food MikeUSMC: "Bury Me in Smoke"

Mike - I'm late to the game.  You have been killing it.  I'm going to try a brazing liquid for my cook tonight / tomorrow.  I'll certainly give you all of the credit.  
 
Now I'm starving.  
 
NeedsWork said:
Mike - I'm late to the game.  You have been killing it.  I'm going to try a brazing liquid for my cook tonight / tomorrow.  I'll certainly give you all of the credit.
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Thanks, man! Saw your pics; pork shoulder looked killer!


Had a blast over Memorial Day weekend. So much food, I had to borrow another smoker from a buddy of mine (Kamado Joe- the big one)
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I know, I know..... :pics: The whole weekend was such a hazy drunken stupor, that I didn't take one single pic! Believe me: "it happened" :rofl: Brisket, ribs, pulled pork, chicken, burgers, hot dogs, bacon wrapped stuffed jalapeños, etc. The ground sausage was for "shit on a shingle" [biscuits and gravy] for breakfast the next morning, but I didn't even get around to making it.
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I think I ended up having about 40 people over, total. A few of my buddies from my old platoon came up too, and stayed with me for the whole weekend. From Long Island, North Carolina, and St. Louis! Hadn't seen them since about 2003

We were looking through some old photo albums and found a pic of 2 of us in the field, back in 2000 or 2001. We were having a mustache growing contest for a couple weeks on that field op, hahaha (I'm on the right). My buddy, Billy (Long Island), had just started pulling ahead in the contest :rofl:
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Photo reenactment, 18 years later! Bigger beer bellies and less hair on our heads now ;) I still had my old flak jacket up in the attic, haha
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So much fun, seeing those guys. It was like we didn't miss a beat, and picked up right where we left off, all those years ago. We're hoping to make it an annual thing
:cheers:
 
Trident chilli said:
Mike what were your thoughts on the Kamodo Joe
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Hard to give you an honest "complete" review, John. I'd only cooked on it that one time. I'd really need a lot more cooks under my belt to give you a full pros/cons list.

That being said, I didn't do any homework (at all) before using it. I had a really hard time getting the charcoal (lump) to burn for an extended period of time. I think I cooked a 10lb pork shoulder on it, and had to refill the charcoal halfway through a 12 hour cook. Something there doesn't add up. I thought a full basket of charcoal could burn for almost a 24 hour period on one of these egg type smokers (?). I'm not blaming the smoker, I'm blaming my inexperience with it. I couldn't strike a good balance between the lower and upper vents to keep the temp where I wanted it, and keeping the charcoal from burning way too fast.

I ended up leaving the bottom vent completely open, and using the top vent to control the temperature inside. It was also a really crappy day for an initial test run; humid and on and off rain throughout the day

I will say though, that it DID hold a steady temperature throughout the entire cook. I'm talking EXTREMELY accurate! I could easily get the cooking temp up or down 5*F, simply by adjusting the top vent by just a few millimeters. That aspect was very impressive!

Long story (not so) short ;) , I was very impressed by it. I'd just need some more practice with it to fine tune the adjustment of the vents. I didn't have the opportunity to do so because I had 40 people coming over, the very first (and only) time I used it. I'm sure, with a lot more practice on it, I'd enjoy it even more

:cheers:
 
MikeUSMC said:
Hard to give you an honest "complete" review, John. I'd only cooked on it that one time. I'd really need a lot more cooks under my belt to give you a full pros/cons list.

That being said, I didn't do any homework (at all) before using it. I had a really hard time getting the charcoal (lump) to burn for an extended period of time. I think I cooked a 10lb pork shoulder on it, and had to refill the charcoal halfway through a 12 hour cook. Something there doesn't add up. I thought a full basket of charcoal could burn for almost a 24 hour period on one of these egg type smokers (?). I'm not blaming the smoker, I'm blaming my inexperience with it. I couldn't strike a good balance between the lower and upper vents to keep the temp where I wanted it, and keeping the charcoal from burning way too fast.

I ended up leaving the bottom vent completely open, and using the top vent to control the temperature inside. It was also a really crappy day for an initial test run; humid and on and off rain throughout the day

I will say though, that it DID hold a steady temperature throughout the entire cook. I'm talking EXTREMELY accurate! I could easily get the cooking temp up or down 5*F, simply by adjusting the top vent by just a few millimeters. That aspect was very impressive!

Long story (not so) short ;) , I was very impressed by it. I'd just need some more practice with it to fine tune the adjustment of the vents. I didn't have the opportunity to do so because I had 40 people coming over, the very first (and only) time I used it. I'm sure, with a lot more practice on it, I'd enjoy it even more

:cheers:
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Thanks Mike I am a "Smoker Virgin" but would like to move into this ... joined a FB BBQ forum and am reading all the blogs. The Tennessee smoker with its side box and chimney is quite popular over here. Charcoal can be hit or miss and I now use "hot beads" an Australian brickette which really hold the heat on a BBQ .... but I wouldn't know if you could smoke with these
 
I keep seeing pictures of those honeybrix briquettes from AUS, if you ever use them, I would love to know your opinion. They look like they could be useful for dialing in exact temps on long cooks.
 
Muckyai said:
That's just not fair... Mike you are single handedly motivating every THPer to flex their smoking skills.
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Ha! Muckyai, I wish I could believe that HALF as much as you do ;) Thank you for the compliment though!
The truth is, I'm still (relatively) a rookie in this game, and I'm constantly learning from everyone here :cheers:

t0mato said:
Dammit man! Now I have to smoke something.
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Do it up, mater! :party:

Rajun Gardener said:
Time and temp on that BACON?
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I wanna say it was at 250* for about an hour and a half. Hit it with lightly with Malcom Reed's AP rub (4parts salt, 2 parts granulated garlic, and 1 part black pepper). Spritzed w/ apple juice as soon as I threw it on, and halfway through the cook
 
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