Cooking Question to the Prez

[jdbrown]

My pork ass has always been very good...keep in mind I dont mind cooking 18 hours. I usually just soak a 6-8 lb butt overnight in a basic brine..water, apple juice, 1/4 cup kosher salt and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Make sure it is submerged.

I them add some rub and smoke it at 180-200 for 3 hours since this is when you get the smoke flavoring. I then take it out and add a cup of brine and triple seal the fluid and butt with foil. Fat side always up.

Smoke an additional 12 hours as long as seal is tight and has not been punctured. Same temp. Most people I know have the digital and it can be added at anytime. I like to see the digital display output to know what its doing.

[Shooter]

I'm going to step-in as I've become quite the BBQ'er since CigarNV showed me the light with a "CookShack" brand smoker.

These electric smokers are tight and thus keep the moisture in meat. They use a small block of wood (your choice and fun to experiment) and you can literally, set-it and forget-it!

There's no water-trays to worry about, no adding wood chips, pellets or what have you. Super, super simple and I think unsurpassed in its ability to produce exceptional smoked food with nary a snippet of manpower or experience.

The downside is they're not cheap. Sadly, nothing superior is but I have put several friends onto the CookShack and all rave. There are some competitions where they're banned from what I hear as they just make superb results too easy. No joke.

Carolina Pulled-pork? I take the butt, hit it with some rub (it almost doesn't matter but I've come to enjoy CookShack's "Spicy Chicken Rub), put a block of Hickory wood in the smoke box, run your probe though the top hole in the smoker and stick it into the "butt." Set the smoker for 225 degrees and roughly 11-13 hours later (depending on size of your butt (no offense))--or whenever the internal temp hits 195 degrees (approx)---take it out, let it cool until you can handle it and just pull the pork into strips and pieces and discard obvious fatty portions.

To that "pulled meat" I sprinkle heavily with a "Carolina Vinegar Sauce" that came from Riechlen's (sp?) book on BBQ. Talk about a new way to earn friends....serve it up on Potato Buns with some homemade slaw and various sauces and you'll be remembered for life!

Naturally a top-notch Habanos from Rob cements the day!

[jdbrown]

You are right Shooter..The original cookshack has been banned in some competition forums. They have now come out with a FastEddy Cook Shack that uses wood pellets similar to my Traeger. My brother cooks in competition every weekend. This is what he bought and loves it. For some reason they will allow the FastEddy but not the original!

At any rate either one ( Cookshack or Traeger) are superb for the BBQ enthusiast. Yes a smoke from Czar is perfect at the pool while waiting for that butt to do its thing!

[Homebrew]

All you BBQ cats...I am thinking of getting a smoker....but I dont want to be waking up at 3 am to look at it. What is the cheapest/easiest/best one to get ? Nothing fancy yet...just want to try making REAL BBQ now that you guys are posting all this stuff about rubs and mops...Open Pit just aint cutting it anymore:lookaround:

I was about to post about my smokers, and then saw that you didn't want to have to check on the smoker at 3a.m.

Pretty well takes mine out of the picture. I use 100% wood, never gas or electric. LOL

That just means that I sleep in 3 hour shifts

I started with the Lang Model 84, thinking that it was all the smoker I would ever need.

I quickly outgrew the lang, and snagged a Brinkman outlaw. And never looked back.

Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)

[marlow]

Dave (AKA Homebrew),

Now that I'm retired I'm getting serious about Q once again. I too had a Lang once upon a time but sold it. It just sat in the back yard, tires going flat and not being used, so......SOLD! It was a nice cooker, craftsmanship was outstanding, but I could never tune it where I wouldn't have hot/cold spots. Now I'm on the prowl for another cooker. I'm looking at just about every cooker manufacturer I can summon up on the web, but I keep going back to the Klose cooker. With you still on the cooking scene, have you heard of any feedback on the Klose, or maybe you know someone with first hand knowledge. If so, I'd love to hear it.

TIA.

[Homebrew]

Dave (AKA Homebrew),

Now that I'm retired I'm getting serious about Q once again. I too had a Lang once upon a time but sold it. It just sat in the back yard, tires going flat and not being used, so......SOLD! It was a nice cooker, craftsmanship was outstanding, but I could never tune it where I wouldn't have hot/cold spots. Now I'm on the prowl for another cooker. I'm looking at just about every cooker manufacturer I can summon up on the web, but I keep going back to the Klose cooker. With you still on the cooking scene, have you heard of any feedback on the Klose, or maybe you know someone with first hand knowledge. If so, I'd love to hear it.

TIA.

Hey Bro,

I actually had to google Klose cookers.

I had not heard of them before your post. They look like good smokers.

I can't believe you had troble with your Lang. With mine I have never had more than a 1 degree F difference from one end to the other. When I upgraded to the Brinkman outlaw, I would have bought a bigger Lang, but I got the Outlaw from a family member for a very good price.

Best of Luck Bro.

Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)