What is DT smoking?!? (or cooking with DT) :)

[Drunk Tank]

Hey, there are three of us now.

Which reminds me, I still need to order the replacement parts to fix mine. I do like the elite models you two have. I think restoring mine will be a summer project.

[TripletDaddy]

drunk tank, do you have an XL egg? those babies are spendy but awesome.

one question for a neophyte smoker...in most of the pics you are showing, there is flame coming through the grill. Does a smoker use large open flames like that? I guess I don't understand how a smoker works. Also, the eggs are charcoal, not gas, correct? how much work is it to regulate the heat and fuel over the course of 12 hours? and when you say indirect heat, does that mean that there is a flame in the egg, but the flame is buffered by the ceramic add-on, thereby basically creating an oven? Sorry for all the questions.

[Drunk Tank]

drunk tank, do you have an XL egg? those babies are spendy but awesome.

one question for a neophyte smoker...in most of the pics you are showing, there is flame coming through the grill. Does a smoker use large open flames like that? I guess I don't understand how a smoker works. Also, the eggs are charcoal, not gas, correct? how much work is it to regulate the heat and fuel over the course of 12 hours? and when you say indirect heat, does that mean that there is a flame in the egg, but the flame is buffered by the ceramic add-on, thereby basically creating an oven? Sorry for all the questions.

Yep, I got a smoking deal on a used XL. It was used 10 times, and came with a custom redwood table, plate setter, pizza stone, 8 bags of lump charcoal, a fire stoker (a fan that assists with starting the charcoal, and a fire starting torch, and a few other accessories. I paid $850 for about $1500 worth of goods.

Ok, lets cover your questions. This will be long, but bear with me.

When using the egg to grill(high heat like cooking a steak) or any other grill (Weber etc...) , yes you can have large open flames. The thing is, you will only get flames, when there is an abundance of oxygen. When there is little oxygen, you don't get flare-ups. That's why grills such as Webers, etc have lids. If you keep the lid on, you get the heat, without the flare ups. You do have to keep your bottom vent open enough to keep the coals lit, but not enough to support flames, it takes practice. I never grill with the lid off, because the dripping fat, juices etc, will just cause flare ups. With the lid on, there will be a quick flash of fire, then it will go away, due to the lack of oxygen.

As far as the egg is concerned, here is a thread that shows how to light the egg for a high heat cook, in this case pizza. http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=68325 You will see in the pictures, he is using a pizza stone. It will help the crust from burning as it provides a barrier from the direct heat and flames.

Ok, for low and slow or smoking, it is much the same, but a little more complicated. Lets start with the fire. You start the fire much like any other. Except you just want a small portion of the charcoal to burn, but at the same time, you want a good fire that wont easily go out.

Once the fire is established, you must use your vents to control the flow of oxygen to the fire. The cool thing with ceramic cookers is they are so efficient, you can run at 225 deg for 20+ hours without having to add charcoal. Once you have controlled the fire to 225, you can add smoking wood (either chunks or chips, both work well.) With the vents properly adjusted, the coals will smolder, not flare up. Also, the wood you add for smoking will only smolder, even without soaking the wood in water. It will just smolder providing you with the smokey goodness that makes the food taste so good.

Now, because the egg is a direct cooker (coals and flame directly under the food) most people will use the plate setter to provide a barrier for indirect smoking and also as a place to set a drip pan, so you don't drip the fat/grease/juices onto your fire or into your grill.

Here is another link that shows lighting an egg for low and slow

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=68838

Anyways, its late and hopefully this makes sense. Feel free to ask more questions, and when I am more coherent, I'll try to answer.

Oh, yeah, this all relates to smoking on something like an egg, or drum style smoker. Offset smokers are totally different, sort of.

[Drunk Tank]

A little tax day dinner....Carne Asada

So, I have procrastinated doing my taxes until now...So I figured I would whip up a nice little dinner to help me get through it.


Ok, not really your traditional carne asada dinner, but close enough. I was going to sear up some thin sliced "carne asada" (its labeled as such)meat that my wife bought at the market, but I forgot to put the extra ribeyes I had in the freezer, so I had to use them before they went bad. Mrs. DT cooked the black beans and rice. She didn't account for the extra liquid in the black beans, so they were a little gooey, but still tasted great!

