I do the snake method when I smoke a pork butt in my Weber. I put a cast iron pan in the middle as my water pan as it makes a great heat sync
Smoking Meat Questions and Discussion
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I do the snake method when I smoke a pork butt in my Weber. I put a cast iron pan in the middle as my water pan as it makes a great heat sync
What do those cookie sheets do to the temps in your smoker? e.g. Do you have to run hotter?
I've never smoked without them, but I prefer to run on my lowest temp setting, which holds around 235-250 and have no complaints.
Pit Boss grills have a "smoke" setting for the early portion of the cook which runs it around 160F and I'm not sure it's more smoky, but it extends the time when the meat will take smoke, so I do utilize that when I can.
When I said I was rushing my butt on this past Sunday, I was still sitting at like 180 IT at 4pm and I wanted it done in 2 hours. I cranked it up to hold more in the range of 300F (it floated to 320 a few times) and I finally took it off at 6:30pm (12 hrs). I did use the 'smoke' setting for the first 4 hours just because we were gone to church, so that's probably why it took extra time -- but the meat tastes outstanding.
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I’m not that consistent. If I’m going to do a pizza/salmon that I don’t want off flavors from past cooks then I’ll vacuum out the ash and replace the foil on the heat deflector at that time.
I have a RecTeq and their mantra is that you should scoop out the firebox every few cooks, but only vacuum out the bottom of the grill about once per year. They claim it helps insulate during the cold months, helps catch fly-away ash, and catches grease that happens to drip into the bottom of the grill.
I change the foil and clean the firebox every 2-3 cooks, but I've only vacuumed once in the 18 months I've had it.
I take a shop vac and clean it out preferably every other cook.
There's usually some debris in that cook pot that can accumulate and can cause you to fail to start the burn at startup. This happened to me once and made a huge mess because it keeps feeding pellets until it hits the startup temperature. So I just make it a habit to at least vac out the pot before starting, and since it's open I vac out the rest.
I go much longer at cleaning my grates and the inside, but then I don't drip grease inside so that's less of a concern to me.
I am always worried about grease soaked ash starting a fire. My Camp Chef is nice because I can empty the firepot after every cook with the easy clean system they have.
Probably a valid concern, especially if you cook at high temps often. I pretty much exclusively use mine at 300 degrees and below. It's also pretty rare that I see grease get below the drip tray for any reason.
I have had that issue a few times with my pit boss. Got to the point where I’m cleaning it out every other cook
I vacuum the entire inside, scrape drippings off the heat shield and clean the temp probe about every 2-3 cooks. I'll deep clean with a bottle of dawn power wash spray, a brush and a scraper maybe once a year. I hardly ever use pans outside of pork butt though.
I would use my pressure washer if I had a better spot to use it. As it stands, I'd be washing pieces in the grass or getting grease all over the patio or driveway.
I take the grates to a car wash and clean them when I was my car. I've never done a deep clean with soap and a brush. Just take a putty knife and my stand alone 1 gallon shop vac to clean the ash and gunk out. I also cleaned the chimney for the first time ever and was amazed by the build up in that and even on the under side of the cap!
On our Traeger, I've never taken the time to clean the grates as I figure it's "seasoned" this way. I change the drip pan cover when needed - usually after maybe 50 hrs of cooking time. I use the shop vac inside it after roughly 15-20 hours of use - maybe more frequently depending on the ash buildup.
I use the Hi Mountain cure and seasoning and cook it completely on my Traeger. Works great. I use rump roasts , partially frozen, sliced to 1/4” on a deli slicer.
Agreed. I bought a few third party parts for mine (all from Cajun Bandit) a couple years ago (been using my 22" WSM since 2017), including a door (stainless steel), a deeper charcoal ring, an extra section that sits where the lid would go on a stock WSM and adds an extra grate, and a shelf that screws into the side of the barrel. The door was the only one that I truly needed (I stepped on the stock door by accident and could never get it bent back to the exact shape it needed to be).
It's a workhorse of a smoker for the price.
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Pulled this at an IT temp of 140-145. Vac sealed and into the fridge or at least 12 hours. Will slice it up and see if it is like bacon.
The results after being in the fridge overnight. Might cut back on the salt and pepper next time. It really does have that bacon taste to it.
Oh, is that buckboard bacon? I've done that a few times and really like it. Here is how I did it
Boneless 14lbs Costco shoulder
Cut in half so it was 2" thick
7.06lbs
.353 ounces pink salt
9.5 tablespoons brown sugar
3.5 tablespoons kosher salt
Shot in a little maple syrup
2 2 gallon ziploc.
Rotate daily for 10 days
Day Before
Rinse and then pat dry
Put in fridge overnight with great so it gets air. Forms pellicle
Add Black Pepper
225 degrees
Put it on the jerky racks for airflow
Cook to 155 degrees IT max
After cooldown, wrap meat in plastic wrap and let sit in fridge overnight.
Stick in freezer for 1/2 hour before slicing
I have brisket going for Mother’s Day, and since I had the space, I made to make chicken quarters with Alabama white sauce for dinner tonight:
I just seasoned my new Oklahoma Joe Highland charcoal grill with offset smoker this morning and made burgers for dinner. It's not the reverse flow version. I had a Char-Griller 5050 Duo for nearly 15 years but it finally bit the dust over the winter. The gas side rusted through a couple years ago, and the charcoal side was getting bad enough I didn't think it worth it to clean up for this spring.
Between the two, the Oklahoma Joe has much thicker metal all around and all the joints and doors seal much better. The OKJ does not have a height adjustable charcoal bed in the grill, but I did notice that things often got under it which contributed to the CG5050's demise.
I debated about gas, pellet or charcoal and just enjoy the charcoal too much. I totally get the appeal of "set it and forget it" with pellets/augers/digital controllers/wifi/apps, but I like the whole experience.
Between the two, the Oklahoma Joe has much thicker metal all around and all the joints and doors seal much better. The OKJ does not have a height adjustable charcoal bed in the grill, but I did notice that things often got under it which contributed to the CG5050's demise.
I debated about gas, pellet or charcoal and just enjoy the charcoal too much. I totally get the appeal of "set it and forget it" with pellets/augers/digital controllers/wifi/apps, but I like the whole experience.
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