New M50 coming in tomorrow!

Congrats and welcome JayB...Give a shout if we can help with anything.

Hey Jay!
Way to go.
You are going to love it.

We just finished fresh chicken breasts for the first time in a smoker...grilled them for years, or passed on them.

Piece of cake. First time out they are juicy, tender, smoky and flavorful. Used the CS Chicken Rub. Marinated them first for 4 hours using Wishbone Italian Salad Dressing.

This was no fancy nor esoteric recipe. But, it sure was good eating. Superior to the Q restaurants in St. Louis.

You can take your CS to an art form, or you can simply cook some great Q with it.

Regards, Mike

Hey, Mike...

Take some of that left over chicken breast and make a chicken salad with it. Mmmmm, smoked chicken salad.

I'm not a real chicken fan and even I liked it!

-Ron

Ron, You must have read Jan's mind. She made chicken salad around 9 tonight. Already tried some...very good.

Regards, Mike

Got the M50 in yesterday and unpacked and assemblend it. I put three small hickory chunks into the firebox and fired it up to season, I left it overnight and this morning I looked inside and the hickory looked really dried out, but hardly burned at all. The temp inside the smoker was reading between 190 and 225 on my Polder, but for some reason teh wood wasn't burning. Has this happened to anyone else? I've got two pork butts in the fridge waiting to go in, but I want to make sure everythings working well and properly seasoned beforehand.

Thanks,

JayB

Hey,JayB....Were the walls darkened and did you get any moisture or anything in the drip pan ?...If so, you are alright...If not throw another 4 to 6 oz. in the front/door end of the firebox and give it another 4 hrs @ 250�.Hope this helps.

Hi Tom,
The walls weren't really blackened at all. I guess I need to give it another round with some more wood. I'll run it up to 250 to see if that helps out. Hopefully it will work a bit better at that higher temp. It does worry me some though since most of the time I'll be cooking I imagien I'll be doing so at low temps instead of high (250). Anyway I'll let you know how the elevated temp increases.


Thanks,

Jay

Jay, Been trying to post this all day. Hope some of the info is helpful...


Jay, A few things to check...

Make sure the wood is toward the front on the wood box.

More important, make certain the box holder is pushed all the way toward the
back of the pit. Then, the wood box should seat itself properly.

If the wood box holder is not seated properly, the bottoms of the chunks may
not be used. This happened to me on one cooking.

Weigh your wood. Are you sure those 3 pieces added up to 10 or more ounces?

The inside walls of the CS won't be black, nor will they be totally coated
with brown. They should be streaked.

Finally, the wood does not burn, it smolders. It should look somewhat like
very porous lump charcoal after smoking in the CS with it.

Regards, Mike

congrats on the purchase...you'll love it.

Michael is spot on!

If you're still not getting it seasoned, just do another load. Also, in some cases, it can be the wood. Try wood from another box or source and see how it does. People laugh at the picture of my smoker set-up that I posted because all my wood is in boxes, but the humidity level in my garage is very, very high so I had to do something to keep the wood seasoned and not wet

Welcome to the group!

Smokin'

quote:

all my wood is in boxes, but the humidity level in my garage is very, very high so I had to do something to keep the wood seasoned and not wet

Brilliant minds think alike.

My wood is in boxes, too. Both for the reason you mention and for organization. I'm an inveterate experimenter. Use different woods all the time. If interested, I'll post sources (in MO) for varieties of wood that CS do not handle.

Regards, Mike

Thanks for all the feedback. I ran another seasoning run and increased the temp to about 225 or 250 and everything worked really well. I ended up throwing in a couple pork butts (picnics actually) after I was done with the seasoning and I took them out after 12 hrs. (they were over 7lbs each) and they were amazing. I had heard you all talk about how good the Q was from the cookshack, but you've got to taste it to believe it. Aside from the amazing flavor, I love the fact that I was barbecuing and sleeping at the same time. Two great things that go great together! Never thought I'd say that about barbecuing and sleeping, but it sure is nice to wake up to great Q finishing up in the smoker.
Anyway thanks for all the help. I think everythings working great now!


JayB

Jay, glad you are pleased with your results. It can be a bit frustrating the first time or two. However, once up and going, most all of us are surprised and pleased with the results. I like the sleeping part, too.

Regards, Mike