Vinny P
Found some matches.
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2014
- Location
- Charlott...
Hi all. I'm a newbie to the BBQ scene, but have spent a lot of time in the kitchen, both cooking and baking. I recently finished building an Ugly Drum Smoker with the help of a "Big Poppa Smoker" kit, and have some questions regarding the first few cooks I've done on it.
First off, I started with a brand NEW unlined drum. Seasoned it with vegetable oil, and ran it "dry" at about 325 for about 5 hours on a chimney full of Kingsford briquettes (the blue bag) and some hickory wood chips.
The next day at the suggestion of quite a few, I decided to cook a fatty to help with the seasoning process. So I loaded up the basket about halfway with more Kingsford briquettes, and two good handfuls of soaked hickory chips. Using the minion method, I lit off about 1/2 a chimney full of briquettes until they were ashed over and completely grey. Added those to the middle of the basket and got temps stable to about 240. Set the fatty on and cooked to an internal temp of 165 after about an hour and a half.
All seemed ok, but the smell and taste had a definitely undesirable quality to it. I'd have to liken it to a sort of petroleum type of smell/flavor. Keep in mind that I didn't use ANY lighter fluid or starter at all, had NO thick white smoke during the cook (although a thin white stream of smoke from the wood chips was evident throughout). I don't have a lot to compare to, so I don't know if I was just too heavy handed with the wood chips, or if the briquettes that were cold put off an odd smell (read that's possible somewhere else) or if there is something I just didn't consider.
So I decided to try a Pork Shoulder and go a completely different route. Got a bag of lump charcoal instead, and filled the basket completely. Lit it off with about 20 Kingsford briquettes in a chimney starter and made sure they were GLOWING hot. Poured in the middle of the basket minion method style and got the temps stable to 225 and set the shoulder on for about 6 hours (only a 6 lb butt). NO wood chips at all for smoke this time.
So after 6 hours of low and slow, (very faint smoke the entire cook) a two hour rest, and one more hour out of the foil to set the bark, we pulled it and found it had a really nice pink smoke ring, good flavor, and was tender, but not overly done. However, there was still a slightly off flavor like a background note of the same petroleum variety that was overwhelming on the fatty the prior cook. (only one day apart from the cooks).
So was that just residual flavor that was cooked into the pork shoulder from the fatty the day before? It wasn't nearly as strong, but still was present.
Like I said, I don't have a lot to compare to. The local BBQ restaurants I've been to so far here in South Charlotte just don't have a product I'd consider raving about. If the shoulder didn't have that hint of off taste, I'd say it was better than anything I've had otherwise. But I'm sure that's biased because I've cooked it myself. What chef doesn't think their food is great?
Sorry about the long winded post, but I wanted to be thorough in describing what I've done so far.
Please let me know what your thoughts are, and if you have any suggestions or tips. I'm looking forward to getting better and cooking up some awesome BBQ.
Thanks,
Vinny
First off, I started with a brand NEW unlined drum. Seasoned it with vegetable oil, and ran it "dry" at about 325 for about 5 hours on a chimney full of Kingsford briquettes (the blue bag) and some hickory wood chips.
The next day at the suggestion of quite a few, I decided to cook a fatty to help with the seasoning process. So I loaded up the basket about halfway with more Kingsford briquettes, and two good handfuls of soaked hickory chips. Using the minion method, I lit off about 1/2 a chimney full of briquettes until they were ashed over and completely grey. Added those to the middle of the basket and got temps stable to about 240. Set the fatty on and cooked to an internal temp of 165 after about an hour and a half.
All seemed ok, but the smell and taste had a definitely undesirable quality to it. I'd have to liken it to a sort of petroleum type of smell/flavor. Keep in mind that I didn't use ANY lighter fluid or starter at all, had NO thick white smoke during the cook (although a thin white stream of smoke from the wood chips was evident throughout). I don't have a lot to compare to, so I don't know if I was just too heavy handed with the wood chips, or if the briquettes that were cold put off an odd smell (read that's possible somewhere else) or if there is something I just didn't consider.
So I decided to try a Pork Shoulder and go a completely different route. Got a bag of lump charcoal instead, and filled the basket completely. Lit it off with about 20 Kingsford briquettes in a chimney starter and made sure they were GLOWING hot. Poured in the middle of the basket minion method style and got the temps stable to 225 and set the shoulder on for about 6 hours (only a 6 lb butt). NO wood chips at all for smoke this time.
So after 6 hours of low and slow, (very faint smoke the entire cook) a two hour rest, and one more hour out of the foil to set the bark, we pulled it and found it had a really nice pink smoke ring, good flavor, and was tender, but not overly done. However, there was still a slightly off flavor like a background note of the same petroleum variety that was overwhelming on the fatty the prior cook. (only one day apart from the cooks).
So was that just residual flavor that was cooked into the pork shoulder from the fatty the day before? It wasn't nearly as strong, but still was present.
Like I said, I don't have a lot to compare to. The local BBQ restaurants I've been to so far here in South Charlotte just don't have a product I'd consider raving about. If the shoulder didn't have that hint of off taste, I'd say it was better than anything I've had otherwise. But I'm sure that's biased because I've cooked it myself. What chef doesn't think their food is great?
Sorry about the long winded post, but I wanted to be thorough in describing what I've done so far.
Please let me know what your thoughts are, and if you have any suggestions or tips. I'm looking forward to getting better and cooking up some awesome BBQ.
Thanks,
Vinny