First time went great, thanks in large part to you dudes!

BBNRules · January 13, 2014, 04:59:25 AM

I put 3 racks of ribs (2 baby back and 1 St Louis) on the top 2 trays, a 7 lb. Boston butt on the 3rd rack, and 8 chicken thighs and 2 breasts on the bottom rack. Smoked using apple only for 4 hours after the initial breaking in directions. The only complaint is that the chicken skin can't be eaten (too rubbery when smoked) but I saw a way to fix that next time (cutting some of the membrane off the back of the skin making it thinner). I used Three Little Pigs dry rub for the butt and the ribs. The chicken was moist and not overly smoky. The wife made quesadillas out of those. The ribs were great. Did the 3-2-1 method and they were fantastic. When the butt was the only thing in the BOS I added my baked bean recipe to smoke for 4 hours since I had room. The smoke flavor in the butt was there but not over the top. I'll definitely use a combo of apple and hickory next time. The Maverick 732 was key IMO. Thanks to all of you that recommended that little jewel. It was 60 in Atlanta this weekend but pouring rain. I had the smoker at the end of the garage with a fan behind the smoker to vent the smoke away from the house.

I have a dumb, cheap phone so my son has a lone pic of the plate of food when it was done, I'll try and post that later.

I read about stalls here and I have to say that the BOS was a champ in recovering the heat when I opened the door. The bizarre stall I got was when the butt was in there alone. It smoked for 10.5 hours and the temp read 195 (I kept the oven as close to 225 as I could). I did the FTC for another 2 hours. I was expecting the thing to fall apart on its own if I looked at it wrong but it didn't. It wasn't tough by any means, but it wasn't falling apart either. I used Smithfield Shoulder Butt. The butt and the smoker were around the same temp for hours. Example, butt read 180 on the Maverick and the smoker read 185. This continued until the meat read 190 and the smoker finally went to 201. Any ideas on how to make the pork butt fall apart more after reaching 195? I didn't move the probe and maybe I will next time so insure I'm looking at the right temperature.

I'm going to conquer the brisket next. ANY advice (brine or not brine, rub recommendations, wood recommendations, etc) would all be welcomed. I sauced the chicken and ribs using my own recipe. I'll share, here it is.

2 cups ketchup
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tblsp red pepper flake
1 tblsp tabasco
1 tblsp soy
1 tbslp wostershire
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 cup of Stubbs spicy sauce (for spice and thickening agent)

Thanks again for all the info and support. It made a huge difference and made me feel much less like a rookie.
cooked it until the sugar dissolves and let it rest for 1 hour

KyNola · January 13, 2014, 06:14:06 AM

Am I reading your post correctly? You had a 7 lb pork butt and it was in the smoker for 10.5 hours total and the IT was reading 195? That seems awfully quick to me but it's possible. I'm wondering if your meat probe was in a fat pocket of the butt causing a false high reading. Next time try moving the probe around and measure the temp in different areas of the butt. A thermopen works great for that.

If the IT was indeed 195 and you used the FTC for an additional 2 hours and it didn't easily pull then I would simply blame it on the pig that the butt came off of. In truth the pig controls it all.

Sounds you had a resounding success. Congrats!

Saber 4 · January 13, 2014, 06:55:31 AM

Quote from: KyNola on January 13, 2014, 06:14:06 AM
Am I reading your post correctly? You had a 7 lb pork butt and it was in the smoker for 10.5 hours total and the IT was reading 195? That seems awfully quick to me but it's possible. I'm wondering if your meat probe was in a fat pocket of the butt causing a false high reading. Next time try moving the probe around and measure the temp in different areas of the butt. A thermopen works great for that.

If the IT was indeed 195 and you used the FTC for an additional 2 hours and it didn't easily pull then I would simply blame it on the pig that the butt came off of. In truth the pig controls it all.

Sounds you had a resounding success. Congrats!

X2, Congrats on a successful smoke, the hook is now set and you will become fully addicted, then comes the move to the dark side with bacons and sausages etc... :)

ragweed · January 13, 2014, 09:05:24 AM

X3 A great success. I think the Bradley performed admirably given the amount of meat you had in there. Keep it up and buy a camera. ;) ;)

BBNRules · January 13, 2014, 09:16:28 AM

I know what you guys are talking about regarding the butt. I know I didn't have it in a fat pocket (I read waaaaay too much here). I placed the probe in the smaller meat pocket underneath the bone of the pork butt. If it goes on for 1.5 to 2 hours per pound then 10.5 would be the shortest time it could go. I trimmed the fat side off (I like more useable bark after I shred it apart) so that may have helped, I really don't know. I've seen people inject them and that doesn't appeal to me. I may put a meat tenderizer on it, unless you guys say it doesn't help. The OBS did a great job recovering the heat. I used a slightly larger water pan and didn't put a brick in there. Brisket is my next frontier. I've been reading a little bit about the ins and outs of that cut of meat so I'll report back when I finish one.

