Q?

[Ski213]

Any of y'all like to BBQ?  Just wondering. If so what do you like to cook?  What do you cook on?  

 

We try to cook about once a month for a group of 20-60 friends. I get a couple shorter rib cooks in between the monthly Q. Above ground block pit using mostly hickory. 

 

 

[Jar11591]

[Ski213]

7 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Looking good!  

[slonezp]

This past Christmas I bought myself a Char Broil Big Easy, to replace a rotted out Brinkman smoker. I couldn't be happier. It's not a smoker, it's an infrared cooker with smoking capabilities. Took a bit of practice adjusting heat and cooking times, but well worth it. The wood box seems to work better with pellets rather than chips because they burn slower. I bought all the accessories as well, rib hanger, chicken leg hanger, shishkabob skewers, and a second rack to cook/smoke 2 roasts or chickens. So far all I have done is chicken, pork, and beef. One of these days I'm going to try a turkey. I don't think I touched the Weber Kettle since I bought this

 

 

[Ski213]

14 hours ago, slonezp said:

This past Christmas I bought myself a Char Broil Big Easy, to replace a rotted out Brinkman smoker. I couldn't be happier. It's not a smoker, it's an infrared cooker with smoking capabilities. Took a bit of practice adjusting heat and cooking times, but well worth it. The wood box seems to work better with pellets rather than chips because they burn slower. I bought all the accessories as well, rib hanger, chicken leg hanger, shishkabob skewers, and a second rack to cook/smoke 2 roasts or chickens. So far all I have done is chicken, pork, and beef. One of these days I'm going to try a turkey. I don't think I touched the Weber Kettle since I bought this

 

 

Pretty slick. Are you able to pretty much set it and forget it when cooking? Do you get a good smoke flavor out of it?

 

I wouldn't mind to have something smaller than my pit that I could do smaller portions on and not have to babysit so much. 

[slonezp]

5 hours ago, Ski213 said:

Pretty slick. Are you able to pretty much set it and forget it when cooking? Do you get a good smoke flavor out of it?

 

I wouldn't mind to have something smaller than my pit that I could do smaller portions on and not have to babysit so much. 

Let me start by saying I'm not a fan of heavy smoke that you can taste in your nose and throat 2 days after you eat the meal. In the old smoker I used wet woodchips and usually they were alder or apple. The Charbroil says to use dry wood chips and I don't get much of a burn time from them, maybe 1/2 hour or so. I started using hickory pellets, and I can get a good hour of burn time from them. It gives a good smoke flavor that is not overpowering. As far as the smoking process, I set it on high for 15 minutes before I put in the meat and this allows the smoke to start forming. Then, I cut it down to 1/3-1/2 temp. Anything higher than that seems to scorch the brown sugar based rub I use on my pork. As far as chicken, I've done that a couple times, both whole chickens and just legs on the basket racks. Chicken seem to roast good at 1/2 temp but you need to check it periodically because it cooks quicker due to it being infrared/convection heat rather than indirect heat like you would have on a grill. Anything cooked on top of the grill will take roughly the same time as it would on a normal grill when cooked on high. I've been doing some experimenting with slow cooking thick cut steaks on 1/3-1/2 temp and so far that has worked out well. 

 

A buddy of mine has one of these     https://www.theorioncooker.com/ which is a charcoal infrared smoker/cooker and he swears by it. Only reason I didn't buy it is he uses an entire bag of charcoal every time he cooks or smokes something. The orion has a water/drip pan for the bottom whereas the Charbroil does not. Otherwise, it's the same type of infrared/convection heat.  

[Ski213]

I agree with you on the oversmoking. Too much and the meat gets acrid (I think that's the right word). 

 

I certainly appreciate the info and advice @slonezp. I love the big pit but I think I'm going to look at the charbroil to complement it. Looks like  a cool setup. Reasonably priced too.

[River Dave]

If you're looking for a true smoker tough to beat the value on the Masterbuilt electrics. Somewhere around $150ish and will give you consistent results over and over. The stick burners like yours are the top dogs but unless you have a really expensive one they never seem to work very well. Too many air leaks and not enough insulation are the trademarks of a budget friendly pit unfortunately. If you're getting that acrid taste on your food you either don't have enough airflow or, most likely, aren't getting a clean burn. What you want for smoking food is a thin blue sweet smelling smoke. Billowing clouds of white smoke will make your food taste bad (voice of experience ?).  I am far from an expert but I love running the smoker and the grill! 

[Bluebasser86]

I don't cook it, but being from the KC area, I love eating BBQ! 

