Jamieson22 wrote:Wow, all the arguments that go around about lump vs briquette and someone who bbqs a bunch admits that they can't tell BBQ was made with propane

Thats because gas & electric are only smoking with pure wood smoke, so the sooty tastes of lump and briquette are completly negated. In my experiance, its about as close to a wood only pit taste as one can get without a really big offset or a lot of brick.

abf005 wrote:

Jamieson22 wrote:Wow, all the arguments that go around about lump vs briquette and someone who bbqs a bunch admits that they can't tell BBQ was made with propane

Thats because gas & electric are only smoking with pure wood smoke, so the sooty tastes of lump and briquette are completly negated. In my experiance, its about as close to a wood only pit taste as one can get without a really big offset or a lot of brick.

lump is wood..............

Head's Red BBQ wrote:

abf005 wrote:

Jamieson22 wrote:Wow, all the arguments that go around about lump vs briquette and someone who bbqs a bunch admits that they can't tell BBQ was made with propane

Thats because gas & electric are only smoking with pure wood smoke, so the sooty tastes of lump and briquette are completly negated. In my experiance, its about as close to a wood only pit taste as one can get without a really big offset or a lot of brick.

lump is wood..............

burned wood... like ABC gum (already been chewed)

[
Thats because gas & electric are only smoking with pure wood smoke, so the sooty tastes of lump and briquette are completly negated. In my experiance, its about as close to a wood only pit taste as one can get without a really big offset or a lot of brick.[/quote]
lump is wood..............[/quote]

burned wood... like ABC gum (already been chewed)[/quote]
ive seen plenty of pits where they burn down the wood and cook over it.dont get me wrong..i dont care what person uses to cook on..its all good but lump is far from impure..unless you get into some nasty brand like Cowboy where you can find old flooring, etc...

Jamieson22 wrote:
Wow, all the arguments that go around about lump vs briquette and someone who bbqs a bunch admits that they can't tell BBQ was made with propane

it is what it is, I can still tell the difference between bake-b-q, boil-b-q and the real thing though... so I think I am ok...

In my research to find a smoker to allow me to do lazy-q, I have read up a bit on propane, and electric smokers, and most readings and sources have led me to believe a propane smoker can easily be mistook for a charcoal or wood fired product because thier is still a flame involved(even though it is a bastardized flame).

I am just trying to keep an open mind about different smokers, and methods, I blame my need for a lazy-q smoker on NFL Sunday ticket, and the cold Chicago weather, it makes me want to spend less time on my deck, and more time on the couch all while still enjoying some bbq, especially since good bbq is so hard to find outside of a handfull of Chicago spots, that are too far for me to drive to on a regular basis.

jimswside wrote:

Jamieson22 wrote:
Wow, all the arguments that go around about lump vs briquette and someone who bbqs a bunch admits that they can't tell BBQ was made with propane

it is what it is, I can still tell the difference between bake-b-q, boil-b-q and the real thing though... so I think I am ok...

In my research to find a smoker to allow me to do lazy-q, I have read up a bit on propane, and electric smokers, and most readings and sources have led me to believe a propane smoker can easily be mistook for a charcoal or wood fired product because thier is still a flame involved(even though it is a bastardized flame).

I am just trying to keep an open mind about different smokers, and methods, I blame my need for a lazy-q smoker on NFL Sunday ticket, and the cold Chicago weather, it makes me want to spend less time on my deck, and more time on the couch all while still enjoying some bbq, especially since good bbq is so hard to find outside of a handfull of Chicago spots, that are too far for me to drive to on a regular basis.

i guess i just never understood the term "lazy Q"....

Head's Red BBQ wrote:its all good but lump is far from impure..unless you get into some nasty brand like Cowboy where you can find old flooring, etc...

Royal Oak isnt immune from finding crap in the bag:



I have used Cowboy, and Royal Oak almost equally, and I find little difference. Perhaps the Royal Oak burns slower, but I have found more junk in Royal Oak Bags than Cowboy, but smaller chunks of lump in the Cowboy.

