2

6/18/2013 6:59:34 PM

made some atomic buffalo turds last night to go with some tacos. smoked them at 275 for about 1.5 hrs.

making pizza tonight

6/19/2013 8:03:08 AM

i smoked 3 racks of st. louis spare ribs this afternoon on apple wood chunks at 250 deg. flavor was awesome, but they were too done and just fell off the bones. i used the 3-2-1 method. i'll shorten the cook time next time.

6/22/2013 7:44:57 PM

Tech me some of your methods chris. I got 2 oil drums forms from work. Anyway to burn/clean it off for good cookin. Out her in the cut you gt to know how to use this shit

6/22/2013 8:48:50 PM

i'm sure if you light a fire in it and get it good and hot it'll burn off anything bad. google "ugly drum smoker" and you'll find everything you need to know.

however, i'd highly suggest investing in some sort of kamado grill. the Char-Griller Akorn that str8bacadil and I use is about the cheapest option and it does great. everything from searing steaks on high heat to whole chickens, turkeys, pizzas, and low and slow smoking. i can do 3 boston butts on it. from there, you move into the ceramic kamados and they get expensive.

it takes some skill, but you can do just about anything on a weber kettle grill with the accessories that are available for them now.

you can play with different injections, marinades, rubs, etc and mess around with different types of wood chunks for smoking. i learned a lot watching this guy: http://www.youtube.com/user/ManCaveMeals

his recipes and methods are simple. you have to be careful with what you find online because competition bbq and backyard bbq are two different things.

6/22/2013 9:09:39 PM

pimento cheese and bacon on sourdough grilled on the Akorn

6/23/2013 6:13:54 PM

I'm going to have to hang out at NeuseRvrRat's house more often.

6/23/2013 8:32:16 PM

i don't like cooking inside the house a lot when it's warm and this Akorn beats the britches off of my hand-me-down gas grill, so i've been cooking on it a lot since i got it

6/23/2013 8:39:31 PM

That hardwood charcoal on page one looks exactly like the crap stacking up on my firepit floor.

I can use that to cook with?



I feel like ive stumbled up to the threshold of "renewable cooking."

6/23/2013 9:20:15 PM

actually, traditional bbq would involve burning sticks of wood down to coals/embers and then putting them in the pit. the very best eastern NC style bbq is still done this way. i guess you could try it. make sure it's something like oak, hickory, maple, or some sort of fruit wood. don't go cooking on pine. stuff like gum wouldn't be good either, i don't think.

[Edited on June 23, 2013 at 9:25 PM. Reason : a lot of folks are making their own lump charcoal now. read some bbq forums.]

[Edited on June 23, 2013 at 9:27 PM. Reason : http://www.nakedwhiz.com/makinglump.htm]

but that's a lot of work. decent lump is really cheap. i don't think the juice is worth the squeeze.

[Edited on June 23, 2013 at 9:29 PM. Reason : df]

6/23/2013 9:24:52 PM

Well that's fucking awesome.

Is it taboo to use some of my wood charcoal along with the traditional bagged charcoal (like Kingsford)?

Along those lines, what is the best traditional charcoal for cooking? I feel like I always just buy Kingsford because of availability.

6/23/2013 9:28:51 PM

just buy lump charcoal. walmart sells royal oak, which is ok, but when i get it from walmart it seems that it has been handled rough and is broken in pieces that are too small. i buy Nature-Glo, which is royal oak's foodservice label, from a grill supply store down near carolina beach. i'm sure you'll have plenty of options where you are.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumprank.htm

[Edited on June 23, 2013 at 9:36 PM. Reason : df]

6/23/2013 9:32:20 PM

I've read Kingsford is the best. Lump charcoal is less consistent in burn temp.

6/23/2013 9:36:26 PM

I should start bagging my bonfire leftovers and sell them at the local farmers market as some kind of designer organic charcoal for like $20 a bag.

These fucking LKN yuppies would eat that shit up.

