Are you all done?
I ABSOLUTELY knew I was going to catch grief about getting a pooper. Even expected it. So go ahead, we can have the fun. :tongue: I knew it was coming and I will join in too. Even I look at the FE and say.. 'never thought this day will come'. Geeez, I am getting emails about hell freezing over from people who I don’t know if I know, and are not members! (That I know of).
Here’s my perspective. First, remember what we say here at the Brethren, THERE IS NO ONE WAY. In the past 25 years, I have cooked on offsets, reverse flows, bullets, cabinets and gassers. I have yet to cook on 3 things. Pellet cookers, Eggs and UDS. Now, tell me, What makes A Pitmaster? I believe one of the traits is the ability to cook on ANYTHING. That being said, in today’s world the poopers exist, and I am adding that to my resume. I will learn to cook on this beast and then decide in what world I will use it in. Backyard? Maybe. Competition? Maybe. Or I may just sell it off after I get some time behind the wheel. But it’s one more stamp on the side of my Bandera and Backyard Chef, which will always be my cornerstone.
Has my stance on thermostatically controlled pits in competition BBQ changed? NO. If anything, it was re-enforced the first day I used the FE. I set the controller, hit start and it fired up. 15 minutes later, 250. Yes, I walked away shaking my head saying 'that’s just not right(but pretty cool), and it has no place in competitions.'
THATS MY OPINION AND THAT IS ALL IT IS. It is NOT cheating. It has NO reflection on the person using it. It has no bearing on how good or great you can cook.... And it is legal. I just don't think we should use thermostats(including gurus and stokers. Keep in mind I run a stoker on my spicewine and WSMS. ) I respect all arguments within the 2-3 schools of thought in that topic, and I would prefer not to reopen the debate. To me, there is no issue. its here, its legal, and its will be always be out there. We operate within the rules set forth by KCBS or whatever sanctioning body we cook under. We will cook on whatever we want to cook on within the rules. I hope thats enuf not to get flamed straight to hell form any of the schools. If this thread get hijacked to the same old debate, i have asked the mods to keep is scrubbed.
The very first thing I learned this week is that the FE has its own characteristics that need to be understood. Believe me, the first batch of meat I put in there came out pretty bland. It is NOT just put in the food and walk away the way I originally thought. You MUST know how this pits works in order to produce good BBQ by our standards. Like any cooker, it needs to be mastered.
Honestly, as of yet, I can’t say I am liking this thing yet. As good of a cooker that it is, It’s just NOT what I have grown to love about our craft. The therapy, the tweaking of the fire, the diddling and fiddling. But, on those days that I don’t want to diddle, it’s a cooking machine. Set it, and go do what other things need doing. It all depends on why you are making Q. I cooked all day(all week) and not once smelled like smoke. My hands were clean. I was bored, but got other stuff done. It’s a state of mind.
One thing I noticed, the product does not have the depth of flavor of a stick burner, or even the charcoal burners. I am told that’s somewhat of a trait to deal with. Smoke rings are difficult so far also, but I know they are attainable.
My family is undecided. Some stuff they like because of the lack of smokiness. Ribs they thought was somewhat bland, but chicken was 'to Smokey'.. I am keeping in mind that I am going light on seasonings and rubs so I can learn the smoking characteristics of the pit and not be masked by the rubs or sauces. (nothing has been sauced). So they may just not be used to 'just the meat'.
I am currently using trager and cookshack pellets. Pelletheads have told me that BBQrs delight are the pellets to use and I will be getting a pallet of those soon to hopefully improve my results. The results achieved over this past week have improved significantly, but I know I have a long way to go before I would bring this to the Royal.
So ladies, you all can abuse my arse all you want and I will continue to learn this cooker and expand the breadth of knowledge here and in my pit area. That will be the purpose of this thread. To document the voyage to Pelletville and maybe help someone decide if they really want to buy one. When we were the BANDERA BRETHREN and there were only 40 members, I was the first of us to get the 1200lb Klose Backyard Chef. The trials and tribulations of my learning curve on that pit are documented in this forum somewhere. A similar thread exists for the delivery of MOAB and also when you folks got me my spicewine(THANK YOU!). Now I have yet another cooker to learn and add to the arsenal. :icon_cool
I'm going for the ride, and accept the finger jabs in my ribcage while you poke all the fun you want. I know.. I did it to me, so I'll take one for the gipper. :mrgreen:
All this being said
at the end of the day,
I have one more toy
And he who dies with the most toys win. :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:mrgreen:
For those interested, it weights in at 415 lbs. Rolls super easy and has the capacity a little larger than a medium spicewine, or maybe twice that of the bandera. it has 4 shelves. A shelf can fit 3 racks of ribs or 4 butts. or 2 small briskets, 2 large chickesn, etc.. Capacity is pretty good.
