your cool box. Cover then with bath towels and then shut the lid. Make sure you use old towels as you’ll never get the smell of BBQ out of them! 

The Joe doesn’t need to be cleaned that often but it is essential. If you ever notice your Joe isn’t heating up properly it’s likely to need a good clean. 

Clean the ash from your Joe every five or so cooks. Use the ash pan to do this.

Every 12-15 cooks take the whole of the inside of your Joe out and brush down with the dustpan and brush. Some people hoover out their Joes but if you do this make sure it is cold, I had a customer set her Henry on fire.

Home made smoked salmon is to die for and so easy. You’re going to need a Pro Q Cold Smoke Generator and some sawdust. The steps to make it are:

1. Mix 250g of table salt (PDV Salt if you can get it) and 250g sugar. 
2. Place a layer of the mix on a tray and place your salmon fillet on it skin side down. 
3. Cover the salmon with the remainder of the mix so it is completely covered.
4. Leave to cure in the fridge for 4-6 hours. 
5. Wash off the cure and place the salmon back in the fridge on a wire rack for 12 hours to go sticky.
6. Smoke with the cold smoke generator for 8-10 hours inside your Egg.
7. Return to the fridge to mature for several days. I do this in a vac pac bag but cling film will work.
8. Slice thinly and serve.

If you vac pack again it will last for a month or more after curing and smoking.