Hey guys! Let me say first, thanks for the tips so far! Secondly, I chose to post in this particular area of this fantastic forum because this is neither a technical review of the smoker (which I will do when I have a little more experience with it) nor a step by step instructional of the meal cooked, so I thought it would fit best here as a casual conversational piece.
Tuesday, my 44" Smoke Hollow smoker got delivered. (Purchased from Sam's Club). I assembled it immediately, of course! The grill is also new. It is a Broil-King Baron 440. I'm pretty impressed with the build quality (for it's price range, at least) and it was made in the USA! But that's another thread.
I wasted no time in testing it out. Wednesday, I smoked some bratwurst after I saw a thread on this site. I added my own little twist though. I smoked them, then cooled them in beer, then recooked them on the grill to crisp the casings. They turned out pretty great!
Thursday (yesterday) I hosted what I refer to lovingly as my Faux-Friday Feast-ival! Keep in mind this was my first time using ANY smoker, let alone this particular smoker. But, being the kind of guy with more ambition and enthusiasm than brains, I loaded her up to the hilt with an array of different types of food right off the bat! That is to say, not without a pretty decent amount of preparation. Under suggestion of this site (thanks again guys!) I started a log to journal my trials and errors. I also set a meal time of 6:00 pm, minus the rest period in the cooler (another suggestion I've never tried until I found this site!) minus the time it needed to spend in the smoker, and I had my start time! I followed this same process with all of my entree's including brisket, baby back ribs, two whole chickens, three whole tilapia, and two cans of beans!
I was using chunked hickory and chipped mesquite. I had a slight problem with it not producing thick smoke like I would have liked, but I have a couple idea's I want to try, including moving the water pan up a scosh so I can actually use the wood chip pan covers shown on the ground in the picture above. But since I was cooking under pressure, I made do with what I had available at the time... My chimney starter! I pre-burned the wood for a quick minute then smothered it out. That made some smoke alright!
All in all, it turned out to be an exceptional meal, especially for my first outing. I fed a group of 11 people and got nothing but absolute rave reviews on everything. More importantly, I learned a lot and took notes so my next outing will be even better!
Here's the best part... Food pictures! Somehow, the fish, baby back ribs, and one chicken got devoured while I was bringing in the rest of the food and slicing the brisket, so I don't have great pictures of them haha.
Tuesday, my 44" Smoke Hollow smoker got delivered. (Purchased from Sam's Club). I assembled it immediately, of course! The grill is also new. It is a Broil-King Baron 440. I'm pretty impressed with the build quality (for it's price range, at least) and it was made in the USA! But that's another thread.
I wasted no time in testing it out. Wednesday, I smoked some bratwurst after I saw a thread on this site. I added my own little twist though. I smoked them, then cooled them in beer, then recooked them on the grill to crisp the casings. They turned out pretty great!
Thursday (yesterday) I hosted what I refer to lovingly as my Faux-Friday Feast-ival! Keep in mind this was my first time using ANY smoker, let alone this particular smoker. But, being the kind of guy with more ambition and enthusiasm than brains, I loaded her up to the hilt with an array of different types of food right off the bat! That is to say, not without a pretty decent amount of preparation. Under suggestion of this site (thanks again guys!) I started a log to journal my trials and errors. I also set a meal time of 6:00 pm, minus the rest period in the cooler (another suggestion I've never tried until I found this site!) minus the time it needed to spend in the smoker, and I had my start time! I followed this same process with all of my entree's including brisket, baby back ribs, two whole chickens, three whole tilapia, and two cans of beans!
I was using chunked hickory and chipped mesquite. I had a slight problem with it not producing thick smoke like I would have liked, but I have a couple idea's I want to try, including moving the water pan up a scosh so I can actually use the wood chip pan covers shown on the ground in the picture above. But since I was cooking under pressure, I made do with what I had available at the time... My chimney starter! I pre-burned the wood for a quick minute then smothered it out. That made some smoke alright!
All in all, it turned out to be an exceptional meal, especially for my first outing. I fed a group of 11 people and got nothing but absolute rave reviews on everything. More importantly, I learned a lot and took notes so my next outing will be even better!
Here's the best part... Food pictures! Somehow, the fish, baby back ribs, and one chicken got devoured while I was bringing in the rest of the food and slicing the brisket, so I don't have great pictures of them haha.
Last edited:
