tony b

From "the man:" Meathead at Amazing Ribs: Does meat stop taking on smoke? There is a popular myth that at some point the meat stops taking on smoke. Sorry, but meat does not have doors that it shuts at some time during a cook. There is a lot of smoke moving through the cooking chamber although sometimes it is not very visible. If the surface is cold or wet, more of it sticks. Usually, late in the cook, the bark gets pretty warm and dry, and by then the coals are not producing a lot of smoke. Smoke bounces off warm dry surfaces so we are fooled into thinking the meat is somehow saturated with smoke. Throw on a log and baste the meat and it will start taking on smoke again. Just don’t baste so often that you wash off the smoke and rub. To read the rest of the article: What You Need to Know About Wood, Smoke, And Combustion (amazingribs.com)

I have a good friend who runs a BBQ business here. He says that it's a struggle and you have to have the passion for it to keep going. His margins are razor thin and any bump in his costs hurts. Like you said, folks have it in their heads what they should pay for a pulled pork sandwich, notwithstanding what the true costs really are. COVID almost did him in, as he does a lot of catering of weddings, graduations, and corporate-sponsored events. That practically dried up during the quarantine and he barely made it on the carryout/delivery from the restaurant.

We got the word this week that ANOTHER BBQ place in town is closing as of this Saturday. That's 2 in the last 2 months. Both said that they just couldn't make it work. One had been a "staple" around here for many years. Hope it's not a trend! Fortunately, when I'm being lazy and not making my own Q, I still have several other spots in town to choose from.

I wish! Enjoy!

Looking forward to seeing it in action - with some meat and a fire going!

Yeah, before I started bringing it inside on super cold days, the first time I realized it was off (temps didn't make sense for the vent setting). I checked it and it was 50 degrees off on the low side!

220 C, I presume?

Fire it up!!

What??? I joke from @Poochie that's actually funny! A sure sign of the Apocalypse!

I'll 2nd the above. I've had to re-calibrate the thermometer on more than one occasion when I forgot to bring it inside. It's easily done, but why have to do it, when it's so easy to avoid it?

@Firemonkey - Happy to see you posting again!

I live in Iowa and we get pretty damn cold here in the middle of winter, but I still cook. My only temperature cutoff is not because of the KK, but because of ME! When the windchill hits negative numbers, I don't cook outside. I've cooked during snowstorms, as long as the temps stay above zero, I'm good.

The airflow inside the KK is pretty turbulent, so the meat is going to be enveloped in smoke, unless you have the pan just underneath the meat - I'm talking an inch or 2, not the distance from the lower grate and the main grate.

Yes, use the upper grate, direct heat. If you want crispy skin, you need dome temps around 425F. I usually cook the bird at 350F - 375F for the first 45 minutes and then ramp up to the higher temp for the last 30 minutes to crisp up the skin. Starting lower allows the bird to roast and remain juicy, then focus on the skin at the finish. YMMV

2 hours of good smoke should be a nice kiss of smoke. Once the external surface of the meat dries and hits around 140F, it stops absorbing smoke. If you want more smoke beyond that, that's why you spritz with some liquid to both lightly wet the surface and lower the temperature (evaporative cooling). But even this only works for a while.

You're set for wood for a while now.

One of our local pizza spots uses hot honey on their pizza. I like it - sweet & heat.

I checked my 2 sous vide cookbooks - one said 5 - 10 hour; the other said 16 - 24 hours. Most websites that I searched (Anova) are more in the 1st book's range. America's Test Kitchen was in the 16 - 24 hour range. So, you have a very wide range of cooking times, as @MacKenzie said.

Was down to my last vacuum bag of pulled pork, so Sunday was smoking butt day! Indirect (AL foil on lower grate), Guru set at 275F, meat alarm at 203F, smoker pot of hickory, apple and peach chunks. Butt was injected the day before with Butchers BBQ pork butt and Cajun Power garlic sauce. Dry rubbed on cook day with 3 Eyz BBQ Original and Holy Gospel (Meat Church). Pork plated with Mojo sauce, Drunken black beans (tequila, lime, onion, garlic, cilantro, S&P), and Jamaican curry rice.

OMG, That's gorgeous!

I fell in love with Barcelona! The food scene there is just "stoopid!" Every little neighborhood joint is excellent. Spaniards eat out a lot, so if a place isn't very good, it doesn't survive long! And don't get me started on Tapas! What's not to love - buy a beer, get free tasty snacks!

My normal routine is to check the 3 holes to see that they're not clogged. Place my wood chunks inside. Mix up the flour/water paste in a plastic sandwich bag (I buy the cheapest ones I can find, as this is all that I do with them). The consistency should be like PlayDoh (for folks that can remember playing with that stuff as a kid?) Pipe the mixture around the edge of the lid, smearing it out with a finger to close up any gaps. Place the lid on the pot and smear any mixture that oozes out around the seam to make sure to get a good seal - it's essential for the smoker pot to work properly. I light the coals and place the smoker pot on top of the lit area. Off to the races!

I have a Guru. I set it up to go right from the start, right after starting the fire. Let the controller & fan do its thing. Most overshoot problems come from windy days and getting vacuum drag across the top vent. Best way to prevent that is to have the top vent barely off its seat and to close the damper on the fan output to less than 50% closed. Since doing this, I've rarely had an overshoot problem on a long low & slow cook.

The fire gets hot enough that putting the AL foil pouch directly on it will cause it to oxidize and get very brittle - as you found out. Heavy Duty foil will work better, especially double wrapped. 2 Holes is plenty. That all being said, I'm a smoker pot guy almost all of the time on low & slow cooks. My rare exception is doing jerk chicken - a pouch of pimento wood pieces, leaves and berries (aka - allspice). The cook is too fast for the smoker pot to come up to temp and start producing smoke before the chicken gets done. YMMV

Fanfare music - dut, dut, dah, da! PBW* to the rescue! A couple hours soak in a warm PBW solution and everything will just wipe off with a paper towel or sponge. * = Powdered Brewers Wash: PBW Cleaner (fivestarchemicals.com)