Hello, my name is Michael, and I recently purchased a 3D. Unlike some of you guys who appear to have a collection of pits, my ownership to this point has only included gas grills. Some small, some built in, and one now that has lots of bells and whistles. I've been reluctant to venture into the smoker world, being somewhat familiar with them as both my brother and my father were very competitive BBQ cookoff participants, and did quite well in some very large competitions. Ask them what it takes to do a brisket - although their pits were very large and/or trailer mounted, so they'd be smoking 100's of lbs of meat at a time - and I'd get lost in the answer. Three years ago, I purchased a house on the water and there was a huge smoker pit on the concrete pad next to the dock. There it sat - waiting to be used. Opened it a couple of times and figured I really needed a truck bed of wood just to even get it up to temp. And a whole cow or pig, to make it worthwhile to fire up. Finally decided to get rid of it, and had a great opportunity when a barge was setting pilings for us, and the owner could take it with the barge crane. So there - done with that, and now I could justify buying a smoker that could do smaller batches of meat.
So lots of shopping, trying to understand pellets, and eggs, and electric smokers (that some purists say are just ovens). About that time, visited a friend of mine in East Texas, and was having a beer after a day of sailing and talking about life in general. Anyway, the smoker comes up and he says he has the best in the world. Shows me his Cookshack Amerique, which he says makes him look like a smoker genius - with the quality of bbq it puts out. With only a chunk of wood. Plus it is all stainless, which is important as our house is on the water (salt). So I get back and start reading up. Reviews are good. I'm all in - but wife is looking at price, and asking whether we really need that much capacity for two people. Ok, good point. But I want the controller with the integrated meat thermometer, and the ability to have temp drop down when meat is done, etc. About to pull the trigger on the Amerique anyway, then run across some reviews for the Smokin-It grills. Dang, looks like I can get everything I want in a 3D, including a better temp controller, and at around half the price. Done. Oh, and there's a cyber special now so I get some other goodies - even better!
Smoker arrived really well packed. Did the seasoning - as per the instructions - and was mesmerized by the smoke chimney. Glad I closed off the garage back door, so the interior contents didn't smell like my clothes! So what to do for first meat? Wife and I both love baby back ribs, and I've never been able to get them tender on the gas grill. Wrapping in foil made them tender, but the fat was not rendered right. Unfoiled, tougher than we'd like. So lets see what the 3D can do with baby backs. And found the recipe on the forum. Remove the membrane, mustard, seasoning, overnight in fridge. Foil lined the smoker. Put a cooking grid in about mid height, and stretched out two full racks with room to spare. Foil loaf pan with apple juice next to heat box. Ready, go.
Opened everything back up 5-1/2 hours later. Tried to remove meat with tongs, and one rack was sticking to the grid and came off in three pieces. The other came off cleanly. Which makes me believe maybe I cooked just a little too long. (Recipe said 5:15-5:45, but also suggested checking before. I skipped the "check before" because I didn't want to dump the heat, and delay things, because my wife was making a squash casserole in the house oven that had a specific done time.)
So how were they? Definitely the best baby backs I have ever done. Just a tad drier than perfection, but very tasty. Again, I probably should have taken them out sooner, and next time will give them a check in advance.
One easy question though - do any of you spray the cooking grids with Pam, or use something else to keep meat from sticking. I chose not too, as sometimes that spray can cook on and be hard to clean off. The uncoated grid did clean off well with soap and water afterwards.
Oh, second question. What do you do if you'd like a little sauce flavor baked on?
For Christmas eve, am going to attempt a prime rib. Need to do some reading up on that one. Wife is loving the fact that I can do that on the smoker, which frees up the house oven for her to do whatever at the same time. But of course, I will be under the gun to get the meat done at an exact time, to match whatever she has going on in the kitchen!
So lots of shopping, trying to understand pellets, and eggs, and electric smokers (that some purists say are just ovens). About that time, visited a friend of mine in East Texas, and was having a beer after a day of sailing and talking about life in general. Anyway, the smoker comes up and he says he has the best in the world. Shows me his Cookshack Amerique, which he says makes him look like a smoker genius - with the quality of bbq it puts out. With only a chunk of wood. Plus it is all stainless, which is important as our house is on the water (salt). So I get back and start reading up. Reviews are good. I'm all in - but wife is looking at price, and asking whether we really need that much capacity for two people. Ok, good point. But I want the controller with the integrated meat thermometer, and the ability to have temp drop down when meat is done, etc. About to pull the trigger on the Amerique anyway, then run across some reviews for the Smokin-It grills. Dang, looks like I can get everything I want in a 3D, including a better temp controller, and at around half the price. Done. Oh, and there's a cyber special now so I get some other goodies - even better!
Smoker arrived really well packed. Did the seasoning - as per the instructions - and was mesmerized by the smoke chimney. Glad I closed off the garage back door, so the interior contents didn't smell like my clothes! So what to do for first meat? Wife and I both love baby back ribs, and I've never been able to get them tender on the gas grill. Wrapping in foil made them tender, but the fat was not rendered right. Unfoiled, tougher than we'd like. So lets see what the 3D can do with baby backs. And found the recipe on the forum. Remove the membrane, mustard, seasoning, overnight in fridge. Foil lined the smoker. Put a cooking grid in about mid height, and stretched out two full racks with room to spare. Foil loaf pan with apple juice next to heat box. Ready, go.
Opened everything back up 5-1/2 hours later. Tried to remove meat with tongs, and one rack was sticking to the grid and came off in three pieces. The other came off cleanly. Which makes me believe maybe I cooked just a little too long. (Recipe said 5:15-5:45, but also suggested checking before. I skipped the "check before" because I didn't want to dump the heat, and delay things, because my wife was making a squash casserole in the house oven that had a specific done time.)
So how were they? Definitely the best baby backs I have ever done. Just a tad drier than perfection, but very tasty. Again, I probably should have taken them out sooner, and next time will give them a check in advance.
One easy question though - do any of you spray the cooking grids with Pam, or use something else to keep meat from sticking. I chose not too, as sometimes that spray can cook on and be hard to clean off. The uncoated grid did clean off well with soap and water afterwards.
Oh, second question. What do you do if you'd like a little sauce flavor baked on?
For Christmas eve, am going to attempt a prime rib. Need to do some reading up on that one. Wife is loving the fact that I can do that on the smoker, which frees up the house oven for her to do whatever at the same time. But of course, I will be under the gun to get the meat done at an exact time, to match whatever she has going on in the kitchen!
