KBQ ~ has landed

[Spinaker]

As I mentioned above, i am doing a whole chicken tonight in the KBQ. I was originally going to hang it with the PBC hooks, but I left my hooks at my uncles farm with my PBC!! So plan B has become plan A. Here is what I am thinking. Cast Iron Deep Skillets are used to cook whole birds all the time. I would like to throw the bird in my deep skillet, and let it roast in the there while in the KBQ. I am planning on pre-heating the skillet to get it up to temp, then placing the bird in the skillet. Then into the KBQ. I think I will really be able to get some great flavors hanging out in the skillet at the end of this cook for some gravy.
What do you guys think of this idea? Should I use a regular cast iron skillet and not the deep one?

[Ernest]

Spinaker depends on your end game. Chicken roasted in a deep skillet is mainly aimed for stew/ saucey dish. No crispy skin.
I would place the bird on the grate and a skillet on another grate right below the bird. That way you still collect some juices for your gravy.

[Spinaker]

ahhh gotcha. Good call. I like that idea. Then I can still get my drippings and all will be happy. Hope all is well my friend.

[EdF]

That sounds good to me, too.

[Histrix]

As I mentioned above, i am doing a whole chicken tonight in the KBQ. I was originally going to hang it with the PBC hooks, but I left my hooks at my uncles farm with my PBC!! So plan B has become plan A. Here is what I am thinking. Cast Iron Deep Skillets are used to cook whole birds all the time. I would like to throw the bird in my deep skillet, and let it roast in the there while in the KBQ. I am planning on pre-heating the skillet to get it up to temp, then placing the bird in the skillet. Then into the KBQ. I think I will really be able to get some great flavors hanging out in the skillet at the end of this cook for some gravy.
What do you guys think of this idea? Should I use a regular cast iron skillet and not the deep one?

I've not found any real advantage to hanging a chicken vs. setting the chicken on the grate.

I use these - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ag=amazi0a8-20

I mainly use those because they hold the chicken upright which seems to be helpful in my KJ Jr. (which I use most of the time when roasting a whole bird). So I just continued using them in my KBQ. In my KBQ I've used them to just sit directly on the grate and I have also used those to hang the chicken from a grate. Again, hanging didn't really seem to offer any significant advantage. If I have a really big chicken hanging does offer a slight advantage in crisping the skin between the leg and the breast since the legs on a hung chicken do tend to fall away from the body more.

I always use a drip pan in my KBQ so collecting the jus is easy. The pan is also great for cooking some taters/onions/carrots/whatever under the chicken.

If you did want to place the chicken "in" a skillet I would use a roasting rack of some kind so that the chicken isn't resting right in the juice since that bit of skin will never crisp up.

[Spinaker]

To be honest I wanted to get some of that chicken fat on one of my skillets. Its great stuff, But might just end up using my usual foil pan.

[Bob Hawkinson]

Car wash token machine?

[Spinaker]

Thats a new one. Imagine what they think when I bring it into the carwash for a good once over...........MIND BLOWN.

[Bob Hawkinson]

I don't recommend the Rain Ex..LOL
Looks like a great smoker... I'll keep it on my list for sure.

[JGrana]

Ready for my first smoke on my new KBQ

My C60 arrived a week ago - right before Labor Day weekend. That was the good news. Unfortunately, I was heading up to my camp in the Adirondack region of NY. More good news - wild apple trees grow like weeds in my region. My wife says to me Sat. morning - can you cut those old half dead limbs off that apple tree - they are crowding the oak next to it.

Talk about luck/karma.

Now that I have the KBQ, I am A-OK with trimming trees on my property ;-) I ended up with trunk load of apple (on the right) and even some nice maple (on the left).
Here in Rochester NY (home), I have shag bark hickory and black cherry trees all over. Always a few dead or dying limbs to trim ;-). I had a shag bark fall over a few weeks ago - KBQ wood cutting time this weekend!



On Sunday I do my first smoke on this shiny beast:



I have 4 racks of SLC ribs. I am going to dry brine 2 racks and use Meatheads Memphis Dust, the other 2 will have my goto commercial mix of Dan Pastorinis Texas Style Rub with some Memphis Dust mixed in (cut down a bit on the salt).
I am also doing 6 chicken halves.
Coming from a vertical propane smoker - should be interesting!

Glad to be in the KBQ Brotherhood ;-)

BTW, as others have said - Bill Karau has been great! I ordered on Amazon. Bill emailed me shortly after and wanted to make sure I understood the need to tend the fire, etc. I assured him I was up to speed! We exchanged a few more concerning a shipping issue - Bill was quick to respond and make sure I was completely happy with my purchase.

[Spinaker]

Congrats on your new purchase!!!! You will love it. I burn black cherry in mine all the time. You will love it. When paired with the KBQ, it doesn't get much better!!

[Spinaker]

One more thing, I would get some full sized aluminum pans or better yet stainless pans. to slide into the bottom rung on the KBQ. They fit perfectly and keep the cook box clean. Its not a huge issue to clean it, but the pans make it a breeze, plus you can catch all of your drippings. @JGrana

[JGrana]

Thanks Spinaker. I ordered a Winco 1 1/4 full size steam pan to place in the bottom rack. Supposed to arrive today! On my old vertical I lined the drip pan with aluminum foil. Clean up was a breeze.

