What's Hittin' the Grill or Smoker?

[TNTreeHugger]

.

 

[Buckshot00]

Grilled some chicken wings tonight.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

1) I am a firefighter and so those fellas keep me pretty busy with weddings, graduation parties etc. but truthfully I have the most fun cooking for friends and family and or various charity events. My wife works with make a wish foundation so I do a fund raiser for them annually. I also worth with a few veterans and I have do a lot of fundraising for wounded warrior project. BBQ isn't a cheap hobby, all told in It for upwards of $50,000 so a few paying gigs a year like weddings helps keep the hobby going and helps me come up the upgrades to my arsenal every year( I don't believe in resting on your laurels). Making a little money on a few bigger gigs every year helps me do more pro bono events. I usually cook about 20-30 events a year and take January-March off. I specialize in events from 100-500 people.

2) 100% self taught welder and fabricator. <snip> Sometimes making a few gussets took an hour or two, starting with cardboard then going to metal, whereas a water jet or plasma cutter would have been nice and made things quicker, just didn't have access to one.

I appreciate all the kind words about my smoker, I would like to find a way to take a walk around video and show you guys some more of the features that these pics can't show or explain. I don't have a YouTube channel but if anyone knows how to post a video I will shoot it tomorrow and post it. Please pm me and explain how to post. I think there are some cool design features you guys will really dig. Thanks

thanks for your reply. interesting. I read every word ~

wondering? tell us how you start your fire. I see its charcoal and wood... but maybe you could share more about it? also, from time you lay out the fire, get it going... how long before you start to put your meats on? do u let it 'heat soak' for a while... first? come up to temps? then wait and then add the meats?... if you add charcoal, do u just put the briquetts on, or do u start them in a starter first?... just wondering ~

 

[svk]

Work picnic last night. I told the other guys I'd handle grilling as some folks are downright scary at the grill.

Cooked for about 100 people. Ran through two large bags of charcoal over 4 hours of cooking.

Did a bunch of beans in my Dutch oven too which folks really scarfed up.

 

[Firemoore98]

thanks for your reply. interesting. I read every word ~

wondering? tell us how you start your fire. I see its charcoal and wood... but maybe you could share more about it? also, from time you lay out the fire, get it going... how long before you start to put your meats on? do u let it 'heat soak' for a while... first? come up to temps? then wait and then add the meats?... if you add charcoal, do u just put the briquetts on, or do u start them in a starter first?... just wondering ~

Fire management is a huge part of grilling or smoking. Knowing your pit and how to maintain temps for long period AND how to correct "situations" where things go wrong without overshooting temps too high or too low. Some of the large scale BBQ teams have designated fire tenders, these guys stay up all night tending to the fires, but they do not have any responsibly dealing directly with the meat spicing, saucing etc. Smoking is more of a marathon compared to grilling because the cook times are sooo long (Ribs @6-7hrs, brisket, 5-7, whole hog 100lbs @26hrs etc) if your goal is 250 degrees and it rains or gets really windy, the pit master must first predict those events and have enough forethought to have a fire stoked to overcome that foreseeable drop in temps. Or if the pit master over shoots his goal he must make adjustments or even remove coals.

As it pertains to "even cooking grate temps", everyone thinks a great rig cooks perfectly even. That is like chasing a rainbow.. And besides that I like "hot and cold" spots on my cooking grate, that way I can time up larger and smaller meats to be done at the same time. That takes many cooks and lots of thermometers to get to a point with your rig before you know how she cooks and how she performed loaded/unloaded, outdoor temps, windy day, rain etc all change pit grate temps. Basically this ain't baking cookies in an over... That would be too easy.

Now that I've given history and background to the importance of fire management, how I do it.

In this pic you can see I start with a bag 20lbs of kingsford charcoal as a bed, and I put a blend of apple or beach fruit woods with 50% shag bark hickory. Personal preference here on your woods, but these tend to be pretty mellow and are what is most preferred in my region, BBQ is as regional as college football we all like different things and that's okay (go Buckeyes). The T shaped metal pieces can act like a maze for the charcoal to chase from one end to the other. I start the charcoal at the left side and open with 2 1/2" ball valve at the right end of the burn chamber to make the charcoal chase the oxygen through the maze of Ts. Also you may have seen a large valve like a choke in a carb, in the chimney between the burn chamber and larger cook chamber. This valve helps me fine tune temps. The goal is to never stoke to large of a fire. An oxygen deprived fire will have blue wispy smoke that is bitter, it's dragnet smoke if you will. Having an oxygen controlled fire with my ball valves and never having too large of a fire is my goal.

Choke tube controls

I always take the hard road... To answer your question on a simple level I use a charcoal chimney starter with newspaper. NO propane for this guy. More a pride thing than anything. No lighter fluid.

I get about 4-5hours burn time with a 20lbs bag of charcoal. The changeover to new charcoal is a little tricky but hey I don't wanna bake cookies I wanna be a pit master.

Jason


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CentaurG2]

That is one great looking pit. I have always wanted a Horizon smoker or an Engelbrecht grill but ended up with a big green egg. The egg uses hardwood lump charcoal lit with a map torch. Took a bit of time to get use to the difference between briquets and lump but I do feel the lump gives better results. I have noticed that Kinsford now makes all natural “competition” briquets. Trader Joes also offers all natural briquets. I have not tried them but they claim to give longer, hotter burn times than standard briquets. Lump is easy to light but it burns hot and fast if you do not control the amount of air. You can easily push the egg well over 800F with a good clip of lump. It makes for a great pizza but doing high heat cooks will roach the eggs gaskets.

