Another Bachelor Dinner

[ecowper]

I’m in bachelor mode until about 5 PM on Sunday, when the wife gets home and we are going to a neighbor’s house for brats and burgers. So, today is Bachelor Dinner #2: SLC ribs on the Hasty-Bake, macaroni salad, and Shiner Bock :-)

Bought a rack of spares yesterday, trimmed them up into a nice set of SLC’s. Cooking the tips along with the ribs. Dry brined the ribs overnight, fired up the Hasty-Bake around 11 AM .... just in time for a summer rainstorm to hit and cool everything off .... argh. Now that the rain is past, the HB is running at a nice steady 240F, ribs and tips are on, macaroni salad is made and hanging out in the fridge.

Cooking with Cowboy brand hardwood briquettes and red oak I got from Steve R. .... backyard is starting to smell good.




And I’m about to crack open the first Shiner!

[Spinaker]

Looking good man! I am no stranger to the Bachelor dinner! I would love to see some pictures of the Hasty-Bake in action too. (I have only ever seen shots at the grate.)

[ecowper]

I’ll grab some shots of the firebox set up for you

[ecowper]

Here you go Spinaker .... next time I willl take pics all the way through prep and getting the fire going


The "cool" side of the HB ... notice the open vent, which enables convection airflow


The firebox side of the HB .... vent here is open, too .... so it pulls air from hot to cool side and lower to higher, creating a convection effect


Inside the firebox .... I have a water pan at the far end, then unlit charcoal, then lit charcoal. To get 6 hours cook time at 240F, I use 1.5 chimneys of charcoal. I put the unlit from the water pan back towards the door. Then I put my wood at the edge of the unlit charcoal. When the lit charcoal is ready, I dump it in the gap at the door end of the firebox.


And then I put the heat deflector on ....helps keep my grate temp stable.

[EdF]

Man, you know how to treat yourself well!

[Spinaker]

This is sweet! I really want to get one of these. They look like a blast to cook on. I had no idea that there was a convection action to the cooking chamber. Does the food cook faster as a result of this convection action? Also, is it possible for the drippings to reach that deflector plate?

Thanks for posting all of this.

[Steve R.]

That sounds like a winning combination all the way around! Enjoy the solitude while you can.

[ecowper]

Spinaker I find that the convection primarily means I have fewer cold and hot spots on the grate. The whole indirect side is the same temp, or pretty close. The deflector plate is directly below the hot side of the grate, nothing in between. You could get dripping on the deflector, but you’d have your meat on the hot side .... the hot side is a solid 75F hotter right now than the cold side.

[CaptainMike]

We're doing the same cook and side dish to have with friends this evening.

[ecowper]

SLC ribs and macaroni salad are a winner everytime! Don’t forget the beer :-)

[ecowper]

Spinaker a shot to give you an idea of where the hot/cold zones are, the firebox, etc.

You can see that a rack of SLC will lap over into the hot zone. I’ll have to turn those in another hour, or so, to avoid overcooking one end of the rack.

[FireMan]

Wow, your fam goes away & you start eatin high off the hog, pun intended. Then, when they get home you get to look forward to brats & burgers? Call em up, see if they can’t stay away an extra day or two & some of us may come over to hep ya. 🕶
Eat that is. And don’t forget, a rodeo my hang in the balance.

[ecowper]

I’m sure Karyn is more than happy to avoid the rodeo! Come on over my friend, there’s gonna be plenty

[CaptainMike]

I agree!! Sounds like we all need to do a road trip the WA!

[RonB]

Lookin' very good.

[Mr. Bones]

Great writeup an tutorial, very interestin an informative, brother!
Food is lookin great, enjoy yer day!

[Henrik]

Yup, great thread, and cool to see photos of hhe HB in action, with explanations. I’ve always had a good eye towards the HB. And a big plus on the shiner bock. Go Texas!

[PaulstheRibList]

GoTexas!