First run of the smoker in quite a long time. A few years. First run of the Smoke. First run of the Killa Grilla grate. Small issue there … I may need to measure its diameter …
3.5lb chuck post roast, seasoned with Weber Steak ’n Chop.
Went for 300-350 degrees, using a regular chimney of unlit and started with a small chimney of lit + an apple wood chunk from the back yard. Began with all vents open, then soon shut an intake, then shut a second intake. Ran at around 310-330 this way.
My new CB door allowed a wisp to escape. The lid however, quite a bit more …
I didn’t have the peppers needed for this, so fast forward. I get back and the meat’s at 170! (It had been a few hours since I put the meat on.) OK I’ll throw it in the roaster along with the rest of the ingredients now.
Ran like this for quite a while, cooker over 300 and meat stalled at like 160. Yes, it went from 170 to 160 somehow. But the dinner timing seemed good so I left it alone.
With the meat cresting to the 190s, the fuel had run out. From just a bit earlier than this and for the rest of the time all vents were open.
I was surprised to see the apple wood chunk not only still there, but the only thing providing heat. (But it was near an intake that had been mostly closed.)
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I had a second small chimney ready to go. I figured a short blast of heat would take the meat just over 200 and have enough oomph to melt the cheese on the stuffed peppers and cook broccoli.
So the extra fuel goes in; I later pull the meat at 204, take it inside and start to shred/cut it up. Taste is insanely great. There’s a PSB step to put the meat mixture back on the heat after shredding but that was skipped.
Kid #2 assembled the stuffed peppers using the meat, cooked rice, cheese. I’m still cutting up the rest of the meat and task Kid #1 with applying Italian dressing to the broccoli and placing crown-down on the grate, along with the stuffed peppers already now there.
“DAD, come here now! I need your help!!”
Somehow, he gets the peppers out. And so I ask Kid #2 to re-stuff them … now the broccoli can go on the cooker.
Slight problem; now bits of pepper/meat/rice are burning. I got what I could out, but most of it stayed. After a while I pulled the broccoli out of fear it would taste acrid. (It did not.)
My apologies for the lame and blurry plated pick. I gave myself the smallest pepper so that the rest of the crew could have normal ones.
But this PSB was the best ever. I’d swapped an IPA for the expected stout. Not sure what else. Oh, I added some Dale’s Seasoning (Low Sodium) too. Previous attempts I think I’d used too much S&P, and the biggest methodology change was that the beef cooked direct (no water pan used). Incredible beef flavor and not too smoky.
I’ll never make PSB in a kettle again. But next time I’ll start with TWO chimneys of unlit.