stick burner questions


 
R

Rick Moore

TVWBB Super Fan
Hello all-

I've been smoking on a WSM for about 8 years now - and been cooking whole hogs for about 6. For the whole hogs I use an old flat top oil drum that I fire with charcoal primarily and wood chunks for smoke. I recently cooked in my first contest and am considering a new whole hog cooker of some sort. My current oil drum setup requires almost constant attention - I'd say there are 30 minute breaks at the most where you don't have to do anything - needless to say, this makes for a very long day/night/day at a contest!

I've never used a stick burner myself - I did see a hog cooked on a Lang, but only the last hour or so - so I'm not sure how much attention something like this requires. But it looked like they had a nice fire in there that wouldn't need stoking very frequently. I'm looking for something that can be left unattended long enough that I can at least catch a little sleep between fuelings - maybe 1.5 - 2 hours between stoking it. And I know stick burners are not anything like the WSM, but they certainly can't be more high maintenance than what I'm cooking on now.

One last thing - my current setup is more of a direct heat configuration. I do like that but am willing to consider something different. I know most stick burners are offest style - and have seen many of the commercial brands. Does anone know of any direct heat style commercial cookers? I've seen several made at local metal fabrication shops, but nothing I'd really call commercial.

EDIT - oh yeah, on stick burners - are they typically big enough to cook a whole hog?? Seem long enough, but maybe not wide enough.

Thanks for any input you have in my quest for "the next cooker"...maybe I'll have to go back and edit my post from so long ago on "how many cookers do you have?" ;-)

Rick
 
Rick

I understand The Good One is an excellent cooker. I ordered the video several years ago and I know he demo'd on one model a whole pig cook.

Paul
 
I've got a Klose and I have to stoke the fire every hour . You can get them made so you can cook whole hogs , I'm wishing that I had that option now .I've got the propane burner in the fire box which would come in handy for twenty winks . I believe that I would want to use steel bars instead of the grates to cook the whole hog , read somewhere that the skin cooks better when you flip him over with the bars .
 
For whole hog I like offsets that are at least 30" in dia., 36" is even better. On a Klose depending on size you can get it setup for hog cooking. My prefered method of hog cooking is with the hog on it's back the whole cook, I find that the finished product has much more moisture in it.

Tim
Klose makes a charcoal basket that allows you to perform a version of the MM, kind of the Method on steriods. It can give you 4 to 6 hour burns without restoking.
Jim
 
Jim thanks for the info in fact i've got the charcoal basket but I've never used it yet because I did'nt think I could maintain the same temp that I get by using hickory or white oak . I've got the mobile catering rig , 24 diameter with the upright didn't know how much time I could get out of a full basket .I'll be using the Minion method tomorow morning on a single turkey with the WSM , read somewhere you could use cheese cloth over the turkey for a better finish color , don't know about skin texture even at 325.
 
I use cheesecloth frequently but not for anything having to do with finish color--I don't think it has an effect there; if it does I have never noticed it. What I use it and like it for is as a baste tool. Rather than baste frequently I make a baste (butter, stock, wine, herbs, honey), soak a doubled or tripled cheesecloth large enough to cover the bird in the baste, then drape it on after the bird has cooked 20-30 min. Then, later and periodically, I baste under and over the cloth. It holds a lot of baste allowing me to baste much less often. If sweetening is included the cloth will nearly blacken over time; get rid of it at that point.

If there is honey, sugar, or the like in the baste then the cloth must be lifted completely (quickly but completely) when basting or it will stick to the skin.

Try kicking up the heat a bit for better skin texture.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top