sudsandswine
Quintessential Chatty Farker
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2012
- Location
- Kansas City
I came to the conclusion one day that I lacked the time, and probably the skill, to fabricate a trailer mounted, insulated firebox, reverse flow smoker and decided it'd probably be best to abandon that project if I ever had any hopes of cooking meat with a stick burner. I wanted to compete some day and wanted to have a log fired smoker when I do, so I figured it was best to just buy one that a real smoker manufacturer made and not have to worry about off dimensions, craftsmanship flaws, etc. Selling a vehicle I don't drive to fund the new toy, but I think it was definitely the right move to make. 
One day the stars kind of aligned and I found what I was looking for locally - a Shirley Fabrication cooker. I'd never used a stick burner before so I was hoping the learning curve wouldn't be too high. I did a dry run last weekend just to practice fire management...I had more smoke coming out of the stack than I would've liked part of the time but it went alright. I realized I didn't start off with a big enough coal bed when I fired up the cooker and any time I'd add a new log it didn't ignite right away. However, the second time I ran it I had zero issues. I started it with an extra log or two this time, fed it additional logs just slightly sooner, and had no problems. I was able to hold it right at 265-270* without giving it much attention at all. It looked like mostly just heat coming out of the stack, maybe a faint hint of smoke once in a while but not much.
I decided I was going to put food on it this time - something that'd cook quick, so I picked up some chicken leg quarters from the store and thawed out a couple racks of baby back ribs (I prefer spares, but I had these in the freezer so whatever).
The chicken came out fantastic. I just gave it a light rub with Plowboy's Yardbird and threw it on the top rack...no sauce or anything like that. Next time I'll probably just dry brine with some kosher salt and pepper and call it good. I'm not the biggest fan of chicken but it tasted so good from a wood fire. The ribs were good too (for baby backs :tongue but I'm looking forward to trying a longer cook on something like brisket this weekend. I use EAT Barbecue's "The Most Powerful Stuff" rub and lightly sauced one of the racks with their "Next Big Thing" sauce.
One day the stars kind of aligned and I found what I was looking for locally - a Shirley Fabrication cooker. I'd never used a stick burner before so I was hoping the learning curve wouldn't be too high. I did a dry run last weekend just to practice fire management...I had more smoke coming out of the stack than I would've liked part of the time but it went alright. I realized I didn't start off with a big enough coal bed when I fired up the cooker and any time I'd add a new log it didn't ignite right away. However, the second time I ran it I had zero issues. I started it with an extra log or two this time, fed it additional logs just slightly sooner, and had no problems. I was able to hold it right at 265-270* without giving it much attention at all. It looked like mostly just heat coming out of the stack, maybe a faint hint of smoke once in a while but not much.
I decided I was going to put food on it this time - something that'd cook quick, so I picked up some chicken leg quarters from the store and thawed out a couple racks of baby back ribs (I prefer spares, but I had these in the freezer so whatever).
The chicken came out fantastic. I just gave it a light rub with Plowboy's Yardbird and threw it on the top rack...no sauce or anything like that. Next time I'll probably just dry brine with some kosher salt and pepper and call it good. I'm not the biggest fan of chicken but it tasted so good from a wood fire. The ribs were good too (for baby backs :tongue
but I'm looking forward to trying a longer cook on something like brisket this weekend. I use EAT Barbecue's "The Most Powerful Stuff" rub and lightly sauced one of the racks with their "Next Big Thing" sauce.
Last edited:
