Cook Report

[ricksegers]

Really wanted to cook something this weekend. None of the stores had spare ribs, just $6 a pound BB. Schedule prevented spending 18-24 hours doing a brisket. Settled on a couple of beer can chickens. Rinsed and dried, seasoned with some Tony Chahcerie and Montreal chicken. Rubbed down with a light coat of oil. Then the experiment. Put them in the 'dera without the water pan. I used the baffle to send the heat across the cooking chamber and shortened the chamber with the foil wrapped shelf about a third of the way down. The birds cooked to absolute perfection with a crispier (not crispy enough but not rubbery either) skin. The heat control was breeze. I played with the dampers and it held at about 300 degrees. Fuel used was substantially less and thanks to foil in the bottom the cleanup was much easier.
Anybody ever cooked without the water or sand pan? Makes me anxious to try something else sans pan.

Rick

[kcquer]

Rick, I haven't yet but definitely want too. As a beginner the water pan gives a natural buffer in controlling the heat and I'm not ready to be weaned from it yet. Also I have used the water pan to great effect in reducing temp spikes. If the temp is starting to creep up open the door check water, wait 15 min, still creepin top off pan with cold water and burn off a few excess BTU heating it back up. I can't wait to be proficient enough at fire management to not need it. Keep us posted as to how your dry smoke experiences go.

[Mark]

When I'm trying to smoke dry things (like peppers and tomatoes) I don't use the water pan. Never omitted it when smoking chicken though. Like kcquer said, let us know how things turned out.

[2Fat]

used the Bandera for the 1st time in more than a year today-----and fire mgmt with a leaky woodburner never gets easier!!! But it sure is fun!! Cold, snowy and all!!