Head's Red BBQ wrote:[
That's because gas & electric are only smoking with pure wood smoke, so the sooty tastes of lump and briquette are completely negated. In my experience, its about as close to a wood only pit taste as one can get without a really big offset or a lot of brick.

lump is wood..............[/quote]

burned wood... like ABC gum (already been chewed)[/quote]
ive seen plenty of pits where they burn down the wood and cook over it[/quote]

I dont disagree. But I think that seasoned wood burning straight, tastes better and has a cleaner smoke, as long as it doesn't have a ton of bark on it...

Head's Red BBQ wrote:
i guess i just never understood the term "lazy Q"....

I think it refers anyone who uses propane, or electric vs just charcoal, and wood, or just wood(I didnt coin the phrase). I'm just poking fun at my own lazy tendencies.

Head's Red BBQ wrote:

jimswside wrote:

Jamieson22 wrote:
Wow, all the arguments that go around about lump vs briquette and someone who bbqs a bunch admits that they can't tell BBQ was made with propane

it is what it is, I can still tell the difference between bake-b-q, boil-b-q and the real thing though... so I think I am ok...

In my research to find a smoker to allow me to do lazy-q, I have read up a bit on propane, and electric smokers, and most readings and sources have led me to believe a propane smoker can easily be mistook for a charcoal or wood fired product because thier is still a flame involved(even though it is a bastardized flame).

I am just trying to keep an open mind about different smokers, and methods, I blame my need for a lazy-q smoker on NFL Sunday ticket, and the cold Chicago weather, it makes me want to spend less time on my deck, and more time on the couch all while still enjoying some bbq, especially since good bbq is so hard to find outside of a handfull of Chicago spots, that are too far for me to drive to on a regular basis.

i guess i just never understood the term "lazy Q"....

that would be me sleeping soundly while you got up to check your fire! or switched out your propane tanks!

abf005 wrote:

Head's Red BBQ wrote:
that would be me sleeping soundly while you got up to check your fire! or switched out your propane tanks!

you and your fancy "electric smoker"..

im still waiting for you to come back out west and plant some grass where your fryer oil spilled. Ill supply the bbq..

i cant agree with royal oak being as bad as Cowboy..thats being said I try and use Wicked Good if at all possible. In defense of Royal Oak though I have had the pleasure of speaking with one of the people that selects the hardwoods for Royal Oak ..you wont find flooring and lumber scraps in it ..I cant say the same for Cowboy where I have pulled out tongue and grove planks
but like all things BBQ choice of charcoal could be argued to death..

[...[/quote]

that would be me sleeping soundly while you got up to check your fire! or switched out your propane tanks! [/quote]

you could also take it a step further and nuke a pot of Curlys Pulled Pork too..if its all about getting sleep that is

Head's Red BBQ wrote:I cant say the same for Cowboy where I have pulled out tongue and grove planks

you probably run through alot more than I do so I can respect that accessment. I have only used maybe 15 bags of Cowboy(killing 2 birds with one stone @ Home Depot), and 15 bags of Royal Oak in the last few months. Before that it was all Royal Oak.

jimswside wrote:

Head's Red BBQ wrote:I cant say the same for Cowboy where I have pulled out tongue and grove planks

you probably run through alot more than I do so I can respect that accessment. I have only used maybe 15 bags of Cowboy(killing 2 birds with one stone @ Home Depot), and 15 bags of Royal Oak in the last few months. Before that it was all Royal Oak.

also royal oak comes from different points of origin...you have to look on the side of the bag..some from US..some from Canada and some from South America
again Cowboy will always be a good seller because like Kingsford its easy to find and ..its cheap

jimswside wrote:
In my research to find a smoker to allow me to do lazy-q, I have read up a bit on propane, and electric smokers, and most readings and sources have led me to believe a propane smoker can easily be mistook for a charcoal or wood fired product because thier is still a flame involved(even though it is a bastardized flame).

