Marmite - love it or hate it?

[tekobo]

2 hours ago, BonFire said:

Our Vegemite is never old, we all enjoy it in moderation (grandson especially). A 380 gram jar will last around a month, maybe less now if I incorporate it in my cooks. So when you say dissolve, how do you do it, thnx in advance 

My marmite is relatively runny so I was able to mix it in with the other ingredients without too much trouble.  See photo below.  The old marmite was black and sticky but it mixed in OK with the other ingredients for the ribs, as you saw from the first picture.  So, no special technique to pass on I am afraid. 

[tekobo]

2 hours ago, amusedtodeath said:

I'm with @5698k on the the Aaron Franklin method of brisket cooking. My first overnight cook on my KK was a huge Waygu brisket using his book as a guide - it was by far the best brisket I've ever cooked... Matter of fact, all my previous briskets were Just "good", but that one was Fantastic!!! 

Thanks @amusedtodeath.  Further incentive to try the Franklin method.  

1 hour ago, 5698k said:

I got into a “discussion” on Facebook with someone who was convinced that brisket tasted like pot roast. Naturally I said he’d never had good brisket, and naturally he said he had. His next comment was the telling part. He essentially said that for all the work and effort brisket takes, he’d rather do pork, it’s much simpler.

I got into a discussion with a local who is married to a Texan and he was pretty sure that there was no way I knew how to cook a brisket right.  He said words like "dry" and "tough".  I showed his wife a picture of my cooked brisket and I think she would have divorced him and married me if she could.  After all that build up, I will need to make sure that the brisket comes out great when I finally invite them round. I'm putting my money on Mr Franklin for that one.  Thanks! 

[Tyrus]

Had to look that one up Tekobo thought it was a dried bug crushed up but you didn't disappoint 

[tony b]

6 hours ago, tekobo said:

I'm putting my money on Mr Franklin for that one.

The secret is the pink butcher paper wrap after the stall. 

@amusedtodeath - I think the Wagyu beef had as much to do with your success as following Franklin's technique did. As Aaron says in his book, buy the best cut of meat you can afford. He only uses Prime at his restaurant. 

[tekobo]

1 hour ago, Tyrus said:

Had to look that one up Tekobo thought it was a dried bug crushed up

Some people think it tastes like a dried bug crushed up!!

[tony b]

@tekobo - how similar is Suya to Indonesian Satay? 

[tekobo]

2 minutes ago, tony b said:

@tekobo - how similar is Suya to Indonesian Satay? 

Hi Tony, the only similarity is that they are both served on skewers!  Suya is very spicy and much drier than satay.  It is super good and I just need to figure out how the meat is cut and marinaded to get the authentic chewy juiciness that i remember so well.  

[tony b]

After reading some more and seeing some recipes for the spice rub, it's probably more similar to Ethiopian Berbere than Satay.

I was wondering if you got Planters "dry roasted" peanuts and rough chopped them, that they would work in the Suya spice mix instead of the kuli-kuli? 

[tekobo]

The interesting thing @tony b, is that I never knew there were groundnuts in the suya rub mix.  That is why I was so dismissive of your comparison with satay!   I don't think the rub actually tastes of nuts.  The primary flavours that I get are of ginger and hot peppers.  

From my perspective, suya is delicious street food from my childhood and teens.  The rub and how it was marinaded were trade secrets and your only job was to decide which stand's product was your favourite and then get there before they ran out or before an impossible queue built up.  The good news for me is that my Dad has brought me what looks like a year's supply of rub from my favourite stand.  They do a particular cross grain cut on the meat that makes it easy to eat and the cook makes the thin(ish) slices really juicy and never dry.  I have to figure that all out.  May then move on to trying out rub recipes online to see if any are better than the one that I love. 

[Aussie Ora]

Hi BonFire, I went with [mention=2714]Aussie Ora[/mention]'s advice about the fact that Vegemite/Marmite never goes off and so I used an old jar from the back of the cupboard for my first cook.  It was sticky and black but dissolved OK.  After the first success I thought I would splash out on a new jar.  The difference was significant.  The marmite was a much lighter brown and was soft and much easier to mix in.  I still refuse to eat it neat but I think I will try marmite butter next.   

Well I did forget to mention that a jar does not last long here lol .but in saying that have had year old vegemite and it just seems get better with age like fine wine .runny marmite wow did you heat it up

 

Outback kamado Bar and Grill

 

 

 

[tekobo]

4 hours ago, Aussie Ora said:

Well I did forget to mention that a jar does not last long here lol .but in saying that have had year old vegemite and it just seems get better with age like fine wine .runny marmite wow did you heat it up

Naa no heating up, just the warm balmy climate we have here in England 

Something for you:  I read that there was an aged version of Marmite called Marmite XO.  Looked on shelves in my local supermarket, no sign of such a thing.  Searched online and found a "limited edition collectable" jar of XO on sale on ebay for, wait for it, £60.    You learn something new every day and it is not always useful!

[tony b]

1 hour ago, tekobo said:

Naa no heating up, just the warm balmy climate we have here in England

Bought some unsalted dry roasted peanuts at the market today, along with nice thin sliced beef bottom round. So, if the weather cooperates (been raining for days now!), I hope to give the Suya a go. Will be 2 experiments - finally gonna break out the yakitori grill and try the new charcoals I bought for it months ago!  