[Ski213]

15 hours ago, River Dave said:

If you're looking for a true smoker tough to beat the value on the Masterbuilt electrics. Somewhere around $150ish and will give you consistent results over and over. The stick burners like yours are the top dogs but unless you have a really expensive one they never seem to work very well. Too many air leaks and not enough insulation are the trademarks of a budget friendly pit unfortunately. If you're getting that acrid taste on your food you either don't have enough airflow or, most likely, aren't getting a clean burn. What you want for smoking food is a thin blue sweet smelling smoke. Billowing clouds of white smoke will make your food taste bad (voice of experience ?).  I am far from an expert but I love running the smoker and the grill! 

Thanks! I'll check that out as well. I wasn't really in the market for a smaller smoker but you can really never have too many backyard accessories. 

 

My pit is more of a log burner. Old school concrete block. It produces good food but it's pretty inefficient. I learned the oversmoking lesson the hard way myself several years back. Now I typically run a little heavy smoke early then clean the rest of the day. That works well on my pit, you can taste it but it's not too much.   

8 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I don't cook it, but being from the KC area, I love eating BBQ! 

I bet y'all have some good stuff out there. One of these days I hope to get out that way and try it out. 

[Ski213]

Oh man that's rough to be eating Wendy's in the land of BBQ. I'm surprised there's so little q up your way. 

 

@River Dave that's some awesome color. I've never used cherry before. It's crazy how long it takes sometimes. I've never gone 16 hrs but Ive had to go 14 once or twice.  Did a grad party yesterday & it took a full 12 hrs to do some relatively small Boston butts. I can usually get the smaller ones done in 9. 

 

This is an older pic, I don't do the chicken much anymore. Replaced it with brisket. I love me some brisket! 

[River Dave]

Some good looking chow right there Ski. My butts usually come out looking like a meteorite, love the way yours look there. Chicken look great there too. I've done a bunch of really good thighs and some pretty tasty drumsticks before but I'm thinking of doing whole chickens tomorrow. I tried it once before and it didn't come out very good but I know some of what I did wrong so I'm hoping for better this time. I've never tried a brisket yet, just too expensive. I attempted a chuck roast a couple weeks ago and over seasoned that poor thing so bad it was barely edible (I still ate it but nobody else would). Live and learn I guess. It's all fun. 

 

 

 

I love doing thighs. Almost impossible to screw up and even the "bad" ones are delicious. Still working on the perfect skin, that's the real challenge.

[frosty]

I just got done eating some ribs I smoked this afternoon. I use a basic char-broil charcoal grill. I do an offset burn, fire on the right, meat under the stack on the left. I really like burning mesquite chunks with the charcoal, heck I burn wood when I'm just grilling some burgers. I did my first turkey last thanksgiving, turned out really tasty , but it cooks really fast so I had to put it in the oven for awhile which gave it rubbery skin, but the meat was awesome!

[Jar11591]

On 5/27/2017 at 2:45 PM, River Dave said:

You southern boys have it made for BBQ. I'm jealous, I'm up here in NY where it's almost impossible to get good BBQ unless you make it yourself. 

 

 

Where are you in NY? I recently found an amazing BBQ place 2 minutes from my job that sells amazing BBQ. They smoke all the meats that morning and when they sell out they close down for the day. And they sell out almost always it seems, as I've called them for an order at 2pm and they'd already sold out. The two guys who own it are from Memphis, so they know what they're doing lol. They do brisket, pork and chicken and all the fixins. The pork is my favorite. Melts in your mouth and lots of smoky bark on it. And they have the best mac & cheese I've ever had and also make several kinds of their own sauce. It's called the Memphis King in Schenectady. Wherever in NY you are I'd say it's worth making the trip. Puts any other BBQ I've had to shame. Now I really want some lol

[Ski213]

Love the chicken thighs. They have great flavor. I have had good luck

with whole chickens for the most part but I did completely destroy one a cpl yrs back by not paying attention.  

 

Those butts weren't done based on the condition of the beans. They would've darkened up some. Im no expert by any means but one thing I do that I think helps them get a good bark without being too dark is using turbinado sugar in the rub. It has a better tolerance for heat than standard white sugar so it will carmelize but it takes more to burn it. 

 

You have got to try brisket. It is fairly expensive but when it's right it's awesome.

[Redlinerobert]

XL Big Green Egg.  Everything from tri-tip to steaks and pizza.  Wife is going to make some rustic bread next.  Very easy to maintain temperature and kind of foolproof (me being the fool).

[slonezp]

7 hours ago, Redlinerobert said:

XL Big Green Egg.  Everything from tri-tip to steaks and pizza.  Wife is going to make some rustic bread next.  Very easy to maintain temperature and kind of foolproof (me being the fool).

My brother in law has the BGE and I don't think I ever had a bad meal out of it. He has a fan and thermostat hooked up to it to keep the temp steady. He smokes a turkey every Thanksgiving.