I ABSOLUTELY knew I was going to catch grief about getting a pooper. Even expected it. So go ahead, we can have the fun. :tongue: I knew it was coming and I will join in too. Even I look at the FE and say.. 'never thought this day will come'. Geeez, I am getting emails about hell freezing over from people who I don’t know if I know, and are not members! (That I know of).
Here’s my perspective. First, remember what we say here at the Brethren, THERE IS NO ONE WAY. In the past 25 years, I have cooked on offsets, reverse flows, bullets, cabinets and gassers. I have yet to cook on 3 things. Pellet cookers, Eggs and UDS. Now, tell me, What makes A Pitmaster? I believe one of the traits is the ability to cook on ANYTHING. That being said, in today’s world the poopers exist, and I am adding that to my resume. I will learn to cook on this beast and then decide in what world I will use it in. Backyard? Maybe. Competition? Maybe. Or I may just sell it off after I get some time behind the wheel. But it’s one more stamp on the side of my Bandera and Backyard Chef, which will always be my cornerstone.
Has my stance on thermostatically controlled pits in competition BBQ changed? NO. If anything, it was re-enforced the first day I used the FE. I set the controller, hit start and it fired up. 15 minutes later, 250. Yes, I walked away shaking my head saying 'that’s just not right(but pretty cool), and it has no place in competitions.'
THATS MY OPINION AND THAT IS ALL IT IS. It is NOT cheating. It has NO reflection on the person using it. It has no bearing on how good or great you can cook.... And it is legal. I just don't think we should use thermostats(including gurus and stokers. Keep in mind I run a stoker on my spicewine and WSMS. ) I respect all arguments within the 2-3 schools of thought in that topic, and I would prefer not to reopen the debate. To me, there is no issue. its here, its legal, and its will be always be out there. We operate within the rules set forth by KCBS or whatever sanctioning body we cook under. We will cook on whatever we want to cook on within the rules. I hope thats enuf not to get flamed straight to hell form any of the schools. If this thread get hijacked to the same old debate, i have asked the mods to keep is scrubbed.
The very first thing I learned this week is that the FE has its own characteristics that need to be understood. Believe me, the first batch of meat I put in there came out pretty bland. It is NOT just put in the food and walk away the way I originally thought. You MUST know how this pits works in order to produce good BBQ by our standards. Like any cooker, it needs to be mastered.
Honestly, as of yet, I can’t say I am liking this thing yet. As good of a cooker that it is, It’s just NOT what I have grown to love about our craft. The therapy, the tweaking of the fire, the diddling and fiddling. But, on those days that I don’t want to diddle, it’s a cooking machine. Set it, and go do what other things need doing. It all depends on why you are making Q. I cooked all day(all week) and not once smelled like smoke. My hands were clean. I was bored, but got other stuff done. It’s a state of mind.
One thing I noticed, the product does not have the depth of flavor of a stick burner, or even the charcoal burners. I am told that’s somewhat of a trait to deal with. Smoke rings are difficult so far also, but I know they are attainable.
My family is undecided. Some stuff they like because of the lack of smokiness. Ribs they thought was somewhat bland, but chicken was 'to Smokey'.. I am keeping in mind that I am going light on seasonings and rubs so I can learn the smoking characteristics of the pit and not be masked by the rubs or sauces. (nothing has been sauced). So they may just not be used to 'just the meat'.
I am currently using trager and cookshack pellets. Pelletheads have told me that BBQrs delight are the pellets to use and I will be getting a pallet of those soon to hopefully improve my results. The results achieved over this past week have improved significantly, but I know I have a long way to go before I would bring this to the Royal.
So ladies, you all can abuse my arse all you want and I will continue to learn this cooker and expand the breadth of knowledge here and in my pit area. That will be the purpose of this thread. To document the voyage to Pelletville and maybe help someone decide if they really want to buy one. When we were the BANDERA BRETHREN and there were only 40 members, I was the first of us to get the 1200lb Klose Backyard Chef. The trials and tribulations of my learning curve on that pit are documented in this forum somewhere. A similar thread exists for the delivery of MOAB and also when you folks got me my spicewine(THANK YOU!). Now I have yet another cooker to learn and add to the arsenal. :icon_cool
I'm going for the ride, and accept the finger jabs in my ribcage while you poke all the fun you want. I know.. I did it to me, so I'll take one for the gipper. :mrgreen:
All this being said
at the end of the day,
I have one more toy
And he who dies with the most toys win. :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:mrgreen:
For those interested, it weights in at 415 lbs. Rolls super easy and has the capacity a little larger than a medium spicewine, or maybe twice that of the bandera. it has 4 shelves. A shelf can fit 3 racks of ribs or 4 butts. or 2 small briskets, 2 large chickesn, etc.. Capacity is pretty good.
![IMG_1305[1].jpg](/data/attachments/18/18403-f6b9a161cad87f7074d61d043a1a035a.jpg)
