Dinner is finished and though part of the cook is still in progress, I can break my silence.
This is the inaugural cook on my new 26. I decided to go with lots of food (vs. a big spectacular piece of meat) and settled on ribeyes and shrimp. Along with that, I put together some Hasselback potatoes (Thanks Kilted_Griller.) At the store we spotted some Brussels sprouts and having seen what Raichlen did with them yesterday, picked them up as well. At the store I pointed to a package of chuck roast and mentioned that's what I use to make Pepper Stout Beef and SWMBO insisted that I make another batch of that too. So I got both of my new cookers going.
I pulled my SS Performer into service as well for igniting charcoal and to have a work surface. I lit two chimneys of Cowboy lump for the 26 and when that was almost ready, stacked the mini-chimney on one with a few more pieces to light the 14 WSM. Once the veggies were going on the 26, I got the chuckies into the WSM and closed it up.
When the veggies were nearing completion, I stacked the ribeyes on the chuckie in the WSM to prewarm them for a reverse sear and got my CI grate on the 26. Then I finished up the ribeyes and shrimp and had dinner. At that point the 26 was closed down and the WSM continued on with the chuckie. After dinner I prepped the vegetables for the Pepper Stout Beef and assembled that in the WSM. At last check (4 hours into the cook) the lid thermometer was at 280°F. That was up from 265° on
all previous checks. I'm getting much better results with lump. That's four hours of steady temperature with
no adjustments or even stirring the coals.
Thanks for coming along!