The Twelve Days of …

[LA Pork Butt]

The 9th day of Christmas - Smoked Shrimp Tacos

I smoked these shrimp in the Boost mode which adds smoke as it cooks at 200. I cooked them for about 30 minutes and then bumped the temp to 205 for another 15 minutes until I reached my target internal temp of 145. I cooked them on the top shelf hoping to get more smoke on them.



I can’t taste smoke much anymore due to medications, but my wife confirmed that the was little if any smoke taste on these shrimp. I have never have eaten pellet smoker food so there is nothing to compare this cooker to. I always read that the knock on pellet smokers was the low level of smoke. I’m sorry but there are no after pics. Wes were in a hurry to get to those tacos.

The 10th day of Christmas - Low and Slow Lamb Breast

This is going to be a real adventure. I probably should have watches a couple of YouTube videos before I bought it. I’ve done a couple of lamb shoulders which came out great, but that’s the extent of my lamb experience. It seems there are three approaches. One is to cook it low and slow. Another is to roast it and the third is to cut the meat off and roll it searing and roasting it.

[STEbbq]

How is cleaning after these cooks?

[STEbbq]

I feel like the roll approach could be best especially if you can get some extra rub inside for more flavor. I am sure it will be great anyway as smoked lamb is just delicious.

[LA Pork Butt]

STEbbq

This is what the tray looks like after 10 cooks. I never had a pellet cooker before, so I have nothing to compare it to. But, compared to any charcoal cooker I have it is a piece of cake.

[STEbbq]

That is really good. I think the original first gen had issues with the design there but clearly fixed. You are a lucky man Sunny.

[LegoMySearwood]

Yes. Clean up is super simple.

[LA Pork Butt]

The 10th day of Christmas - Low and Slow Lamb Breast

This didn’t have as much excess fat as the YouTube videos I watched.



Of the three options for cooking it, I decided on low and slow which I am most familiar with. I seasoned it with a feed rub and cooked it at 240. The cook was 3 1/2 hours and I pulled it when it was probe tender at 198.



While it didn’t looks like it wasn’t very fatty, it had layers of fat and may very well be the fattest piece of meat I have ever cooked.The flavor was good, but it almost impossible to separate the meat form the connective tissue which I don’t think would have rendered no mater how long I cooked. I don’t think it would have gotten any better result roasting it at 325, but maybe. I am guessing the best method was to separate from connective tissue and roll it which I think will produce at more than half waste trimmings. While this is the least expensive cut of lamb, when you factor in the waste it may be one of the most expensive. I don’t think I will be cooking this cut again if at all.

The 11th day of Christmas - Grilled Bone in Pork Chops.

[cruiseplanner1]

I looked back to your post just to see how this lamb cut turned out. I have done a boneless shoulder but made Souvlaki with them. Good to know for my future purchases. Wife really like lamb so I get it for her once in a while. Thanks for sharing

[LA Pork Butt]

The 11th day of Christmas - Grilled Bone in Pork Chops.

Opps! No pics! The guests were hungry. The chops were fatty, so to try to render the fad and add crispness to the fat I cooked them at 375 with the lid closed. I cooked I turning them every 3 minutes for a total of 13 minutes until the internal temp reached 275.

Tomorrow
The 12th and final Day of Christmas - St. Louis Ribs

This will be the longest smoke time, and I hope I get significant smoke flavor.

[yakima]

Are your 12 cooks your own selection, or from another source?
It has been fun to follow along.

[LA Pork Butt]

yakima They were mine. I highly recommend 12 consecutive cooks as a way to get to know your cooker. It easier for me being retired than it would be for working folks, but you might be able to squeeze in three a weekend. That would be 12 in a month.

[LA Pork Butt]

The 12th and final Day of Christmas - St. Louis Ribs

The 12th Day of Christmas turned out to be something else. I seasoned the ribs with Sucklebuster’s Meat Candy. I gave them an hour of smoke boost and then started cooking at 250. I had every thing timed to eat about noon. That’s where everything went wrong. I had a doctor’s appointment and planned to get home a little before noon. The doctor ran an hour and a half late. I couldn’t fit a probe between the ribs so I couldn’t adjust things from the doctor’s office. I used my thermopen when I got home and the ribs were past 210. As to the bend test, it went to instant break. Needless to say they were over cooked and a little dry. I cooked them on the top reck in hope of getting more smoke on them, but as with all of the cooks the smoke was faint. I need to explore ways to enhance the smoke flavor. Apart from the faint taste, I love this cooker and app and prefer it to a gas cooker.



@ Huskee At the end of the 13th Day I plan to plan to have my evaluation of the Weber Searwood XL 600.

[WI Bubba]

I'm really enjoying following along with your journey.

Something I did to enhance the smoke profile on my old Camp Chef pellet pooper was to stuff a piece of charcoal in the bottom of a smoke tube and then fill it the rest of the way with wood chips. Light the charcoal with a torch and it will get the chips going well enough to keep them going for the duration.

[LA Pork Butt]

Huskee Here are my thoughts on the Weber Searwood XL 600

1. This cooker is well built
2. It takes to people to assemble, but can be done in less than an hour.
3. It is a beast. It can accommodate lots of food. It will use a lot of fuel to cook small quantities of food.
4. The app is, I think, the easiest BBQ app I have ever used.
5. The cooking/roasting mode can be set to just about any temperature you would like up to 600 degrees
6. The open lid mode is supposed to be able to get to 650. I am not sure there is much gained by cooking in that mode as opposed to cooking in the cooking/roasting mode. I am guessing its does a better job searing and attempts to keep the chosen temperature at the grill level. I don’t cook a lot of foods that require searing.
7. Clean up is the easiest I have found on any grill other than perhaps a gas grill where there is no used fuel to clean up, but the grates take more effort to clean.
8. It competes with a gas grill as to preheating in preparation to cook, and has an edge in that it can alert you when the cooking/roasting temp is reached.
9. Because of its size pellet consumption seems high with my limited pellet knowledge.
10. The only real knock I have is the difficulty adding smoke flavor. Maybe a different pellet will make a difference or I can find an adequate workaround to add smoke. If not it is a bust when it comes to smoking. When Boston Butts go on sale I will test against what I can do on my big green egg. On the other hand it could be a hit for folks who like little or no smoke. It will probably become my everyday cooker and my cooker for cooking volume to freeze for future meals.

Well, I’ve successfully completed twelve days of Christmas! Now there are 7 weeks of King Cakes.



And then there is Mardi Gras! “Throw me something mister!”