Amerique arrived, frightening sight....

DaveN,

Glad to hear your's arrived in good condition. Karen left me a message today to let me know mine will be shipped tomorrow and arrive monday or tuesday. Hope I have the same kind of luck.

Mark

Curious, when did y'all order yours ? How long till delivery ?

I ordered mine two weeks ago this friday. Got a call from Karen and was told it would be here, Kansas City, Ks., mon. tue. next week. Hopefully UPS will be kind to me also..

I ordered mine on May 15 and it shipped June 2.

My box didn't look so good either, but the contents were perfect..

SOOOO! DaveN

Tell us all about your new AmeriQue. You haven't posted lately so, I guess you have been busy breaking in your new smoker.

I'm just a smokin fool.... Yesterday I did 3 racks of bronto ribs. I used Cookshack Rib Rub on one rack, McCormacks Grill Mate Barbeque rub on rack 2, and a Bourbon marinade on rack 3. Smoked them with 4 oz. Hickory at 225 for 4 hours and then 240 for another 1.4 hours. Yes, they're done when they're done.

Had company over and the reviews were very positive. Only glitch, the ribs went on before I got home from work and we didn't know which rack had which rub. Major bummer as one rack was much tastier.

Today I'm smoking a 15 lb. turkey with ~4 oz. Apple at 250. I've got the probe set for 175. Rubbed olive oil on skin, no spices this time around. Note to self: need to buy a scale to measure wood. There appears to be a big variation between the chunks in the cookshack wood boxes. Is this too anal?? Some blocks feel like almost twice the weight of others.

Tomorrow I'll probably take a breather. Boston Butt will wait till next week, then a brisket, some baby backs. If only I could find my cookbook with the smoked pasta recipe. It was incredible. Cook fettucine then put it in smoker with fontina cheese and cook until cheese melts.

quote:

There appears to be a big variation between the chunks in the cookshack wood boxes. Is this too anal?? Some blocks feel like almost twice the weight of others.

No, you are being smart not anal. I always weigh the wood. There's a big difference in wood block weights and the difference in smoke flavor between 2 ounces and four ounces can be huge. Here's a link to a great source for scales. And here's a link to the scale that I own. I use the scale primarily when baking bread, which is about twice a week. Baking by weight is much more practical than volumetrically.

quote:

Originally posted by TaktEZ:

No, you are being smart not anal. I always weigh the wood. There's a big difference in wood block weights and the difference in smoke flavor between 2 ounces and four ounces can be huge. Here's a link to a great source for scales. And here's a link to the scale that I own. I use the scale primarily when baking bread, which is about twice a week. Baking by weight is much more practical than volumetrically.

Thanks for the link. I've been evaluating a bunch of scales based on reviews by cooking magazine, amazon users, etc. and the My Weigh KD-7000 wasn't listed but it appears to be a real winner.

All I can say is that I'm real happy with the scale and wish I'd bought it a long time ago. One feature that I really like is that the platform, or whatever you call the thingy where you set stuff to weigh it, is removable for easy cleanup. BTW, although I bought mine from the website in the link I posted, the KD-7000 can often be found on eBay.

That is a sweet looking scale! I just have a cheaper mechanical spring loaded scale. It works but not like an electronic one! Yes, it is very important to get exactly 4 oz. of wood if that's what you need for a recipe. And yes, all those chunks are different weights. I have cut my own cherry and apple limbs, dried them, cut them into chunk sizes and split them and dried them some more. It is an absolute must to have a scale to gauge what size to cut the chunks to get usable chunk weights.

My Amerique arrived today and I'd like to "season" it, but knowing absolutely nothing about it, I have to ask - even though it may sound completely stupid, but... Does the AmeriQue only use dry wood as the manual states, or are they talking about dry wood that's been soaked first? Please, someone Help!

The wood must be absolutely dry. You should have recieved some with your smoker. Put 4-8 oz. in the woodbox and burn it for a few hours, then put in a big fatty pork shoulder or butt and about 4 oz. more wood and cook it until 195-205. You smoker will then be seasoned well. Be sure and foil the top of the woodbox and the bottom floor of the smoker first. Do not forget to put a hole where the drain hole is.

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the forum!

Morning ntmitch,

You'll love your new AQue.

My tip would be to make sure you look through the "lessons for new users" thread at the top of the "open forum". The distilled wisdom of the ages rests therein.

It may help to keep thee from making the same mistakes a lot of us made in the beginning. (At least you wont be able to say that you weren't warned.

Enjoy!

Hook

quote:

Originally posted by TaktEZ:
Here's a link to a great source for scales. And here's a link to the scale that I own. I use the scale primarily when baking bread, which is about twice a week. Baking by weight is much more practical than volumetrically.

An update. Bought your recommended scale and it is working great. It is very interesting to see thw weight variation between chunks. Kind of like Rubic's cube mixing a few woods and coming up with the desired weight.

Another scale advantage. Now that I'm on a diet, in part because of all the good Que I've eaten, the scale is great for portion control.
Thanks for the advice....

Any time.

I'm just glad you're happy with the scale.

I too Thank you TaktEZ.

I purchased the I5000 I prefered the low profile it fits a in drawer real easy or place it on the spices out of the way.

Great no actually superb service oriented company to deal with. Appercaite the tip. Also bought a scale for humans too. amazing how much 3 oz of food adds to the body

Looks like a great scale. Glad you're happy with it.