Sounds like a WSM would be perfect for you. Ever heard of that smoker?
Fire up smoker at 10pm, put on 4 shoulders, go to bed at 10:45pm. Wake up at 9:30am, toss some coals in through access door, take off shoulders a few hours later. Sounds pretty lazy to me!

Jamieson22 wrote:
Sounds like a WSM would be perfect for you. Ever heard of that smoker?
Fire up smoker at 10pm, put on 4 shoulders, go to bed at 10:45pm. Wake up at 9:30am, toss some coals in through access door, take off shoulders a few hours later. Sounds pretty lazy to me!

it could be, I havent bought anything yet.

This weekend I will be lugging my offset out o' the garage,and getting back up on my deck.

a bunch of spare ribs will be smoked, and perhaps some more beans, and ABT's.

my lat batch of beans were awesome, took some of the trimmings from the spares, rubbed them, and smoked them. chopped them up, and added it to the beans with some smoked garlic, onion, 6 slices cooked bacon, relish, and open pit, and brown sugar..

I've got two chix on my new (to me) WSM (thanks Head's Red!), and I just discovered something:
There's a reason why BBQ isn't called "The Barefood Science"
Nice penny-sized blister on the ball of my foot, from stepping on an unobserved coal that spilled while dumping the chimney.

This thing is a LOT bigger than my craptastic MECO -- the Low and Slow fire guide uses about 2/3-3/4 of a 10lb bag of charcoal! Maybe I'll throw some sausage on after the chickens are done, justify the cost (who sells good lump cheap? I know, look at the guide topic)

I used a basic brine that I kicked up with some chile, ginger, garlic, cilantro and lemongrass. Very bright smell to the chickens as they went on. I didn't want to overspice it -- let the smoke come through -- so I didn't do a rub. I may make the peanut sauce from the book though. I'm hoping it doesn't come out too salty, though, as I didn't realize they were "enhanced" birds until I was about to dump them into the brine. It was a shorter-than usual brine time (almost 6 hrs), so I'm hopeful I haven't turned them into Carthage after the Romans finished with it.

Joel-ive stepped on many a hot coal ..not fun..glad to see you didnt waste any time putting that cooker to use!

Head's Red BBQ wrote:Joel-ive stepped on many a hot coal ..not fun..glad to see you didnt waste any time putting that cooker to use!

Long ago learned live coals and barefoot don't mix, but was cooking last week in Crocs and a stray coal landed on top of my foot. Lucky I had a hose handy.

Hi,

Early on I was at a party where they began a wood charcoal fire at night. Moving the fully lit charcoal from grill to WSM, the sparks flew around dramatically. You don't quite appreciate the array of flying embers during daylight.

I wear closed toe shoes, cotton jeans, cotton shirts and an apron when I work around fire. No polyesters because they can ignite quickly and stick to your skin burning it further.

Regards,

Well, the chicken came out terrific. Spot-on done in 1.5 hours, just like the book says, even with a downpour cooling down the cooker.

Nice smoke level -- not as strong as my previous Meco-fired attempts. I skimped on the wood chunks a bit hoping to retain some of the aromats from the brine (lemongrass, garlic, ginger, scallion, cilantro), but it was like PDQ Bach's concerto for Lute and Bagpipe. To quote Prof. Schickele "You can't hear the lute. But it's a nice lute. Think about the lute while you listen to the bagpipe."

In any case, the chicken was amazingly moist and tasty. A little over one chicken (they were very big) is now shredded into two containers for later meals: one into the freezer, the other in the fridge.

In order to not waste the still-busy charcoal, I threw a pound and a half coil of hot Italian sausage on the smoker for an hour and a half. Again, for a later meal, but we all took a taste. I should have thrown a couple more wood chunks on -- it's mostly just very juicy Italian sausage, less smokey than a polish (my tastebuds could be over smoked, though, let's see what it's like reheated).

