CookShack cook other day

[bbqbull]

Hello all, I was wondering how many farks own cookshacks? I gotta tell ya I did 2 seven pound butts other day. They were so moist I couldnt believe it.
Ive done many on a log burner and basted them w/apple juice mixed w/a tad bit of veggie oil. I only spay them when I go to turn them or check the temps. These butts were much more moist w/o any type of spray whatsoever. I realize that some of you will say that cookshack aint real bbq but I gotta say its so close that ya cant believe it. I still enjoy the log burner but I cant take all the smoke that emits from it. I get sicker than hell for bout 2 weeks after every big cook.
Mike

 

[jsmoker]

I still enjoy the log burner but I cant take all the smoke that emits from it. I get sicker than hell for bout 2 weeks after every big cook.
Mike

Um... Maybe if you don't suck on the exhaust pipe while your smoking???

:wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

I can't say I've ever used a Cookshack. Looks like quite a deal.... Kind of a Traeger-type pit? How does it do for things like smoke ring, bark, etc when compared to your stick burner?

 

[chad]

Actually, the Cookshack is electric with a "smoke" box for chips or chunks...the Fast Eddie FEC100 is the Traeger type and it's now manufactured by Cookshack. Quite a few restaurants use the commercial version of the Cookshack with pretty good results. I almost bought one (commercial size) for catering and to use as a warmer.

 

[Bill-Chicago]

Ron_L has a Cookshack, I beleive, and kcquer has a Fast Eddie.

They'll chime in shortly

 

[kcquer]

Jason, although 'bull's thread is about Cookshack electrics, since you asked I'll comment a bit on the FE pellet cooker.

The FE can produce a respectable smoke ring, and always great bark. Cooking on a pellet cooker will make you appreciate the fact that smokering is just a chemical accident and really has no bearing on how the food tastes. The clean burning nature of the FE actually is too clean to produce the type of smokering that you get on a stick burner, big deal! The smoke flavor on the meat is the cleanest of clean all wood smoke and the convection effect of the cooker makes for the plumpest juciest briskets I've ever cooked (no foiling required). I'm not really a fan of pulled pork, but the OL is and she loves pellet cooked butts. FE ribs are awesome as is nearly everything else I've cooked in it.
The one thing I prefer not to cook in the FE is fatties, and I can't really say why, they just come out better in an offset. This may be due to the fact I've always cooked fatties in a hotspot to expedite breakfast and am just used to that flavor and texture?

 

[Ron_L]

As Bill said, I have a CS Smokette and love it. Its essentially a closed system, so it holds moisture in very well, so the food is always moist. It used wood chunks in a wood box that sits right above the electric heating element.

There have been lots of discussion on the Cookshack forums about smoke ring and bark formation. Since the wood in the CS never really burns, it doesn't produce a smoke ring, but it does produce a nice bark on butts, briskets, etc. Some folks had added a charcoal briquette to the wood box to get a smoke ring. I've tried it and it does work.

The only drawback I've found to my CS is when cooking poultry. The max temperature is 250 degrees, so it doesn't product a crisp skin. So, if I want to do birds, I'll usually crisp them up on the gasser after cooking.

Have you tried a brisket in your CS, Mike? I read on the CS forum that the original CS was designed spicifically to cook brisket. The briskets I have made in mine have been fantastic!

 

[bbqbull]

Ron, Yes ive done a couple of packer briskets in my cookshack 150. They turned out awesome. First cook I only used one chunk of hickory. I also had 2 butts in at the same time. Wished I had used one more chunk of wood as the smokey flavor was a tad bit light. The last 2 butts I did, I used 3 chunks of wood. Great bark, nice smoke ring. Bark wasnt as hard as I normally get on offset stick burner. But It was just fine for me and all the folks who sampled it. I got a couple of corned beef flats that Im gonna blast w/montreal seasoning and try and make me some pastrami this weekend.
The benefit of the cookshack for me is I can smoke in the garage during the winter time. I just open the doors and get some ventilation to rid area of smoke. Hard to do w/snow on ground, pull offset outside and tend fire for twelve hours and maintain even temps. I hope I havent offended anybody here by mentioning a cookshack unit. I just love Q year around.
Now I know Im not alone. Mike

 

[Ron_L]

Pastrami is good! For me, I had to soak the store-bought corned beef for a coupl eof days to keep the saltiness down.

 

[midnight]

I have a cookshack smokette and it works great for pulled pork, salmon, and buckboard bacon. But I will stick with the offset for ribs, chicken, and brisket.
I like my bark and the CS just doesn't make enough of it for my taste.

I plan on getting a Fe100 in the next 2 to 3 months. They sound like they will give me the bark I am looking for.

 

[Solidkick]

Some of my best Brethren friends own pellet poopers.....you won't get me to say anything bad about them.....