First smoke


 
P

PaddyD

New member
Hi all

My first post here...

My 14.5" WSM should arrive tomorrow. I have never smoked meat before, so I could do with some suggestions that are easy to do but sure to get great results. I'm a big fan of pork belly in the oven, is that a good place to start? I need a quick win to convince my wife that the £269 was a worthwhile investment!

Cheers

PaddyD
 
If you're a fan of chicken I would do a chicken. Or you could do pork belly similar to the way you do it in the oven and add a little smoke from say either apple wood or hickory.
 
I think of my pit as an outdoor charcoal-fired oven. Anything I can do inside I can do on the WSM if 350*F or below, and on the grill if temps above 350*F are required. With that in mind the sky is the limit: turkey, chicken, pork, lamb, beef, corn, cabbage, onions, asparagus, etc, etc. The pulled pork suggestion above serves two purposes: 1) you'll get a great long cook to exercise your new pit, and 2) pork butt has a fairly high fat content so the carbonized grease will season the inside of your new toy.

Welcome aboard! And have fun!
 
Thanks Tony. I've added an quick intro message.

I think I will try a pork butt if I can find one. UK butchers have slightly different terms, I think it is shoulder over here.

Cheers

PaddyD
 
So, I've done my first two smokes, neither of which were great successes, but I love the process!

First up was a shoulder of pork, cooked low'n'slow for 12+ hours at 225-250. Came out tasty, but on the dry side and wouldn't really pull, but it did slice nicely like a traditional roast joint. It stalled at 156 for hours, and then again at 171 for a further 3 hours. I'm going to try foiling next time after about 4 hours (once the 156 stall has started). Any other suggestions? The temperature of the WSM also dropped drastically after 12 hours, I'm guessing I should've refuelled before then?

Second up was a beer can chicken. Again it was tasty, but I struggled to get the temperature up to 350. After adding fresh charcoal from the chimney, I did get a reading on the Maverick of 325, but it fell away quickly and stabilised at 280. I used a chimney full of lit charcoal on top of some unlit briquettes in the charcoal ring, and the water tray was empty (but foiled). I'm thinking I should try lighting a second chimney next time, and also add unlit charcoal on top of the lit, rather than putting the lit charcoal on top of the unlit. Does that sound right?

After cooking the chicken, I left all the vents open to see what happened. Temperatures stayed within the smoke zone, and 30 hours after the chicken was ready, I went to clean out the ash only to find parts of it were still red hot. Very impressed with my WSM, just need to practice at getting the heat right.

Cheers

PaddyD
 
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