Q 'n Up BBQ

15/01/2023

🔥🔥 Recipe Alert 🔥🔥

Jerk Chicken with Garlic Roasted Potato, Mango Salsa and Pineapple

Definitely a summer dish! Fire up that grill, get the tunes going and throw down those beers like it's 2022.

JERK CHICKEN

Ingredients:

- 1x brown onion, chopped
- ½ bunch of shallots, chopped
- 2x scotch bonnet chillies, deseeded & chopped (see notes below)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 TBS allspice Powder
- 1 TBS five spice Powder
- 1 tsp thyme, dried
- 1 tsp nutmeg Powder
- ½ cup soy sauce
- 1 TBS vegetable oil
- 1 TBS salt
- 1 TBS pepper
- 4x chicken marylands (I used 12 chicken legs this time)

DAY BEFORE:

Combine all of the ingredients above (except the chicken, that'd be weird) into a food processor and blitz until well combined.

Pour marinade into a bowl with the chicken, massaging into all the cracks. Try not to be sexual. Or do, your choice. Who's watching?

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

DAY OF COOKING

Fire up your smoker for indirect, around 300°F.

Place your chicken on the grill and baste with any remaining marinade. Smoke for around 30 minutes (for marylands).

While the chicken cooks, prepare the sides.

GARLIC ROASTED POTATO

Ingredients:

- 8 white skinned potatoes, washed and chopped into quarters
- 1/4 cup butter spread
- 2 tsb extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp salt

Set oven temperature to 300°C. Combine all of the ingredients into a small bowl (except the potato), mix to combine into a paste. Set aside.

Put your chopped potatoes into a glass bowl, cover with boiling water and microwave on high for 7 minutes to partially cook. Drain and return to warm bowl.

Mix a tablespoon or two of the butter paste and let it melt over the potatoes while the bowl is still warm. Place potatoes on a tray and cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until browned and crispy.

MANGO SALSA

Ingredients:

- 2 ripe mangoes, seed and skin removed and chopped
- 1 ripe avocado, seed and skin removed and chopped
- 1/2 Spanish onion, chopped finely
- 1/2 bunch of fresh coriander, chopped finely
- juice of one lime

Combine all of the ingredients and mix well, leaving the lime juice until you're ready to serve.

GRILLED PINEAPPLE

I really don't need to list our the ingredients. A pineapple... just a pineapple (skin and core removed, sliced into 10mm pieces).

Over a hot grill (direct) grill the pineapple on both sides flipping every 20 seconds. The natural sugars will make them stick to the grill pretty bad so just keep an eye on it. Otherwise, buy two pineapples for this part.

Serves four, generally!

NOTES:
- you may not find scotch bonnet chillies, so substitute for something like habanero. It's up to you if you want to keep the seeds - the more seeds, the hotter it'll be.

Also ignore that gorgeous banana and pecan cake in the background 😁

Enjoy and happy new year, albeit delayed!

06/11/2022

Hi guys, while I'm no longer in the food truck game, I'm excited to be assisting my new neighbours & good friends across the road who have started an awesome new business, Jjindakk Korean Fried Chicken.

The food is legit unreal!

Please give them a like, share or follow on Facebook or Instagram. If you're ever in the Hunter/Newcastle region, look them up to give them a try.

🛎Announcement 📣🎉
Jjindakk Korean fried chicken officially got a mobile food vendor approval from the local council!! And the trailer is also fully wrapped for you guys to spot us 🤩 Can’t wait for the grand opening!
Please stay tuned guys😎

18/10/2022

🔥🔥 Recipe Alert 🔥🔥

Flank Steak Tacos

Well finally the weekend offered some beautiful sunshine, so it was time to bust out the Weber GA and cook some Jacks Creek flank steak for tacos!

Marinade Ingredients:
- 1kg flank steak (or steak of your choice)
- 1x bunch fresh coriander, chopped finely
- 4x garlic cloves, minced
- 1 TBS cumin
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 TBS brown sugar
- Juice and zest from 1x lime
- Salt & pepper, to season

Taco Ingredients:
- 1x pack of 10x street tortillas
- 2x tomatoes, diced
- 3x jalapeno, reseeded and chopped finely
- 1x bunch coriander, chopped finely
- 1x Spanish onion, diced
- 1 TBS red wine vinegar
- 1/2 TBS olive oil
- 1/4 red cabbage, shredded
- 2x avocados
- 2x garlic cloves, minced
- Juice from 1x lime
- Dash of To***co or preferred hot suace

Method:

FOUR HOURS BEFORE!

Trim any fat and silver skin from the flank steak and shape as desired.

In a large bowl, combine the marinade ingredients and submerge the flank steak until covered all over. Wrap with cling film and refrigerate for 4 hours, or up to 8 hours.

Get your charcoal BBQ of choice fired up under direct heat. Temperature isn't too important, just get it cranking.

While your BBQ is heating up, make the pico de gallo. Combine the tomato, coriander, jalapeno, onion, cabbage, oil and vinegar in a bowl. Toss to combine and season.

