- Aug 27, 2008
- 5,170
- 409
This is my idea of relaxing on Father's Day...cooking for the family and sharing a nice sit-down meal with them. I kept everything pretty simple for today. I had some leftover Blueberry/Cherry/RBP Rub (originally blended for pork, but good with yard bird as well), so in keeping with a lazy day, I rubbed the birds with it after splitting in half and rinsing...no pre-rub oil, either...just toss on all sides and hot the smoke. I may brush on a bit of sauce near the finish after cranking the heat to finish them up.
The veggies went into the smoke first for good hit of heavy smoke up front. Today's smoke is provided by pecan chips for a quicker onset and heavier smoke up front, and small to medium chunks of apple and hickory. I laid wedge-sliced yellow onion on bottom followed by large dices of yellow potato, baby carrots, chopped celery and minced garlic, further seasoned with black pepper, 6-8 dashes of worsty sauce down the sides of the pans and lastly, sprinkled 1-1/2 Tbsp chicken bouillon over the top...simple. I opted for no added water until a few hours into the smoke...I'll add a cup or so, depending on how much they sweat, just to keep them moist and cook to nice, tender bite.
Nothing fancy, but simple dishes have proven to be quite good eating:
30 minutes after getting the veggies into the smoke, along comes the birds...these were still partially frozen when I split them...rubbed and straight to the smoke, stone cold:
I started the veggie smoke @ 325*, then jacked it down to 220* after tossing in the split birds to let them soak up some smoke...then crank it to around 350* after nearing about 150* I/T to crisp the skin a bit...possibly brushing on some sauce to get nice and sticky when nearing the 158-160* mark...haven't decided for sure, but sounds like a nice change for me...I don't do wet ribs or birds, so why not?
2 1/2-size steam table pans cover an entire grate in the SV-24, so I definitely wanted them above the birds to prevent heat baffling:
Normally, I put the veggies under the meat to catch drippings, but I want to save some time by not having to de-fat the veggies (I'm shooting for less liquid when finished, and don't intend to make a gravy this time), hence the added bouillon.
Oh, and I'm running with a wet-to-dry smoke chamber for this as well...should be around 3 hours high-humidity smoke chamber before drying up the foil liner and transitioning to dry.
So, I have yet another trial with smoked veggies...lower chamber temps for the duration, with a hit of ~350* temps at the end...we'll see just how tender they get. Whole potatoes will get tender at 260-270*, given enough time, but below 250* is gamble...with the liquids sweating out of the veggies and a bit of added water a few hours in, it should keep things rolling along. I did add 1/2 cup water per pan @ 2.5hrs, then combined the two pans into one and covered after 3 hours of smoke. They'll finish their journey to goodness covered for steaming.
2.5hrs...lots of shrinkage already, but still pretty moist and a bit of free liquid in the pans:
Looks like they got a nice amount of smoke judging by color, so the smoke stage is about over. The thinner layers of veggies using 2 pans probably helped a lot with smoke exposure, and of course laying loose and not covered in liquid...can't wait to taste 'em!
I did a 180* grate rotation to compensate for grate temp variations @ 2.5hrs for the birds...here they are at 3hrs:
Not much to do now except wait for it. I'll stick 'em for temps @ 4hrs and see where we're at.
See ya on the rebound with the finish...thanks for peekin'!!!
Eric
The veggies went into the smoke first for good hit of heavy smoke up front. Today's smoke is provided by pecan chips for a quicker onset and heavier smoke up front, and small to medium chunks of apple and hickory. I laid wedge-sliced yellow onion on bottom followed by large dices of yellow potato, baby carrots, chopped celery and minced garlic, further seasoned with black pepper, 6-8 dashes of worsty sauce down the sides of the pans and lastly, sprinkled 1-1/2 Tbsp chicken bouillon over the top...simple. I opted for no added water until a few hours into the smoke...I'll add a cup or so, depending on how much they sweat, just to keep them moist and cook to nice, tender bite.
Nothing fancy, but simple dishes have proven to be quite good eating:
30 minutes after getting the veggies into the smoke, along comes the birds...these were still partially frozen when I split them...rubbed and straight to the smoke, stone cold:
I started the veggie smoke @ 325*, then jacked it down to 220* after tossing in the split birds to let them soak up some smoke...then crank it to around 350* after nearing about 150* I/T to crisp the skin a bit...possibly brushing on some sauce to get nice and sticky when nearing the 158-160* mark...haven't decided for sure, but sounds like a nice change for me...I don't do wet ribs or birds, so why not?
2 1/2-size steam table pans cover an entire grate in the SV-24, so I definitely wanted them above the birds to prevent heat baffling:
Normally, I put the veggies under the meat to catch drippings, but I want to save some time by not having to de-fat the veggies (I'm shooting for less liquid when finished, and don't intend to make a gravy this time), hence the added bouillon.
Oh, and I'm running with a wet-to-dry smoke chamber for this as well...should be around 3 hours high-humidity smoke chamber before drying up the foil liner and transitioning to dry.
So, I have yet another trial with smoked veggies...lower chamber temps for the duration, with a hit of ~350* temps at the end...we'll see just how tender they get. Whole potatoes will get tender at 260-270*, given enough time, but below 250* is gamble...with the liquids sweating out of the veggies and a bit of added water a few hours in, it should keep things rolling along. I did add 1/2 cup water per pan @ 2.5hrs, then combined the two pans into one and covered after 3 hours of smoke. They'll finish their journey to goodness covered for steaming.
2.5hrs...lots of shrinkage already, but still pretty moist and a bit of free liquid in the pans:
Looks like they got a nice amount of smoke judging by color, so the smoke stage is about over. The thinner layers of veggies using 2 pans probably helped a lot with smoke exposure, and of course laying loose and not covered in liquid...can't wait to taste 'em!
I did a 180* grate rotation to compensate for grate temp variations @ 2.5hrs for the birds...here they are at 3hrs:
Not much to do now except wait for it. I'll stick 'em for temps @ 4hrs and see where we're at.
See ya on the rebound with the finish...thanks for peekin'!!!
Eric
Last edited: