Ok, so here goes.
This is my first post with "Q View," so bare with me. I would definately appreciate your thoughts and advice on how I could have done this better. It came out fantastic considering I threw this together last minute last night before the girl got home from work. I grabbed a pork tenderloin from the grocery store and threw it in a ziplock with some left over table wine (pinot noir). It sat there in the fridge for about 30 minutes while I was getting the grill up to temp. I got the coals going and the grill heated up to about 250 - 300. With only an hour and a half to work with I figured I was going to just smoke it at that temp range and then crisp it in the end to color it up a little. Put the pork on at about 5:30. I put the two pieces in a tin pan over a couple of sprigs each of rosemary I picked from my humble little vegetable garden, and poured in about a cup of the pinot noir. I wasn't really going by a recipe, just shooting from the hip, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
You'll see from the pics just how big a temp difference i was reading between the stock thermometer and the two I added on each side near grill height. I was reading about 50 degrees hotter on each of the two I added versus on the one that came with the grill.
I checked the pork at about 6:30 and they were looking good. They were starting to firm up a little bit and the bacon I put on top was coming along nicely. By the way, I was using lump charcoal with soaked apple wood chunks for a little flavor. I added another two chunks at 6:30.
I have a little oven thermometer that I layed on the grill top right next to it that was reading 250 when I checked it at 6:30.
:
I had to pick the girl up at quarter after 7, so at about 7 on my way out the door I threw my last chunk of apple in the SFB on my way out the door. The temps at grill height were still reading an even 250. I love this smoker. You'll see from the yard pics there's a bit of a slant in my backyard. I've noticed that when the smoker isn't level, specifically with the SFB is on the high side, I have trouble getting the grill temp high enough. Now that I have it leveled out, and given that it was a little warm and not breezy yesterday evening, I had no trouble at all. That dryer vent seems to be helping even out and maintain the heat a little too. I haven't really used the smoker yet for a long smoke (>2.5 hrs.), but will be tryer her out this weekend with a butt (my first!!!!! I'M SO FREEEEAAAAAKIN EXCITED!!!) *clears throat* sorry. Anyway, back to the pork.
I took off at around 7 and was back by 7:30. I checked the tenderloins with this cheap little fast sense meat thermo I got at a hardware store and it said the big piece was running at about 145 and the little piece was running at about 160. (Can't wait for my ET-732 to get here. Should be in today or tomorrow.) I pulled them both. By then the lump coal was dying down, yet still pretty hot, so I put them in the SFB on the grill there to crisp them up a little for about a minute or so on each side. Then I pulled em and took them inside to rest for about 15 min. And that's about it.
I forgot to take a picture of it sliced up, but I will do that this evening when I get home. It was a thing of beauty let me tell you. They both tasted awesome, but the small one was just a little dryer than the bigger one. I'm thinking it's probably because it's, well, smaller and got hotter. The girl loved absolutely loved it!
Any thoughts on how I could improve? Sock it to me.
Get Smoked!
This is my first post with "Q View," so bare with me. I would definately appreciate your thoughts and advice on how I could have done this better. It came out fantastic considering I threw this together last minute last night before the girl got home from work. I grabbed a pork tenderloin from the grocery store and threw it in a ziplock with some left over table wine (pinot noir). It sat there in the fridge for about 30 minutes while I was getting the grill up to temp. I got the coals going and the grill heated up to about 250 - 300. With only an hour and a half to work with I figured I was going to just smoke it at that temp range and then crisp it in the end to color it up a little. Put the pork on at about 5:30. I put the two pieces in a tin pan over a couple of sprigs each of rosemary I picked from my humble little vegetable garden, and poured in about a cup of the pinot noir. I wasn't really going by a recipe, just shooting from the hip, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
You'll see from the pics just how big a temp difference i was reading between the stock thermometer and the two I added on each side near grill height. I was reading about 50 degrees hotter on each of the two I added versus on the one that came with the grill.
I checked the pork at about 6:30 and they were looking good. They were starting to firm up a little bit and the bacon I put on top was coming along nicely. By the way, I was using lump charcoal with soaked apple wood chunks for a little flavor. I added another two chunks at 6:30.
I have a little oven thermometer that I layed on the grill top right next to it that was reading 250 when I checked it at 6:30.
:
I had to pick the girl up at quarter after 7, so at about 7 on my way out the door I threw my last chunk of apple in the SFB on my way out the door. The temps at grill height were still reading an even 250. I love this smoker. You'll see from the yard pics there's a bit of a slant in my backyard. I've noticed that when the smoker isn't level, specifically with the SFB is on the high side, I have trouble getting the grill temp high enough. Now that I have it leveled out, and given that it was a little warm and not breezy yesterday evening, I had no trouble at all. That dryer vent seems to be helping even out and maintain the heat a little too. I haven't really used the smoker yet for a long smoke (>2.5 hrs.), but will be tryer her out this weekend with a butt (my first!!!!! I'M SO FREEEEAAAAAKIN EXCITED!!!) *clears throat* sorry. Anyway, back to the pork.
I took off at around 7 and was back by 7:30. I checked the tenderloins with this cheap little fast sense meat thermo I got at a hardware store and it said the big piece was running at about 145 and the little piece was running at about 160. (Can't wait for my ET-732 to get here. Should be in today or tomorrow.) I pulled them both. By then the lump coal was dying down, yet still pretty hot, so I put them in the SFB on the grill there to crisp them up a little for about a minute or so on each side. Then I pulled em and took them inside to rest for about 15 min. And that's about it.
I forgot to take a picture of it sliced up, but I will do that this evening when I get home. It was a thing of beauty let me tell you. They both tasted awesome, but the small one was just a little dryer than the bigger one. I'm thinking it's probably because it's, well, smaller and got hotter. The girl loved absolutely loved it!
Any thoughts on how I could improve? Sock it to me.
Get Smoked!