6/23/2013 9:37:06 PM

i've had no trouble holding my grill at 250 +/- 10 deg for 12 hrs with lump and in an insulated kamado it only required maybe a pound or two of charcoal. i had less than half a cup of ash. can't ask for better consistency than that.

but if you absolutely insist on using briquettes, costco sells kingsford competition, which is supposed to be pretty good. i've also read good things about stubb's briquettes, which are available at lowe's home improvement.

[Edited on June 23, 2013 at 9:43 PM. Reason : dv]

6/23/2013 9:41:34 PM

hell, i get the temp stabilized around midnight and i go to sleep. the wireless receiver for the thermometer will alarm if my temp gets to the low/high alarm points i set.

6/23/2013 9:56:02 PM

That's pretty hardcore.

6/23/2013 9:57:07 PM

anybody can do it. sure makes some damn good bbq.

6/23/2013 10:00:09 PM

did some chicken thighs over indirect heat at 375 with some pecan wood. took them 45 mins. used the Only Other Rub from Myron Mixon's Everyday BBQ book and had some homemade bbq sauce on the side. it was moist and absolutely delicious.

6/28/2013 7:31:21 PM

pm sent

6/29/2013 12:24:24 AM

They have a pretty decent Green Egg clone/competitor at Costco right now for ~$500 for an XL version. The large green egg is around $800 and the XL gets closer to $1000 so this might not be a bad purchase if someone is interested in ceramic grilling.

I still love the shit out of my green egg, although, with the rain lately I haven't been able to use it as much!

6/29/2013 9:40:54 AM

those prices don't include any sort of stand for the egg, do they?

6/29/2013 9:49:50 AM

^true, but the simple metal stands with wheels are only ~$100 (maybe less), and I bought the side wooden tables for mine for ~$125 as well. My egg was free though so those prices didn't bother me too much. The model at costco comes with a simple stand, cover, and side tables.

6/29/2013 7:31:30 PM

akorn is $300. comes with a stand and folding side tables. has a removable ash pan and a cast iron cooking grate. i haven't seen anything a green egg will do that my akorn won't.

6/29/2013 7:42:56 PM

smoking some almonds right now. gonna do some more chicken thighs tonight.

6/30/2013 4:53:18 PM

the almonds are excellent. bought a 3 lb bag at costco for about $13. did half with olive oil, salt, and garlic powder. other half with just the oil and salt. 45 mins at 250 with some applewood smoke.

6/30/2013 9:35:17 PM

Cooking in the rain.

6/30/2013 10:52:24 PM

pfft, amateur. here's how i cook in the rain:



here are some butts and spare ribs:

6/30/2013 11:08:45 PM

What is that metal ring under the grate? Something to block direct heat?

7/1/2013 8:21:28 AM

it's a 12" terracotta flower pot saucer wrapped in aluminum foil. you can't use direct heat for smoking, so you put something in there as a diffuser. a replacement charcoal grate for a 22" weber kettle (like $11 at lowe's) will fit perfectly on the 3 tabs inside the fire bowl. set the diffuser on that.

i was doing some indirect cooking at 375 deg and the terracotta saucer cracked in half, so now i've moved to a pizza pan.

chargriller sells what they call a "smokin' stone", but the weber grate provides more versatility. you can put charcoal on it so it's only a few inches away from the cooking grate for high temp searing. you can put drip pans on it. you can also wrap half of it in aluminum foil so you have a grill that is half indirect cooking and half direct.

[Edited on July 1, 2013 at 8:39 AM. Reason : also, the saucer wasn't really big enough. pizza pan blocks more area.]

7/1/2013 8:35:35 AM

i might as well turn this into my blog

i grilled some bacon (yes, my bacon is shaped like sperm whales):


then i grilled some shrimp marinated in a homemade tennessee whisky bbq sauce:


meanwhile, my wife was making some grits with chipotle habanero cheddar. grits, bacon, shrimp:


absolutely delicious

7/1/2013 8:09:33 PM

why didn't you just put water in the saucer

7/1/2013 9:12:10 PM

not sure why i need to. the air flow in a kamado is so low that you don't need a water pan to keep your bbq from drying out. it's easier to just throw some foil on it and throw it away when you're done.

7/1/2013 9:23:23 PM

it's more than just air flow. the heat itself will do that as well. and water makes a fantastic diffuser.

