cookshack, traeger and the FEC
John Douglas
I had the old model of this electric, I think I traded it for a hot water tank:
SM009-2: SMOKETTE: COOKSHACK ELECTRIC SMOKER OVEN
It worked OK, the friend I traded it to still has it and loves it.
I am happy with the Traeger, I just don't trust it's reading. In theory you are supposed to use Wi Fi and it will do the whole cook for you! :) Their recipes are OK, but they GREATLY underestimate the time. Comments attest to that.
I did a test last year with pork butts, one in the BGE and one in the T. As a tribute to the PIgman, after 4 hours in the T I foiled it and put it in the oven in the house and left the other one in the egg until both were done.
The purpose of foiling was to get the liquid flavor juice, better known as "fat." I always combine the two to get the moisture in both, but before doing that we tasted each. Both were good, but something was better with the T.
On another test, I also tried wrapping one butt in the pink paper and one without. While the one in the paper still had more bark than one left in foil it did not have enough liquid to justify the hassle.
I agree that the fuel cost for the T is higher than for the egg, etc, but l also have reached a point that convenience is worth the added cost.... :)
John
Michael Chester wrote on 3/21/2021 4:54 PM:
I made some excellent BBQ when I had my Traeger. When I bought it, it had the low-med-high controller which was very crude. I replaced it with the basic thermostat but I got wild temperature swings also. It still made very good cue. Being not insulated, it burned a lot of fuel and was very susceptible to wind. The FEC is well insulated and I have used it in the winter and the snow on top did not melt. Though its capacity is much larger it burns less fuel than my Traeger did. When I got it, it had the Traeger thermostat controller which had fairly large temperature swings. I upgraded it to the IQQ-4 controller when it became available and it holds temperature much better. They now have the IQ-5 controller which is even a lot better but is too pricey to upgrade to. Cookshack used to work with longtime customers to do upgrades. (I got the IQ-4 for a little over half price by talking to the owner of the company and telling him I had attended cooking school at their factory) but now the people in charge don't seem to care. When the display on the IQ-4 controller got too dim to read they told me that the only option was to spend $1800+ on the IQ-5 controller as that display had been discontinued by the manufacturer. I spent a month online until I found an electronic surplus company that had 5 new old stock displays. Since my background is in electronics I was able to successfully replace the display. I bought all 5 so I will never have to find them again.
Mike
On 3/21/2021 4:28 PM, John Douglas wrote:
Hi Joe,
Really nice to hear from you, unfortunately there are a lot of us that are no longer here or anywhere.
I, also, have met a lot of people on the list, most of the ones you mentioned, have you been to any of the Q-fests?
I am interested in chatting with anyone using a Traeger, while the one I have is small it is all we need. I use the Smoke to keep up with the temps on it and they vary quite a bit some time. I called Traeger and they said a 30 degree variance was normal........WHAT!!!!
BTW, IT SEEMS i have to add the Smoke ring address or it looks like the message is only going to the sender and not the list. Is that correct?
John
Joe Whittel wrote on 3/21/2021 2:13 PM:
I am in. This list is how I really got into BBQ after getting a charbroil Big Easy grill / smoker combo 20 years ago. Connected with Nancee and Greg, went to my 1st contest, introduced to a WSM and we won GC. Cooked with Purple Turtle for several years, where we cooked The Jack and got called. Over the years have meet several from list in person (Garry,Big Jim, Steve Martin, Bob & Ginger, Buzz ......) and several online. Always learning and hoping to pass any knowledge on.
Let's keep the list going.
Joe in Connecticut
--On Sun, Mar 21, 2021, 1:24 PM <spe...@knology.net> wrote:
--I have enjoyed this list and would love to see it revived!
Who's up for that?
spence
------ Original Message ------From: "Michael Chester" <mc...@charter.net>To: "Barbecue Ring" <SmokeR...@googlegroups.com>Sent: 3/21/2021 1:18:46 PMSubject: Fwd: [BBQ] nummy nummy
--
John,
I don't believe that the comment was directed at you. It appeared that you had posted the link to an article and an anonymous list member posted the comment to your post. The reaction was to his post which I perceived as from another list member who would not sign the post is what I reacted to.
I tried to start a new thread by talking about a brisket, but no one answered. I miss some of the spirited BBQ discussions that we us
On 3/21/2021 11:55 AM, John Douglas wrote:
Since there are very few, if any posts on this list anymore, I thought the original post was done in fun and I added a post that happened to just come that matched it. If this is a "violation" of a list that is essentially dead I will be happy to "give up the ghost" and leave it to the "purist's."
john
'Gerry Curry' via The Smoke Ring BBQ List wrote on 3/20/2021 6:05 AM:
I’m with Kevin!--
Gerry
On 19 Mar 2021, at 10:00 pm, Kevin Cleek <kjc...@earthlink.net> wrote:
If not, we obviously need it resurrected.
Kevin
On 03/19/2021 5:55 PM, jjk wrote:
--Lol. Is there still a back porch?
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: Kevin Cleek
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2021 7:53 PM
To: smoker...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [BBQ] nummy nummy
Backporch!
