birgey
Knows what a fatty is.
Some of you may recall that I was doing a huge cook for work. 8 butts, 12 racks of ribs, 4 chickens and a turkey. Well over 150lbs of food. I had my OKJoe, a coworker brought his El Cheapo Charbroil off set, and we had a WSM and an electric smoker. We used rubs that I made and the sauce that I made.
Here's a "recap" of how it went (sorry...no pics
)
Co worker was SUPER impressed with my OKJoe (and the mods I did).Some of the mods I've done to my OKJoe are: gasket kit around smoking chamber, 2 temp gauges on both ends of smoking chamber right above grates, aluminum duct inside the exhaust to lower the exhaust to grate level,lined the bottom of the firebox with more sheet metal to try and make it a little more insulated,and I "built" a small wall of ceramic briquettes in the smoking chamber up against the firebox to absorb/deflect some of the heat/fire.
All night long he was fighting with his fire and temps.He went through almost a whole can of *GASP* lighter fluid to get his fire started and to keep it going through the night!!! A few times his fire died so he doused it with more charcoal and lighter fluid.
I loaded my firebox up with some charcoal and a few chunks of hickory, lit my charcoal chimney,and once it was ready, I just threw that into my firebox and pretty much never had to touch mine again.:laugh: Well, except to add more pieces of hickory throughout the night.
On his Charbroil offset, he crammed 6 butts into it. On my OKJoe I put the 2 biggest butts in mine, 2 racks of ribs, and 1 chicken (yes, I kept PLENTY of space between them all as to not cross contaminate or anything). He was adamant about doing the butts on his smoker, and wanted to have 6 of them in his. About every hour and a half, he would rotate them around to try and keep them from burning. I tried to tell him I could prolly fit 6 or all 8 butts on mine, but he wasn't having it.
END RESULT OF BUTTS:
Cooked on El Cheapo = completely charred and solid black. Not much BARK because the outer part was BURNT. He wanted to pull them when the internal temp read 160* because "that's when pork is done". I told him that I cook my butts to an internal temp of 190-200*. He let them go until the internal temp was 180ish*. After they were pulled and a good portion of the "burn" tossed, they actually tasted alright. Definitely had to have sauce on them. Once the burnt parts was taken off, they had a nice smoke ring.
Butts cooked on OKJoe = technically, I wanted mine to stay on the grill longer, but they had been on there for 10 hours already and the rest of the store was wanting to eat. Oh well. Had I been home, I woulda let them stay on the grill longer. They had a good smoke ring, and pretty good bark (shoulda kept on the grill longer.). Good taste with or without sauce.
Electric Smoker
Neither of us had ever used an electric smoker. It was a Masterbuilt 1200 watt 40" tall electric smoker. We cut the remaining ribs in half and put them in the electric smoker. You basically "set it and forget it". Set the temperature you wanna cook at, and then set the timer for how long you wanna cook, and walk away. We fille dthe small wood chip box with apple chips,slid it in,and literally never had to check it or anything until we thought we needed more chips in it. Set the temp for 225* and let the ribs cook for like 5.5-6 hours. Another cool feature of this, and I'm gonna assume most, electric smokers is that it came with its own temp probe and the LED readout would show you the internal temp of the smoker, and then it would show the internal temp of the food. There was even a small light you could turn on when you opened the smoker so you could see the food, which was extremely useful as we started this entire cook at like midnight. About 45 minutes before the ribs were done, I slathered them down real good with sauce.
Now...before I get crucified, I KNOW this is almost sac-religious (at least to me since I've NEVER used an electric smoker and have always used an offset since I really got into BBQ) but OMG the ribs in the electric smoker were AWESOME! They could have had a little bit more "smoke" on them, but regardless they were good!!!
I'm actually thinking about maybe getting one sometime!
ANYWAY...on to the WSM...
Again, neither of us had ever used a WSM. It was the 18.5" WSM that we had. I put half charcoal/half lump in the bottom along with a few chunks of apple wood.. Started it using my charcoal starter (no lighter fluid for this guy!).Once the hot coals were poured on the bed of charcoal/lump, it didn't take long for it to hit 225*. The "water pan/bowl" I filled it with water, and then on the bottom rack I put the turkey, and the top rack we had chicken. I was really impressed with how well it maintained temps! I'm not exactly sure how much charcoal/lump (as far as how many pounds) was initially put in it. Every so often I would throw a few pieces of mesquite in, and would alternate between that and apple wood (I didn't wanna over do the mesquite, so I balanced it out with apple). I love the way how the water pan/bowl not only helps with the moisture in it, but also how it absorbs/deflects/blocks the flames and heat from burning any food you have on the bottom rack.