One question regarding smoked wings. Chicken skin is rubbery when smoked,do you have to finish smoked wings on the grill to get that tightness that you get over an open flame or will the OBS do the trick after enough time?

Saber 4 · January 13, 2014, 11:18:10 AM

On the probe placement, when you put it that close to a large bone you can get a higher reading because the bone can heat up faster than the larger sections of meat so you may want to re-think your probe placement for the next butt.

As for the skin on the wings, I don't think you'll ever get good skin in just the Bradley, you will probably need to finish on grill or in oven/broiler to get better skin, if anyone else has found a trick that works for an all Bradley cook I'd love to see it so I can give it a try.

Wildcat · January 13, 2014, 11:57:31 AM

May I suggest in the future that when you want pulled pork do the fork test when you think it should be about done. Simply insert the fork and twist. It should be easy to turn if it is ready.

BBNRules · January 13, 2014, 05:27:45 PM

Thanks Wildcat, I'll do that. I kind of prefer the meat to have a little bit of texture. Most of the ones I would get in KY had very intense hickory flavor with no rub whatsoever. Your hands would smell like hickory smoke for a day even after washing if you didn't wear gloves. This one had great smoke taste, a little flavor from the rub, and a sweetness from the apple smoke. Like both, nice change of pace when the meat is more of the focal point.

BBNRules · January 14, 2014, 06:33:20 AM

BBNRules · January 14, 2014, 06:42:35 AM

"As for the skin on the wings, I don't think you'll ever get good skin in just the Bradley, you will probably need to finish on grill or in oven/broiler to get better skin, if anyone else has found a trick that works for an all Bradley cook I'd love to see it so I can give it a try."

I saw a chef take the skin off of the breasts and the thighs and put them in a freezer for 30 minutes. He then took a sharp knife and slid it under the skin to take off the back membrane. He then put the skin back on and kind of wrapped the thighs and slightly tucked the skin under. It came out crispy and looked delicious. His rationale was the membrane was the culprit for the rubbery texture and there wasn't enough heat to render the fat out. The thin layer of skin accepts the smoke and gets perfectly crispy and is able to be eaten without taking the entire piece as one bite. I'll definitely do that next time.

Pictures, the bane of my existence. I have a picture in My Pictures of the rib meal. I did the Insert Image icon and got nothing but a red X. What gives? I'm not scared of technology, just posting pictures isn't something I've done.

KyNola · January 14, 2014, 06:48:15 AM

You need to upload your pics to something like Photobucket. Set up an account with them(it's free), upload your pics. It will assign an IMG code at the bottom of each pic. Simply click on the IMG code, it will go to your clipboard. Paste the IMG code in your Forum post and your pic should appear when you press the "post" button. You can see if it worked prior to posting by using the "Preview" button.

Hope this helps you.

BBNRules · January 14, 2014, 07:27:01 AM

The first meal from the OBS! Thanks KyNola on the pic help. I'll get a camera once I finish with the rest of the toys for my smoker. I'm a single digit handicap golfer and I love that more than smoking food or even eating for that matter. So after reading here it appears I NEED the Auber PID so I can play golf and come back and eat food. I have people (wife, son) to change the water and spritz the food in the smoker. :)

KyNola · January 14, 2014, 07:29:17 AM

Apparently it worked! ;D

Great looking ribs. Nice work.

ragweed · January 14, 2014, 09:10:59 AM

" I'm a single digit handicap golfer and I love that more than smoking food"

Don't be too surprised if that changes!! ;) ;) I don't golf anymore and hunting is more about acquiring raw material for smoking.

BBNRules · January 14, 2014, 11:04:51 AM

Ragweed, I'll take a sledge hammer to the OBS before it interferes with my golf!!!! That's just crazy talk. I'm a much more accomplished golfer than Grillmaster. I'm a damned good cook and not afraid of the kitchen. The golf course is just home for me. The goal is to have the plaid shorts, white belt pulled up halfway up my chest, and playing 18 holes a day with my buddies. Then go home and smoke the hell out of some ribs. LOL