After my year absence from fun I drug the bronco from its storage area and prepared to fire it up. It survived well only minor cleaning except where a can of spay foam had exploded. Lucky only a few globs of dried foam on the outside of it. I had bought a small 7 pound brisket to do the pastrami again. I decided to cut it down and do a 4 pound pastrami and a small brisket on the Bronco. Kind of a starter to get me back into things. Used a combo of B&B oak lump charcoal and B&B char logs with a couple of hickory chunks added. Night before injected beef broth into brisket, it fire at 07:00 in the morning. By 08:00 had the Bronco stabilized at 240 degrees. I like doing the brisket at a bit higher temp than the usual 225. put it on the grate, closed the lid and walked away. Hourly checks to see how it was going (no lid lifting) the meat temp slowly rose and Bronco temp stayed solid 240. At about 13:00 the magic number of 150 was hit and I wrapped the brisket in foil to keep the cook going. I was starting to get a bit hungry so I thawed out a handful of chicken wings, seasoned them and tossed them on the Bronco. An hour and a 1/2 later they were close to being complete so I pulled them off the Bronco and tossed them on the evil gas grill to heat them fast. 5 min and my wife and I were snacking on some great wings. I did notice at about 15:00 the temp of the brisket hit 200, I normally pull it at this point but I reset the alarm on the temp probe/dot. for 205. and realized it was done much faster than I had planned. Pulled it off the heat wrapped it in a towel and stuck it in the cooler to hold until dinnertime. I did leave the probe and dot connected just to track how fast it cooled. If I had done things correctly with the charcoal I still had 4 or so hours of "cook" time. Hmmmmm whats a guy to do? To the Freezer barked the two dogs...we want ribs. Hahaha fat chance for them, but yes what a grand idea. I thawed a slab of ribs, It took about 15 min and I'm not 100% sure they were completely thawed. I seasoned them anyway and tossed on the Bronco. I did have to start adjusting the vents at this point to make the temp right (225 for the ribs) over the next few hours I did have to play with the vents to keep the temp going. It did fall down to 200 fora short period but once I re-adjusted it was good again. At 18:00 I got severely distracted, my neighbor and his wife stopped over with their dogs and visiting niece. (and drinks) At 19:30 they made their way home and I remembered the ribs on the Bronco. Temp was a solid 220 and the ribs were PERFECT. I got lucky. Brisket held temp in the cooler unti about 19:45 when I pulled it out to slice. Was 160 degrees according to the probe/dot. some pictures below. I've also included a picture of my tracking method for the bacon and the pastrami. Since my illness I have problems remembering things so I came up with this method to help me remember. I pull the tape once I do the flip/massage or mix.
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Great way to jump back into things! Good looking cook(s) and sounds like you made good use of that charcoal! -
Welcome back to fun!Comment
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Outstanding. A good chronicle of how versatile the Bronco is, and how easily the temperature in changed/controlled.
I'll try to say this in the most charitable way I can. I was thinking about how easily all of the variations you mentioned are accomplished when reading a very well written and thoughtful article that was done on this site a few days ago regarding the Cult Barrel. It was an impressive manipulation to overcome shortcomings inherent in the PBC........but as you've enumerated, you accomplished it with simple manipulation of intake and exhaust flaps that are standard on the Bronco. Bravo......Comment
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Welcome back. Great write up. I too love my Bronco.Comment
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Strong work!!!!Comment
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I see more rust inside the Bronco than I do on your technique. Nice work!Comment
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