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kparrish
11-24-2003, 11:56 PM
My quest is to someday become a Q master, but tonight it is with humbled apprehension that I must declare, I am nothing more than an amateur, a mere novice at best. My story begins with the purchase of my first Bandera. I have dreamed of possessing one of these beauties for a many seasons, and at last the opportunity presented itself. I brought her home last weekend. I took her out of the box piece by piece careful not to lose any of the hardware. I quickly assembled her in the backyard and the pictures on the box do not do her justice.

I download the brethren’s 101 document and read every word. I was horrified! The thought of seasoning my brand new beauty; How could this be? She was perfect not a flaw anywhere, but I bit my lip and followed the instructions. I gave her a complete shower with vegetable oil, and then a six-hour burn in. Overwrought by the changes that took place I struggled to maintain my confidence. Though her outward appearance had changed, I still felt confident that this lady who was now tried and true, was ready to join me in many hours of smoking splendor.

This afternoon the time was right, I fired her up around 4:00 PM. I knew this would allow adequate time for the seasoned hickory to completely burn down to smoldering embers. I placed two 12# turkeys in her smoke box. It was an unusually cold evening and I struggled to maintain the temperature in her smoke chamber. She was to cold so I stoked her firebox with more wood. It took a long time for the hickory to start to burn. I became impatient and added more fuel. Soon her temperature was rising and smoke was billowing from her stack, blue in color this is good maybe everything will be fine.

The air was rich in the smell of hickory burning. Before long I began to here a noises coming from her smoke chamber. What can it be? What was this blackened lady trying to tell me? The water pan! The noise was coming from the water pan! It was boiling! I checked her temperature and discovered that she was now to hot. I mean way to hot! What should I do? I knew the birds couldn’t take that much heat for long, so I opened the door to her smoke chamber. Smoke billowed out around me. It was so think I couldn’t see the water pan or the birds. As the smoke cleared away I could see that the birds were dark and crispy around the edges. These were not going to be the perfect Q I had in mind.

Although I have stumbled on my journey to become a Q master, I did learn some valuable lessons about the Bandera, and there is one thing more I would like to share. If you remove the skin and bones and cut the meat into small pieces, smoked turkey makes a wonderful Brunswick stew.


kparrish

ckkphoto
11-25-2003, 12:01 AM
My first introduction to homemade BBQ was from a friend who swore his was the best...tasted like kerosene...looked like pitch. I told him that he treated me like a god with burnt offerings. Good thing I had the courage to try for myself, the ability to read a whole lot online (BBQ FAQ sheet). an understanding wife, and plenty of desire for malt beverage....

Mark
11-25-2003, 08:56 AM
Brunswick stew; sounds like another great thing to make with the turkey carcass (stock) and leftovers

http://southernfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa980111.htm


PS: the kamado web site has a thread on Brunswick stew:
http://www.kamado.com/discus/messages/2/574.html

PSS Here's 3 more good sounding recipes for Brunswick stew just for the helluvit:
http://www.bluechef.com/recipe/stew.html
http://www.officialguide.com/gistew.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_193,00.html

chad
11-25-2003, 09:04 AM
Patience, grasshopper!! :D Fire control is a test of patience -- we've all been there and done that.

Hang in there -- now you know to wait until the fire is fully engaged before making a decision to add more fuel!!

Mark
11-25-2003, 09:36 AM
Yeah I learned how to make smoke screens and burnt rubber tasting Q on my old bullet smoker thinking then the wood chunks had to be fully hydrated. Your loss was a gain to me; now I know about Brunswick stew. And after Thursday, I'm going to pressure cook down all the turkey bones for the stock to make some.

Oldtimer
11-25-2003, 09:52 AM
Okay I will bite. What is Brunswick stew ? Does in contain rice ?

Mark
11-25-2003, 10:36 AM
I never heard of Brunswick stew before today. So I did some web searches. Check out the links I provided above. No rice. Just some classic southern cookin

kparrish
11-25-2003, 10:57 AM
Okay I will bite. What is Brunswick stew ? Does in contain rice ?My Brunswick stew recipe consisted of boiling the smoked turkey carcass including the skin until the meat begins to separate from the bone. I strain the turkey from the liquid (save the liquid as the base for the Brunswick stew). I cut the turkey meat into small pieces and add it back to the liquid. I add two cans of crushed tomatoes, two cans of yellow corn, salt, pepper, two bay leaves and some Louisiana Hot Sauce.

As a twist I sometimes add some ground cumin or chili powder.

Remember to make enough so you can freeze a portion for days when it’s to cold to go out.

kparrish
11-25-2003, 11:10 AM
The smoke from the stock and turkey meat adds a pleasant and surprising flavor. It doesn’t overpower the other ingredients, but instead combines with the base flavor of the tomatoes to raise the stew to a higher level of culinary excellence.

Mark
11-25-2003, 11:58 AM
I'll try your southern Brunswick stew recipe. You try my tex-mex tortilla soup recipe and we will both have expanded our culinary horizons

BBQchef33
11-25-2003, 05:10 PM
Kparrish... Grasshopper.. you have quite the cajones to try a turkey the first time out... maiden voyage... chickens or pork butts. You didnt mention if you did any mods.. If not.. build a firegrate!!!! even if its just a shy 16x20 section of xpnded steel. You need that for fire control, and clean burns.

I think i wrote in the 101 Document..... her appearance will change... her paint will peel.. get over it.. consider it a battle scar to be proud of.

next time out.. use lump charcoal or kingsford as your base heat, and add large chunks of wood for flavor, do this the first few times out until you start learning firemanagment. kingsford will give you much more even heat, takes out alot of guess work, then go to lump charcoal, then wean yourself off of coal till you are all(90%) wood. this wil give you a good foundation to build on for fire managment.

comes with time..... only then can you snatch the pepple from our hand..

Solidkick
11-25-2003, 05:26 PM
Sounds like a familiar post from the ol' Solidkick himself. If you go back and read some of first posts you'll see I was making the same mistakes as you. Hell, I was burning 20 lbs of briqettes and 10 lbs of lump in 6 hours and pulling and finishing in the oven because I was out of fuel. :oops: A few PM's back and forth to Phil, Bill, and a few others and in about a month they had me Q'n like a pro. The grate mod and the baffle mod are both great improvements. The heat shield mod really helps with the temp control.

So hang in there fellow brethren, it WILL all come together!