Bar-B-Chef Find,...is it worth it? (Plenty of Pics)

[chefrob]

i would do pulled pork......a pork butt is a very forgiving piece of meat.

 

[xlaxx]

Was charged with supplying the main course meal for this past Easter weekend family-get together.  I was pretty stoked about the whole thing and fired up my refurb'ed  -  BBQs Galore Bar-B-Chef Smoker for the very first time!  I can't tell you how much research I did on this site and on Meathead's website.  At first, I was going to step-up and try baby back ribs, but did end up going with a 7lb. Boston Butt as suggested by Chefrob.

Used the Maverick ET-732, worked like a charm.  Used a water pan the entire time over the baffle and sprayed down the butt every so often with apple juice. I smoked it with mostly applewood but threw in a piece of cherry every so often as well.  I did the Texas Crutch and got the internal temp up to 187 F after 11 hours,... it stalled out at 187 F for over an hour with temps holding at 230 F, so I unwrapped it and firmed up the bark.  I am glad, I did because the 'Q was awesome and a big hit with the family.  It's all gone!

French's mustard coated and rubbed with Texas Original,...it sat in the frig overnight.

12 hours later the meteorite came out holding at 187 F,...note the string holding the bone in just barely.

I cut the string over the bone and it started to, very slowly, slide out.

Clean bone and awesome bark.

I was pleased with how it came out.  It shredded nicely with the Bear Claws and the bark had good texture.

Juicy,... and a decent smokering.

Great experience for a rookie.  Looking forward to my next challenge.

XLAXX 

 

[chefrob]

looks great......nice job!

 

[xlaxx]

Thank you Chefrob!  It was a lot of fun and fire management was 'fairly' easy-going.  I didn't have a lot of bouncing around temps at all.  Pretty much stayed dead on at 225F and then between 218F - 238F for the entire cook when I had to re-load to firebox.

Oh,...been trying to figure out your Avatar pic,... O. Henry's Cisco Kid?  I am not to hip to the modern knock-off movies of late so have no clue who it is in the pic.  At first, it seems one of the 3 Amigo's but maybe I have early onset Alzheimer's?  Do tell...

What's next to smoke?

XLAXX

 

[chefrob]

not sure where i got the pic but i liked it and i call it "mexican scarface"............next smoke could be a chuckie. it is sorta the beef version of a butt......lots of conective tissue form the sholder but usually takes a little less time. i use those disposable foil pans when i foil my meat and just putt a little beef broth in it......makes life easier. also if ya want to get yer temps up around 275-300 you can always butterfly a chicken.

 

[thsmormonsmokes]

it looks awesome.....nice job! as for the paint there isn't really anything you can do around the fire box. i just give it a spray once in a while......

Dude, that is a great restore job.  I don't know much about smoking yet, but it looks like you tied into a pretty sweet deal that just needed a little TLC.  That puppy is looking great.  Nice work.

As far as protecting the firebox, I've got the same problem on my Chargriller.  What I've been doing is when it's up to temp I'll spray some sort of oil on it.  It burns it up and blackens the same way it does when you season a dutch oven.  I'll have to do this once during every smoke since the really high temps you get in the SFB often burn off part of the coat that I put down during the previous smoke.  So I'll usually do it toward the end of the smoke before it cools off too much.  But that keeps it protected between uses, or at least it seems to be working so far.

Anyway, I figure it if it's good enough for dutch ovens, it should work to protect the SFB.  And you don't have to mess with prepping a surface for more paint.  The only thing you want to watch out for is to use a spray can to do this.  One time I did it I must have had a real hot fire going because the oil flashed as I was spraying.  If I was wiping it on, I might have set my hand on fire.  Grease fire on the hand = no bueno.

 

[chefrob]

  What I've been doing is when it's up to temp I'll spray some sort of oil on it.  It burns it up and blackens the same way it does when you season a dutch oven.  I'll have to do this once during every smoke since the really high temps you get in the SFB often burn off part of the coat that I put down during the previous smoke.  So I'll usually do it toward the end of the smoke before it cools off too much.  But that keeps it protected between uses, or at least it seems to be working so far.

 a lot of people use this method and it seems to work out just fine.......

 

[landr]

So glad I found this thread and also ChefRob's restoration.

Just picked up the exact same smoker shown in the first pictures for $80.  A little bit of surface rust and some rust on the bottom (no holes, has not eaten through the metal).  Will be sanding that off this weekend and hitting it with some POR.

Seller threw in 3 free large bags of charcoal and a weber charcoal starter.  Overall a pretty good deal.

The smoker box handle is broken - does anyone know of a replacement?  I'm about 30$ into it with replacement stainless hardware (still have more hardware to buy) and expanded metal.  Between paint and replacement hardware and price of grill, i think I should come in under $150.

Hope the end result is worth it!

Thanks,

Sam

 

[bigspoody]

Hi All,
I've just come into possession of this model smoker and i'm going to restore it, thanks to all the great info on this post. I was hoping someone might be able to suggest where or how i could get a replacement firebox handle. The guy i got the bbq from said it never had a handle..
Thanks for any tips.