Get Grilling Faster with Canned Wood

[tony b]

You know, in all the years that I've owned it, I've never tried my DO smoker without the flour paste. I may just have to experiment and see if it's tight enough without it. Boy, would that be a DUH moment! 

[Syzygies]

What about a paint can? Put lid on when white stage ends.

 

Galvanized metals produce toxins when heated in a BBQ cooker.

 

You know, in all the years that I've owned it, I've never tried my DO smoker without the flour paste. I may just have to experiment and see if it's tight enough without it. Boy, would that be a DUH moment! 

 

I came up with the Dutch oven smoke pot idea a decade ago, on the off-brand K7 I was using then. One can usually get away without flour paste, and it of course depends on the Dutch oven. After a few cooks where I had to rip apart the cook to get at a smoke pot that had lurched over on shifting charcoal and spilled open, I don't risk it. Really not a big deal, make a little ziplock bag and let the flour water paste sit a while, like hydrating bread dough. For me, the paste always thickens and settles into a fairly ideal and easy to use mixture.

 

The tricky part of Dutch ovens are getting them started so the smoke fits your schedule. I tend to start my fires with a propane weed burner. (My other contribution to BBQ is adding a hose clamp to weed burners so they can perch just so on the edge of the KK. I also weigh salt, but I learned that from Paul Bertolli.) These days, I'm happier if I aim the weed burner at several side of the Dutch oven, only incidentally lighting KK extruded coconut lump charcoal under the pot as I completely heat up the pot. This gives me a quality of smoke I like, right away if I'm eager to add my meat.

[tony b]

Great tips, as usual, Syz! 

[bryan]

Great tips, as usual, Syz! 

 

Galvanized metals produce toxins when heated in a BBQ cooker.

 

Was not saying put bucket in KK. Was saying burn wood in bucket until smoke changes then snuf fire with lid. The question is how to get around the bad smoke.

[bryan]

Is it the bark causing the problem smoke?

[CeramicChef]

Syzygies - your smoke pot idea is pure genius! I've been using it for about as long as I've owned my KK. It solves every single problem with wood placement, where to place, when to place, how much, cleanup, etc. Your Dutch oven solution is just the best! I've given away a few to firms who are really into smoking, BBQ, etc and to a man, they love it!

Thanks for a great invention!

[Syzygies]

You know, in all the years that I've owned it, I've never tried my DO smoker without the flour paste. I may just have to experiment and see if it's tight enough without it.

 

 

 

If there's not actually a seal, there will be a bit of convection. Picture blowing compressed air into the bottom holes. Would it come out the top between the lid and the pot? Of course.

 

That said, I could imagine living with faintly more smokiness, sometimes by choice. After reading Aaron Franklin, and feeling bad I don't have the "basic metalworking skills" to cut up a 1,000 gallon propane tank, I started thinking. It wouldn't be too hard to thread holes into the Dutch oven "ears", and screw in stainless steel hex head bolts to secure the lid.

 

Others like a camping stove sold at REI. I found it too thin, and thus too aggressive, but this is a matter of taste.

 

[Edit] Shopping for another Dutch oven to experiment on, I'm between a rock and a hard place. The cheap Dutch ovens with ears to take a threaded hole have (according to reviews) poorly fitting lids. Lodge costs twice as much, and the only way I see to secure the lid would be with a single long bolt through the center of the bottom and the center of the lid. Could work...

[CeramicChef]

Syzygies - I like the way you're thinking! That single screw through the lid and bottom is an elegantly simple solution. Be sure to use stainless! I can't wait to see this iteration.

[tomahawk66]

So... Here we have what is arguably the best solution for smoking on the KK and none of the CI Dutch ovens are perfect for it... Sounds like we need a scientifically designed, massively over engineered smoke box? [Dennis enter stage right!]

Put me down on the pre-order list!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bryan]

So... Here we have what is arguably the best solution for smoking on the KK and none of the CI Dutch ovens are perfect for it... Sounds like we need a scientifically designed, massively over engineered smoke box? [Dennis enter stage right!]

Put me down on the pre-order list!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here Here

[CeramicChef]

I thought I remember a conversation with Dennis where he said he was working on one of these smoke pots.

Dennis?

[Syzygies]

Here, here. I preorder three for my diaspora.

 

After finding six inches of wet ash at the bottom of my friend's off-brand K5, I decided to run it without meat for as long as possible, then reload fuel before my cook. This left the problem of adequate smoke production from my smoke pot, going cold into an already stable fire. Luckily, there was a gas grill right next to the K5, which I used to preheat the smoke pot as hot as possible. Did the trick, nice smoke shortly after rebuilding the K5 fire. I'm also glad I sent an Amazon box of Dennis charcoal in advance of my arrival, and brought out my new BBQ Guru, keeping as much familiar as possible.

 

http://www.thepiggery.net/pigblog/

 

The Piggery sells carefully raised pork at twice what we've ever paid before. A "Boston Butt" looks like a quarter round of tree trunk with fat for bark, and weighs at most five pounds. Pre-ordering means they save you some, not that they cut differently. Pork shoulder is of course the perfect cut for making sausage, which they sell lots of, so my theory is that this squared off potato of a butt is how their sales ecosystem works. This turned out to be a blessing, more area for rub, more bark, and I could fit five of these in a Democratic firing squad, fat up and out, under my friend's K5 dome. For a 25 lb payload, pretty much the limit of this equipment.

 

[Edit] Yield was less than expected (though plenty). Sawing into quarter rounds (like a tree trunk with fat as bark) is something taking far less skill than, say, a Starbucks barista. I suspect they do have butcher skills, though Ithaca does place more weight on the politically correct ethical treatment of animals than any intelligence in the butchering. Nevertheless, with a band saw they aren't following the structure of the bones. I saw bone fragments I've never seen in any pork butt, or for that matter whole shoulder, in my life. If one posits more butcher skills, they are being selfish in making sure that the scraps they keep are easy to work with for making sausage, because that's work they have to do. Excellent flavor, though.

[tony b]

What was it like cooking on a POSK again, Syz, after cooking on the KK (no need to reply, as we all know what the answer is, ha, ha!!)