Pork shoulders £2.75/kg @ Sainsburys

[keith157]

I can only say I know some talented people

[poiuuiop]

Well, I thought it was going well, but I'll have to put that down to rookie optimism.

I thought the smoker had stabilised around 225f, so I left it for half an hour before looking out of the window to see a LOT of smoke. Went to check and it'd climbed to 270. I got the temp back down by adjusting the intakes but it was too late as internal meat temp had already got to 195. We ended up with something more akin to a traditional roast pork joint with added smoke flavour. Definitely not pullable, but not dry either.

A bit gutted but hey ho, back to sainsburger's for another joint and another attempt with closer monitoring.

Any suggestions for maintaining a more stable temperature? I suspect it's just a case of learning the characteristics of my cooker by sitting with it for a few cooks. I'm leaning towards getting a Pitmaster IQ but I'd like to 'conquer' my cooker before I get one.

[London Irish]

Ok, so not a complete disaster, at least you were able to eat

I'm not familiar with your unit but like all systems, it's a case of 'getting to know it'.
Think you're right, get to know the characteristics and then you can start fine-tuning. And then the addition of a forced air system will be the icing on the cake.

It's all good fun

[Tiny]

You must sit and become one with the grill, you must sense its mood, use the force, look inside yourself for the path to pulled pork heaven, it is an art not a science........and drink beer, lots of beer, this is the way of the grill.......


And although I risk cries of "foul!" I believe the use of a pitmaster or the like is tantamount to cheating, deployed by cads and bounders no less. IF you are going to use a gizmo to regulate the temp you are but a short hop, skip and a jump, nay shorter than phillips effort, away from buying an electric smoker and then the police should be called.........

Forgive me dull day in the office, with sun out am playing fantasy bbq on the forum
Cheers
Tiny

[aris]

I have one of these:

http://www.maverickhousewares.com/ET-85.htm

Shows me the internal meat temperature and also the oven/pit temperature. You can set an alarm on both.

[keith157]

Forgive me dull day in the office, with sun out am playing fantasy bbq on the forum
Cheers
Tiny

Boring day working from home, same symptoms but no release or relief at the end of the day, save moving from the dining room to the "lounge"




Still it pays some bills

[poiuuiop]

Forgive me Tiny for I have sinned. I've invested in a PartyQ. I just can't resist the allure of flashing lights. I promise I'll try to spend some quality lo fi time with my BBQ before hooking it up to the matrix.

[keith157]

Forgive me Tiny for I have sinned. I've invested in a PartyQ. I just can't resist the allure of flashing lights. I promise I'll try to spend some quality lo fi time with my BBQ before hooking it up to the matrix.

He didn't condemn gas just electric smokers

[Tiny]

Exactly, electric smokers, and gizmos that control the temp of charcoal, gas is fine, I have a couple myself....no shame.....

In fact whilst a piece of piggy smokes gently on sat I shall endeavour to spruce up my old outback hunter.....

Carry on!
Cheers
Tiny

[poiuuiop]

I'm working from home too Keith. At the moment though my UDS project seems to be eating into my productivity!

Today was a masterclass in procrastination: I got myself down Makro and stocked up on lumpwood, been on the phone to Paul at Goulden's for a big box of wood, ordered my PartyQ and a final can of bbq paint for the drum. All very important stuff!

There's one other thing I'm after which I've seen in pics but I don't know what it's called - maybe the bbq hive mind can help me out? The best way I can explain it: a giant toast rack for stacking ribs vertically. Can anyone give me a name or even better somewhere to buy one in the uk? Annoyingly the only name I can think of for it is a 'rib rack', but of course a google search for that just brings back hundreds of results for 'rack of ribs'.

btw I haven't cooked with gas before, just charcoal (and soon my PartyQ temp control in all its flashing led glory, when it arrives in the post). Is it actually possible to use gas for the low and slow method of cooking? If so I'll have to get my stepdad's gas grill into action.



Thank you bbq gurus