Outdoor Cooking (smoking, grilling, barbecuing, open spit, etc.)

[omega9]

Anybody have first hand experience with a rectec grill? I was also looking at a Traeger. For what these things cost I should I should buy some more tools and build a franklin style grill

One of my friends has an older traeger and I never see any smoke above 250 on that thing, not impressed. My other buddy has a rec-tec and loves it. We cooked some damn good chicken on it. I was about to get the RT-700 then I got a deal on the MAK.

Regarding the Franklin style grill, do you mean an offset? If you do buy one, get a good one, it's worth the investment. I have an Oklahoma Joe and after a lot of frustration and few mods I can kick out some good Q on it but you have to babysit it. I have ran other offsets that work WAY better. As in throw a split on every hour and it will hold 250. Shirley fabrication is producing same damn good cookers at a good price but I think they only build reverse flow.

[AKDoug]

Made some "speed" St. Louis ribs tonight.. temp at 300F on my Broil King pellet grill. 45 min. on each side, wrapped in foil for 1/2 hr at 350. Unwrapped and a small amount of Baby Rays brushed on.. 15 minutes at 350. Typically I do this size ribs at 225 for 4 hours. These were done in 2:15, were every bit as juicy, and every bit as good as my slower versions. This is probably going to be my go-to for the future.

[rob_s]

Made some "speed" St. Louis ribs tonight.. temp at 300F on my Broil King pellet grill. 45 min. on each side, wrapped in foil for 1/2 hr at 350. Unwrapped and a small amount of Baby Rays brushed on.. 15 minutes at 350. Typically I do this size ribs at 225 for 4 hours. These were done in 2:15, were every bit as juicy, and every bit as good as my slower versions. This is probably going to be my go-to for the future.

I have a friend who keeps raising the temp and reducing the time on a lot of his cooks. Swears it’s no different.

I’m no major traditionalist, I already cook too hot by some folks standards at 250, but I’m afraid that if I cook higher/faster once I’ll set a precedent that will forever reduce my drinking time

[AKDoug]

I have a friend who keeps raising the temp and reducing the time on a lot of his cooks. Swears it’s no different.

I’m no major traditionalist, I already cook too hot by some folks standards at 250, but I’m afraid that if I cook higher/faster once I’ll set a precedent that will forever reduce my drinking time

Oddly enough, no time for drinking yesterday. Only thing thawed out for meat was that rack of ribs, so I had to go for it at 4pm.

[orionz06]

A coworker does much of his brisket cooking over 300°F. It tastes no different to me.

[ccmdfd]

A coworker does much of his brisket cooking over 300°F. It tastes no different to me.

I have done a couple that way with good results, at least in terms of tenderness and doneness. However, I really enjoy the taste of smoke in the meat, and all of these methods that use aluminum foil tend to diminish that.

cc

[orionz06]

He smokes for a part of it, then wraps and jacks the temp up.

[AKDoug]

I have done a couple that way with good results, at least in terms of tenderness and doneness. However, I really enjoy the taste of smoke in the meat, and all of these methods that use aluminum foil tend to diminish that.

cc

After about 5 hours you aren't jamming any more smoke flavor into a brisket if you measure the smoke ring. Once it hits the stall, the smoke ring is pretty much done forming. Wrapping does soften the bark, which is why I did the high heat ending on those ribs.

[ccmdfd]

After about 5 hours you aren't jamming any more smoke flavor into a brisket if you measure the smoke ring. Once it hits the stall, the smoke ring is pretty much done forming. Wrapping does soften the bark, which is why I did the high heat ending on those ribs.

I've done briskets that were wrapped in aluminum foil, briskets that were wrapped in butcher paper, and brisket that I cooked entirely unwrapped. It should be noted that the unwrapped biscuits were always cooked low and slow though. For the 300-degree plus Cooks, aluminum foil was used.

There is definitely a more Smoky flavor and the briskets that were not wrapped at all. Not talking about how the Smoke Ring looks but how the thing actually tastes.

My results mirror those of Aaron Franklin and he has a YouTube video out there somewhere where he cooks three different briskets and taste tests them all.

Now some people don't really like a true smoke flavor and that's fine. But me, I really loves the smoke.

I do agree that when you wrap in foil it does make the bark more soggy. I've been wanting to try a wrap one and then at the end unwrap it for just a short time to see if I can firm the bark back up.

[rob_s]

I do agree that when you wrap in foil it does make the bark more soggy. I've been wanting to try a wrap one and then at the end unwrap it for just a short time to see if I can firm the bark back up.

I’ve done this with ribs ( it the same thing, I know) by just putting them on the fire box or even a gas grill.

But after wrapping this last batch in butcher paper I think I’ll do that from now on. Zero loss of bark.

I wonder if there’s a 3-2-1 method for brisket...