That's a thing of beauty. I've been trying to cut down on my meat consumption, but I don't think I can ever fully become vegetarian. The allure of meat cooked on fire is too compelling. Anyway, I...
That's a thing of beauty. I've been trying to cut down on my meat consumption, but I don't think I can ever fully become vegetarian. The allure of meat cooked on fire is too compelling.
Anyway, I don't want to seem negative, but I'd really avoid using briquettes if you can. They're made of coal, and they're chock full of fillers. I'd recommend using lump charcoal if you can get your hands on it. Personally it skeeves me out to have petroleum fumes impregnating my meat.
Here's a good video where a drunken canadian talks about this, tests it out and finds that 10% of the briquettes weight is left behind as ash, and that's composed largely of gravel.
never knew that about briquettes, thanks mate I'll never be using those again. Also seeing photos like OP has posted makes me really want a much better smoker than the POS I currently have.
never knew that about briquettes, thanks mate I'll never be using those again.
Also seeing photos like OP has posted makes me really want a much better smoker than the POS I currently have.
Haha! I hear ya! My first smoker was a cheap off-set I bought on sale for around €200. After I built it I googled for instructions on how to use it. All I got was advice to never buy cheap offsets...
Haha! I hear ya!
My first smoker was a cheap off-set I bought on sale for around €200. After I built it I googled for instructions on how to use it. All I got was advice to never buy cheap offsets like the one I bought. :-D
But I'm a bit stubborn, so I modded it, attached plating to block the gaps, adding fire gaskets around the lids and sealing the whole thing up with heat proof silica gel. It cost me over half as much again!
Anyway, I cooked on that for two years. And a couple of months ago I decided that I'd earned an upgrade, so I bought myself a 22" Weber Smokey Mountain. I could get some great results on my old one, but it required a lot of babysitting. I barely needed to touch this one once I got the temperatures right. The difference is crazy!
I'm still learning to use it though. I could get a better smoke ring on my old smoker than I can on this one at the moment, but I think I'll get there with a couple more tries.
It is a dream to work with, and at €450 (I think it's a lot cheaper in the USA) it's ridiculously cheap compared to a good offset, which I can't find over here for less than about €2,000, for a cheap one.
When I bought it smoking was just starting to pick up here (Australia) and now it seems to be full force. It's amazing now things have picked up and unfortunately for the cost of the POS I have, I...
When I bought it smoking was just starting to pick up here (Australia) and now it seems to be full force. It's amazing now things have picked up and unfortunately for the cost of the POS I have, I could have had something way. WAY. better. But that happens, I'll research a bit and either go an offset or save on space and get something similar to the Weber.
For now the thing I have does the job with the odd roast, I smoked a lamb roast for Christmas lunch last year and it was a huge hit so I can't complain too much.
Agreed, I've cut meat from 2 days of my meals, but I don't think I could do it completely. Any meat I buy that I cook at home comes from either a local farm I was able to vet personally or hunted...
That's a thing of beauty. I've been trying to cut down on my meat consumption, but I don't think I can ever fully become vegetarian. The allure of meat cooked on fire is too compelling.
Agreed, I've cut meat from 2 days of my meals, but I don't think I could do it completely. Any meat I buy that I cook at home comes from either a local farm I was able to vet personally or hunted by friends/family. The thing I need to improve on is fast food/restaurant meats.
I really am excited about cultured meat scaling up to a competitive price, once it's available and down around $10/b I will probably get my ground meat from it exclusively
Oh thanks, I'll definitely have to look at something else so. I'll experiment with lump charcoal. I assumed it would burn too hot and fast. But that's what the vents are for.
Oh thanks, I'll definitely have to look at something else so. I'll experiment with lump charcoal. I assumed it would burn too hot and fast. But that's what the vents are for.
I tend to not comment on this kind of post (but I do love them) but this one was the right amount of entertaining, envy-generating (that delicious meat oh my god) and informative about how to make...
I tend to not comment on this kind of post (but I do love them) but this one was the right amount of entertaining, envy-generating (that delicious meat oh my god) and informative about how to make it myself.
Many thanks!! It takes so long to cook I think it's worth the effort to document it. For myself as much as anyone else. I was slightly worried when I got up at 4am and the temperature had dropped...
Many thanks!!
It takes so long to cook I think it's worth the effort to document it. For myself as much as anyone else. I was slightly worried when I got up at 4am and the temperature had dropped so much. But I figured since both pieces of meat were stalling that it wasn't an issue. I was right.
I'm going to use the stall as part of my cooking strategy in future I think, to allow longer cooking without worrying about finishing too early. Try to keep it in the stall a bit longer, as opposed to the usual cooking strategy of pushing through the stall by wrapping the meat or whatever.
If you haven't seen it, do a search for 'charcoal snake method' for a cool way to get a BBQ to keep low temps for a long time. I'd be paranoid about leaving it hot and going to sleep overnight though.
If you haven't seen it, do a search for 'charcoal snake method' for a cool way to get a BBQ to keep low temps for a long time.
I'd be paranoid about leaving it hot and going to sleep overnight though.
Yes, I've been considering the snake method for a while now. I'm going to do one more cook like this then try the snake method. I was more worried about leaving my old smoker on all night, I never...
