New member here, I was lurking during my first-month trial. Thanks for all the great info, Meathead, crew, and contributors!

Long-winded, please grab a favorite beverage.
Note- all temps recorded with a digital probe.
I already have a fully capable Weber kettle. So to justify purchasing the Bronco, I told my wife that I would cook for our son’s birthday party. What could go wrong?
Six weeks out, I picked up a Bronco at Loews at a nice discount. Once seasoned, I started cooking. First cook, butt. Ten hours no problems. The barrel worked as advertised. The pork pulled like pulling feathers from a ripped pillow. The next few cooks were birds, just to get the hang of the hang and control of the baffles. On other cooks, I set the Bronco up as a grill and did some kabobs and fish. I love grilling on the Bronco with the no-hassle lid.
Fast forward to this past Saturday. With 24 guests expected, I figured I would cook ribs, chicken, and salmon:
7 racks, 3 chickens quartered, and 3.5 pounds of salmon, beans, slaw, rice, and kale salad. The night before, I salted and dusted the ribs. Due to a food allergy, one of the racks only got salt and pepper -more on this later. I cut and dry-brined the chicken pieces and prepped the other dishes. It was a late night, and the plan was to get the ribs on by 7 am my first mistake. I could have used an extra hour. Next time….
I started my fire at 6 am, and for the ribs, I added some hickory and cherry. With no heat shield in the barrel, I decided not to completely fill the coal basket. This gave me an extra inch or two for the ribs to hang away from the fire. Once all was set and the ribs hung, I closed the lid. The first hour was a fight to keep a 225º temperature. At first, it spiked, then it dropped. I had both baffles wide open at one point to keep temps above 220º. I realize now that the air circulation in the cooker was different from my first cooks due to the many racks of ribs, no heat shield, and the drippings. It was a mistake not trying to cook a rib rack beforehand. This was my first attempt cooking ribs on the Bronco, and damn, there were seven racks.
After the first hour, the fire stabilized and kept near 225º with only minor changes. I spritzed the ribs with a mix of apple cider, not vinegar, and beer. First spritz on the hour, and then every 30 minutes. Two possible mistakes here: One, I should have trusted the process and let the ribs be. Opening the lid added more cooking time than I had planned for. Second, my mop may have given a slightly bitter aftertaste. Although, once the ribs were sauced, the aftertaste was gone. Should spritzing be a time to add flavor, or should its use be to keep moisture? I may have answered this question. Your thoughts?
At three hours and 20, I started wrapping the ribs to finish in the oven so I could cook the chicken. I noticed that on a few of the racks the bark was almost set but needed more time. Next mistake, I pushed forward instead of keeping them in the smoke. The reason for this was to get the chicken cooked on time for when the guests arrived. This is all circling back to my first mistake.
During the cook, I did move the ribs around to avoid char. One rib rack got a charred end. It had spent most of its time cooking directly under the smokestack. This surprised me because I expected more to be charred. The char would not look good on a plate, but it sure made for a nice appetizer.

Off to the oven with the ribs- in with the chicken.
I patted the chicken pieces dry, rubbed them with olive oil, and dusted them with a favorite recipe that included ginger and turmeric. I added a few more briquettes to the fire, although I probably did not need to, and once my fire was going again dropped on a few pieces of mesquite. I added the heat shield.
I set the Bronco up with two grates. One is an 18-inch Weber grate which is actually 17 dot something inches. Not 18 inches. This caused a problem later. The Weber grate is slightly too small and can shift when used, so keep this in mind if you intend to use or buy a Weber grate for your Bronco.
On the bottom grate, the Weber grate, I placed the leg and thigh quarters. On the top grate, I cooked the breasts and wings. In my prior cooks, I found that the bottom grate can be hotter by as much as 20º. The Bronco’s temps got just above 300º. I wanted to cook hotter but learned not to fight the temps from earlier. The chicken still reached 165º faster than I thought it would. The leg quarters were done first. As I pulled them off the grill, the Weber grate shifted. One quarter tried to get away. Despite valiant efforts, it ended up between the ash pan and the side of the barrel. Stuck like a turtle in its shell. I had to pull the heat shield and coal pan to rescue the precious meat. I pulled some skin off of it and... another appetizer for me.

