Anyone cooking?? "Maiden" voyage started!

Hey, guys the day has finally come and I have got the beast going! Man the fire control is a pain in the *ss with the wood. I was able to cut the wood size down some with a spike and sledge hammer. Still probably too big. I put the baby back ribs on around 2pm, on smoke for 2 hours, now in foil and will finish back on smoke. I put the BBR on bottom rack with a foil heat shield above. I just now put the 13lb shoulder on and will cook it all night. I will put the brisket on later tonight or might put above a heat shield now. I found some whole Quail in the supermarket out in town and think I will put them on for a snack tonight. Any suggestons on the Quail?? Oh yeah, I have a fatty that should be ready right now. I will post more later.....

michael, Dunno quite why your using the heat shield if you got 3 shelves going at once..

Click to expand...

I was using the heat shield earlier when I started the BBR by themselves, then added the shoulder later and removed the heat shield. BTW, the ribs were very good. I think I can do better but for a first cook I was very happy with them and so were the folks over here eating them up!

As the quail are small you should be fine, key with those will be getting them off when they are done so as not to overcook and dry out

Click to expand...

I guess it is better to be lucky than good. I timed those suckers perfect. They were very moist and tasty. I put some bacon on a couple and they were really good.

The fire control is still a work in progress but I'm doing better now than I was 12 hours ago! I hope to pick up the charcoal basket mod next week from the guy who made my fire grate (which is working great!) I will be able to fully appreciate that mod once I use it!!! The shoulder is looking good so far, rub was put on last night and spraying it when I open the door. I guess about another 10 hours to go. I will keep an eye on internal temp and "feel" as I get closer to being done. I decided to wait until Monday (Holiday) to do the brisket. Thanks again for all the help and I will keep you posted. My internet connection died earlier and is back up now so hopefully it will keep working.

It is 3am here now. I watched the Steelers barely beat the Jets and now the Falcons are playing the Rams. I hope everyone favorite wins today. My Cowboys sucked again this year! This 7 hours difference (from central time) is a b*tch during football season.

The shoulder is still doing well, but I'm fading fast. I don't have any temp alarms and I am afraid I won't get up once I fall asleep. Would it be a terrible sin to wrap this shoulder and put it in the oven until I wake up and then if needed put it back on the smoker?? Internal temp is approximately 150 degrees now. Forgot to mention earlier that the fatties were excellent, as advertised here.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to ya'll on my first bandera cook. My internet connection over here has been screwed up for the past week and they don't have any concept of customer service over here! Anyway, I just wanted to tell everyone again THANKS for all the help so far. Everything came out great!

I did "cheat" by putting the shoulder in the oven, then when I got up I put it back on the smoker, got the internal temp up to 190, coolered (is that a word?? ) it to 130 and the whole shoulder bone lifted right out of it! The brisket I cooked for about 12 hours, over-shot the internal temp to 210 (busy watching the Patriots vs Colts at the neighbors, mucho cervezas!), coolered down to 130 and it was a little dry but not bad, I was the only one critical of it! I also put on 2 racks of spare ribs using the 3-2-1 tech spraying with apple juice/Jack Daniels mix, man they were good! As mentioned in a post above the BBR and quail turned out great and the guys who were here that night loved them. I forgot to take pictures that night, but it was only a couple folks over. I heated up all the left overs in the oven and took it to work. I left a scent trail from the front door to the second floor operating room. That had people coming from all over the hospital trying to find out where the BBQ smell was coming from! I must have fed about 20 people and they all said it was some of the best BBQ they have ever eaten and to tell all of you THANKS. I took some pictures I will attach below. Thanks again for all the help and I look forward to firing up the Bandera again!

Just looking at the pictures made me hungry for more BBQ! I guess there is a 5 file upload limit because I could not add anymore pictures. I picked up my charcoal basket mod today and they did a really good job making it. Thanks Al for the posted pictures. There is no way I could have told the guys out in town what I wanted made in Spanish! I just showed them your pictures and it looks pretty good. They did not put the tabs on the bottom, so I will just put it on top of the fire grate mod so I can move it to whatever level I want it in the fire box. I can't wait to give it a try, especially now that I know what a pain in the *ass an all wood fire can be to maintain for a long time. I will attach pictures of the new basket mod and the fire grat mod below. Joining this website has been amazingly helpful in getting started using my Bandera. Thanks again for everything!