Qczar
Full Fledged Farker
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2004
- Location
- NorthEas...
This past Sunday I fired up my Bandera for it`s first Q. The day before I ran it for a good 5 hours with no heat shield to season it up. I have a NB temp gauge on the door and used a digital probe dangling in the center of the smoker. During the 5 hour seasoning on Saturday I watched and learned how much fuel to pile up to maintain temps in the 215º - 250º range. The NB gauge paralleled the dig probe exactly 35º less in temp the entire time. With that knowledge, Sunday at 6:30am I fired up the Bandera again, leaving some of the coals from the previous day and setting up a heat shield about 1 inch above the probe to the NB door thermometer. Once I got it up to 225º - 235º I loaded it up with a 5 lb fresh ham and 3 racks of babybacks (seasoned with cajun seasoning and some home grown and dried habanero`s crushed up for some kick, plus a bit of brown sugar and apple juice). I left the digital probe out of the meat for the first 2 - 3 hours ( I knew I would`nt need it in the meat for a while), still dangling near the ham not touching anything to see the difference with the heat shield. Surprisingly, the temps of the digital thermometer and the NB door gauge read *DEAD ON* the same throughout this period! Raised and lowered identically. Clearly the heat shield at that position was the reason. Even though I was prepared to add degrees to the NB door gauge to parallel the temps of the center of the smoker, I did`nt have to.
* Prior to using the NB temp gauge on the Bandera, I ran some boiling water and compared it to the digital, a instant read, a standard meat thermometer and a kitchen liquid glass thermometer. The NB gauge read near the middle of the pack with an overall 5º - 6º difference between them all * ...................
I set up the stock fire grate up a few inches to allow ample air flow. Had made a nice 6" protruding baffle to get the heat over to the other side of the smoker. I really did`nt have too much trouble maintaining temps. It pretty much stayed at 230º most of the time and if she was to drop suddenly I would just through a small chunk of wood on it for a quick rise and make a correction with briquettes or lump. If she got too hot (2 - 3 times), I just opened the fire box door or the smoker door for a bit.
Everything came out pretty damn good. I just need to start experimenting now. Foiling the ribs near the end will be on my next instruction list, as well as marinades.
Just one question for now, when using the Bandera, are we using the same meat temps as in a conventional oven? Do we remove the meats from the smoker at a little more well done due to the slow cooking? I only ask this because I make a pretty hefty slow cooked chili (hot like you would`nt believe!, but people can`t stop eating it). I use large chunks of beef and cook it for 1 - 1½ days. After about 1 day, well after the meat has reached temp, the meat breaks down and becomes incredible tender and shreds apart. This long cooking time is key to tender meat in my chili.
BigAl - I can see the benefits of a basket style fire grate. I hope it covers a lot of square inches of the fire box. Clearly it`ll be better for longer burns that way.
Much obliged to you`s helping me get started, ............................... Greedy
* Prior to using the NB temp gauge on the Bandera, I ran some boiling water and compared it to the digital, a instant read, a standard meat thermometer and a kitchen liquid glass thermometer. The NB gauge read near the middle of the pack with an overall 5º - 6º difference between them all * ...................
I set up the stock fire grate up a few inches to allow ample air flow. Had made a nice 6" protruding baffle to get the heat over to the other side of the smoker. I really did`nt have too much trouble maintaining temps. It pretty much stayed at 230º most of the time and if she was to drop suddenly I would just through a small chunk of wood on it for a quick rise and make a correction with briquettes or lump. If she got too hot (2 - 3 times), I just opened the fire box door or the smoker door for a bit.
Everything came out pretty damn good. I just need to start experimenting now. Foiling the ribs near the end will be on my next instruction list, as well as marinades.
Just one question for now, when using the Bandera, are we using the same meat temps as in a conventional oven? Do we remove the meats from the smoker at a little more well done due to the slow cooking? I only ask this because I make a pretty hefty slow cooked chili (hot like you would`nt believe!, but people can`t stop eating it). I use large chunks of beef and cook it for 1 - 1½ days. After about 1 day, well after the meat has reached temp, the meat breaks down and becomes incredible tender and shreds apart. This long cooking time is key to tender meat in my chili.
BigAl - I can see the benefits of a basket style fire grate. I hope it covers a lot of square inches of the fire box. Clearly it`ll be better for longer burns that way.
Much obliged to you`s helping me get started, ............................... Greedy