On 03/19/2021 1:23 PM, Michael Morse wrote:
I live in western nc in franklin, they can keep the veggie bbq in the triangle with all the people that have moved from blue states that want to impose their values on us.
From: smoker...@googlegroups.com <smoker...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of John Douglas <JohnD...@cox.net>
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2021 10:19:19 AM
To: 'kyelats' via The Smoke Ring BBQ List <smoker...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [BBQ] nummy nummy
Well in staying in step with the times:
https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/3136-beyond-impossible-smashed-smash-burgers?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=NTK&utm_content=SousVide&utm_campaign=210319&j=65779&sfmc_sub=12341931&l=26_HTML&u=30793731&mid=7211371&jb=18026&sk=4DA245E8C7EFF300895140D1FF386DDA&extcode=LN21C3QAA&sourcekey=BL21033AA&cds_response_key=&cds_tracking_code=&tag=atkntk1-20&atc=ntkA&Survey_id=&mi_ecmp=%e2%80%8b&couponcode=
john
'kyelats' via The Smoke Ring BBQ List wrote on 3/19/2021 8:18 AM:
I live in Charlotte. What an insult to North Carolina, the heart of barbeque, but to barbecue everywhere.
-------- Original message --------
From: 'Gerry Curry' via The Smoke Ring BBQ List <smoker...@googlegroups.com>
Date: 3/19/21 8:15 AM (GMT-05:00)
To: BBQ List List <smoker...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [BBQ] nummy nummy
Ask me if I give a damn!
Gerry
On 18 Mar 2021, at 7:57 pm, Sherman Watkins <tankw...@gmail.com> wrote:
Plant-based barbecue producer Barveque will expand its footprint and employee base in Cornelius, in the Lake Norman region near Charlotte, with what it’s calling “the world’s largest plant-based smokehouse.” How’s that for a new kind of pig pickin’?
The company disclosed the news earlier this week.
The approximately 10,000 square foot facility, to be named the Carolina Smokehouse, will open in July 2021, said the company. It plans to continue operating in its current facility that will eventually be turned into innovation space.
The company anticipates that it could produce 800,000 pounds of Barveque products as it scales up to meet surging demand.
“As we grow to keep up with demand for Barvecue products, we decided that it was time to expand production and lead the way in the plant-based barbecue market,” said Barveque founder and CEO Lee Cooper.
--
Sherm
Smoking in Montana's Banana BeltW7STW
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Michael Chester
Two things I did with the Traeger:
Make a foil packet of pure flavor pellets and put it on top of
the heat deflector if the smoke flavor is too light.
Don't use Traeger fuel pellets as they are only 10% flavor wood
and 90% oak or alder, depending on which factory made them. BBQr's
Delight is 33% flavor wood and 67% oak. It imparts more flavor.
There are some cooking pellets on Amazon that are 100% flavor wood
but the heat output varies by species. That reason (and cost) is
why most manufacturers use a neutral base wood with a consistent
BTU level.
The electric I had is a knockoff of this model Cookshack. I loaned it to my son-in-law a few years ago and he now has a Cabela's pellet grill so I don't know if he still has it. If I did more sausage, I would get it back as it was actually better for that purpose than the FEC though I have learned to make it work fine. I have smoked many batches of homemade bacon in the FEC and they have been very good. Since the pandemic began my local source for pork bellies (Costco) has not had them so I have been forced to buy commercial bacon which is not as good. One of our cats will snatch a piece of bacon is we are not looking but she only likes the homemade and rarely will steal the store bought. She is far too spoiled. 😁
Mike
John Douglas
bbq
I have wondered about the T pellets, I could not tell any difference and I asked some other people who use them and they also said it made no difference which flavor they used, but I seem to have always had a problem with telling what flavored wood tasted like.
What I have been doing is using one of the stainless tubes to get additional smoke on a longer cook. I must not be looking in the right places for Candy's pellets in larger quantities. I tried contacting her but never heard back.
Do you have any Asian grocery stories nearby, one of the larger ones we have used to sell bellies? Sadly, I have not been to the one near me since the virus started, it is large, but with narrow isles and always busy. Figure this, all of the "butchers" are Mexican.
John
Best Regards,
John D
Michael Chester
They have a website. I used to order an entire pallet of pellets
by talking to Candy. I just dialed the company number and asked
for her, but that was a few years ago and she may not be that
directly involved now. I believe they are on Amazon and if you
have Prime, the delivery is included. Amazon has several different
pellet manufacturers and fair prices.
There is an Asian market in Ann Arbor that I go to a few times a
year and they do have pieces of bellies but they are pricey and I
like to use a whole belly. Costco has sometimes have pieces but it
is not worth doing all that is necessary for less than a full
belly. After smoking and cooling, I have to setup my deli slicer
and it takes about an hour to clean it after using so it needs to
be worth the trouble. The one I have is the Cabela's premium 11"
model which works great but is not easy to clean. Some of the used
commercial ones are cost effective and easier to clean but are
large and heavy and therefore difficult to store between uses.
We have farms around here that grow hogs but when I spoke with
them they said that they used their pork bellies to make their own
bacon which is more profitable than selling the raw bellies. I
have done mail order but the overnight shipping cost more than the
meat so while the heritage Berkshire pork was excellent, it was
quite expensive.
Mike
