Revisiting the snake method


 
Andy Kaminski

Andy Kaminski

TVWBB Pro
Hi everyone,
I haven’t done the snake method in a few years.
I’ve been smoking a pork shoulder today that way and dang it is easy to control the low temps.
I went with a 9lb butt @ 235 for a marathon run today.

The pork shoulder is on of Costco’s boneless ones.
You know, I real don’t care for those it’s just that they are so darn cheap.
The last couple I did I crammed rub,rosemary, Tyme and garlic in where the bone use to be.
As nice as that sounds it’s a lesser cut than a Bone in in my opinion.
The bark looks better than some of my last attempts.
I omitted sugar.

Any how, I’m down here visiting my son and its just the two of us with this cook.
I think we’ll have to pull out the food saver.

We are going to do some sort of cook cook for thanksgiving.
Being that it’s just the two of us I think we will pass on a turkey dinner and do something stupid like lobsters.
 

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It was a 12 hour cook that started at 3:30 am.
The snake kept the temps down lower than my SnS.
The temp never spiked, it did dip down to 208 or so a few times.

In retrospect I think my SnS temps can get high because sometimes my smoke wood touches itself rather than total isolation causing more briquettes to get lit.

I normally don’t cook this long.
It was a cold day.
I used a water pan and this cook just took forever.
It turned out very tasty though and I was very pleased with the bark.

I had to run some errands so when the bark looked good at 150 degrees I foil wrapped and stuck it in the oven preheated to 235.
It was taking so long I bumped the temp up the last 2 hours to 255.

I think I’m done with these really long cooks.
The next one I wont go that cold.
 
If I was doing dinner for just the two of us, it would be something like scallops Pernod or some beautiful fish too. Wife isn’t as fond of lobster as I am so, I’d rather keep her happy than anything else!
 
I am mainly a seafood person.
It’s one of the main reasons I moved (for the most part) to the PNW.

I think I prefer scallops over lobster or it’s at least very close.
Bad scallops are not worth eating so I never order scallops.
I am real fond of the scallop recipe I mooched off of Sam the cook guy.
It’s posted here in the seafood section.

I used to dive for lobster in Southern California.
I like to BBQ mine.
Any left over lobster goes into pasta with a white sauce.

I’ll post up my BBQ lobster/lobster pasta recipe some time.
 
I have used the snake method and SNS on a weber kettle. The snake method makes total sense because with that method, you are more or less guaranteeing how much fuel is burning at any given point during the cook. The SNS "how to manual" says you light it at one end, and allow it to burn out to the other side. Obviously this method works or the SNS fan club would be a lot smaller, but IMO, the SNS is less controlled than the snake because it doesn't burn/ignite at a consistent rate.

I need to work on my seafood game.... some scallops in a hot/buttery cast iron pan over a medium temperature bed of lit coals sounds like a good idea. What do you like for sides with that?
 
I was impressed with the snake method.
It was just easier to control the temp than my SnS.
Will it age the powder coating?
Probably, but I can upgrade to red then :).
My drip pan was a 10 inch non stick pie pan from Walmart.
It cost $2 and change, fit perfectly and held the same amount of water as my SnS.

Scallops,
I like the Costco $65 bag of large rock scallops.
Serves 4 easily.
Dry them off really really well with a paper towel.
Salt and pepper.
Sear about 450 degrees in a hot cast iron pan using avocado oil and butter.
90 seconds on the first side then 60 seconds on the second side.
These seconds matter and so does the hot pan.

Sides,
Lately I’ve been digging rice made with a chicken bullion cube in the water.
My seaweed salad goes with anything and would work here.
Asparagus would be a good substitute or an addition.
A plate on the table of sourdough bread and butter would finish it for me.
Oh, and my girls like this served with a chilled bottle of Chardonnay too.
 
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