7/1/2013 9:28:28 PM

main reason i see to use a water pan is to put something in the smoker to add some thermal mass and help the temp remain stable. i haven't had any trouble holding mine stable, which is one of the reasons to use an insulated or ceramic kamado. i don't see where a water pan would help me at all. i haven't burned anything due to an insufficient diffuser.

250 deg is 250 deg. you're going to have to cook through the evaporative cooling process during the stall anyway.

[Edited on July 1, 2013 at 9:37 PM. Reason : adfs]

7/1/2013 9:36:07 PM

but maybe the majority of kamado users who aren't using water pans are all missing out. i'm smoking a butt thursday. i'll put a pan of water on top of my pizza pan and report back.

7/1/2013 9:47:29 PM

how did the grilled bacon turn out??

7/3/2013 9:50:30 AM

it was good. all the grease runs off and the akorn won't flare up with the lid shut..

[Edited on July 3, 2013 at 10:11 AM. Reason : i wish they didn't put that big logo in the center grate]

7/3/2013 10:10:23 AM

doing a couple butts tomorrow. getting together with neighbors for the 4th. starting them around 6 or 7 am.

7/3/2013 11:57:39 PM

Green Egg Setup is Done

7/4/2013 9:51:53 AM

nice

7/4/2013 11:06:17 AM

Thinkin I'm gonna go with an Akorn, I can deal with the small issues for that price leap

yall do make some tasty arguments though

7/4/2013 4:52:55 PM

I haven't had any of the leak issues that so many folks complain about. There isn't a drop of RTV on my Akorn. The only complaint I can possibly come up with is the wire coil thermometer in the lid is useless, but most of them are. You should go digital anyway.

7/4/2013 4:59:47 PM

plz 2 grill more bacon and post progression pics

7/4/2013 6:51:31 PM

what is your concern? just throw some on there next time you've got it fired up. cook it until it's the way you want it. i don't like mine crunchy.

most important thing is to choose good bacon. i like the thick sliced kind. the bacon in the pic was some thick sliced applewood bacon from costco and it was awesome.

7/4/2013 10:36:26 PM

butts turned out good. everyone seemed to like them and we sent plenty of leftover meat home with them.

made a second attempt at pizza tonight and it turned out much better. instead of making my own dough and resting it over night and blah blah blah, my wife just picked up a big ball of it from the new york style pizzeria across the street from where she works. it was enough for 2 pizzas and was about $4.50. tasted better than what i made and was easier to shape it.



i put a small pizza stone on the top rack to try to help brown the top of the pizzas:




had the grill somewhere over 500 degrees (over the range of my Maverick ET-732). they definitely had a wood-fired sort of taste. pretty tasty.

i've got another lump of dough, so i'm gonna try a bbq pizza later this weekend with some of the leftover pulled pork.

7/5/2013 8:30:59 PM

^ careful with that maverick. They really don't do well over ~450 or so and the probes will fail. They're great for lower temps but probably should stick with the dome thermo for stuff like pizza and searing. There should be something in the manual with the temps to stay away from.

7/6/2013 7:57:05 AM

the dome thermometer is useless on the akorn. it was reading about 400 deg last night and i know i had to be over 500. i'm actually going to a grill store today to see if i can find a good one that will fit the hole.

i don't remember the exact numbers, but the maverick errors out at 5XX deg and the manual says it's safe to 7XX. i've already got some replacement probes just in case. i didn't leave the maverick in there anyway. i hit 450 and was still rising pretty quick, so i went ahead and yanked it out.

7/6/2013 10:25:30 AM

^ nice job on the pizza. Going to try that again next weekend. Made my own dough and guess I was trying to make it too big for the amount of dough as it kept getting holes . Did you do the dough by hand or roll it out with a pin?

7/6/2013 11:18:53 AM

^^ weird. I went through 3 of them with my Primo (not knowing the first time, forgetting the 2nd, and a run away box on the third one). I thought that was the model I had but I guess not. I'll have to check my new one and see what it says. As for the stock thermometer, can you not calibrate it? Mine has a nut on the stem so that you can calibrate it if its off from the factory (they usually are).

7/6/2013 11:42:49 AM