Some of you may recall that several weeks ago, I changed my approach for holding meat at the end of low and slow cooks. In the past, I have always wrapped in multiple layers of foil and just put the meat into an insulated cooler. But then I saw several of you going to the "foil boat" for the end of low and slow. And DaveD takes that even further, switching the meat in its boat over to his Copperhead 5 cabinet pellet smoker for the boat step and/or extended holding. So I played around a bit with my setup, and realized that when I'm doing indirect low and slow on my LSG Adjustable, I can pull out the drip pan at the point where I normally would have wrapped and just plop the meat into the drip pan with all those smoky, rendered drippings. Here are two chuck roasts in their pan from a recent cook:
For that cook, I just covered the pan with foil (probably added a few splashes of beef broth too) and moved it into my indoor oven at 170-180 for an extended hold. I was very happy with the result.
Buuuut, that means mixing indoor and outdoor cooking. It also means that the oven is occupied if other cooking is involved (think holidays). Also, temperature control at that low setting is not very good. That got me started thinking about holding ovens. A look at WebRestaurantStore.com bluffed me out pretty quickly. Looks like their cheapest is about $1400 and only holds four hotel pans.
But then I said to myself, "Self, you're an idiot." (That happens a lot.) A cabinet pellet smoker works for that job as DaveD has already demonstrated. And it comes with the benefit of being able to do lazy cooks (which has appeal as my age advances and it's just a weeknight meal for two).
Dave has the Copperhead 5, but as you know my outdoor kitchen is built around the theme of "bigger is better", so I'm leaning toward the Copperhead 7:
This is probably preordained, since it's coming up on the Pit Boss site today at $100 lower than I swear it was a couple of weeks ago the last time I looked (now $649).
So, help me out here, folks. Does this make sense? I like the big capacity because at least once a year I cook for a group of 40 or more from the church. We also do lots of other gatherings in the range of 20 or so people, and so holding meat right out where we are mingling and then getting it out for service looks wonderfully easy if this beast is sitting out there.
Is the Copperhead the right choice? I know the 5 got rave reviews and cooker of the year or something here, but there are some reviews on the Pit Boss site complaining of some unreliable electronic components? Dave, I know you've used yours a lot. Any problems so far? Are there other pellet cabinets I should look at? Is there something else that's obvious to any you that I might have missed?
I'd probably like to make my choice soon, as the next cook for 40 will be in May.
For that cook, I just covered the pan with foil (probably added a few splashes of beef broth too) and moved it into my indoor oven at 170-180 for an extended hold. I was very happy with the result.
Buuuut, that means mixing indoor and outdoor cooking. It also means that the oven is occupied if other cooking is involved (think holidays). Also, temperature control at that low setting is not very good. That got me started thinking about holding ovens. A look at WebRestaurantStore.com bluffed me out pretty quickly. Looks like their cheapest is about $1400 and only holds four hotel pans.
But then I said to myself, "Self, you're an idiot." (That happens a lot.) A cabinet pellet smoker works for that job as DaveD has already demonstrated. And it comes with the benefit of being able to do lazy cooks (which has appeal as my age advances and it's just a weeknight meal for two).
Dave has the Copperhead 5, but as you know my outdoor kitchen is built around the theme of "bigger is better", so I'm leaning toward the Copperhead 7:
This is probably preordained, since it's coming up on the Pit Boss site today at $100 lower than I swear it was a couple of weeks ago the last time I looked (now $649).
So, help me out here, folks. Does this make sense? I like the big capacity because at least once a year I cook for a group of 40 or more from the church. We also do lots of other gatherings in the range of 20 or so people, and so holding meat right out where we are mingling and then getting it out for service looks wonderfully easy if this beast is sitting out there.
Is the Copperhead the right choice? I know the 5 got rave reviews and cooker of the year or something here, but there are some reviews on the Pit Boss site complaining of some unreliable electronic components? Dave, I know you've used yours a lot. Any problems so far? Are there other pellet cabinets I should look at? Is there something else that's obvious to any you that I might have missed?
I'd probably like to make my choice soon, as the next cook for 40 will be in May.
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