Yes, I've been considering the snake method for a while now. I'm going to do one more cook like this then try the snake method.
I was more worried about leaving my old smoker on all night, I never did, because it was so leaky that the temperature would fluctuate with the slightest breeze. But the WSM is way better, and since I've upgraded the door the wind barely makes a difference. It's a solid, heavy piece of kit, and it's very stable. It's also on a concrete patio and it's a few metres from anything that can catch fire.
I'm trying to cut meat consumption, but the spouse just had to buy a serious smoker. It's evident that he's in the "there's only one letter different between pork and porn" camp, so I had to send...
I'm trying to cut meat consumption, but the spouse just had to buy a serious smoker. It's evident that he's in the "there's only one letter different between pork and porn" camp, so I had to send this to him. Merci!
That's a thing of beauty. I've been trying to cut down on my meat consumption, but I don't think I can ever fully become vegetarian. The allure of meat cooked on fire is too compelling.
Anyway, I don't want to seem negative, but I'd really avoid using briquettes if you can. They're made of coal, and they're chock full of fillers. I'd recommend using lump charcoal if you can get your hands on it. Personally it skeeves me out to have petroleum fumes impregnating my meat.
Here's a good video where a drunken canadian talks about this, tests it out and finds that 10% of the briquettes weight is left behind as ash, and that's composed largely of gravel.
never knew that about briquettes, thanks mate I'll never be using those again.
Also seeing photos like OP has posted makes me really want a much better smoker than the POS I currently have.
Haha! I hear ya!
My first smoker was a cheap off-set I bought on sale for around €200. After I built it I googled for instructions on how to use it. All I got was advice to never buy cheap offsets like the one I bought. :-D
But I'm a bit stubborn, so I modded it, attached plating to block the gaps, adding fire gaskets around the lids and sealing the whole thing up with heat proof silica gel. It cost me over half as much again!
Anyway, I cooked on that for two years. And a couple of months ago I decided that I'd earned an upgrade, so I bought myself a 22" Weber Smokey Mountain. I could get some great results on my old one, but it required a lot of babysitting. I barely needed to touch this one once I got the temperatures right. The difference is crazy!
I'm still learning to use it though. I could get a better smoke ring on my old smoker than I can on this one at the moment, but I think I'll get there with a couple more tries.
It is a dream to work with, and at €450 (I think it's a lot cheaper in the USA) it's ridiculously cheap compared to a good offset, which I can't find over here for less than about €2,000, for a cheap one.
When I bought it smoking was just starting to pick up here (Australia) and now it seems to be full force. It's amazing now things have picked up and unfortunately for the cost of the POS I have, I could have had something way. WAY. better. But that happens, I'll research a bit and either go an offset or save on space and get something similar to the Weber.
For now the thing I have does the job with the odd roast, I smoked a lamb roast for Christmas lunch last year and it was a huge hit so I can't complain too much.
Agreed, I've cut meat from 2 days of my meals, but I don't think I could do it completely. Any meat I buy that I cook at home comes from either a local farm I was able to vet personally or hunted by friends/family. The thing I need to improve on is fast food/restaurant meats.
I really am excited about cultured meat scaling up to a competitive price, once it's available and down around $10/b I will probably get my ground meat from it exclusively
No way I'm giving up BBQ, but we do try to eat vegetarian at least half the week, and split the rest between fish and meat.
Oh thanks, I'll definitely have to look at something else so. I'll experiment with lump charcoal. I assumed it would burn too hot and fast. But that's what the vents are for.
That looks absolutely amazing. Bad idea looking through that album at work.
I was very happy with the results, particularly the mop sauce and the coleslaw. It was a lot of good eating!
I tend to not comment on this kind of post (but I do love them) but this one was the right amount of entertaining, envy-generating (that delicious meat oh my god) and informative about how to make it myself.
So, here it is, bravo!
Many thanks!!
It takes so long to cook I think it's worth the effort to document it. For myself as much as anyone else. I was slightly worried when I got up at 4am and the temperature had dropped so much. But I figured since both pieces of meat were stalling that it wasn't an issue. I was right.
I'm going to use the stall as part of my cooking strategy in future I think, to allow longer cooking without worrying about finishing too early. Try to keep it in the stall a bit longer, as opposed to the usual cooking strategy of pushing through the stall by wrapping the meat or whatever.
If you haven't seen it, do a search for 'charcoal snake method' for a cool way to get a BBQ to keep low temps for a long time.
I'd be paranoid about leaving it hot and going to sleep overnight though.
Yes, I've been considering the snake method for a while now. I'm going to do one more cook like this then try the snake method.
I was more worried about leaving my old smoker on all night, I never did, because it was so leaky that the temperature would fluctuate with the slightest breeze. But the WSM is way better, and since I've upgraded the door the wind barely makes a difference. It's a solid, heavy piece of kit, and it's very stable. It's also on a concrete patio and it's a few metres from anything that can catch fire.
I'm trying to cut meat consumption, but the spouse just had to buy a serious smoker. It's evident that he's in the "there's only one letter different between pork and porn" camp, so I had to send this to him. Merci!
lol, thanks! You really can't beat some decent smoked meat!
Yeah...you win today.
Thankyou friend! :-)