Just a grilled rib-eye, grilled onion and some black beans and rice. I wish I had some fresh jalapenos to grill as well, maybe next time.

Now to finish my taxes....

[TripletDaddy]

how long do you have to preheat the egg before putting the food on the grill? how long does it take for the coals to fire up and get going?

[Drunk Tank]

It took about 15-20 minutes for the coals to reach inferno temps. I pile the coal in the middle, and use a MAPP gas torch to light them (usually 3-4 minutes). Once the coals are lit,I shut the lid and I open the top and bottom vent and let the coals burn.

I checked them about 15 minutes after I shut the lid, and the temp gauge read 750. I about melted my face when I opened the lid. I put on my welding gloves, and gave the coals a good stir(with the ash tool, not bare welding gloves...), and put the grate on. I then adjusted the vents to about 1/2 open top and bottom. 5 minutes later, it was at 650 and I put the meat on.

The lump charcoal lights much faster than the charcoal briquettes. When I used Kingsford briquettes in the chimney starter, it seems it took much longer, and didnt get near as hot.

[Coach McGuirk]

And Friends

Well I hope this is ok DT, but I think our grilling food porn (albeit, mine is soft core porn) should be in one spot. If not, let me know and I can delete and move.

I went to Costco and purchased a few top sirloins and decided to grill them up today.

I let the meat set for 60 minutes to get to room temp,



Then I rubbed the down with olive oil and the following rub,

1/4 cup kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup coarsely ground black pepper (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced

I got the grill up to a solid 500 degrees and threw the steaks on,




I seared the steaks for 2 minutes a side, then lowered the coals down to get the temp to 350 and cooked 3-4 minutes a side.



I ended up inviting too many people over and had to halve the steaks, but they still came out to perfection, Medium.




Then I had to grill up some chicken with a little bbq sauce to make sure enough protein was available,





add in some chips and salads, and a great time was had by all.

[Hot Lunch]

Coach, those look pretty dang good.

[Fiyero]

I love the idea of people taking photos every 10 minutes while at the smoker. I should take my camera to restaurants and taco carts...

[Drunk Tank]

Coach, Looks awesome!

[TripletDaddy]

Literally, Holy Cow!

de-lish.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Hey DT, I think I want to get one of those remote wireless thermometers. What model do you have? Any recommendations?

[Drunk Tank]

Hey DT, I think I want to get one of those remote wireless thermometers. What model do you have? Any recommendations?

I have the Maverick ET-73. It is a dual probe (one for smoker temp, the other for food). If you dont need the smoker temp probe, I'd go with the Maverick ET-7 which is a dual probe unit with 2 probes for food.

They are both ok. Just be sure to check their accuracy. You do this by finding out at what temp water boils in your area, boil the water and test the accuracy of the probe in the boiling water. You cannot calibrate these units, only replace the unit or the probe.

Amazon seems to have the cheapest prices.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Remote-Check-Wireless-Thermometer-Probes/dp/B00004SZ10/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top"]Amazon.com: Maverick ET-7 Remote-Check Wireless Thermometer With 2 Probes: Kitchen & Dining@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QDQBFCR0L.@@AMEPARAM@@51QDQBFCR0L[/ame]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-RediChek-Remote-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B0000DIU49/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1271773965&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Maverick RediChek Remote Wireless Smoker Thermometer: Home & Garden@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41XV8Q7N89L.@@AMEPARAM@@41XV8Q7N89L[/ame]

The best instant read thermometer you can buy is the Thermapen.

http://www.thermoworks.com/products/...thermapen.html



When I get a little more $ to spend, I am going to buy one of these:






http://www.rocksbarbque.com/

[Tim]

I ended up inviting too many people over and had to halve the steaks, but they still came out to perfection, Medium.

On what planet is that medium?

[Art Vandelay]

Hey DT, I think I want to get one of those remote wireless thermometers. What model do you have? Any recommendations?

As easy as cooking is with a Traeger a wireless thermo makes it waaaaaaay easier. Thanks for the recommendations DT, my probe just broke 2 weeks ago and i had been meaning to do the research as to what to replae it with. Thanks for taking care of that for me.