Your most disastrous cook?


 
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Chris Allingham

Chris Allingham

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Hi,

Today I got to wondering about the disastrous failures others have had when barbecuing. We usually talk about what worked well, but there's a lot to be learned from what didn't work, too.

I'll go first. I once tried to make spareribs with a blackberry barbecue sauce painted on at the end of the cook. The recipe called for fresh ginger--way too much of it, as it turned out. I prepared the sauce per the recipe, but applied it to the ribs too soon. The sauce burned and the ribs were so black they looked like long, thin charcoal briquets with bones sticking out each end! I tried a taste, and the strong ginger flavor nearly blew the top of my head off. Worst of all, I have pictures documenting the whole thing for a Web site article that apparently was not meant to be.

Regards,
Chris
 
I'd have to say it would be the peanutbutter & jelly sandwiches. It just didn't get alot of smoke flavor and the bread turned into toast. I have a feeling I should have used chunky peanutbutter instead of the smooth kind. I might try to smoke some pudding this weekend.
 
That had to be the first time I ever smoked Salmon.
I didn't know that the brine had to be rinsed off prior to smoking.
Man oh Man, that was some salty Salmon.

Jim C
 
It was the 1st time I fired up my new home made OK Joe clone. I had no experience "smoke cooking" and I figured if I was "smoke" cooking, then there should be smoke---and lots of it. Well I kept this up for a while and when the pork and beef were done, the dog wouldn't even eat it. But I learned.
 
This goes back to my kettle days -

After a sausage smoke, I decided to use the remaining coals to smoke cheese. Never smoked cheese before.

So, I added some wood chunks and put a block of cheese on the grill. Went back about 15 minutes later and the cheese was gone... /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

... it had melted into the drip pan below. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

That was the day I learned about "cold smoking".
 
Cook a brisket using a new chili pepper, Chimayo from New Mexico. Rubbed it 24 hours in advance and cooked. It was moist and tender but it was orange clear through to the center. It was Oct 31st so it was in step with the season, to bad it was at Jack Daniels. Orange briskets don't score well no matter how good the taste.
Jim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>That had to be the first time I ever smoked Salmon.
I didn't know that the brine had to be rinsed off prior to smoking.
Man oh Man, that was some salty Salmon.

Jim C
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> /infopop/emoticons/icon_redface.gif Gee...and I thought I was the only one....
 
I was cooking 4 8lb butts for my daughters first birthday party. I'd been fighting the temps from the start and I finally decided to "crack" the front door open about an inch or two to get the temps up. I propped the door up with a long handled basting brush and left it. Came back about 15 minutes later to a roaring fire and a 400+ degree dome temp. 4 8lb butts cooked in 8 hours...still turned out good though.
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Mark WAR EAGLE!!
 
I usualy make jerky on my ECB which usually turns out very good. I did a batch early this spring on a new smoker I bought. Turns out the new one was cooking at a higher temp. I made some darn good carbon strips though!
 
Only 2 bad experiences. The first was while camping. (I had posted this in the beginner's forum after it happened) I don't know if it was the altitude, the wind, or poor quality meat, but my ribs (both pork & beef) were as dry as dry could be, 100% crispy in fact. That taught me to keep a clocer eye on internal temps for ribs.

The other was my first attempt at a beer can chicken. It was before I discovered this site, and the recipe's rub was very simple (1 cup salt, quarter cup pepper, quarter cup garlic powder) and said to "coat liberally" with the rub. Well, I saw the term "liberally" and did so, using 2/3 of the rub. It was so salty it was painful to eat. (Good thing I did 2 chickens, the other just soaked and injected with Mr. Yoshida's sauce.) I have since done that same recipe with much success, using FAR less of the simple salty rub.
 
On my NBBD offset smoker, my first try at using "all wood" as a fuel source was a disaster.

I bought oak wood that in hindsight was wet and green. I put a nice load in the firebox (4 logs or so), got it burning, then choked it down via inlet damper for a "long burn".

I came back after a while to find ugly looking and smelling dark smoke, and dark ruined chickens.

That has happened to me only once, and it probably was good that it happened, as I learned a lot about what "not to do" from that incident. :)

-Gary K
 
Tried boneless chicken fingers low-n-slow with several chunks of hickory.

They came out really brown and tasted like cigarettes. The kids were not happy! /infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif
 
Trying to cook chicken on a Patio Classic. I turned Chicken into charcoal without even trying on that thing.

Kinda of a crappy oval clone of a weber kettle. I won it and sold it to the first sucker who wanted it (Juju's dad).
 
Mine was definately a whole chicken... I "marinated" it overnight in a liquid that had a tiny bit too much salt /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif In a blind taste test I think I could have convinced someone they were eating smoked ham.
 
Konrad: Don't be rippin' on the Patio Classic. That's currently my only "smoker," and I have gotten awesome results from her. It does take a LOT of babysitting to get the temps just right, but I've gotten the hang of it. I also wouldn't do an over-nighter on it.

It's not the best thing to smoke on, but I'll go out on a limb and say "it's not the cooker, its the cook." /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif
 
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