FTPBC First Cook (Lots of pictures)

That would be my Fear The Pig Barrel Cooker



:becky:

I decided to fire up the PBC for the first time today. I bough a couple of whole chickens that were about 5 lbs each and split them. I gave them a nice rub down with olive oil and the Pit Barrel Cooker All Purpose Seasoning that came with the PBC (it was sitting on the counter).



I put the PBC hooks into the chicken halves...



While the rub was rehydrating I set the PBC up on the front sidewalk (it's a nice, level spot and was free of snow).



Here's a good shot of the air intake for those who have been asking...



I sprayed the inside with Pam spray and set up the charcoal basket. I still have half a pallet of Rancher hardwood briquettes so I decided to be a renegade and use them :-D



I put 15 or so briquettes in my Weber chimney and lit them with a Weber starter cube. I used the charcoal basket from my BWS Party to put the chimney on.



For the charcoal basket I loaded it with Rancher and buried a chunk of cherry wood and put one on top.



10 minutes later the charcoal in the chimney was almost ready...



A few minutes later I dumped it into the PBC on top of the unlit charcoal and wood...



20 minutes later the fire was going pretty good so I put the chicken halves in...



I went in to clean up the chicken mess and came out about 30 minutes later to check on things.

The PBC was smoking lightly out of the holes where the rebar rods go...



I brought out my super fast, super stealthy black Thermapen and decided to check the outside temperature...



I also checked the PBC temp through one of the rebar holes...



More to come in a bit :-D

After 1 hour and 45 minutes the chicken halves are done. They were 160 in the breast and 170 in the thighs...



They are incredibly juicy. I'm going to pull the meat off and use it for enchiladas tomorrow and salads during the week. the PBC all purpose rub is good, but a little on the peppery side.

Since the PBC is still hot I put on a couple of naked fatties and four chicken thighs.



The picture sucks since it's dark outside now.

I'm also going to throw a couple of chicken breasts in for dinner.

More to come :-D

Midnight Smoke said:

Nice Ron! But you did not use Lighter Fluid.

Click to expand...

Nope. No lighter fluid in my cookers! :-D

JohnHB said:

I'll bring the beer. Unless you prefer a great Aussie Mclaren Shiraz.
John

Click to expand...

Shiraz, please, John :-D

The thighs took 1 hour 15 minutes to 175 internal. The had a nice smoky flavor and were very juicy.



The breasts also took 1 hour 15 minutes to 160 internal. These were big breasts. They were also very juicy.



The fatties went two hours to 175 internal...



Overall I was impressed with the PBC. After I took the chicken halves off I checked the temp again and it was running at 330 degrees. It was still at 330 after the breasts and fatties came off. That was a total of 4 1/2 hours at that point and there was still fuel left.

I ran hotter that anticipated but that is probably sue to the hardwood charcoal vs. Kingsford briquettes. I may adjust the intake to cool it down and continue to use the Rancher, but I may buy a bag of Kingsford Blue to try (shudder).

If I have one complaint it is that there is no way to shut it down. You have to let the fire burn out or deal with dumping live fire out of it. At home that's not a big deal except it's burning more fuel, but if I wanted to use it at a comp I would have to dump the fire in order to cool it off to pack up.