Fill 'er up?

[xilinxchic]

I ordered my Bradley Smoker through ABBBQ (yes, I just read the poor customer feedback posts, ouch).  I'm hoping to tackle my first project on July 2nd - the day the smoker arrives, so I want to plan ahead as much as possible.  I'd love to serve some brisket at my July 3rd picnic...so needless to say, I will not have alot of time to prep my process.  Will it be wasteful to run the Bradley for the 8 hour cooking time just to cook a single brisket?  Or should I plan to fill up the shelves with additional meat that would cook similarly?  Any advice for a smoking novice is appreciated!

Diane
Vernon, CT

[Fuzzybear]

Welcome!

I think your questions is a preference thing - I do single items all the time, but it would make sense to load it up if you have a party or gathering coming up!

Good luck with that ABBQ thing!

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

[MallardWacker]

Diane,

<font color="red">Edited:</font id="red"> <font color="blue"><i>As I read this reply it may of sounded a bit over reactive but what I meat to say was is that you don't need meat to fill in the empty spaces of the BS. </i>(I haven't smoked for two weeks now and may get a little axcited about filling up a BS)</font id="blue">


Fill that puppy up with baked potatoes, serve them the tradional way or make potatoe salad of them.  Other sugestions, get some pablano peppers-stuff them with cheese and bacon. Hay about some vadaila onions then put some butter over them.


SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[Bassman]

Welcome Diane,
It's more economical to fill it up. But well worth it to smoke one thing

<i><font color="blue"><b>Jack</i></font id="blue"></b>

[bighoof]

Don't forget to allow time for seasoning the smoker.

[whitetailfan]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by bighoof</i>
<br />Don't forget to allow time for seasoning the smoker.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Right on bighoof,
If you get the smoker on the 2nd, you will have to season it that day, and then you should be OK to smoke the day of the 3rd.  Pretty tight, but it oughta work if you have a guarantee of getting it that day.  Actually, I forget how long I seasoned mine, so actually if you were up in the wee hours of the morning on the 3rd you could technically do it all. ie season the smoker while pre-heating...

I often do just whatever it is I am cooking for the day.  I've never really added anything, just for the sake of filling the smoker.  It's a good idea so that your electricity and pucks get their full use therefore your cost per pound to cook goes down, but your cooking time will increase, as well perhaps, as the number of pucks you wind up using to achieve the same flavour.

Either way good luck, and enjoy your smoker[8D]

<b><font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green"></b>
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[ChefJeff]

Welcome Diane, You don't have to fill er up.More food means longer smoking time = more pucks,more electric.The cost is very low to start with smoke it, eat it,enjoy it,[8D][:)][8D] P.S I would strongly advise buying Smoke & Spice, and a thermometer to monitor the temp. of the food WITHOUT OPENING THE DOOR. [8D]

SMOKIN & SPOKEN

[kjel]

My first smoke in BS.  I'm a big meat eater and on a low carb diet.  I have some leftover stuff in my freezer I need to cook.  Would there be any problems combining these products for smoking?

8 italian sausage links on top shelf so they can drip fat on my second tier of 2 racks of spare ribs and 3rd tier would be a 12lb turkey.  I'm thinking of adding a bowl to the 4rth tier to catch all the juices from the turkey.  I will keep temp at 200-225F for all the meat and take out at different times.

[Fuzzybear]

Interesting, very interesting.

I've not combined different meats at one time but I'm thinking that if you keep them from touching or dripping on each other, then it should be ok providing of course, you like the same smoke flavor for all of them....



"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

[banzai]

hey Kjel!! im kinda worried about cross contamination with the different foods thing. cant cut bird and beef on the same cutting board without washing the heck out of it first. also, wash those hands and knives to. bird can get you bigtime sick. now i will have to say, i have watched those BBQ competitions on food tv and they all seem to have bird, pig and cow in there all at the same time and playing nice. guess a little research could be a good thing first. smoke on!!.."E"

[jaeger]

kjel,
 The main thing is to not have the turkey drippings on the pork,(like you planned to do). The turkey needs to reach a higher internal temp than the pork. You may need to finish the turkey in the oven to reach the internal temp that you will want and to fit your time schedule. Smoked turkey sounds awesome. I might have to put that on the menu for our next party.[:p]

If at first you don't succeed.....try a double smoke...

[kjel]

Thanks for the tips,
Italian sausage and spareribs on top two racks and turkey on the bottom. I didn't brine the turkey because I didn't have time but I did inject it w/ chicken broth.  Sausage was great at 3hrs cooking time.  Spareribs not "fall off the bone" after 6hr and 200F.  Do I need to cook longer?  Turkey taken out at 165F and finished in the oven to 175F.  Came out ok I think.  After 6hrs of smoking the food I couldn't eat any of it.  I was full just smelling all that food all day.  Does anyone else have this problem?  I was reassured frm my family that it did taste good.  I'll find out today when I try it.
Over all, first smoke went well.

[Fuzzybear]

Congrats Kjel!

I've done "country" ribs so I can't comment on the "spareribs"...

On the Turkey, I take mine out at 165 and eat it after letting it rest for 5-10-15 minutes.  I once cooked the breast to 175 and it was to dry for me...



"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

[xilinxchic]

Thanks everybody for your help!  It just brought to mind more questions though[:0]
I didn't even think of the seasoning time - bummer.  I assume directions will come with the unit, although if I need any special materials, by all means let me know!  
Also, I'm on to narrowing down what to prepare.  I just can't decide so I'm thinking of a 10 lb brisket plus a couple of ~ 3 lb pork shoulders for pulled pork sandwiches.  How should I cook these together?  My thought was to keep temperature on the pork, and switch the thermometer over to the brisket when done.  Am I way off-base here?  My dad always said I knew best how to fit 2 lbs into a 1 lb bag...so providing I can pull all this off, my other concern is how do I mop the pork with sauce without dropping the temp?
Thanks again everybody!
Diane

Diane
Vernon, CT

[BigSmoker]

I'm am new in this forum but you got to cook that brisket low and slow or it'll taste like shoe leather.  I never ever let my brisket cook above 250 degrees.  I just cooked a 10lb brisket real slow at 190 degrees and it took almost 24 hrs.  but it's fork tender and delicious.  You can use an electronic polder in the brisket and not have to open the door for a long time.  Internal temp on brisket was 185 but then you got to let it rest wrapped in foil in a cooler without ice or in a cold oven for an hour or 1 1/2 hrs.  If you need to let it rest more because of other food, after you wrap in foil wrap towels around it as well.  It will stay hot for 5-6 hrs that way..  As for the pork I don't cook it as long but I let my pork get to an internal temp of 195.  That way you can pull it without any problem.  Me personaly I don't mop my butt or brisket in the bradley dont need to.  I use the sauce for dippin' on the side.  I also like to put my rub on both and marinate in the frige for 4-6 hrs or overnight.

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.