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Cookshacks in the Cold

T tomMember
On the "big forum",of Ray Basso,where many cooks,judges,organizers,etc folks hang out-I spotted this post.

They are strongly oriented to OLD STYLE ,hole in the ground,stickburner cooking and can be VERY negative towards anything else.

I can say this,as I am a long time member and have many good friends there.

Darcy,is a long time member,a real stickburner,a caterer,and a top comp cook.

He is a powerful voice,and RARELY disputed.

Over the years,I have seen him praise the turkeys,and other products from his Cookshack.

He won the Ponca City contest ,a few years back,and received a Cookshack 160,as well as the cash prize.

He can't use it in contests,so what in the world would he do with this pretty stainless cooker?

Here is his latest post of praise.

Posted by Darcy on January 05, 2010 at 16:19:14:
So I had a catering gig for 120 on Jan 03. I don't know about where the rest of you live but in NE Oklahoma it is by gawd cold. Since my JR and my BWS FatBoy both require water and seeing as how the outside water line is shut off I resorted to cooking the brisket on my Cookshack 160. After the dinner everybody was bragging about how great the meat had tasted. You can never have enough cookers lying around. Thanks Cookshack.
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FM Former Member
I replied to that one with my experience.

I did my Prime Prime Rib on Christmas Eve when it was like 25 degrees, 40 mph winds and 14 inches of snow, Officially declared a blizzard.

I had to fight 3 foot drifts to get to it, but when I got to my FEC, I would find ice/show on top (typically 3" deep) an ice/snow on the front and forming a drift in front of the door itself.

The insulation was so good that no impact on the internal temps of the smoker (and considering it was a $150 piece of meat).

I wanted to take pictures, but it was #$%@ing cold and my camera had trouble working.

Next blizzard I'm cooking in I'll take more photos Big Grin
L landerMember
I had the same experience on Xmas here in summy Omaha, NE. The CS worked great in the snow and winds. The only issue I ran into was that my Wireless therm was off by about 15* - thankfully it read hotter than the meat actually was so I was able to deal with it. Have you guys run into thermometer issues in extreme weather before? Any suggestions to avoid that?
FM Former Member
Two nights ago, at 10:00 PM I loaded my Smokette with two pork shoulders turned the heat to 220 and went to bed. That night the temp went down to 8 below and never got above 5 degrees all the next day.
Never-the-less the meat was done just in just about the same cook time as July and August.
T tomMember
Reference therms.

Yes,each may have its own situation.

Your experience as a cook,helps work around the pouring rain,100*+ outside,bright direct sunlight,100% humidity,40-50 mph winds,extreme cold,etc.

The obvious ,first approach is, if cooking large meats,experience can tell you when you are a few hrs from your finishing temp.

Have the probes inserted,but connect the reading unit just occasionally.

Protect reading unit,with ziploc,etc.

Provide shade,protection from wind and other creative techniques.
T tomMember
One thought for you guys cooking in the real cold.

Pay attention to your drain hole.

One of our good friends here on the forum has family near me and lives mostly in Anchorage.

He runs a pair of 260 s around the clock thru the worst part of the winter.

He tells me he has to watch the drain hole converting to ice/grease cicles-so he has to keep them cleared. Eeker
cal 2cal 2Member
I noticed on mine condensation on bottom of door right and left edges. It would actually freeze in corners of outside flange.It was nothing to remove them, didn't or wouldn't have kept door from opening.Oh, yes had to keep bottom opened. It was froze up to it when I woke up,but it was touching from pan to hole. NO PROBLEM.
T thousandoakieMember
As I've had the good fortune over the past 30 years to live in Southern California where when it gets cold we have to change to long pants... I did grow up in Chicago, so I understand cold. Here's a quote from Steven Reichlin that I thought you'd enjoy:

"Back when I lived in New England, we used to ask a simple question to separate the men from the boys: When it snows, what do you shovel first, the path to your car or the path to your grill?"
FM Former Member
I used to have some issues with my Amerique until I switched from the 700 to the 1000 watt element. We smoked 40 butts in December with temps below/around freezing w/o a hiccup. Best thing is the probe system so I didn't have to check on the smoker, I just let it do its thing...

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