Since I had the Bronco apart, I finished cooking the breasts on my Weber kettle that was hot from cooking beans. The breasts only needed a few more minutes. All the chicken took a little over an hour to cook.
I put the Bronco back together as a grill to cook the fish. Placing the heat shield upside down and charcoal pan on top, the grill was set.
The salmon was dusted with lemon pepper and McCormick Smokehouse Maple seasoning. -Yes, you should try that sometime.
With six to ten minutes of cooking on each side, the fish was at 125º. Dinner was ready!
So, in the end: The fish and chicken were fantastic. As I cut the chicken for dinner, I handed out nibbles. Juices ran from the breast meat. The guests lucky enough to be nearby could not believe how moist it was. The salmon was perfect. I would not do anything different except maybe cook more next time.
With a few exceptions, the ribs did not meet Last Meal standards. They were tasty, but four of the seven racks could have used more time cooking. The leftovers were better the next day when I could heat them slowly in the oven for another hour. The three racks that were done were super, tender, juicy, and meaty. No complaints.
Oh, about that salt and pepper only rib rack. The sizzling flavor of the vaporizing drippings was really featured. Smoke flavor radiated through my tastebuds. My eyes rolled to the top of my head, my voice said "aaaw man" as I chewed and shook my head in agreement. A BBQ orgasm? Ha
Long-winded, please grab a favorite beverage.
Note- all temps recorded with a digital probe.
I already have a fully capable Weber kettle. So to justify purchasing the Bronco, I told my wife that I would cook for our son’s birthday party. What could go wrong?
Six weeks out, I picked up a Bronco at Loews at a nice discount. Once seasoned, I started cooking. First cook, butt. Ten hours no problems. The barrel worked as advertised. The pork pulled like pulling feathers from a ripped pillow. The next few cooks were birds, just to get the hang of the hang and control of the baffles. On other cooks, I set the Bronco up as a grill and did some kabobs and fish. I love grilling on the Bronco with the no-hassle lid.
Fast forward to this past Saturday. With 24 guests expected, I figured I would cook ribs, chicken, and salmon:
7 racks, 3 chickens quartered, and 3.5 pounds of salmon, beans, slaw, rice, and kale salad. The night before, I salted and dusted the ribs. Due to a food allergy, one of the racks only got salt and pepper -more on this later. I cut and dry-brined the chicken pieces and prepped the other dishes. It was a late night, and the plan was to get the ribs on by 7 am my first mistake. I could have used an extra hour. Next time….
I started my fire at 6 am, and for the ribs, I added some hickory and cherry. With no heat shield in the barrel, I decided not to completely fill the coal basket. This gave me an extra inch or two for the ribs to hang away from the fire. Once all was set and the ribs hung, I closed the lid. The first hour was a fight to keep a 225º temperature. At first, it spiked, then it dropped. I had both baffles wide open at one point to keep temps above 220º. I realize now that the air circulation in the cooker was different from my first cooks due to the many racks of ribs, no heat shield, and the drippings. It was a mistake not trying to cook a rib rack beforehand. This was my first attempt cooking ribs on the Bronco, and damn, there were seven racks.
After the first hour, the fire stabilized and kept near 225º with only minor changes. I spritzed the ribs with a mix of apple cider, not vinegar, and beer. First spritz on the hour, and then every 30 minutes. Two possible mistakes here: One, I should have trusted the process and let the ribs be. Opening the lid added more cooking time than I had planned for. Second, my mop may have given a slightly bitter aftertaste. Although, once the ribs were sauced, the aftertaste was gone. Should spritzing be a time to add flavor, or should its use be to keep moisture? I may have answered this question. Your thoughts?
At three hours and 20, I started wrapping the ribs to finish in the oven so I could cook the chicken. I noticed that on a few of the racks the bark was almost set but needed more time. Next mistake, I pushed forward instead of keeping them in the smoke. The reason for this was to get the chicken cooked on time for when the guests arrived. This is all circling back to my first mistake.
During the cook, I did move the ribs around to avoid char. One rib rack got a charred end. It had spent most of its time cooking directly under the smokestack. This surprised me because I expected more to be charred. The char would not look good on a plate, but it sure made for a nice appetizer.
Off to the oven with the ribs- in with the chicken.
I patted the chicken pieces dry, rubbed them with olive oil, and dusted them with a favorite recipe that included ginger and turmeric. I added a few more briquettes to the fire, although I probably did not need to, and once my fire was going again dropped on a few pieces of mesquite. I added the heat shield.
I set the Bronco up with two grates. One is an 18-inch Weber grate which is actually 17 dot something inches. Not 18 inches. This caused a problem later. The Weber grate is slightly too small and can shift when used, so keep this in mind if you intend to use or buy a Weber grate for your Bronco.
On the bottom grate, the Weber grate, I placed the leg and thigh quarters. On the top grate, I cooked the breasts and wings. In my prior cooks, I found that the bottom grate can be hotter by as much as 20º. The Bronco’s temps got just above 300º. I wanted to cook hotter but learned not to fight the temps from earlier. The chicken still reached 165º faster than I thought it would. The leg quarters were done first. As I pulled them off the grill, the Weber grate shifted. One quarter tried to get away. Despite valiant efforts, it ended up between the ash pan and the side of the barrel. Stuck like a turtle in its shell. I had to pull the heat shield and coal pan to rescue the precious meat. I pulled some skin off of it and... another appetizer for me.
Since I had the Bronco apart, I finished cooking the breasts on my Weber kettle that was hot from cooking beans. The breasts only needed a few more minutes. All the chicken took a little over an hour to cook.
I put the Bronco back together as a grill to cook the fish. Placing the heat shield upside down and charcoal pan on top, the grill was set.
The salmon was dusted with lemon pepper and McCormick Smokehouse Maple seasoning. -Yes, you should try that sometime.
With six to ten minutes of cooking on each side, the fish was at 125º. Dinner was ready!
So, in the end: The fish and chicken were fantastic. As I cut the chicken for dinner, I handed out nibbles. Juices ran from the breast meat. The guests lucky enough to be nearby could not believe how moist it was. The salmon was perfect. I would not do anything different except maybe cook more next time.
With a few exceptions, the ribs did not meet Last Meal standards. They were tasty, but four of the seven racks could have used more time cooking. The leftovers were better the next day when I could heat them slowly in the oven for another hour. The three racks that were done were super, tender, juicy, and meaty. No complaints.
Oh, about that salt and pepper only rib rack. The sizzling flavor of the vaporizing drippings was really featured. Smoke flavor radiated through my tastebuds. My eyes rolled to the top of my head, my voice said "aaaw man" as I chewed and shook my head in agreement. A BBQ orgasm? Ha
Comment