Some product reviews & thoughts based on my third ever cook!
Posted: 04 Oct 2012, 12:04
OK so I'm a loooooong way from being an expert pitmaster yet but I'd though I'd share my thoughts on my third ever long cook last weekend. Here's the setup:
Pro Q Frontier
Heat Beads
Maverick
Hickory Chunks from Paul @Gouldens.
6 kg Pork shoulder from local butcher
4 slabs Pork ribs from Costco.
Rub recipe from AmzingRibs.com
Red and Whiskey Sauces from Big Bob Gibson's book
Cold, windy and rain showers outside,
Pro Q - Easy to set up, a little fiddly to control temps, it held temps well but required frequent adjustments (prob my inexperience) . There was a significant temp difference between top and bottom racks with bottom about 30 degrees cooler at times. Grates were a fraction too small to take the ribs comfortably when put on a rack. Needed a bit of prodding and poking to get the lid on
Heat Beads - A bit of a bugger to light with newspaper, (weber kettle) but lit OK with a paraffin cube. But the performance was great - I cooked for 14 hours with a full basket of unlit and half a kettle of lit on top and a single refresh of a layer of unlit and half a kettle of lit at about the 8 hour mark. Downside was there' was a hell of a lot of ash and I needed to prod and poke round the vents a bit to ensure they were clear.
Wood - Not a lot of experience to compare this with but it seems to me to be a fantastic product, and it definitely is amongst the best customer service I've encountered in years.
Maverick - Awesome product, radio worked from one side of the house to the other (through the house!) never lost the signal, Due to operator error (ie me being stupid) the transmitter fell of the top handle of the smoker where I'd clipped it and fell against the firebowl. By the time I'd spotted it, the case had started to melt and the display was solid black. I thought I had killed the unit but the receiver was still displaying the temps An hour or so later the display on the transmitter returned to life . I've now cooked with this unit for over 36 hours on a single set of batteries.
Shoulder went on at 7am and I had to pull it off at 9pm because my guests were getting ready to mutiny ! It had just reached 190F internal. It pulled ok(ish) into larch chunks but really could have done with another hour and a decent rest. Next time I think I might follow some advice I've seen somewhere about cutting the big piece into two 3kg hunks.
Ribs cooked for 3.5 hours and were perfect. We had them as appetisers because I screwed my timings up.
Rubs and Sauces were all delish !!
Lessons Learned.
1. Get up earlier
2. Try cutting the shoulder into two.
3. The ProQ was overall the right decision for me. (the fuel refresh, keeping the water pan topped up) and adding the ribs to the bottom rack were really easy due to the modular design)
3. Stick with Heat Beads and Hickory Chunks
Pro Q Frontier
Heat Beads
Maverick
Hickory Chunks from Paul @Gouldens.
6 kg Pork shoulder from local butcher
4 slabs Pork ribs from Costco.
Rub recipe from AmzingRibs.com
Red and Whiskey Sauces from Big Bob Gibson's book
Cold, windy and rain showers outside,
Pro Q - Easy to set up, a little fiddly to control temps, it held temps well but required frequent adjustments (prob my inexperience) . There was a significant temp difference between top and bottom racks with bottom about 30 degrees cooler at times. Grates were a fraction too small to take the ribs comfortably when put on a rack. Needed a bit of prodding and poking to get the lid on
Heat Beads - A bit of a bugger to light with newspaper, (weber kettle) but lit OK with a paraffin cube. But the performance was great - I cooked for 14 hours with a full basket of unlit and half a kettle of lit on top and a single refresh of a layer of unlit and half a kettle of lit at about the 8 hour mark. Downside was there' was a hell of a lot of ash and I needed to prod and poke round the vents a bit to ensure they were clear.
Wood - Not a lot of experience to compare this with but it seems to me to be a fantastic product, and it definitely is amongst the best customer service I've encountered in years.
Maverick - Awesome product, radio worked from one side of the house to the other (through the house!) never lost the signal, Due to operator error (ie me being stupid) the transmitter fell of the top handle of the smoker where I'd clipped it and fell against the firebowl. By the time I'd spotted it, the case had started to melt and the display was solid black. I thought I had killed the unit but the receiver was still displaying the temps An hour or so later the display on the transmitter returned to life . I've now cooked with this unit for over 36 hours on a single set of batteries.
Shoulder went on at 7am and I had to pull it off at 9pm because my guests were getting ready to mutiny ! It had just reached 190F internal. It pulled ok(ish) into larch chunks but really could have done with another hour and a decent rest. Next time I think I might follow some advice I've seen somewhere about cutting the big piece into two 3kg hunks.
Ribs cooked for 3.5 hours and were perfect. We had them as appetisers because I screwed my timings up.
Rubs and Sauces were all delish !!
Lessons Learned.
1. Get up earlier
2. Try cutting the shoulder into two.
3. The ProQ was overall the right decision for me. (the fuel refresh, keeping the water pan topped up) and adding the ribs to the bottom rack were really easy due to the modular design)
3. Stick with Heat Beads and Hickory Chunks