The Smoke Ninja Challenge

Well pit is getting to temp. Actually i waaaay over shot. Getting my first lesson in insulated cookers before the meat is even on. its just about settled in so the meat is going in any minute. Ebi's custom intake was frozen/crudded up from previous user and is giving me some trouble :mad:. Ill get some pics of the intake, his mod is designed to make up for one of the akorns known issues, the super sensitive intake adjustment

Here we go
.
 
smoke ninja said:
Well pit is getting to temp. Actually i waaaay over shot. Getting my first lesson in insulated cookers before the meat is even on. its just about settled in so the meat is going in any minute. Ebi's custom intake was frozen/crudded up from previous user and is giving me some trouble :mad:. Ill get some pics of the intake, his mod is designed to make up for one of the akorns known issues, the super sensitive intake adjustment

Here we go
.
Click to expand...

Tried to warn you yesterday about how those Temps just keep going. I'm curious to see what happens when you open the lid to put the meat on. Don't keep it open for more than a few seconds. I tried making moinks on mine, adding those one at a time my Temps shot up 100 degrees because it took me about 1 min to get them all in. I managed to get the Temps back down but it was a pain. Don't be looking very often or again she'll get all hot and bothered on you! :biggrin1:

I may have missed it, but what are you going to cook?
 
Yea it was brutal this morning.



A sunny day in February means it gonna be cold. Temps have climbed to a balmy -10 real feel.

On the menu is ribs, a fatty, and maybe a throwdown surprise.

Here's the charcoal basket loaded up, we'll see how much fuel she burns.



Here's the modded intake, after this cook I'll take it apart and clean it up.




It's designed to make control easier at smoking temps.
 
Nice.... You're a brave man Ninja... -15 air temp this morning south of Ann Arbor when I left for work at 6:30... Wind chill was in the -30 neighborhood lol
Those are some nice thick looking spares too... Where did you buy those bad boys?
 
DetTigersFan said:
Nice.... You're a brave man Ninja... -15 air temp this morning south of Ann Arbor when I left for work at 6:30... Wind chill was in the -30 neighborhood lol
Those are some nice thick looking spares too... Where did you buy those bad boys?
Click to expand...

I got them at meijer. I was actually a little disappointed. They seem to be a new brand that they stock now. They previously were trimmed a bit, no breast bone, some of the loose meat on the end, ect. These were totally untrimmed. They also now read "tender and juicy" which i take to mean enhanced. They have that same reddish liquid in the package as tyson brand ribs and ive never liked those.well see though, for $2 lbs they werent a bad deal.


Robs are looking good and the akorn is holding steady.
 
smoke ninja said:
I got them at meijer. I was actually a little disappointed. They seem to be a new brand that they stock now. They previously were trimmed a bit, no breast bone, some of the loose meat on the end, ect. These were totally untrimmed. They also now read "tender and juicy" which i take to mean enhanced. They have that same reddish liquid in the package as tyson brand ribs and ive never liked those.well see though, for $2 lbs they werent a bad deal.


Robs are looking good and the akorn is holding steady.
Click to expand...
Yeah man $2 per lb is a pretty good deal in my book... I've never messed with anything enhanced before though. Not sure I want to try them honestly...
 
Fatty looks good, you even managed to get a slight smoke ring which is fairly difficult in an Akorn.
I'd be interested in your opinion of the flavor of the fatty and the ribs when you are done. Me and my family agree fatties and ribs are much better coming off the OTG.
One more question, what are you using for fuel and smoke?

Thanks for the show I know I'm enjoying it at least! :pop2:
 
AClarke44 said:
Fatty looks good, you even managed to get a slight smoke ring which is fairly difficult in an Akorn.
I'd be interested in your opinion of the flavor of the fatty and the ribs when you are done. Me and my family agree fatties and ribs are much better coming off the OTG.
One more question, what are you using for fuel and smoke?

Thanks for the show I know I'm enjoying it at least! :pop2:
Click to expand...


The fatty came out good, I'd say about the same as always. I run a pretty clean fire most of the time anyway. Most often there is not much visible smoke coming from any of my cookers. I'm using frontier lump and cherry wood chunks. I used way more wood then on the weber, about 4 or 5 good chunks but I split them down into smaller pieces and mixed it into ebi's charcoal basket. There's a pic of it earlier in the thread.

Ribs are getting close
 
The last rack of spares (trimmed) I got from Meijer weren't that great either Ninja. On the surface they looked good and were pretty well trimmed but the taste was a bit off (wondering if these too were "enhanced") and there was a big line of fat running above the bone but under the muscle and it was not s'good. They looked pretty in pictures though :( Good on you for cooking in this weather!
 
smoke ninja said:
The fatty came out good, I'd say about the same as always. I run a pretty clean fire most of the time anyway. Most often there is not much visible smoke coming from any of my cookers. I'm using frontier lump and cherry wood chunks. I used way more wood then on the weber, about 4 or 5 good chunks but I split them down into smaller pieces and mixed it into ebi's charcoal basket. There's a pic of it earlier in the thread.

Ribs are getting close
Click to expand...

I use royal oak in mine. I will agree that the akorn sips fuel. One of the reasons I haven't sold it yet. I like clean fires too but for some reason smoked food just tastes better off the kettle.
 
toddrhodes said:
The last rack of spares (trimmed) I got from Meijer weren't that great either Ninja. On the surface they looked good and were pretty well trimmed but the taste was a bit off (wondering if these too were "enhanced") and there was a big line of fat running above the bone but under the muscle and it was not s'good. They looked pretty in pictures though :( Good on you for cooking in this weather!
Click to expand...


They are definitely a new brand/packaging. They never said "tender and juicy" before which is code for enhanced usually. i wonder why the change? I believe they are family owned but it's a large company, I think of it as Walmart with a soul. I'm normally happy with their meat and produce. These ribs didn't have the super hammy taste I have experienced from the tyson but they weren't as good as the old ones
 
AClarke44 said:
I use royal oak in mine. I will agree that the akorn sips fuel. One of the reasons I haven't sold it yet. I like clean fires too but for some reason smoked food just tastes better off the kettle.
Click to expand...

IMHO you don't get quite as much of a "smokey" taste is due to the extremely little amount of coal and wood that actually get burned thru a cook. One of the reasons I didn't care for the Acorn as much as my other smokers. The food tastes just fine, just not as much smoke flavor. I don't have a problem paying and using more coal and wood to get the flavor profile I'm looking for. And that Acorn uses about a total of 2 hrs worth of coals as when I smoke on my UDS's when I'm smoking for 7 to 8 hrs when smoking for the same amount of time and temp. If that makes sense.
 
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