So this past weekend host a cookout with friends (about 20 people), my major downfall is forgetting to take pictures of the meat before and after, but I do have one shot.
Anyway this was to break in the brand new WSM 22.5. The WSM did about 20 pounds of pork butt (just on one grate, I was clearly impressed), and my trusty Master Forge, which I have had for 2 years, is now my power smoker for chicken. For chicken I did about 10 lbs of chicken quarters, and for wings I did about 50 (two frozen bags from wal-mart).
First, my thoughts on the WSM:
- OMG WHERE HAS THIS THING BEEN ALL MY LIFE!!!
- This is coming from someone who has used propane for two years, and just used charcoal once, I already like using charcoal
better.
- I used the minion method for starting the smoke, and worked to perfect.
- If you were like me and came from the Master Forge double door world, you know smoke loss was a pain, and with the WSM its
truly night and day.
- The only true complaint I have about this smoker is access to the water pan, and the number of times i had to fill it.
Concerning meats:
- Pork butts I do a traditional "Texas style", dry rub and no injection. Put on a light coat of mustard, apply rub (paprika and pepper based), wrap leave in fridge overnight. I am going to do an injection for the next butts I do, just to see how much of a difference there is.
- For my chicken quarters, I treated them like my wings, brine'd them in a sugar/salt/water solution for a day, actually placed a GrillMates rub on the quarters, and the wings, I soaked with some light olive oil, and it really gave the wings a shine.
- For woods, the pork butts got a taste of some hickory briquettes, and for the chicken, I hit them with chucks of cherry wood, and a few pieces of apple.
Here are a few pics, just of the smokers under the canopy (was raining that day), and the chicken in the Master Forge.
Needless to say people were extremely happy.
Anyway this was to break in the brand new WSM 22.5. The WSM did about 20 pounds of pork butt (just on one grate, I was clearly impressed), and my trusty Master Forge, which I have had for 2 years, is now my power smoker for chicken. For chicken I did about 10 lbs of chicken quarters, and for wings I did about 50 (two frozen bags from wal-mart).
First, my thoughts on the WSM:
- OMG WHERE HAS THIS THING BEEN ALL MY LIFE!!!
- This is coming from someone who has used propane for two years, and just used charcoal once, I already like using charcoal
better.
- I used the minion method for starting the smoke, and worked to perfect.
- If you were like me and came from the Master Forge double door world, you know smoke loss was a pain, and with the WSM its
truly night and day.
- The only true complaint I have about this smoker is access to the water pan, and the number of times i had to fill it.
Concerning meats:
- Pork butts I do a traditional "Texas style", dry rub and no injection. Put on a light coat of mustard, apply rub (paprika and pepper based), wrap leave in fridge overnight. I am going to do an injection for the next butts I do, just to see how much of a difference there is.
- For my chicken quarters, I treated them like my wings, brine'd them in a sugar/salt/water solution for a day, actually placed a GrillMates rub on the quarters, and the wings, I soaked with some light olive oil, and it really gave the wings a shine.
- For woods, the pork butts got a taste of some hickory briquettes, and for the chicken, I hit them with chucks of cherry wood, and a few pieces of apple.
Here are a few pics, just of the smokers under the canopy (was raining that day), and the chicken in the Master Forge.
Needless to say people were extremely happy.
