Hot & Fast using an Ole Hickory CTO for Competition

[jterry]

Looking for any tips using the Ole hickory CTO Hot & Fast process for BBQ competition. There's not a lot of info on this subject and I'm hoping to get some good feed back on temps you run, what meats go on what level shelves, etc?

Appreciate your help!

 

[Robert]

I do not have a CTO but have owned and EL-ED since 2003. Not much to it other than practice. Run 275-300. Find the temp that works best for your product. The rotisserie models have a limit of 325 max. Do not know about the CTO. Get some temp monitors with multiple probes like the Ink Bird so that you can monitor temps during the cooking phase that will allow you to get a ball park idea of when the meats are getting closer to finish. Finish temps are usually higher when doing hot-n-fast. But the old adage remains the same: practice, practice, practice.



Good luck.


Robert

 

[PaPaQ]

The CTO I owned had a limit switch, it would shut down somewhere around 325 to 350. Always helps to know where the reset button is.

 

[jterry]

Thanks Robert,

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Big Poppa Smokers uses Ole Hickory CTO's for their competition cooks, and through a friend I've had a chance to meet James (Sterling Ball's right hand man in BBQ competition), and we discussed using the CTO's in competition. One thing he brought up was that cooking at 275° is the perfect cook temp with the way the fan cycles the air so efficiently inside that smoker. We didn't discuss which meat on which racks, but as I understand that entire cook chamber is almost completely uniform in temperature due to the fan system, so you can load the meats however you desire.

 

[ynotfehc]

Cook at 275-300. Top shelf cooks hotter

 

[jaestar]

CTO's use a convection system and just like a convection oven, the temp cooks like it is about 25 degrees hotter (275 in CTO is like 300 in a non-convection smoker).