New Cinder Block Pit And One Angry Wife

Was thinking about one of these for awhile now. No more. I told my beloved 5 days ago about building one of these babies where it is now and she said, "okay". Three days ago I aquired 28 blocks from a foundation of a house.....mostly cleaned up already....for free. Got a piece of metal for the front and top, have some expanded metal on the way but for now it is grates from other equipment..now she says she does "not remember saying okay"....



I burned wood in it yesterday to clean the blocks and season the pit. Today it was half a chicken and a rack of side ribs. Wood chunks (hickory) were burned down in the fire box of the cheap offset and added as neccessary......





While a little smokey there was no smoke ring....



There was a good amount of bark on the ribs, inside was tender and moist, not juicy, and what was bit off the bone came easy but no more came off than was bit:



All that was lacking really was that smoke ring and what causes it.

Temperature ranged from 260-280f for the majority of the cook. I had seen a number of youtube videos of how to fire one of these pits and followed along as best as I could understand. I added the coals (and spread them well) when the wood had burned down almost all the way so the amount of hickory smoke was limited. Most of the smell was from the fat dripping on the coals. Is this the way I should be doing it???

I was thinking of making a bed of coals to the far side and having a few chunks on it to generate smoke. As it is now I do not think the spread out coals would be hot enough to burn wood down clean. If I added chunks or a split it would smolder ditry I believe.

The wife is some pissed at me though boys. You see I have 6 bbq devices now. In the order aquired....the gasser, a Bradley digital, a New Braunsfels Cheapo, a 22.5 Kettle, a Akorn Kamado and now the Cinder Pit. The ,"collection", as she refers to it is growing.....the last four since Xmas....and she sees. "no need". It is good to be a guy it is sucks to have to explain and seek forgiveness for doing squat wrong. The grand total of the used bbq equipment aquired since Xmas boys.....$290. I do love bbq but I also love a deal and think it makes the food taste better.

I have a number of forearm size sidebranches with the bark still on from hickory, maple and beech. The plan is to replicate Jamaican style bbq. The chicken will be seasoned tonight and cooked on Saturday. Went to Jamaica a year ago and it got me into smoking food....been chasing the taste and texture of that bbq ever since....





Luckily my wife loves my jerk chicken.

runnoft said:

Cough up some shopping money for her and tell her(I would suggest $300.00)

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Since Xmas she has purchased a hotel 2000 miles from where we live. A handfull of used bbqs is what I have obtained.

fnbish said:

It's like they just get upset to get upset :crazy:.

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Yup.

ToddM said:

Forgive my ignorance, but is the wood smoldering to add smoke flavor to the chicken? Sort of like using a cedar plank as a cooking platform? I've seen some travel/cooking shows where they've showed jerk shacks or roadside stands but I've never quite seen that cooking set up. Interesting.

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I did not ask the cooks if the wood was smoldering from underneath but it must have been as the coals added were burned right through and glowing red....no smoke from those. The sheer amount of smoke was awesome indeed so I must conclude that those small logs were smoldering.....



I too have seen travel/documentary youtube videos. Most have the setup I desrcribe. A few have guys adding pimento leaves on the coals, under the food on top of the wood or over the food itself. A few have pimento wood (which is usually not straight at all) on top of the food grate smoldering but not underneath the food. The wood used underneath the food is what the Jamaicans call "Fruit Wood". What exactly this is I am not sure of. The smell was earthy is all I can say.

The best jerk I had was as a place called Scotchies in Montego Bay. The fells minding the pit said halved chickens were done in 1.5 hrs and half pigs with the bones removed and trimmed but left on the skin, legs, arms and head were done in 3.5 hrs!!! Wow talk about hot and fast. What that temperature is I am not sure of but I am gonna start at 275f and go from there. My guess it is around 340f or so - hot enough to make those small logs smolder but no catch fire. My setup will need some modification. Probably remove the lid and put baking sheets over the meat and wood leaving a little room for heat to escape. Gonna have to watch this one close.