Obviously, the chicken was done before the turkey. The chicken, i think, could have been better. I usually pour beer inside the chicken when I'm at home. I couldn't do that as we were cooking at work. I think that's why the chicken was just "alright". It was missing that key ingredient!
The turkey....did I mention that this was the first whole turkey I've ever done?And that this was the first time I ever tried out a new rub recipe just for turkey and chicken? And that this was the first time ever using a WSM? Yeah....well....the turkey was FANTASTIC!!! Good smoke flavor, good seasoning, nice and moist. I'm DEFINITELY gonna be doing more turkeys! Especially since I'm gonna be getting that WSM at a freakin' STEAL after our next cookout at work!
I wish now I would've taken pics, but there were only 2 of us cooking and we had 4 different grills going, at different temps and different times, and had to keep up with what food goes on what grill, at what temp, for how long, etc etc etc. Plus having to try and get the break room ready and everything else.
As I look back, I'm SUPER glad that I got my OKJoe when I did and did the mods that I've done. It felt great when my co worker kept looking at it and talking about how great it was,etc etc. Was even better when he was fighting half the night to keep his Charbroil going and all I did to mine was just add more wood every so often. My temps stayed between 225-250* at grate level the entire night. His went anywhere from 150*-450*.
Also, EXTREMELY IMPRESSED with the electric smoker. Even if the one we used is a $199 one. It just goes to prove you don't have to have a $1500 cooker to turn out some great food!
And, also super impressed with the WSM. I can see now why people rave about them (and UDS's) so much. I actually have 4 55 gallon drums sitting at my house (they were used to store soybean oil in). The more I think about it, the more I wanna take them to a shop somewhere and have the lids cut off and start turning them into my own UDSs!!!
Sorry about not having any pics! Hope someone enjoys this post!
PS
Thanks for all the help and tips and tricks Brethren! Everyone absolutely LOVED everything we cooked.
Here's a "recap" of how it went (sorry...no pics
)Co worker was SUPER impressed with my OKJoe (and the mods I did).Some of the mods I've done to my OKJoe are: gasket kit around smoking chamber, 2 temp gauges on both ends of smoking chamber right above grates, aluminum duct inside the exhaust to lower the exhaust to grate level,lined the bottom of the firebox with more sheet metal to try and make it a little more insulated,and I "built" a small wall of ceramic briquettes in the smoking chamber up against the firebox to absorb/deflect some of the heat/fire.
All night long he was fighting with his fire and temps.He went through almost a whole can of *GASP* lighter fluid to get his fire started and to keep it going through the night!!! A few times his fire died so he doused it with more charcoal and lighter fluid.
I loaded my firebox up with some charcoal and a few chunks of hickory, lit my charcoal chimney,and once it was ready, I just threw that into my firebox and pretty much never had to touch mine again.:laugh: Well, except to add more pieces of hickory throughout the night.
On his Charbroil offset, he crammed 6 butts into it. On my OKJoe I put the 2 biggest butts in mine, 2 racks of ribs, and 1 chicken (yes, I kept PLENTY of space between them all as to not cross contaminate or anything). He was adamant about doing the butts on his smoker, and wanted to have 6 of them in his. About every hour and a half, he would rotate them around to try and keep them from burning. I tried to tell him I could prolly fit 6 or all 8 butts on mine, but he wasn't having it.
END RESULT OF BUTTS:
Cooked on El Cheapo = completely charred and solid black. Not much BARK because the outer part was BURNT. He wanted to pull them when the internal temp read 160* because "that's when pork is done". I told him that I cook my butts to an internal temp of 190-200*. He let them go until the internal temp was 180ish*. After they were pulled and a good portion of the "burn" tossed, they actually tasted alright. Definitely had to have sauce on them. Once the burnt parts was taken off, they had a nice smoke ring.
