The Sect of Rama

Nice setup! Cost really isn't a critical variable in all this. My friend & neighbor built himself a nice little cooker/smoker using some ceramic pots. Can be coal fired or electric fired. He has done some amazing rosemary smoked chicken that had a smoke ring over 1/4" deep. Juicy, too! The BGE + Stoker is an amazing setup and adds considerable versatility and, certainly, durability. I consider myself very lucky, but don't for a moment think that it enables me to do better than a good cook armed with cardboard or a couple of flower pots. As you state, you need quite a bit more than 4 hours to really release the meat from the bone. Completely freaked me out the first time I did ribs as I was previously of the "get the meat to the minimum correct internal temp and immediately pull it" mind set. Wrote up my first cook here: http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/05/29/smoked-ribs/ The connective tissue in pork breaks down around 165-185 degrees. And it takes a while. Keeping the internal temp at that level for a few hours will lead to fall-off-the-bone but at the risk of dryness. The challenge is two fold -- maintain the right temperature for long enough and keep the things moist. I'm not 100% convinced the humidity in the cooker is the key to moistness as much as keeping the environment relatively sealed. You don't want airflow, it seems (and it looks like your setup is relatively tight). I did my first pork shoulder last week. 17 hours at 210 degrees (because of the Stoker, I slept through a good chunk of it). The meat with connective tissue was awesome. The large slabs of muscle were a bit dry. I need to write it up and try again. Brining might be key as the salt in the outside layer tends to seal in moisture. (I can cook, but apparently I can't add. Jeez.)

Posted by bbum on November 29, 2006 at 11:43 PM PST #