Cambro question
 

With a faux cambro (cooler) you stuff the cooler with towels. It is amazing how long the meat will stay hot. When using a real cambro, do you just put the pans in and everything stays just as hot as the cooler with towels. I figured the air space might have some effect

I have a UPC 400S and the big thing is how nice everything slides in on rails. no more opening a cooler and digging through towels and possibly multiple layers of food (sometimes spilled). The 400 is pretty big and I have not needed to pack it with towels to keep things warm.

I guess what it really comes down to is convenience for me.

Our Cambro 300 and winco HD pans is one of the best additions to our cooking yet. Love how everything just slides in and stays Hott for hrs

With a Cambro my problem with a lot of meat is it staying/getting too warm. With a full load I'll either leave the door cracked for a bit, or leave the steam relief deal open to let some heat bleed off. Otherwise it turns into a steamer and can turn the meat to mush.

What Jorge said. with my UPC 400 loaded with 4 butts and 2 packers I have to leave the door cracked most of the rest time or they will over cook.

Agreed with Jorge and MAP.....they work SO good, sometimes the meat will continue to cook!

We don't hold meats in our Cambro at comps anymore. We use pizza bags wrapped in a fleece blanket (AFTER venting the meats first).


But, to the question: No need to wrap meats in towels. Just put em in a pan and slide em into the cambro. Just make sure you vent off the heat a bit first or you'll steam everything inside.

Cambro also has what they call a camchiller. You freeze it and put it into the carrier and you can hold cold product. The carrier will loose less than 5 degrees in 4 hours. You can also get a ThermoBarrier to separate hot and cold product in the same carrier. Or use it to seal off dead space in a carrier.

I've been thinking about investing in one... you guys have just about talked me into it!

Thanks for the info! :-D

With a Cambro you load your meat from the top down. Since heat rises, things stay pretty hot.

In a regular cooler you place your meat at the bottom. Since heat rises, it doesn't work quite as efficiently as a Cambro.

All that said, a regular cooler is good enough for most. One nice thing about a Cambro is the shelves. You don't have to stack stuff on top of each other.

Agreed with all of the Cambro comments above. Using a cooler does work fine but I find getting pans in and out can be a pain and I know I've spilled as well which pretty much sucks in a cooler not only because it's messy but the towels are soaked then everything is soaked, etc. Ultimately I find the convenience of my Cambro plus its efficiency makes it indispensable to me now.

I invested in the camchiller plates this year to hold the meats in the cambro after they are rubbed and injected. The plastic pans with lids are nice and don't mess up the rub as much as putting them in plastic bags and putting them in the big ice chest and having ice compress the meat. A few more pans to wash, but I like the ability to stack up the meat in the pans even if I have to put them back in the big ice chest.
Going to the contest, I put the chiller plate in the bottom of the big ice chest, but the first time I used it, it froze the bottom of the briskets that went in right on top of the plate.

How well does the Thermobarrier work for keeping hot/cold separated? We actually have one, but have only used it to cut down on air space, never tried separating temps.