Recommendations for a Noob

bpiela

bpiela

I must say that there are a ton of talented chefs on these boards.  My grilling "skills" are minimal at best.  I can start up my cheap Weber grill and throw on some hamburger patties or chicken breasts and cook them until I guess they are done. 
 
I would like to try to do some smoking and I was hoping for some recommendations on a setup for a beginner.  Also, any ideas on what I should cook first to start getting used to using it would be helpful.  Maybe I need to "master" the grill first, not sure...
 
Thanks so much!
 
pork butt is very forgiving ... it's relatively inexpensive, and you have a nice wide berth in terms of time (going over), and temp (going high) ... but you are still looking at 7-11 hrs or so, depending ...
 
for a shorter duration cook, which is nice in terms of not having to maintain a consistent fire, i like cooking the the little frozen butterball turkey white-breast-meat-only version ... which smoke in 2-3 hrs ...
 
grantmichaels said:
pork butt is very forgiving ... it's relatively inexpensive, and you have a nice wide berth in terms of time (going over), and temp (going high) ... but you are still looking at 7-11 hrs or so, depending ...
 
for a shorter duration cook, which is nice in terms of not having to maintain a consistent fire, i like cooking the the little frozen butterball turkey white-breast-meat-only version ... which smoke in 2-3 hrs ...
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Curious why it takes so long to cook pork...  Is it to get the middle of the piece of meat up to a certain temp and it takes a long time to do that?
tctenten said:
I am very happy with WSM for smoking meats. Pretty easy to use, but it it a one trick pony. If I was doing it all over, I would buy a BGE or similar type grill. Much more versatile than the WSM.
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BGE...  Is that Big Green Egg?
 
bpiela said:
 
Curious why it takes so long to cook pork...  Is it to get the middle of the piece of meat up to a certain temp and it takes a long time to do that?
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au contraire mon frère ...
 
Brisket is a smoke that fits "so long" ... have to plan for like 11-15 hrs ...
 
     If all you've done is direct grilling before (broiling) maybe get your foot in the door of the world of slower indirect cooking with a few rounds of indirect grilling (roasting). Stuff like chicken quarters or brats are great for this.
    Start a big, hot fire on one side of the grill, and try to get the temp to at least 350F. Put your meat on the grate on the opposite side and close the lid with the vent positioned over the food. Cook until the brats are brown and starting to split or cook chicken until the center of a meaty part reads 160 or so. 
     Grill roasting us fun, the food is delicious, relatively quick and the skills and tricks you learn will help you hit the ground running when you start smoking and get the knack of it way quicker.

bpiela said:
 
Curious why it takes so long to cook pork...  Is it to get the middle of the piece of meat up to a certain temp and it takes a long time to do that?

 
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     It's not all about getting the temp up. Sure, you need to cook it until the temp is 190 - 200F, but it needs to be done sloooooowly. Doing it slow provides the proper environment for the collagen (connective tissue in ribs, pork butt, brisket) to get hydrolyzed into gelatin ( the stuff that makes bbq awesome).
     Some meats / cuts have more collagen than others. Chicken has none (better for roasting). Brisket has a lot of collagen and needs to be cooked really slow to turn shoe leather into gold.
 
Yes. Big Green Egg. There are much cheaper options too. I think Grant is pretty happy with his Akorn. My next addition will probably be a ceramic of some kind.
 
Amazingribs.com is an awesome source of smoking knowledge, like Juanitos mentioned. That thermometer kicks ass as well, but for long hauls, I'd recommend this thermometer, or something like it. http://www.amazon.com/Ivation-Long-Range-Wireless-Thermometer/dp/B00ANCXJR6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
 
Most smokers built in thermometers are fairly inaccurate, so getting something that'll tell you the temp of the smoker, as well as the meat, is key.
 
It'll also sound off if the heat goes over or under your pre-set temps. That way when you throw a butt on for pulled pork at midnight, you won't wake up the SO getting out of bed to check the temp all the time. You can just roll over and look.
 
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Some solid advise given,but . . . . .
Learning old school thru trial,error and touch*,maybe a good watch thrown in for a solid crutch is a good way to get after it
Dont like what you cooked,do it better next time :)

If you have the coin,most all of the ceramic's are very forgiving(plenty are still waiting on the new Weber thats coming soon)
BGE are nice and cook very well,they are retarded stupid expensive if you ever learn their wholesale price(HUGE vendor profit margin)
Get on youtube and countless vids under smoking meat,BBQ meat etc and youll get the basics to launch from
I dont use dipsticks(meat thermometers) I use controlled temp and time personally
Good seasoned wood,heat control and time . . . . . . . . . .
 
Take a look at this for only $299. There are a few of us who use them and they work just like the BGE except they are double walled steel instead of the more expensive ceramic. Don't get me wrong I would rather own a ceramic Kamado grill but for the money its a great smoker and grill. I make great pizza at 800* and slowly smoke baby back ribs at 250* for 5 hours with hardly any coals/wood. It is very versatile from searing steaks at 600* plus to smoking at 250* or below.
 
