brj8826
06-15-2004, 11:52 AM
Greetings all. I am new to the site after purchasing my Bandera last weekend at Academy.
I have a couple of questions I was hoping someone could help me with.
This is my second pit, my first being a Great Outdoors Smokey Mountain (not the WSM.) It is shaped exactly like the cooking box on the Bandera and I really like the access to my meat during cooking (no jokes please.) What I didn't like was having to open it up every time I wanted to tend the fire and the fact that I was cooking directly under my meat.
After seeing the NBBD I just had to have one.
I bought it on Sunday morning, assembled it alone and seasoned it for a few hours using Crisco. I was impatient and decided to try a small rack of baby backs I had in the fridge.
I burned hickory to season because of the high temps. I was able to get it up to 350 without much of a problem. I did notice quite a bit of smoke seeping from the firebox and edges of the door of the cooking chamber. I used a NuTemp remote thermo by placing the reader inside the hole designed for the NB logo.
After a few hours of seasoning I removed what coals I could and placed on a few pecan logs for cooking. I was able to keep the temp fairly stable around 230 using only the damper. I cooked them at this temp for a few hours then finished them off around 265.
They turned out pretty damn good for a first batch. I was THRILLED with the ease of adding more fuel to the NBBD.
My questions are centered around what MODS I should worry about.
I travel quite a bit and am not able to devote as much time as I would like to smoking. My wife is a fan of BBQ but tends to get worn out with me spending entire days cooking when I am only home two days a week.
I would like to have a reliable smoker that is able to turn out the standards, brisket, ribs, shoulder and chicken.
I have read about the baffle, firebox heat plates, heat shields, etc. in the Bandera 101 document but want to get your input on what MODs are "must haves" for the average bbq hack like me.
Thanks!
I have a couple of questions I was hoping someone could help me with.
This is my second pit, my first being a Great Outdoors Smokey Mountain (not the WSM.) It is shaped exactly like the cooking box on the Bandera and I really like the access to my meat during cooking (no jokes please.) What I didn't like was having to open it up every time I wanted to tend the fire and the fact that I was cooking directly under my meat.
After seeing the NBBD I just had to have one.
I bought it on Sunday morning, assembled it alone and seasoned it for a few hours using Crisco. I was impatient and decided to try a small rack of baby backs I had in the fridge.
I burned hickory to season because of the high temps. I was able to get it up to 350 without much of a problem. I did notice quite a bit of smoke seeping from the firebox and edges of the door of the cooking chamber. I used a NuTemp remote thermo by placing the reader inside the hole designed for the NB logo.
After a few hours of seasoning I removed what coals I could and placed on a few pecan logs for cooking. I was able to keep the temp fairly stable around 230 using only the damper. I cooked them at this temp for a few hours then finished them off around 265.
They turned out pretty damn good for a first batch. I was THRILLED with the ease of adding more fuel to the NBBD.
My questions are centered around what MODS I should worry about.
I travel quite a bit and am not able to devote as much time as I would like to smoking. My wife is a fan of BBQ but tends to get worn out with me spending entire days cooking when I am only home two days a week.
I would like to have a reliable smoker that is able to turn out the standards, brisket, ribs, shoulder and chicken.
I have read about the baffle, firebox heat plates, heat shields, etc. in the Bandera 101 document but want to get your input on what MODs are "must haves" for the average bbq hack like me.
Thanks!