I am writing a book on barbecue (you can see excerpts at http://amazingribs.com ), and I am reviewing a wide variety of cookers for the book and the website (check out the Buyer's Guide). I have a Smokette, I have broken it in properly and used it several times, and I am curious if my experiences are similar to yours.
Let's focus on ribs: I typically cook St. Louis cuts (trimmed spares) at 225F for about 5 hours and use one chunk of Cookshack hickory, about 2 ounces. The meat is perfectly done, juicy, with the perfect balance between resilience and yield. It does not fall off the bone, it tugs off the bone cleanly, and that's the way I like it.
But the meat is a boring tan throughout, no smokering. Worse, the smoke flavor tastes to be mostly on the surface, not deeply penetrating and it has an ashtray undertone, not the sexy elegance that I get with charcoal and even gas smokers. Nor is there much of a bark as on other smokers.
Yesterday I loaded it up with six half slabs on all three shelves, and 4 ounces of wood. The top two half slabs had ugly gray spots on it about 1/2 inch wide. They looked like drips. I removed them and noticed gray stalactites hanging off the bottoms and they were dripping on the ribs below. I looked at the interior and did not see tell-tale black creosote spots on the top nor a source for the drips. Can anyone tell me what I was seeing? Has anyone else had this experience?
On previous cooks I used a Maverick digital probe to check the temp of the oven by inserting it into the chimney. I have been pleased with the accuracy and stability of the Smokette although the fluctuations were a bit wider than I would like. These cooks had only two half slabs on the top shelf.
Last night's cook, with all shelves full, I found that late in the cook the temp rarely got above 200 even though I had upped the dial to 250. Wassup with that?
I have spent some time searching this board for answers, but can't seem to find them. Can Cookshack owners help? Also, can you tell me what you like and dislike about your cooker and how it compares to others you may have?
Smoke em if you got em,
Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn
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