I did my first cook today on my PBC. I have used a cheap offset for years and produced good food. There is something about the PBC that has always interested me, mainly hanging the meat over hot coals and the claims that a PBC is pretty much a no frills set it and forget it cooker. For those of you that cook on offsets lkke me, you know first hand set it and forget it typically doesn't apply to us.
Anyhow, I decided to cook some baby backs since I've read and heard so many people say that the PBC is a rib cooking machine.
All in all, I have to say that the PBC lived up to the hype. The ribs had great flavor. A little less of a wood smoke than what I'm used to on an offset but they had a great tasti g charcoal smoke along with some notes of Hickory and the flavor combi action was great.
My only negative is that I should have let them go another 30-60 minutes longer as I had a little more of a tug then I normally do. It was a colder day here so I don't think the PBC got up near 275 and I should've known better than to assume 6 hours was a long enough cook time... They needed more time. This isn't any fault of the PBC just my inexperience using it.
Anyhow, here are the results of my first cook. I look forward to using the PBC more often from here on out.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
I yellow mustard as a binder, then used my homemade general purpose BBQ rub and my homemade honey Chipolte rub on then. Glazed them with my Whiskey Green Apple Jalapeño sauce.
I knew the ribs were close to the tenderness I wanted but being the first cook on the PBC I was hesitant to let them go too much longer because I was afraid of then tearing off the hooks and falling into the coals. I wasn't expecting them to even go 6 hours because I read that the PBC runs at a higher temp than what I typically smoke at on my offset. But there were a couple points where I lost temp because it seemed like the coals weren't burning efficiently on one side and I should have cracked the lid open a little to resolve the issue. But that's the fun of what we do, we learn a little something each time we cook.
As for my next cook on the PBC, since we are getti g close to that time of year, I think I'll use
My turkey hangers and do a Thanksgiving test run.
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