Make the guacamole. Remove the flesh from the avocado into another bowl and smash using the back of a fork. Mix in the garlic, lime juice hot sauce and season.

Time to cook!

Remove the flank from the marinade and grill over your BBQ for 2 minutes, then turn 90° and grill for another 3 minutes. Repeat for the other side, until internal temperature is around 125°F or until how you like it. Feel free to baste the steak with the marinade while it's cooking.

Remove the steak to a plate and rest for 5 minutes before slicing into thin strips on the diagonal.

Assemble your taco: beef strips, pico, guac.

Eat!

_________

You could omit the cabbage if it's not for you, but I like the crunchy texture. Adding a soft, crumbly cheese like goats cheese also gives a great flavour. Enjoy!

09/10/2022

🔥🔥 Recipe Alert 🔥🔥

Chicken & Vegetable Pastries

While it's not particularly 'BBQ' nor a very appealing image, this is still a banging recipe worth noting!

Ingredients:
- olive oil or you're preferred cooking oil
- 2x brown onions, finely chopped
- 4x garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3x carrots, peeled and diced
- 3x zucchini, diced
- 100g butter, cubed
- 600g chicken thigh, skin off, diced
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 300ml thickened cream
- 2 TBS Dijon mustard, or your preferred mustard
- salt and pepper, to season
- 6 sheets of ready made puff pastry
- 1 egg

Method:

DAY BEFORE!

Place a high sided pan over medium-high heat, add some olive oil and sweat the onion. Add the garlic and continue to cook, stirring, until fragrant.

Add the carrot and zucchini and continue to cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the butter and melt through.

Remove the vegetable mixture and return pan to heat, adding in diced chicken. Season with salt and pepper all over.

Cook chicken until lightly browned all over, then add the vegetable mixture back to the pan, mixing thoroughly.

Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine, allow to come to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring until starting to reduce. Add the cream and allow to simmer.

Stir in the mustard and cook for a further few minutes, or until vegetables are soft and sauce is thickened quite a bit.

Remove to a bowl, cover and chill overnight.

DAY OF STUFFING YOUR FACE

Preheat your oven to 200° and remove your pastry sheets from the freezer. Seperate on your bench to allow to thaw slightly.

In a small bowl, whisk your egg.

Remove your chicken mixture from the fridge and divide equally across 6 sheets of pastry.

Fold over the pastry to cover your mixture, folding all ends over the top. Flip over so seam is facing down, brush surface with egg mixture and place on a tray lined with baking paper.

Repeat across all pastry sheets and place trays in oven.

Cook pastries for 30 minutes or until golden.

Eat!

_________

Now you could also have this mixture served over mash potato, or even change up the vegetables (they'll soak up the wine and cream flavour) which is a great option for kids too.

02/09/2022

Just over 3 years ago, I took the plunge into the catering industry & purchased a food van with the intention of slinging great quality BBQ wherever & to whoever would rock up! Since this time, I’ve collaborated with some awesome microbreweries & wineries, catered for weddings, birthdays, business functions & Christmas parties.

I’ve gone from 45 minute brisket trims to 5 minutes, from 16 hour smoking sessions through the night, to 5 hour cooks. Perfected the rubs, perfected the sauces. Tried some new dishes… some successes, followed by some huge failures!
But, when the passion, dedication & motivation dwindle away, it’s time to move on.

It’s been a crazy eye-opening experience, of which I am very proud to have always served up quality food & honored to have met so many great people along the way.

Like anything in life, take what you’ve learnt or experienced without regret & pass that along.
I’d like to thank everyone for their support over this time, whether it be following us from place to place like a bad smell, or for hiring us for your event, or for getting your BBQ fix from our front lawn during the lockdowns.

Moving forward, the plan is to provide more recipes & video content on this page, with the possibility of launching our own rubs & sauces range – so keep an eye out there!

Again, thank you for the support. Kieran.

10/06/2022

What a beautiful day down here at Sussex Inlet for the Viking Festival.

We'll be serving up smoked brisket, pork and jalapeno/cheese links from 11am today, hope to see you there!

03/06/2022

Decided to pick up a pork Boston butt from the legends at Shipley Meats in Rutherford today.

Pork isn't really my go-to protein to cook for home, but I really love using fresh ingredients for a marinade, thanks to the team at Rarity Wholesale I'm always guaranteed quality produce at a good price.

So with a starter dough fermenting in the fridge (to make Cuban bread) and the mojo pork marinating, Sunday will see some epic Cuban sandwiches happening for the week and I can't wait.

Feels good to cook for fun again!

14/05/2022

I've obviously been a bit quiet on here for a few months now since operating The Smokehouse bistro up here at the Abermain Hotel, however our time is coming to an end after tomorrow and it's time to kick things back into gear with the food truck.

We've got a couple of great events and pop ups lined up already and the fire in the belly is definitely roaring with excitement (some old haunts are even back in question)!

We're looking forward to slinging some great Q once again from our little smokin' wagon and can't wait to engage with you once again ✌️

So, keep an eye out on our events page, flick us a message or comment where you'd like to see us and we'll do our best to make it happen.

Until then, here's a brisket!