A little story about Executive Chef Andrew Baldus
He grew up, was born and breed in Lincoln Nebraska in the mid West of USA. After he has turned 20 years old, he moved to Portland Oregon to study in corner yards and Le Cordon Blu while continued to live there and work in a Thai restaurant for 4 years. Later on, he shifted to Charles in the South Coast Liner for a few years where he worked in some restaurants that vary from mid to southern cuisine and barbecue (BBQ) on the weekend.
BBQ is like almost everything….
3 hours from where Chef Andrew grew up in, is Cain city. It is the main hub for all style of style of BBQ. He used to spend his weekend down in Cain eating bbq food with his family. Through the experience, he learnt and received some BBQ pointers from his dad and the friends he made in the area.
So … Why Singapore?
Chef Andrew has a good friend who he met and grew up with since high school. His friend is actually born and raised in Singapore when he was about 7 years old. Both of them got into cooking school at the same time. They were kind of separated for awhile after graduation before ended up meeting in Charles and started cooking together. Upon completion of the contract, both of them decided to buy a one way ticket to explore Singapore.
And… then what happened to Chef Andrew journey in Singapore?
Started in Burnt Ends and that was how he met Australian Chef Dave Pynt while his friend went to Restaurant Andre. After completion, he went back to his hometown (Lincoln Nebraska) and started his own ramen shop. Chef Andrew was trained in ramen broth. It was quite a timely process which he did it every day. The restaurant is Amu Manu Ramen, which was named for his uncle by the actual owner who is an Uranian. And upon year later, his sou chef had to take over his ramen shop as he had an offer to come back to take up Meathsmith.
Singapore Favourites and what’s yet to be done…
Moved here to Singapore since a year ago in January 2015, Chef Andrew shared that his favourite meat dishes. They are all the braised meat such as duck, pork belly and char siew. Oh and steam fish too!
It is pretty easy to get ingredients here in Singapore. What was yet to be done was to prepare a whole hog and BBQ outside as he is much into suckling pigs, the traditional southern method. Previously he had actually done a project called Pinbone Popup with Burnt Ends and The Cajun Kings and some of the festivals.
At Meathsmith, everything we do is in house!
Prepared from scratch includes the sauces and the bread. All food is house made and prepared from scratch. They smoke the meats daily, twice a day to insure that everything is fresh. It is very time consuming, but insures complete control in the flavor, and makes for cleaner and more balanced dishes.
Even The Drink’s Syrup Are Homemade. Simply Refreshing!!
A good mixture of jar wood from Australia and lychee wood from both Indonesia and Malaysia are used. Jar is very good for overnight burning as it us very hard therefore it burns very slowly while lychee is just a bit sweeter smoke than a jar. On the other hand, Jar has a much stronger and more similar to oak or hickory. Not to be overly smoky but just to have a subtitle smoke to it.
This is a typical BBQ way in the states where they tend to use more bear smokers and only live fire. In Singapore we can’t really burn woods outside, so here in Meatsmith we have a special filter system to put in the condense that allows us to cook with fire.
Homemade Sauces, While An Interesting ‘Unusual’ Mustard with Seeds That Pops In Your Mouth.
Extra Spicy Hot Sauce For You Upon Asking
Difference between Smoking BBQ and Usual BBQ
As compared to the Asian or usual BBQ according to Chef Andrew, smoking BBQ is more intense. They use a smoke box. We can turn a normal griller into a smoker where basically we just need to put the fire on one side while the box directly underneath on the other side of the griller. The long we cook it and smoke it longer, the more intense the flavour is. The most intense is whisky in the States. To him that is a little fond as he can get probably half way through his meal and feel like a had smoked 10 cigarettes. Some time it is a bit too much. There is actually a song back in back home that say you don’t need 2 days in a row… that is probably refer to that kind of BBQ as it is so smoky that it makes one feel sick. That is why we appreciate the more subtle smoke.