[MacKenzie]

Tony, looks like you have some interesting eating in the works, I hope the sunshines so you can carry it off.  

[tony b]

I was gonna do a pizza on the KK tonight, but bailed out because of the rain. It's supposed to clear up tomorrow, so I'm hoping to do the pizza then. The suya experiment will be on Saturday. 

[MacKenzie]

Tony, it sounds like your weather is just as bad as mine. There is a risk of frost in low lying areas tonight. Who changed the June 15th deadline for frost I'd like to know.!!!

 

 

 

[tekobo]

13 hours ago, tony b said:

The suya experiment will be on Saturday. 

The typical beef suya is my dream KK cook.  My fear of disappointment if I don't get it to taste like the street bought original has held me back from trying this cook.  Happily, you have no such expectations to hinder you @tony b.  I look forward to seeing the results!    

Edited June 22, 2018 by tekobo

[tony b]

Well, not having any benchmark for how close to original I got, but I have to say that this is some seriously tasty sh!t!! I mixed up the rub and couldn't stop myself from sampling it - it was that good! This one's a keeper - a big THANK YOU to @tekobo ! (btw - the unsalted dry roasted peanuts worked GREAT!)

A quick shot of the skewers. I cooked probably twice this many, but I was hungry and was sampling them as they came off the grill - LOL! The key/trick seems to be to hold back some rub and dust them again just before taking them off the grill. I hit them right after they started to sweat. Brilliant!

Oh, as a comparison, I did one skewer with my standard Satay rub. Both are good, but surprisingly very different flavor profiles. Won't say one's better than the other. In fairness to the Satay, I didn't have any peanut/coconut milk sauce for it, which might have made the comparison closer. DAMN this is fun!

Edited June 24, 2018 by tony b

[tekobo]

4 hours ago, tony b said:

Well, not having any benchmark for how close to original I got, but I have to say that this is some seriously tasty sh!t!!

Way cool!!!  I am so glad you like it.  They have the authentic dry rub look.  It would be good to start a new thread with your recipe and method if you want.  I can then add to it when I try it too.  My dad is still here on holiday and he's been giving me the jeebies: "getting the right piece of meat is important, that is what the suya man said in Lagos.  Ask a butcher who knows about suya".  I had to remind him that he was in England and that the butchers here have never heard of suya.  He is also insistent that any internet research includes making sure that the writer is a northerner.  We are from southern Nigeria and suya is traditionally made by northerners so he thinks it won't be right unless I do it their way.  As you can guess, the weight of expectation is even greater with dad here to judge the authenticity!  

Super pumped and happy that you enjoyed it so much Tony.  Thanks for trying it.  

[Pequod]

There’s a recipe for suya and an entire article talking about it in the July-August 2017 issue of Milk Street magazine (which I really like). I just put it on my menu for next weekend if I can get all of the ingredients. @tekobo - what is the traditional cut of beef to use? The Milk Street recipe calls for flat iron steak, but curious if there’s something more legit.

[tekobo]

4 hours ago, Pequod said:

There’s a recipe for suya and an entire article talking about it in the July-August 2017 issue of Milk Street magazine (which I really like). I just put it on my menu for next weekend if I can get all of the ingredients. @tekobo - what is the traditional cut of beef to use? The Milk Street recipe calls for flat iron steak, but curious if there’s something more legit.

OK.  There is a certain irony in the fact that the two most vociferous opponents of marmite @Pequod and @tony b have managed to trick me into hijacking my own thread.  You evil mind benders you!

Explaining my suya dilemma is difficult on this first world BBQ forum where we all know our meat.  The issue is that I genuinely cannot remember talking about cuts of meat when I lived in Nigeria.  Admittedly I was only a kid but I remember meat like beef was categorised as a) "meat" = joined up stuff, b) "shaki and lots of other names" = the fun world of offal and, if you were being particularly posh, c) "fullay" which I later discovered = fillet.  I texted a friend from the north today to ask her if she knew what meat suya is made from and said "Hi. No sorry."  When I explained that I needed to tell some weird Americans she said "I think it is just very thinly sliced meat from wherever".  That pretty much sums up our approach to meat and explains why I have been struggling to settle on the right cut when the reality is any cut I like for barbecuing would be right.

I remember raw suya as broad, thin, cross grain cuts of meat soaking in what looked like a marinade of oil and rub.  I also remember there being the occasional, tasty bit of fat.  My guess is that fillet or skirt would be good but, given the amount of suya that gets eaten it must also come from other parts of the animal.  Photos on these sites approximate best to what I remember:

https://www.dealdey.com/deals/special-beef-suya-sausages

https://abbeywoodcashandcarry.com/shop/meat-fish-and-poultry/suya-takeaway/

I will go on researching but I suspect you should make it with what you have.  In any case suya also gets made with all sorts of other meat - chicken gizzards, goat, liver, etc so feel free to experiment.  The key is the rub and getting the right level of hot pepper heat without killing the other flavours is part of the Russian roulette of choosing your favourite suya spot.