I also splurged on a ThermoWorks Dot with the internal probe (I already had the Thermopop). The clip for the probe fits perfectly in an opening on the rack holder inside the KBQ (I do loose one rack position). I read where someone ran the internal probe wire through the rectangular opening that the firebox plugs into. Any experience/advice on this? Not sure where else to run it...

[Spinaker]

JGrana
​​​​​​​Yeah that was me. It works well. Honestly, I don't use them anymore. The KBQ runs so nice, I just put a small cheapo through the corner hole to get an idea of where the ambient temp is running.

When you do run the probe down, you have to feed it through the damper. Your actually going to be at an advantage with putting the ambient temp probe in the runner of the cook box. Because it wont be attached to a grate or anything.

I have stopped using an internal meat temp probe in my KBQ. The reason I stopped using an internal thermo was, every time I pulled the meat out to check it, I had to pull the probe out of the meat. Not so much fun when stuff is dripping on your hands, smoke is pouring out and the temps are burning your extremities. So my advice would be. Give yourself plenty of line slack inside the cookbox. So when you pull the meat out to check it, the probe doesn't need to be pulled out. Also, feeding it through the front corner hole is your best option, but not all probes fit through that little hole. None of my Mavericks would and I doubt you Thermoworks will either. It works on some KBQs, it didn't fit through mine. Every KBQ is just a tiny bit different. So the reason I went through the back louvers because I couldn't go through the front.

Right now all I use is a cheap webber dial thermo through the from right hole. To be honest thats all you really need. A probe in the meat is more important however until you get used to how fast the KBQ cooks, especially in cold weather.

Hope this helps. Cant wait to see some pics of your first cook.

[JGrana]

Thanks for all the advice Spinaker I will take some photos and post Monday. I am also thinking (crazy idea) of putting my waterproof camera in the box when I start the KBQ up the first time. Set it on one of the wire racks. It's an Oly TG-3 rated to 100F operating. I want to video the smoke coming through the baffles in the back, both clean smoke then dirty smoke. I will watch the internal temp and when it gets to 95F I will pull it out. Being waterproof, I can rinse it off ;-). Wish me luck

[Spinaker]

No problem man!! I love the idea with the camera. Hopefully the smoke won't fog it up. I bet you'll only be able to keep it in there for a little bit. That hot air gets blasted in there. But I hope it works. That would be sweet.

[MagWarrior]

Lol now that's funny!

[sbdave]

I'm able to run my Maverick's through the corner where the door closes. Not the hole in the corner of the entire smoke, but rather when the door closes shut, there is a little space in the top corners where the door meets the smoker. The wire fits in that corner easily.

[JGrana]

Ok, did my first KBQ smoke yesterday! Used a Weber charcoal starter and some lump charcoal, dumped into the fire bin and added some hickory. Wow, the KBQ starts up quickly. I went from holding a bag of lump to ready to smoke in 20 mins!!! Up to 221F quickly:



I did 4 racks of SLC - 2 racks using dry rub and then Memphis Dust right before smoking - the other two rubbed with a 50/50 mix of Dan Pastorini's Texas Rub and Memphis Dust ~ 4 hours before the smoke. I am trying to cut down on salt.



I also added 4 chicken halves ~ 2 hours before end of smoke and switched over to a combo of apple and cherry woods. Finally I smoked some coarse sea salt,, some ghost peppers and garlic from my garden. I dry all this, grind it up and give it away as Smoked Ghostly Garlic Salt at Christmas

Here are the final products:



I set the smoke at clean with dirty once in a while. The ribs where great - both had great crust, moist with a lighter smoke flavor - not overpowering like my old vertical propane.

Next time, I am going to leave both clean/dirty open and see about a bit more smoke. With that said, this first smoke came out great. I was totally impressed with how quickly the KBQ came up to temp and how well it does with keeping at temp.

Now, planning my next smoke - I might even go brisket!!!

Spinaker, I put the camera in the smoker at startup. I will post on YouTube - but you were right - it hit 100F in roughly 1 min so I didn't get much . A few small sparks ;-)

[Spinaker]

I will look for it. Those Ribs look awesome!!! I would like to hear more about the smoking of salt. The KBQ would be perfect for that. And I saw go for the brisket. The KBQ kills brisket, its amazing.

[Histrix]

Excellent first effort!! I like the practice of doing many different items. Once you've got the KBQ fired up why not eh?

[Spinaker]

I ran mine a lot this weekend. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was just a treat. I went from ribs and salmon, to whole chicken, then back to ribs, then to wings again. It was a joy cooking on the KBQ all weekend. I especially love adding the grate to the top of the fire box. Searing the wings on top and throwing them on too the cutting board for the masses is great. And they taste the best right off of the fire. I don't have any recent pictures but I do have one of some lamb chops I made last year. Same concept, just a different meat.

[Abom]

I've read almost every page of this thread before skipping to the end. This smoker fascinates me, and the pics of the food have me hungry even though I just ate dinner. I see this in my future, even if I do have to figure out where to get the wood from!