I did two trial runs before the maiden voyage. The first one was an epic fail - I didn't let the fire breathe enough early in the cook. The second trial run went much better until the 2 hour mark when I'd noticed that the nice bed of hot coals I'd developed had all fallen through the grate and were sitting on the bottom of the fire box. So, this time I took one of the charcoal grates in the cooking chamber, rotated it 90 degrees and placed it on top of the grate in the fire box. This created squares for holes and it worked well. During the first half hour I struggled getting the cooker up to temp. I ended up opening both doors back up all of the way and got the fire rip-roaring hot. From there everything went really well. Over the past year I've done a lot of research on fire management and got some great tips from The Pit and of course Youtube.
On my Dad's side of the family, instead of getting together during the holidays, we have a quarterly party. Yesterday's was Greek-themed at my Aunt and Uncle's. I have a lot of aunts, unless and cousins. My Dad was the first of 7 and my mom was the 4th of 8.
After a little over 2 hours the leg of lamb that I chose to cook had hit 125 internal but no bark had developed because the cook was too short. Fortunately, the OKJ has a cooking grate for the firebox and I was able to do a reverse sear. The meat turned out great and was a big hit at the party.
On my Dad's side of the family, instead of getting together during the holidays, we have a quarterly party. Yesterday's was Greek-themed at my Aunt and Uncle's. I have a lot of aunts, unless and cousins. My Dad was the first of 7 and my mom was the 4th of 8.
After a little over 2 hours the leg of lamb that I chose to cook had hit 125 internal but no bark had developed because the cook was too short. Fortunately, the OKJ has a cooking grate for the firebox and I was able to do a reverse sear. The meat turned out great and was a big hit at the party.
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