Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details

[tony b]

You do know that I was born and raised in SC - no Yankee here, despite where I live now! 

[Poochie]

Come on down here. It's almost crawfish season again. 

[tony b]

Bon temps!

[johnnymnemonic]

On 1/18/2022 at 6:02 PM, Poochie said:

everyone North of I10 is considered a Yankee around here

Dang that's a really low bar. 

[johnnymnemonic]

Pork butts with mustard binder and DAS BBQ rub from a home town joint. Pork loin roasts with DAS BBQ high octane sauce with espresso infusion as binder with Jansal Valley coffee chili rub.

Both came out good.
I slightly overlooked the loins. Flavor was awesome.

This batch of pork BBQ from the shoulder butts had great bark but I think I prefer wrapping and going a little lower temp to pull than 203F. A little too much fat rendered out of this batch and wasn’t quite as moist as I usually want.

Flavor and bark were incredible though. Chewy. Bacon-y. Smelled like Heaven.












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[Dabble]

Greeting from sunny Tucson Arizona,

I hope I am not being rude by breaking into this conversation.  I created this same post under beef recipes.  I thought I would get more responses by using this thread.

I have recently picked up a BB32 to replace a simple propane cabinet smoker.  This is my first post after much reading and a few cooks.  I am excited to be part of the community!

I have stoked up the billows on the KK a few times and I am still working on temp control.  I am cooking up a brisket this weekend for a birthday party.  I would love to hear the voices of experience.  I am going to fill up the basket with lump after I strategically place a few pieces of smoking wood.  I will probably use 5 or 6 pieces of mesquite.  I think I will use 2 lighting cubes to get the party started.  I have two questions:

1. Has anyone ever experimented with where you start the fire? I have been lighting the lump in the middle of the basket.  The burns have been inconsistent.  I thought about lighting the right (or left) side to allow the burn to migrate and possible increase the stability.  Or, I could be overthinking it...

2. I want to smoke the brisket at 225 +/-.  Does anybody have setting suggestions? I under stand that I only need to open the top about 1 inch.  Where are you setting the upper and lower dampers to get 225 using the BB32?

I am excited to hear back from you.  I will post the cook when I finish.

[johnnymnemonic]

32 minutes ago, Dabble said:

Greeting from sunny Tucson Arizona,

I hope I am not being rude by breaking into this conversation.  I created this same post under beef recipes.  I thought I would get more responses by using this thread.

I have recently picked up a BB32 to replace a simple propane cabinet smoker.  This is my first post after much reading and a few cooks.  I am excited to be part of the community!

I have stoked up the billows on the KK a few times and I am still working on temp control.  I am cooking up a brisket this weekend for a birthday party.  I would love to hear the voices of experience.  I am going to fill up the basket with lump after I strategically place a few pieces of smoking wood.  I will probably use 5 or 6 pieces of mesquite.  I think I will use 2 lighting cubes to get the party started.  I have two questions:

1. Has anyone ever experimented with where you start the fire? I have been lighting the lump in the middle of the basket.  The burns have been inconsistent.  I thought about lighting the right (or left) side to allow the burn to migrate and possible increase the stability.  Or, I could be overthinking it...

2. I want to smoke the brisket at 225 +/-.  Does anybody have setting suggestions? I under stand that I only need to open the top about 1 inch.  Where are you setting the upper and lower dampers to get 225 using the BB32?

I am excited to hear back from you.  I will post the cook when I finish.

I usually cook my briskets at 275.  I did a couple of chuck roasts a few days ago at 275 with my billows.  I had my KK top vent open between 1/4 and 1/2 turn.  I had all bottom vents closed other than the billows being in the guru port.  I had the little yellow billows damper open about halfway.  I had the basket splitter set up so that charcoal was only on the right side and the food on the left.  I have a 42 not a 32. But this cook was very consistent for me.  

I light my fire with a looftlighter. I light about a baseball sized amount of charcoal.  At the point that I light the fire, I already have the smokeX2 and the billows running.  after lighting the baseball sized amount of charcoal, I close the lid and let the grill warm up to temp prior to putting the food on.  in this case I didn't wait all the way until the grate thermometer was reading 275 - it was close though and the thick white smoke had subsided letting me know we were getting nice blue smoke.  (about 30 mins or so).

The Billows kept it pegged within 5 degrees of 275 for the 3 or 4 hours these took to cook.  

One of my first cooks with my KK was brisket and if I were doing a brisket I might set up the grill the same as I did then.  I might put foil across most of the lower grate and use the full firebox just to be sure that I had enough fuel so that no reloading was necessary.

I think putting a few pieces of wood on the bottom of your firebox and then putting coal on top is a good approach. I have done this with the cook in the pictures in this post and with the pork cook above and I got plenty of smoke flavor and it was not acrid tasting in the food.

About the fire meandering around in the firebox - don't overthink it.

In a previous cook I noted that since the oxygen from the billows is going to be coming mostly on the right side of the grill, you still probably want to shade your brisket over to the left hand side of the KK when you're using the billows b/c the fire is going to tend to be closer to where the air is coming in.  I'd light a baseball sized amount of charcoal on the right center of your firebox and go ahead and have your billows going.  Put the food over to the left center of the KK 32 once the temp reaches close to your target.  Just use foil on the lower grate and a drip pan underneath your food as your deflectors.  Happy cooking.

