My family is out of town right now and on sunday afternoon I decided to smoke an old favorite, your basic rump roast, on my WSM. This way, if it turned out bad, only I would have to eat the results! Well, I should've known better as my WSM only seems to put out great tasting product!
Since I was only doing the one 3.3 pound roast, I decided to experiment further and forego both the water pan and the middle section (both unprecedented in my past experiences) and create a mini-smoker!
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Amazingly. even without the two sections fitting tight together, there was no smoke loss between the top and bottom sections! I rubbed down the roast 4 hours prior and set it in a roast rack (which I use normally use inverted as a rib rack) over an aluminum drip pan. The coals and smoke wood (1 large chunk cherry - too little?) were off on the other side.
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I cooked it at about 325 degrees average (It sure heats up without the waterpan and middle section!) I threw on a couple of spuds with 1 hour to go and after 2-1/2 hours (141 degrees internal temp), I took everything off.
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After letting it sit for 15 minutes or so, I sliced it up and it looked perfectly rare (for me!) I do think I should've added a bit more smokewood as the smoke ring wasn't thick (1/8" max.) although I did get some smoke flavor. I prepared basic au jus sauce and ate three slices that evening with a mixture of the sauce and some Arby's horsey sauce I had laying around! Essentially, in my mind I ended up with what I call "very poor man's prime rib" for about the cost of one extra value meal! It was great!
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P.S. - the rest was gone within 2 days!
Also, sorry for the image quality but my wife has the good camera!

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Amazingly. even without the two sections fitting tight together, there was no smoke loss between the top and bottom sections! I rubbed down the roast 4 hours prior and set it in a roast rack (which I use normally use inverted as a rib rack) over an aluminum drip pan. The coals and smoke wood (1 large chunk cherry - too little?) were off on the other side.
[IMG:left]

I cooked it at about 325 degrees average (It sure heats up without the waterpan and middle section!) I threw on a couple of spuds with 1 hour to go and after 2-1/2 hours (141 degrees internal temp), I took everything off.
[IMG:left]

After letting it sit for 15 minutes or so, I sliced it up and it looked perfectly rare (for me!) I do think I should've added a bit more smokewood as the smoke ring wasn't thick (1/8" max.) although I did get some smoke flavor. I prepared basic au jus sauce and ate three slices that evening with a mixture of the sauce and some Arby's horsey sauce I had laying around! Essentially, in my mind I ended up with what I call "very poor man's prime rib" for about the cost of one extra value meal! It was great!
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P.S. - the rest was gone within 2 days!