 

[Firemoore98]

Lump indeed has great flavor, but burns hot, fast and less predictable compared to kingsford.

Trader Joes is one of the best secrets in lump charcoal!!

Kingsford is my go to for temp regulation and duration of even heat dissipation. I just can't trust lump. Now I do cheat and use some lump on things like chicken that need higher temps to get bit through skin. But you gotta be careful it can be hard to predict flare ups/burn times.

Try kingsford with chunks of soaked wood such that it off gases flavor slowly. Chunks of fruit woods/hickory etc about the size of your fist soaked in water for several hours work great in green eggs.

The green egg is a crazy well built and thought out out smoker/grilling machine. Tons of aftermarket support/recipes out there and best of all it is an easy pit to manage temps in no matter what Mother Nature throws at ya.

Let see some pics of that thing in action!!!

Jason


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CentaurG2]

I am lucky I can pick my nose never mind try to post pics online. I did three racks of “car wash mikes” ribs the other day on the egg using some soaked hickory chunks. Did 4 hours at 225 and 1 hour at 250. They came out stellar and I am not much of a BBQ fan. The egg does a great job at holding both heat and oddly enough, moisture.

Tonight is EZ pizza. Just a store bought shell with some sauce and cheese. I use something called a woo ring (seriously) to boost the pizza stone high up into the lid of the egg. Heat bounces off the top of the dome down onto the top of the pizza. With a fresh dough pizza you really need to get heat management right to cook both the top and bottom simultaneously. Shells are way easier but don’t taste anywhere near as good as homemade thin crust.

 

[Firemoore98]

Pics are super easy to post if you use the tapatalk app on your phone or iPad etc.

Sounds delicious. I'm so busy this time of year with cattering I don't have time to branch out and try as much new stuff as I would like and on my days off I end up eating salad with my vegetarian wife...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CentaurG2]

You are talking to the last person on the planet that does not own a cell phone. Nothing wrong with a good salad. Did you know you can grill romaine lettuce and it is actually good? Simple vinaigrette and a minute or 2 on high heat turning frequently. We grow a red variety called Rouge d’Hiver and a green variety called Parris island Cos. I will often grill them as they get close to bolt. Give it a try.

 

[amberg]

Work picnic last night. I told the other guys I'd handle grilling as some folks are downright scary at the grill.

Cooked for about 100 people. Ran through two large bags of charcoal over 4 hours of cooking.

View attachment 507523

Did a bunch of beans in my Dutch oven too which folks really scarfed up.

" Winner " svk, those burgers look ready to come off, nice and juicy!

 

[stillhunter]

Smoked some chicken thighs this evening to perfection.......Indirected a full charcoal starter in the webber and heated the grill for 15 mins.
I put the thighs skin side down and brushed the meat side w Bo's bbq sauce........ 30 mins before the grill was ready.
1 hr. skin side down w the vents 1/3 closed....330*
flipped and brushed the skin side and choked it down for another hour...........tender, juicy and deeeeeeeelicious.


I found a trick to get the newspaper type charcoal starters going faster.

load the newspaper in the bottom and jamb or hold a narrow piece of split wood or a 1 1/2" dowel or fat stick into the center of the starter and pour the charcoal around it.
Then carefully pull the wood out and leave a hole up through the coals and light it up.
the hole lets the flame shoot up through the center of the coals and gets all the coals top to bottom hot quicker and before the bottom ones are burning down like they will w/o the tunnel of fire.


......update w pics...............before w the raw chicken slathered w bos......it looks like garlic all over but it's the reflection of 2 lights on the bbq sauce under the hood.....

and the finished product fresh off the grill........... a few pieces are mysteriously missing..??...

 

[USMC615]

Four half chickens rolled on low heat earlier today (brother got them started while I was at work), turned the heat up just a notch towards the end to get a little crunchy skin, while they got pumped down the whole time with apple juice, white vinegar, water mix. The rear two are lemon & pepper, the front two are a chicken rub I crafted. Got a pot of purple hull peas, rice, and a big ol' batch of fried okra waiting inside. Looking like another round with the recliner after this one.

 

[Firemoore98]

Solid work brother, you nailed it!!!

Bite through skin is always a challenge with chicken.

Jason


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[srb08]

Four half chickens rolled on low heat earlier today (brother got them started while I was at work), turned the heat up just a notch towards the end to get a little crunchy skin, while they got pumped down the whole time with apple juice, white vinegar, water mix. The rear two are lemon & pepper, the front two are a chicken rub I crafted. Got a pot of purple hull peas, rice, and a big ol' batch of fried okra waiting inside. Looking like another round with the recliner after this one.
View attachment 507752

Those are some handsome birds. I look forward to hearing how your rub worked out.

 

[srb08]

Solid work brother, you nailed it!!!

Bite through skin is always a challenge with chicken.

Jason


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This ain't his first rodeo.

 

[USMC615]

Had a pack of ten country-style ribs that needed to hit the grill so they went on this afternoon. Pot of Lima beans, rice, and a couple of sliced maters. Turned out good, fat and happy, and had a relaxing Fathers' Day enjoying the US Open.

 

[svk]

Had a nice dinner with my parents in law.

Porterhouses for FIL and me, NY strip for MIL.

Here's mine, the smaller of the two.

 

[Thornton]

Had a nice dinner with my parents in law.

Porterhouses for FIL and me, NY strip for MIL.

Here's mine, the smaller of the two.
View attachment 509183[/QUOTE

That looks like a good Texas T bone

 

[Thornton]

Hope I get to grill some ribs,wings and jalapeño poppers this weekend