 

Edited January 20, 2022 by johnnymnemonic

[Dabble]

Johnny,

Thanks for all of the that great information.

I should clarify, I didn't know there was a tool called a billow.  It makes sense thinking about the guru.  I only meant to say I have burnt a few bags of lump charcoal in the KK and used "billows" because it sounded good...  I guess I can take turns with my kids and blow into the guru port.... Hmmm!

With that in mind sounds like I should only be using one of the smaller holes or the lower right damper and open the top damper about 1/4 turn.

[Poochie]

You'll get a lot of different ideas on this subject. Many members use a pit controller to keep a steady temperature and some play it by ear and adjust the top and bottom vent. You'll get just as many replies in the beef category so don't worry about your post not being seen. We read them all.  But this will be a great place to put pictures of your brisket and tell us how you mastered controlling the temperature!

[Dabble]

Johnny that is great looking chuck! I will post some pics on Sunday. Hear are some pics of my first few cooks.

[jonj]

@Dabble, did one of your dome assist springs come off?

[Poochie]

Great looking food, Dabble. Looks like we'll be getting advice from you!

[Dono]

On 1/20/2022 at 4:45 PM, johnnymnemonic said:

 

I think putting a few pieces of wood on the bottom of your firebox and then putting coal on top is a good approach. I have done this with the cook in the pictures in this post and with the pork cook above and I got plenty of smoke flavor and it was not acrid tasting in the food.

 

 

Thanks for the tips @johnnymnemonic!  You place your pieces of smoking wood under the charcoal basket directly on the floor of the firebox and then place a little charcoal around the wood pieces?   Am I understanding that correctly?  

[C6Bill]

I think he just means in the bottom of the basket, not under it

[Troble]

@Dabble 225 is a 1/4 turn up top and having the big vent of the bottom be set to about 10 o’clock if you’re looking at it as if it were a clock. I usually have the big vent hole on the right all the way open then when I hit them I adjust to smaller size. That may or may not be right but this method works for me 

don’t use lighter cubes with nasty chemicals on it. You can use these Rutland fire squares Rutland Products Safe Lite Fire... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007R6772O?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

or between yet get a MAAP torch I light my basket in the middle of the basket and put 6 mesquite wood chunks in the basket not too far from where I light it. Double drip pan (or foil tray) goes on lower grate and brisket goes on main grate. Spray liberally every 30 minutes with apple juice after the first 5-6 hours of the KK being completely shut and you’ll get great  bark. 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Troble

[tony b]

@jonj - sharp eye there! 

[Troble]

Roasted chicken. Butter, kosher salt, black pepper, olive oil, fresh marjoram and fresh thyme marinade. Alice of Irish butter under the skin over the breasts. Fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon rinds on cavity right before placing on grill 

roasted crispy Yukon good potatoes. Booked in kosher salt and baking soda for 10 minutes then tossed in duck fat, fresh thyme, garlic powder and truffle salt. Roasted in over at 450 for 75 minutes stirring every 20 minutes 

sweet onion, carrots and celery underneath the chicken 

[johnnymnemonic]

On 1/22/2022 at 7:33 AM, C6Bill said:

I think he just means in the bottom of the basket, not under it

correct.

[Dabble]

On 1/21/2022 at 7:21 AM, jonj said:

@Dabble, did one of your dome assist springs come off?

JonJ, That is the old spring. The spring partially tore away from the threaded mount where the bolt goes. I received an new spring from Dennis to replace it.

[Dabble]

Brisket Cook,

I cooked up an 18 pound pound brisket this weekend. It was a 16 hour cook that felt like a Greek Comedy; the end results were great but it was a little tricky getting there.

I butchered the trim because I failed to sharpen my knife.  I ended up sawing through most of the fat instead of slicing through it.  Ended up looking like a bad haircut where the fat pad should have been.

I used Kosher salt to dry brine the brisket and let it sit overnight wrapped up in some plastic wrap.  I used BBQ Guys Beef Rub on the brisket before putting it on the grill.

I ended up filling up the basket with some lump on top of some mesquite wood chunks. I only used one lighting cube in the middle to get the fire going.

The temp control was tricky at best. I was trying for 225 (ish). I started with the top damper opened 3 or 4 turns and the lower dampers fully opened.  I let the temp slowly rise up and closed the dampers as the temp got close to 225.  The top damper was opened to 1/4 turn and the bottom damper was only opened on the second to smallest hole on the right side.  And then I fell asleep.  I woke up one or two hours later and the temp was at 240.  I closed the top vent down completely and then opened it about 1 inch.  I moved the bottom damper to the smallest hole only.  And I fell asleep again.... I woke up around 4:00 am and the temp was 227 and slowly fell down below 220.  I thought I may have killed the fire.  I opened up the dampers to get some air flow.  The temp rose up slowly over the next hour and I slowly adjusted the dampers closed again.  I ended up having the top damper open about 1 inch and the bottom damper on the small hole again.  However, the temp settled in about 235 and slowly raised up throughout the day ultimately going over 255.  I closed the top damper down to wear it felt closed but I could see some smoke coming out.

I would love to hear some feedback or ideas about the temp slowly increasing without any changes to the damper settings????

Anyway, I debated wrapping or not and finally double wrapped it in foil to finish the cook.

The end results was a great tasting, tender, juicy brisket and 15 happy guests.

Pictures to follow.

Dabble.