Nashville Fried Chicken / Beef Pattie Sandwiches (Burgers)
Chilli Glazed, Pickles, Mayo / Cheddar Cheese, Romanie Lettuces, Mayo
The buns are fluffy and soft. Fear not, Nashville Fried Chicken is not spicy as it is described but rather on the saltish side. We were recommended to go with the hot sauce while for me I will use brown sugar BBQ. Beef Burger is way more classic. We like the cheesy experience. Somehow when we were having the beef together with the BBQ chipotle sauce, it make us feel as if we were having beef rendang – indeed interesting.
Half Smoked Chicken
Celery, Garlic, Cayenne Rub
Deliciously juicy, succulent and tasty and I love the skin! So how come the moisture retains so well during BBQ? Well the external surrounding heat cooks the chicken very slowly over a long period on time and the special function of the smoke box which they have, rotates like as rotary. It is self based and has convention fan just to even the heat and temperature in the smoker. That is why the texture is very similar to sou viding!
Beef Rib (Australian Black Angus beef)
Black Pepper & Mustard Crust
The beef rib is extremely tender and juicy too! Well for you to understand better… the BBQ rub are meant to be eaten all together with the meat. The outer surface layer of the meat is called ”the bark – probably because it looks like the tree’s most outer layer”. And if you take the perfect bite along with the moisture from the meat from the inside, you will end up with a nice infused season flavour. It will be rather salty for some of you if you just eat the meat from the surface while inner meat is much more of the natural flavour of the beef.
Smoked Cauliflower, Bacon Mac & Cheese (Sides)
Cheesy lovers to take note of these sides! My favourite is the smoked cauliflower which comes with creamy blue cheese called ”bleu d’auvergne”, that are not too strong to my liking while the almond gives a ‘nutty crispy’ bite and fragrant to the crunchy cauliflower! Oh and for mac & cheese lovers, eat them first while it’s hot!
Apple Cobber with Smoked Vanilla Ice Cream & Chocolate Pie
The cobber buttery pastry smelled so fragrant when it arrived on the table. Interesting item to me would be the smoked ice cream which I love how the hot dessert blends with something cold while enjoying over the apple cubes within. You definitely wouldn’t want to miss their chocolate pie which is not too sweet especially if you are a chocolate lover!
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[Meatsmith X Iskina Cebu]
BBQ Chicken Recipe
You’ll need:
1 Chicken, 1 litre Salt Brine, 500g Wood Chips such as Apple or Hickory, Aluminum foil, 1 Drip Pan, 1 Resting rack, 1 kg Charcoal, 1 Grill and Your favorite BBQ sauce.
Prep for chicken:
Salt brine: 30g Salt, 1 lite Water, Any spices or herbs desired. Citrus fruits will be nice as well.
Clean and soak chicken in brine solution overnight. Remove next day and pat dry.
Prep for grill:
1. Soak wood chips in water for one hour in water. You can use the brine water to soak the chips.
2. Pull out wood chips and wrap in foil Loosely.
3. Fire up your coals. When coals are white hot pour to into the corner of the grill on the opposite side put drip pan with the brine. Place wood chip packet over the coals. Put lid on grill, with the ventilation holes half open.
4. When wood chips begin to smoke. Remove lid, and place chicken on the grill over the drip pan. Place lid back on the grill.
5. Let it cook. The more you open the grill, the less the smoke will penetrate into the meat. You can check it every 20 brushing sauce on it’ll you desire. Should take about one hour to cook. You’re looking to reach an internal temperature of 72 degrees Celsius.
6. When it reaches 72 degrees Celsius, pull chick off the grill and place on a resting rack. Let rest for 15 minutes before cutting. Serve with your favorite sauce. Enjoy!
That is the basic method there is no wrong way to flavor it, using this method will give you the desires smoke flavor. The chicken will be a bit pink near the bones and joints, not to worry. Smoke contains a chemical called nitrate. When nitrate hits the water in the meat it has a chemical reaction and turns pink. If the meat pulls easily and cleanly from the bone, then it’s cooked perfect.
167 / 169 Telok Ayer Street, Singapore 068620
Contact: 6221 2262, Email: eat@meatsmith.com.sg
Operations: 830am – Late (Monday – Saturday)
Close on Sunday
