Inaugural Cook


 

Alex Enkerli

TVWBB Member
Didn’t realize this was the subforum for galleries. Posted my first one in the “new WSM owner” subforum.
Also blogged it.
Short version…
0-Context.jpg

8-Rubbed.jpg

13-BottomGrate.jpg

14-TopGrate.jpg

15-NearlyDone.jpg

16-ChickenMeat.jpg

17-SquashCoal.jpg
 
Thanks for the feedback! It’s a fun learning experience.

Grate size is part of the reason for taking these pics. Hoping that people who are thinking about getting a 14.5" won’t be discouraged. YMMV but, FWIW, it does fit enough food for my needs and, as a compulsive pedestrian, I love the small size. Even brought this baby home by bus!
Before getting the smoker, I almost created mockups, to see how tiny it’d be.

Temp remained between 215ºF and 245ºF for a good six hours.

The results are quite good. The skins got much of the flavour but I’d rather not eat too much of it. So I made a sauce with all the skin and bones. Smells good.
 
Fantastic Alex!
Seems like you are on the right track.... Smooth sailing from here on out! Welcome aboard mate!
 
Way to break in that smoker, Alex. Nice documentation post as well. Chicken looks perfect and I love squash cooked that way as well.
 
As hoped, comments from forum members are strong encouragement. Those words really keep me going.
My second cook will be beef short ribs (rubbed with ginger, herbs, curry, cayenne cumin, peppercorn, coriander, paprika, soy, garlic, onion, brownsugar, Worcestershire…). Might put some other things on the grates by the end of the cook, while I still have hot coals. Got some rolls of extra lean ground chicken which worked fairly well in my Cheapo Offset Smoker. Can’t really find breakfast sausage rolls around here to make smoked “fatties”.

Also planning to marinade a picnic in mirin-style “cooking wine” (what it says on the bottle) and smoke that soon.

Even exploring other options, especially about cheap cuts like trotters. Might help with the seasoning/gunking up, and could work for sauce.

Didn’t grow chiles, this year, but might get into hot sauce, again. Was really taken by one made with pumpkin seeds and arbol chile. Reproduced it at home, with store-bought arbol. But smoke-drying chile is fun too.
Might even try smoking green coffee beans. I normally roast coffee in a dedicated device, but it’d be interesting to impart more smoky flavour to a drink.

Anyhoo… Life is full of possibilities. So is my smoker.
 
Excellent first run!

Tip for future cooks: foil the top and bottom of the water pan with heavy duty foil. It makes clean up so much easier. I can let everything cool so the fats solidify, then wrap everything up and put it in a trash bag. The pan itself then just needs a good rinsing.
 
Tip for future cooks: foil the top and bottom of the water pan with heavy duty foil.
Didn’t Chris say that water can then make a mess in the charcoal bowl, as it gets underneath the foil?
Been adding water to the water pan (was also using water in my Cheapo Offset Smoker). I like to make sauce from the drippings.
Haven’t had much difficulty cleaning up the water pan, especially the inside. It did run dry at some point during this very first cook, but there was plenty of liquid (and grease) on the second cook and cleaning was trivial.
Is there a specific reason it’s important to clean the bottom of the water pan? In my mind, since it’s directly exposed to whatever comes from the charcoal bowl, it could be part of the seasoning, no?
 

 

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