Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Ya I have the Traeger cover also. metal hooks on the front piece and then straps on the bottom of it. Works well and holds temp pretty good. Didn't go through as much fuel as I did when I smoked Christmas dinner without it on. Still more than I would use for a comparable cook in the summer months.

 

YOu can do all those thing with a propane grill and then you get the awesome flavor the propane adds to it. Don't even have to worry about adding charcoal or wood to it. Just get one of those HUGE propane tanks and you can cook for WEEKS/MONTHS straight.

 

Bummed. Took my friend to Costco today so he could pick up a brisket for his trip he is going on Monday. I was going to pick up my brisket also. They only had 1 left, supposed to get more but dang now I have to go back again.

 

I actually did a bunch of research on the Akorn Kamado (which is on Jet right now for $288 and a lot of the consensus I got was that the BGE and those like it are only slightly better but not enough is gained with them to offset the 100% to 200% increase in price that comes with them. I ALMOST pulled the plug on it before I got my Traeger but I decided I wanted something that was bigger so I could do more at one time. I am still considering picking one up this summer to do some things on it that I don't do with my Traeger.

 

I wish man lol. My friend is lucky he is more like my brother or I would have taken it.

 

I think its because electric you can set the temp and time and not necessarily worry about it. coal you have to tend to it more. just my .02cts

 

If he was more like a brother you would have taken it and said "sorry bro"

 

Ya that was the issue I had. I wanted to look at a bunch of brands of stuff when I got the Traeger but most of it I couldn't see/touch to decide.

 

If wasn't about to drive 6 hours to the middle of nowhere to go snowmobiling for the week I might have done so. He is the main cook when a bunch of people go so I figured I didn't want 10 people I know starving and mad. lol

 

You got it. My honest opinion is the Akorn, they seem well made, they hold heat well and the price is good. Give you the best of both worlds without the $600+ cost of the others. Like I said I'm honestly thinking of adding one this summer for things like when I want to reverse sear my steaks.

 

Wife got me one of these for my birthday.

BakerStone Pizza Oven Outdoor, 5-Sided Stone Pizza Oven Box Kit for Gas Grill Top with Wood Paddle, Turning Peel, Dust Cover, Original Series

https://www.amazon.com/BakerStone-O...=8-1&keywords=bakerstone&th=1#customerReviews

It looks awesome. It will likely work on my current grill, but it's old and rusting through. I want a new grill and i'm looking at a Primo XL. i'm trying to figure out if it will fit on the Primo. Any thoughts? the dimisions of the bakerStone is 22x16. The Primo Cook surface is 18x25, but its rounded.

 

If you get a Primo with a ceramic plate setter you will not need your pizza bake stone. The Primo is already a bigger version of what's pictured.

 

Would you mind taking a pic of the bottom straps/hooks? I bought a thermal blanket for my GMG but the bottom doesn't fit the curve. So there is a gap of several inches, front and back

 

I'm going to try this. Marinade recipe? Google comes up with mostly brown sugar and pepper. I also think I will use a frogmat instead of skewers. Thoughts?
And thank you, or as my Dad used to say, "much obliged".

 

Once I can get back to the garage I will take a picture of mine. In the meantime I found this picture which is a smaller version of what I have (I have the larger smoker).

The piece on the left on mine has 3 of the metal J hooks that hook onto the front lip of the barrel when the lid is open. The larger piece hooks around the handle then wraps around the back/bottom. The straps hook to the small part like you see in the picture below and you just pull it tight. Does a good job at least on mine. Like I said once I get out to the garage I will get a picture of mine installed.

 

Rub out the meat and smoke some butt, that sounds very wrong.

 

Just rubbed down a 10lb pork butt to smoke tomorrow for shift on saturday

 

The ability to turn it into a Pit Barrel Cooker or Drum Cooker. And cook directly over coals or use a diffuser plate. Totally different flavor profile than a ceramic indirect heat, or WSM indirect. Including using a vertical skewer Shawarma style.



And also using a rotisserie. Fowl is best done on a roti, just ask Costco. But I can do it even better than they can cooking directly over coals at a distance. And a better flavor profile. But also do turkeys that turn out better than turkey done any other way that I have eaten.

Keep in mind that while a ceramic will function as a grill they will not do true 2 zone cooking with indirect heat. Except for the higher end ones: Primo Oval XL, KJ Big Joe with divide and conquor system, Komodo Kamado 23" OTB. And run $1.5K-$5K. Only applies if you use 2 zones to grill with. And I often do.

I would leave the Wellsboro, Pa. recruiting station with snow on the ground and by the time I got down to Harrisburg or Philly District HQ there would be leaves on the trees and green grass. Thinking your down in that area. And it averages 20° colder per day here than Wellsboro in January. You live in the tropics compared to here LOL but then again so does most of the rest of the country. It is safe to say I am well versed in smoking and cooking in the cold seeing how I live in the coldest State in CONUS now.

On the thermal mass in the WSM lots is not an accurate description. Most new to the WSM use the water pan filled with water, then progress to a dry pan as they learn. Most run dry after awhile without anything in the bowl. I actually use the thin light weight heat shield that is on the bottom as my heat deflector wrapped in aluminium foil and nothing in it. I have no problem with heat stabilization in the WSM, even in below zero weather.

Any marinade that you like will work of course. I personally love the Filipino style and have been trying to reproduce it. What I use per 2 pounds of meat is:

garlic - 1 teaspoon, finely minced
soy sauce - 1/2 cup
calamansi juice (the Filipino lime) - 1/4 cup, or use fresh lemons
banana catsup - 1/2 cup, (or use tomato catsup)
ginger ale - 8 ounces or 1 can (or use 7-Up or Sprite)
brown sugar - 1/2 cup
sea salt - 1 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper powder - 1 teaspoon

Seeing how it sliced already should only take a couple of hours to marinate. Then baste as your cooking basting and turning often. Turn often. Turn often...

Never used frogmats, I like meat on a stick But if you have them don't know why it wouldn't work? Hope it turns out well for you no matter how you do it!

 

You really are unfamiliar with BGE's or ceramic cookers in general. How is it that coals cannot be cooked over. Simply place a grill grate over the coal an there you go cooking over coals.

Indirect cooking is also easily done, that what the plate setter is for. If you didn't have a plate setter you could deflect heat with aluminum foil.

Honestly if rotisserie cooking were that magical it would not be that hard to adapt a rotisserie motor to spin a bird over the BGE or my Lodge Hibachi but honestly here is no need with the ceramic as it does a perfect job within going round and round. I could also hang a chunk of meat from the lid to "drum cook" but what is the difference if I suspend a piece of meat above the coals or suspend a piece of meat above the coals on a rack??

And lastly yeah its a tropical paradise here. Temperature swings from -10 to + 105