I'm so use to the temp control now that I can set it and forget it and the temp stays consistent for hours.
 
http://www.lowes.com/pd_131712-49769-6719_0__?productId=3609214

grantmichaels said:
The Akorn is the only grill I'm aware of that's arguably as versatile, and as good of a deal, as a Weber kettle ...

The only limitation of the Akorn is that it's designed around using lump ...
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I use charcoal and lump coal or wood in mine all the time. I usually mix them together.
 
I second that. I can confirm that a PID-controller (Party Q in my case) can keep the Akorn at 200F, which you really can't do with a uninsulated Weber kettle in my experience ...
SavinaRed said:
I use charcoal and lump coal or wood in mine all the time. I usually mix them together.
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I use primarily lump as per the instructions, but I use as much fruit wood in the basket as I need too ...
 
It does make a mess of it compared to straight lump, though ...
 
The same tight tolerances that help keep it from leaking, get gummed up readily from the crappy burn of wood and briquets in my experience ... which really just means cleaning it more frequently, I guess.
 
If you follow their rec to only use lump, it rarely needs cleaning at all (if you use drip catching pans, anyways) ...
 
grantmichaels said:
I second that. I can confirm that a PID-controller (Party Q in my case) can keep the Akorn at 200F, which you really can't do with a uninsulated Weber kettle in my experience ...

 
I use primarily lump as per the instructions, but I use as much fruit wood in the basket as I need too ...
 
It does make a mess of it compared to straight lump, though ...
 
The same tight tolerances that help keep it from leaking, get gummed up readily from the crappy burn of wood and briquets in my experience ... which really just means cleaning it more frequently, I guess.
 
If you follow their rec to only use lump, it rarely needs cleaning at all (if you use drip catching pans, anyways) ...
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yes mine is shall I say very well seasoned lol. it needs cleaning much more often than yours. I'm hoping to make it unusable so I can get my dream BBQ the Primo Oval XL :)
 
As far as the OP's initial post and wanting some advice for a good setup for a beginner with minimal grilling skills wanting to get into smoking meats, I'd give the following advice:  Get an offset-firebox smoker/grill (a "Texas style" smoker).  This is what I got when I was in your shoes about 10 years ago https://www.chargriller.com/charcoal-grills-and-smokers/smokin-pro-1224-1224.  You can use it as a grill -which I do 90% of the time, or you can use it as a smoker.  It'll hold 3 times the meat of one of those little electric barrel-shaped smokers and 5 or 6 times as much meat as a kamado (Big Green Egg, ACORN, etc.)  It's relatively inexpensive as far as normal patio size smokers go, and mine has served me well for about 10 years with no issues.  You'll want to put a better thermometer in it right off the bat.  This is what I put in mine http://www.teltru.com/p-343-barbecue-thermometer-glow-dial-bq300-3-inch-dial-with-2-12-inch-stem.aspx.
 
I'd steer clear of anything electric -nothing but problems.
 
I'm also gonna break from the herd and recommend against the kamado style grills.  Not because anything's wrong with them -they're actually amazing.  They grill food faster, leaving it juicier, while using far less charcoal.  They have a huge range of usable temperatures from around 200-900 F making them very versatile.  They are super easy to use and it's hard to mess up food on them.  They're even great for smoking things for short amounts of time (fish, cheese, etc.).  But for those who are serious about smoking low and slow, they really just don't cut it.  All the wood you can fit in it will burn up long before you're done smoking that pork shoulder or brisket.  Then to refuel it, you have to remove the food from the grill (worst thing possible for your meat), scrape out all that burned charcoal and ash, add more wood and let it catch on fire, then adjust the temperature down, then wait for it to stabilize, then put the meat back on.  Don't get me wrong, I've used a buddy's BGE for years and I want one of my own -just not for smoking.
 
I haven't used an BGE, but I thought I would mention that the Akorn will run for 24 hrs on a basket of lump ... and I do agree re: it not holding that much meat, although the hover grate above the main helps (but it's a different temp up there) ...
 
I agree with you, in a sense, but for a different reason than you've given ... the Akorn is so frugal in burning the wood, that you don't necessary get to expose the meat to as much smoke as you might want ...
 
An offset is what I'd most like to add to my arsenal, so I kind of agree at the end of the day, I guess ...
 
grantmichaels said:
I haven't used an BGE, but I thought I would mention that the Akorn will run for 24 hrs on a basket of lump ... and I do agree re: it not holding that much meat, although the hover grate above the main helps (but it's a different temp up there) ...
 
I agree with you, in a sense, but for a different reason than you've given ... the Akorn is so frugal in burning the wood, that you don't necessary get to expose the meat to as much smoke as you might want ...
 
An offset is what I'd most like to add to my arsenal, so I kind of agree at the end of the day, I guess ...
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I would have never thought it possible to keep a single basket of lump going half that long!  As far as getting minimal exposure to smoke, I could see where that'd be perfect for certain delicate types of meat like trout where you don't want the smoke to overpower the flavor of the meat.
 
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