Black Box Maiden Voyage

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BigW.

Master of the Pit
Original poster
★ Lifetime Premier ★
May 13, 2019
1,489
1,322
Nebraska
Because I'm not very creative..."Black Box" is the current working name for the fantastic smoker seenred seenred recently built. Wife wants to call it "Ol Smokey" but that doesn't really work for me. Open to suggestions. Built a fire Friday night to cure the paint. Did not have much going on this weekend so I was happy to fire it up for Sat and Sun cooks. Red's build quality has been discussed before. I think he did a fantastic job! It made it thru some decent rain and pea size hail without a dent :emoji_laughing:
rain.jpg
Did not have my usual B&B briquettes so I tried Blues Hog. I'm a fan of their sauce but will probably stick to my usual B&B. Red mentioned in one of our conversations that he was having a rib-eye that night. So I thought that would be a great first cook. So onto the grill with some tin foiled hobo packs of potatoes. Steak and potatoes were seasoned heavily with Montreal Steak Seasoning.
temp.jpg
Added a chimney full of coals on one side and some wood chunks for the reverse sear. Total cooking time was around 1.5 hours. While I was waiting I enjoyed some of my favorite import beer (to Nebraska)
beer.jpg

Now directly onto the coals for a quick sear. I was going to get a cast iron pan out and do it right, but I got lazy.
steak.jpg
Wife and son said it was the best steak I had done. It was very tasty for sure. The leftover rib-eye will be sliced thin into a steak sandwich very soon. One of my favorite meals. The plated shot:
plate.jpg
Key to the potatoes was probably half a stick of butter. Now onto to Sundays meal. We really like taking some thighs and adding Cavender's Greek seasoning and making chicken gyros.
chicken grill.jpg
This was 3 pounds of thighs and a few extras. As you can see there is plenty of cooking area here. Chicken turned out great.
chicken.jpg
After this picture, chicken was sliced up and added to a bed a pita bread and lettuce. Topped with tzatziki, feta and hot sauce. Was a great weekend cooking on my latest toy. Thanks again to seenred seenred ! He worked hard on this grill, drove it all the way from OK so I could sit around, drink beer and get fatter. I think I got the better end of that deal :emoji_laughing:
 
That looks fantastic! What a fun grill. Very versatile build also. Will serve you and family for many years.
 
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That looks fantastic! What a fun grill. Very versatile build also. Will serve you and family for many years.
Thanks, yes I agree. That is why I had to buy it.
Two awesome meals right there...

So both cooks were done with the fire in the top ?? No low and slow cooks yet ??
Thanks! I have some ribs and pork butt in the freezer. Either one may be the first low and slow.
 
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Because I'm not very creative..."Black Box" is the current working name for the fantastic smoker seenred seenred recently built. Wife wants to call it "Ol Smokey" but that doesn't really work for me. Open to suggestions. Built a fire Friday night to cure the paint. Did not have much going on this weekend so I was happy to fire it up for Sat and Sun cooks. Red's build quality has been discussed before. I think he did a fantastic job! It made it thru some decent rain and pea size hail without a dent :emoji_laughing:
View attachment 719343
Did not have my usual B&B briquettes so I tried Blues Hog. I'm a fan of their sauce but will probably stick to my usual B&B. Red mentioned in one of our conversations that he was having a rib-eye that night. So I thought that would be a great first cook. So onto the grill with some tin foiled hobo packs of potatoes. Steak and potatoes were seasoned heavily with Montreal Steak Seasoning.
View attachment 719344
Added a chimney full of coals on one side and some wood chunks for the reverse sear. Total cooking time was around 1.5 hours. While I was waiting I enjoyed some of my favorite import beer (to Nebraska)
View attachment 719346

Now directly onto the coals for a quick sear. I was going to get a cast iron pan out and do it right, but I got lazy.
View attachment 719347
Wife and son said it was the best steak I had done. It was very tasty for sure. The leftover rib-eye will be sliced thin into a steak sandwich very soon. One of my favorite meals. The plated shot:
View attachment 719348
Key to the potatoes was probably half a stick of butter. Now onto to Sundays meal. We really like taking some thighs and adding Cavender's Greek seasoning and making chicken gyros.
View attachment 719350
This was 3 pounds of thighs and a few extras. As you can see there is plenty of cooking area here. Chicken turned out great.
View attachment 719351
After this picture, chicken was sliced up and added to a bed a pita bread and lettuce. Topped with tzatziki, feta and hot sauce. Was a great weekend cooking on my latest toy. Thanks again to seenred seenred ! He worked hard on this grill, drove it all the way from OK so I could sit around, drink beer and get fatter. I think I got the better end of that deal :emoji_laughing:


That's great B BigW. !!

Thank you for posting your first 2 cooks on that pit...that all looks absolutely terrific! And thanks for all the kind comments!

Looking forward to many more cooking threads! :emoji_thumbsup: I wish you nothing but many happy years of cooking on the pit!

Red
 
Continuing to enjoy using this grill. Just finished up a bag of this:
beercoal.jpg
Put of full chimney for some chicken wings. Good thing it was a short cook, because the coals did not last long. Maybe could have got about 1.5 hrs of cook time. Will stick with B&B, but trying new things is part of the fun/challenge. Wings were tasty.
chicken.jpg
 
Awesome, W! Never saw a bag of Kingsford beer coal before...does it actually affect the taste of the food?

Red
Not sure I could tell much of difference. I don't use Kingsford and always add a few chunks of wood for smoke flavor. You could see what I assume is the spent grain mixed in the coal. More of a fun novelty. Congrats to your OKC Thunder.
 
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Not sure I could tell much of difference. I don't use Kingsford and always add a few chunks of wood for smoke flavor. You could see what I assume is the spent grain mixed in the coal. More of a fun novelty.


That's what I suspected. Many times, those "specialty" bags are just gimmicks...but definitely a novelty.

Congrats to your OKC Thunder.


Thanks Buddy! They were a lot of fun to watch and root for. They've been a very unselfish group who really played well together.

Red
 
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Just perfection all around!!!! Awesome cooker, aka the black box...or ol smokey and just some good cooking! for those short cooks you can add some small 1-inch splits over the coals to get a deeper natural wood smoke flavor as well :-).....ps at the moment I'm living through your cooks till I can get my summer project done and start open fire cooking again!
 
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