I have to say, food is never so moist as it is coming off this wonderful black capsule.

very cool Joel...you just went from a Yugo to a Cadillac

Muttster wrote:was it graded - lots of time Wal-Mart will sell select instead of choice brisket. I believe I've even seen non-grade brisket there as well.

I thought Wal-Mart had been running TV commercials lately saying all their beef is choice. Does this not apply to the brisket?

JoelF wrote:Well, the chicken came out terrific. Spot-on done in 1.5 hours, just like the book says, even with a downpour cooling down the cooker.
~snip~
I have to say, food is never so moist as it is coming off this wonderful black capsule.

Terrific job Joel, nice of Head's Red to part with his WSM in your direction.

Head's Red BBQ wrote:also royal oak comes from different points of origin...you have to look on the side of the bag..some from US..some from Canada and some from South America
again Cowboy will always be a good seller because like Kingsford its easy to find and ..its cheap

No longer use Kingsford, have experienced wide swings in quality with Cowboy and have been, overall, happy as a clam at high tide with Royal Oak. In the interest of transparency I should point out as of 3-4 months ago Royal Oak is a sponsor of Low & Slow, though I have been buying Royal Oak at Berger Bros for at least a decade.

Enjoy,
Gary

Berger Brother's Charcoal
1176 N Cherry Ave
Chicago, IL 6062
312-642-4238

Gary - I read on Naked Whiz Lump Database site that Nature Glo is a the restaurant version of Royal Oak and that its a bit better than the regular Royal Oak? not sure how true that is as far as being better quality...do you know anything in regards to that?

Head's Red BBQ wrote:Gary - I read on Naked Whiz Lump Database site that Nature Glo is a the restaurant version of Royal Oak and that its a bit better than the regular Royal Oak? not sure how true that is as far as being better quality...do you know anything in regards to that?

Over the years I have purchased Royal Oak from Berger Bros in various packaging, Nature Glow, Royal Oak, even a plain brown 40-lb bag that simply said Lump Charcoal. Long as the underlying product is Royal Oak the quality has been consistently good. The Royal Oak lump I am currently using has English on one side, French on the other. I also feel that by getting my lump charcoal direct from the distributor* there is not as much dust/small pieces as it is not handled as much.

Enjoy,
Gary

*Berger Bros both sells retail and distributes to retail stores.

G Wiv wrote:

Head's Red BBQ wrote:Gary - I read on Naked Whiz Lump Database site that Nature Glo is a the restaurant version of Royal Oak and that its a bit better than the regular Royal Oak? not sure how true that is as far as being better quality...do you know anything in regards to that?

Over the years I have purchased Royal Oak from Berger Bros in various packaging, Nature Glow, Royal Oak, even a plain brown 40-lb bag that simply said Lump Charcoal. Long as the underlying product is Royal Oak the quality has been consistently good. The Royal Oak lump I am currently using has English on one side, French on the other. I also feel that by getting my lump charcoal direct from the distributor* there is not as much dust/small pieces as it is not handled as much.

Enjoy,
Gary

*Berger Bros both sells retail and distributes to retail stores.

the guy that was across from me at Westmont works for Royal Oak..he gave me a a bag of the Canadian stuff (blue bag) ..havent had a chance to use it yet..
I still have stacks of the Original Charcoal Co that Costco had a close out on a year or so ago..great stuff..they were getting rid of it for 3 bucks for 20 lbs..I walked out with as much as I could load in my truck..
there is some snap crackle pop when you first light it (typical of SA wood) but it will burn all night in my Backwoods..its a very dense wood and the pieces are huge and have a great smell while burning
Ill miss it when I run out

Pulled pork: The other, other white meat!!

Hot off the smoker and ready to be pulled and tossed with sauce within the next hour. I'm thinking Heads Red sauce should do the trick.

My wife has some homemade coleslaw chilling in the fridge, and we're thinking about an early dinner (by our standards anyway) around 4:30-5 PM.

This one looks and taste great so far, I stole a little sample for quality assurance purposes of course!!

Take care, and thanks for drooling!


-Burt