What Should I Attempt First with My Big Joe III?

[LA Pork Butt]

Nicolaus I don’t cook competition so if it is over cooked some it just makes it more tender. Some folks cook to probe tender which means a probe goes in as if it was going into soft butter. I cook to an internal temp of 200. When the internal temp reaches 200 I take it off the cooker and wrap it as tight as I can in a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil. Then I place it in an ice chest with old towels or a blanket to fill the empty space. It will easily hold at a safe internal temp for 4 hours. One other note - for long cooks I put a layer of my largest lump charcoal in the bottom, followed by filling in with a layer of medium and then topping it off with a layer of small filling the firebox up to the bottom of the ring. I bury one starter square on edge vertically just a little off center toward the front vent. Then I light the two exposed ends closing the dome with both the top and bottom vents wide open. Once the lighter square has completely burned and I have reached my target operating temperature I crack the bottom vent 1/4” open and leave a small opening on the top vent until I reach my target temperature. I hope this helps.

[hoovarmin]

Hi Nicolaus, welcome to the family. I love my BJIII. As mentioned before, watch the videos on Youtube by Smoking Dad BBQ, and cook often. You are going to find out that your new cooker will hold temps almost as steady as an oven once you get the hang of it. One piece of advice - make sure to check the bolts holding the bands on the dome for tightness about once a month. Especially with a brand new one. The heating and cooling is going to cause them to loosen a bit, and it can crack your dome if that band slips. Enjoy the adventure and stick close to us here because we love to help each other. No question is a bad question here.

[lkenyan]

This is such a great thread. Perfect example of why this is such a great community.

I just wanted to add my two cents. I recently got my son a Big Joe as a house warming gift. We did the first cook together. As jfmorris suggests, we tinkered with the vents first to find set points for various temperature ranges. Over a couple of hours or so, we brought it to 350'ish and let it ride, then up to 500'ish for a while, then we brought it back down to 250'ish to reverse sear a couple of ribeyes. Pulled them at 120 internal or so and opened all the vents to get it blazing hot for a final sear.

Steaks turned out great and we both learned a lot about controlling the fire/temps.

That was a couple of months ago and my son is off to the races with just about every cook listed in this thread.

[Nicolaus]

Nice cooker! I went from a Vermont Castings propane grill to my BGE.

First: take a few days to learn your kamado. Skip the temperature controller for now (I’ll get back to that in a minute). There is a short but very steep learning curve. I spent my first half dozen cooks chasing temperatures all over the place! Kamados are slow to start up, much slower than other slow cookers. I plan on an hour from lighting the charcoal until “ready to cook”. Learn how long it takes to get clear smoke, learn the vent settings for the various temps you want to hold. Learn where your hot spots are.

My first cook was 1.25” thick ribeyes, using 2 minutes at 600°, flip, 2 minutes again at 600°, then shut all the vents and let them dwell for 2 minutes. “BURP” THE JOE BEFORE LIFTING THE LID ALL THE WAY, then eat the steaks!

Pork butts are easy as heck, probably the easiest cook of all, but I’d still say do the ribs next. You won’t need the fan, this won’t take all day. I’ll skip all the prep stuff and get right to the Kamado part: get clean smoke at 250° and put the ribs on, indirect. Check them 4 hours later, if the bones are pulling back, they’re done. If they aren’t, check them again in half an hour, keep checking until.

With some cooks under your belt, you’ll realize: it’s just a dumb ol’ fire inside of a big dumb crock pot. An oven, just like the one in your house. Control the fire, and you control the meat. Once you control the fire without the fan, use the fan for the 10+ hour stuff, so you can put brisket on at midnight and go to sleep, pork butt on before breakfast and go about your day, etc.

Mosca, can you tell me more about clean smoke and how exactly to achieve it?

[hoovarmin]

On the free side look up "The Science of Smoke."

[hoovarmin]

Also, watch those Smoking Dad videos we mentioned and he will walk you through it step by step.

[Mosca]

Fill the bowl with lump and wood chunks. When you light it, the lump is all flame. You will shut the lid and set the vents, and the smoke will be billowing and dark gray. As the kamado heats up, the smoke will turn white; at around 225° it will turn clear, with a little blue cast. Honestly, the white is okay; it’s mostly steam. I often get impatient and put the food on after 15-20 minutes of white smoke; it clears in the next 10-15 minutes. 15 minutes of white smoke over 4-20 hours is nothing.