Butts cooked on OKJoe = technically, I wanted mine to stay on the grill longer, but they had been on there for 10 hours already and the rest of the store was wanting to eat. Oh well. Had I been home, I woulda let them stay on the grill longer. They had a good smoke ring, and pretty good bark (shoulda kept on the grill longer.). Good taste with or without sauce.
Electric Smoker
Neither of us had ever used an electric smoker. It was a Masterbuilt 1200 watt 40" tall electric smoker. We cut the remaining ribs in half and put them in the electric smoker. You basically "set it and forget it". Set the temperature you wanna cook at, and then set the timer for how long you wanna cook, and walk away. We fille dthe small wood chip box with apple chips,slid it in,and literally never had to check it or anything until we thought we needed more chips in it. Set the temp for 225* and let the ribs cook for like 5.5-6 hours. Another cool feature of this, and I'm gonna assume most, electric smokers is that it came with its own temp probe and the LED readout would show you the internal temp of the smoker, and then it would show the internal temp of the food. There was even a small light you could turn on when you opened the smoker so you could see the food, which was extremely useful as we started this entire cook at like midnight. About 45 minutes before the ribs were done, I slathered them down real good with sauce.
Now...before I get crucified, I KNOW this is almost sac-religious (at least to me since I've NEVER used an electric smoker and have always used an offset since I really got into BBQ) but OMG the ribs in the electric smoker were AWESOME! They could have had a little bit more "smoke" on them, but regardless they were good!!!
I'm actually thinking about maybe getting one sometime!
ANYWAY...on to the WSM...
Again, neither of us had ever used a WSM. It was the 18.5" WSM that we had. I put half charcoal/half lump in the bottom along with a few chunks of apple wood.. Started it using my charcoal starter (no lighter fluid for this guy!).Once the hot coals were poured on the bed of charcoal/lump, it didn't take long for it to hit 225*. The "water pan/bowl" I filled it with water, and then on the bottom rack I put the turkey, and the top rack we had chicken. I was really impressed with how well it maintained temps! I'm not exactly sure how much charcoal/lump (as far as how many pounds) was initially put in it. Every so often I would throw a few pieces of mesquite in, and would alternate between that and apple wood (I didn't wanna over do the mesquite, so I balanced it out with apple). I love the way how the water pan/bowl not only helps with the moisture in it, but also how it absorbs/deflects/blocks the flames and heat from burning any food you have on the bottom rack.
Obviously, the chicken was done before the turkey. The chicken, i think, could have been better. I usually pour beer inside the chicken when I'm at home. I couldn't do that as we were cooking at work. I think that's why the chicken was just "alright". It was missing that key ingredient!
The turkey....did I mention that this was the first whole turkey I've ever done?And that this was the first time I ever tried out a new rub recipe just for turkey and chicken? And that this was the first time ever using a WSM? Yeah....well....the turkey was FANTASTIC!!!
Good smoke flavor, good seasoning, nice and moist. I'm DEFINITELY gonna be doing more turkeys! Especially since I'm gonna be getting that WSM at a freakin' STEAL after our next cookout at work!I wish now I would've taken pics, but there were only 2 of us cooking and we had 4 different grills going, at different temps and different times, and had to keep up with what food goes on what grill, at what temp, for how long, etc etc etc. Plus having to try and get the break room ready and everything else.
As I look back, I'm SUPER glad that I got my OKJoe when I did and did the mods that I've done. It felt great when my co worker kept looking at it and talking about how great it was,etc etc. Was even better when he was fighting half the night to keep his Charbroil going and all I did to mine was just add more wood every so often. My temps stayed between 225-250* at grate level the entire night. His went anywhere from 150*-450*.
Also, EXTREMELY IMPRESSED with the electric smoker. Even if the one we used is a $199 one. It just goes to prove you don't have to have a $1500 cooker to turn out some great food!
And, also super impressed with the WSM. I can see now why people rave about them (and UDS's) so much. I actually have 4 55 gallon drums sitting at my house (they were used to store soybean oil in). The more I think about it, the more I wanna take them to a shop somewhere and have the lids cut off and start turning them into my own UDSs!!!
Sorry about not having any pics! Hope someone enjoys this post!
PS
Thanks for all the help and tips and tricks Brethren! Everyone absolutely LOVED everything we cooked.
